Federal election 2025 LIVE: Albanese, Dutton signature policies revealed; economists warn of house price surge​on April 14, 2025 at 4:00 am

Thanks for joining our coverage so far today, helmed by Daniel Lo Surdo. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be steering the blog for the rest of the afternoon.

In case you need a refresher here’s what happened earlier today:

• Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was joined by his son Harry this morning, where the younger man shared his concerns about his prospects of purchasing a home.
• Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek made fun of her awkward greeting with the prime minister at Labor’s campaign launch, saying she “should’ve done an elbow bump” instead.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says economists critical of Labor’s housing policies should visit construction sites where housing development is under way, as he works to sell his 5 per cent first home buyer deposit scheme.
• Meanwhile, Treasurer Jim Chalmers rebuked suggestions from economists the first home buyer deposit scheme will drive up demand for housing.
• And, the Australian sharemarket is expected to lift on opening after Wall Street rallied last week, despite growing consumer concern about rising prices.

The Liberal Party has this morning released a rap song – something that probably wasn’t on many people’s election campaign bingo cards.

The opposition describes the track – titled Leaving Labor, complete with track artwork – as “like Kendrick meeting question time”. Sure.

The lyrics take aim at the Albanese government over the rising cost of living. “Think Nas vs Jay-Z, but about groceries and rent,” the Liberal Party says. Maybe a more recent reference to rappers dissing each other would have been good, but fine.

The chorus? “Bring them prices down / Albo’s gotta leave”. Not sure if it’s strong enough to start a groundswell of support for this to make the Hottest 100.

It also comes complete with a party authorisation at the end. You know, like all the best political music…

Not sure what else to say other than to make your own mind up. You can listen to the track on SoundCloud here.

Dutton failed to acknowledge or answer a question about whether he, who has made $30 million of property transactions across 26 pieces of real estate over 35 years, would provide financial support to help his son Harry enter the property market.

Media heard from Harry earlier in Dutton’s press conference, where the younger Dutton said that while he was “saving like mad” to afford his first property, the dream of homeownership remained unlikely in the near-term amid skyrocketing housing prices.

When asked by this masthead’s federal political reporter Olivia Ireland about whether he would chip in to support his son purchasing his first home, Dutton ignored the question, responding instead with a rehearsed talking point questioning Labor’s competence as economic managers.

Dutton: … If you want to achieve the dream of home ownership, vote Liberal …

[Reporters talk over one another to ask questions]

Reporter: On that Mr Dutton, you’ve brought your son Harry out here, he talked about how hard it is to save for a deposit … Why won’t you support him a bit and give him a bit of help with buying a house?

Dutton: I haven’t finished the excellent points I was making…

Dutton has pledged to open the housing market to young people if he wins the election, referring to the status quo under the Labor government as a “dark period” for Australia.

Speaking from a building site in Brisbane’s western suburbs, Dutton recalled stories from young people across the country unable to purchase their first home despite their best attempts at doing so.

“It kills me when you hear young Australians saying, ‘I’m working hard, we’re both working hard, we’re putting money aside. We just can’t afford, we don’t think we’re ever going to be able to afford a home’,” Dutton said.

“I’m not going to accept that as prime minister of this country. I want to make sure that we can do everything we can if we’re fortunate enough to win the election, to restore that dream of homeownership, and this is the way that we can do it.”

Dutton has spent the morning in the marginal, Greens-held seat of Ryan, a seat that the Coalition is targeting at the May 3 election.

He fronted the press with Trevor Evans, who held the seat of Brisbane until he was ousted by the Greens’ Stephen Bates in 2022.

Dutton was joined by his son Harry at his press conference on Monday morning, where the younger Dutton shared concerns about his own prospects of purchasing a home.

“I am saving up for a house, and so is my sister Bec and a lot of my mates, but probably as you’ve heard it’s almost impossible to get in,” said Harry, who is undertaking a carpentry apprenticeship and is the first of the Dutton children to join their father for a press conference.

“We’re saving like mad, but it doesn’t look like we’ll get there in the near future.”

Peter Dutton is addressing media from Brisbane this morning. You can watch the press conference through the video player below.

Peter Dutton has arrived at a building site in Brisbane’s marginal, Greens-held seat of Ryan with his son Harry, who is currently studying an apprenticeship. It’s the first time any of Dutton’s children have come to a press conference.

There’s a flurry of people around the group as he speaks to a home buyer. In typical Brisbane style, it has started raining when only moments ago the sun was shining.

A press conference is expected to start soon.

Proving all politics is local, Albanese has moved from an Adelaide press conference where he sold a $10 billion housing policy to a small not-for-profit Italian kitchen in the key marginal seat of Sturt.

Albanese has committed $95,000 to Nonna’s Cucina, a local institution of 100 volunteers that provides 56,000 meals a year to the elderly and people with disabilities.

The kitchen is in the seat of Sturt, which Liberal James Stevens clung onto by a margin of 0.5 per cent in 2022.

Stevens is facing off against Labor’s Claire Clutterham for the seat. Also joining the PM in Sturt is popular South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

While Sunday was dominated by $24 billion in promises from Labor and the Coalition, never underestimate the impact of targeted community grants such as the $95,000 for pasta and tiramisu.

The Dutton bus has arrived at the marginal Greens seat of Ryan in Brisbane’s western suburbs, but we are just on the border near Dutton’s seat of Dickson.

It’s expected the opposition leader will hold a press conference in Upper Kedron where major housing developments are being built. This area was all paddocks about 15 years ago, but now is full of newly built homes.

Dutton will be eager to sell his latest housing policy for first home buyers as a way to reach out to younger generations.

The mood on the bus is quite jovial, after the latest rap diss track released by the Coalition ‘Leaving Labor’ was played on a speaker for all to hear.

Dutton, shadow housing minister Michael Sukkar and the Liberal candidate for Ryan, Maggie Forrest will be inspecting the flat plots of land where construction is occurring, before speaking to the press.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson has blasted pushback directed at the Coalition’s plans to support first home buyers, saying Australians facing housing stress will find the criticism “pretty out of touch and tone-deaf”.

Dutton revealed on Sunday that if elected, he would allow first home buyers to claim a tax break on their mortgage interest.

The Coalition plan has drawn particular concern from economists for its potential to drive housing demand without supporting increased supply, resulting in surging property prices.

“I think people underestimate the generational despair among young Australians who’ve lost hope that they’ll ever be able to buy a home,” Paterson told ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning.

“Frankly, there is quite a lot of intergenerational resentment from young people … there is intergenerational resentment from young Australians who believe the cards have been stacked against them, and we want to fix that.”