Read all the headlines from day eight of the 2025 federal election campaign on Friday, April 4.
Read all the headlines from day eight of the 2025 federal election campaign on Friday, April 4.
It’s been a busy morning, not least because overnight saw a huge wipeout on the US stock market, followed by a fall on the ASX. Interestingly, we saw many more faces from the major parties than just leaders Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton on TV this morning. Here’s a recap of the past few hours:
- The US stock market saw a fall of $2.4 trillion from S&P 500 companies, its largest one-day percentage decline since the depths of the pandemic in 2020. The ASX saw a dive in early trading, down 1.9 per cent.
- Peter Dutton visited a petrol station in the Sydney electorate of Parramatta to spruik the Coalition’s policy for a fuel excise cut. But fuel prices are likely to fall regardless of the election winner, due to shocks from Trump’s tariffs.
- An intriguing item in the tariff talk has been that an AI blunder might be to blame for some of the more obscure taxes put on tiny island territories, some of which are uninhabited.
- Morning TV was dominated by tariff talk. Dutton was up early on Sunrise saying “there is a deal to be done” with Trump. Trade Minister Don Farrell said Australia was continuing to negotiate with the US administration, and would use our critical mineral exports as a bargaining chip.
- Albanese is also in Sydney, at a school in the formerly safe Labor seat of Fowler. He’s been offering the kids advice, and will stand up for a press conference around noon.
- Meanwhile, a man has been charged with threatening to kill a federal parliamentarian. Federal police charged the Ballarat man on Thursday, one week after he allegedly made threats in two emails to a parliamentarian’s electorate office. He’ll face court in June.
The PM says Labor’s attempt to parachute Kristina Keneally into a western Sydney seat last election was “a error” but denied he was involved in it.
Tu Le, a young lawyer with Vietnamese heritage like many in the seat of Fowler, had been tapped by outgoing MP Chris Haynes to replace him ahead of the last election.
But Keneally, a former NSW premier who lived on the northern beaches, was installed in the once-safe seat instead as her Senate spot was uncertain thanks to the party’s factional deal-making.
Labor were punished for that decision at the 2022 election, where a stunning swing saw independent Dai Le elected.
This afternoon, Albanese was asked if western Sydney was turning off Labor, as the Fowler result may show. In response, the PM pointed to western Sydney Labor MPs in his cabinet as evidence the region was well represented.
“On Fowler – we, of course, I acknowledge and said that at the time … that was an error, I thought it was an error,” Albanese said.
A journalist then interjected: “It was your decision wasn’t it, prime minister?”
Albanese said: “No it wasn’t my decision.”
The journalist asked again: “Chris Hayes supported Tu Le. Weren’t you part of the push to put Keneally in?”
Albanese said: “No.”
Albanese has thrown his support behind Tu Le, the Labor Party candidate for the once-safe seat of Fowler now held by independent Dai Le after she defeated Kristina Keneally at the 2022 election.
Albanese said he personally courted Tu Le to run for Fowler, calling her a “gun candidate” who he is sure can rise to the top of the legislative branch.
“She is a future cabinet minister … I have no doubt Tu Le is that, I think she’s outstanding,” Albanese said.
“I encouraged her to be the candidate and I think she’ll make a fantastic member for Fowler.”
Dai Le holds Fowler by a razor-thin margin, and is a seat the government is targeting ahead of next month’s poll.
Albanese has been briefed about the cyberattack on superannuation funds that has led to members losing money, saying his government is considering what has occurred and will deliver a coordinated response to the incident.
“There is a cyberattack in Australia about every six minutes. This is a regular issue,” Albanese said. “We’ll have a considered response to it, but the agencies, of course, work very strongly on it.”
Industry super funds Australian Retirement Trust, AustralianSuper, Hostplus, Rest and the largest retail superannuation brand owner Insignia have all been subject to the attack, according to multiple sources aware of the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The hackers were able to access passwords, most likely on the dark web, according to the sources.
AustralianSuper has announced that up to 600 members may be affected by the breach, after cyber criminals used their stolen passwords to log into their accounts to commit attempted fraud.
Albanese has said he would travel to Washington DC to meet with the Trump administration “as soon as possible” should he win the election on May 3, though reiterated that he was not getting ahead of himself and was focused about the task at hand.
Speaking in western Sydney on Friday, Albanese said he would continue to lead negotiations regarding the removal of tariffs on Australian exports to the US, as announced by Trump on Thursday morning.
“I’ve been invited to the United States, of course, and vice versa. I will go as soon as possible,” Albanese said.
“I make this point as well – I’m not getting ahead of myself here. You know the first visit that I want to make after the election is to Government House in Canberra, to Yarralumla. I’m not getting ahead of myself. Elections are hard to win and there are four weeks left in this campaign.“
While fronting a Daily Telegraph summit in western Sydney, Peter Dutton has spoken at length about the economic pressures on households, singling out residents in Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s electorate of McMahon.
Dutton said voters in McMahon were paying $1300 more per year on their electricity bill than promised by Labor at the last election, blaming the renewables roll out.
“At the very centre of the cost of living crisis is the skyrocketing cost of energy. As we all know here, energy is the economy, and the Prime Minister and Chris Bowen’s renewables only policy is a train wreck.”
Dutton went on to criticise the government’s migration record, but was careful to say that migration broadly has “served our country well” in Sydney’s diverse western suburbs.
“Our migration story is a great celebration, but there’s a difference between big, uncontrolled, unplanned and unsustainable migration program compared to the controlled, planned and sustainable migration program.”
The opposition leader went on to highlight the existence of a shadow spokesperson for western Sydney, a role that does not exist in the government’s cabinet, which he said was a sign of the Coalition’s commitment to the region.
The new managing director of the ABC has backed up Kim Williams’ calls to protect the broadcaster’s funding in the face of potential cuts under a Coalition government led by Peter Dutton.
Hugh Marks, who started as managing director in March, told ABC Radio Brisbane’s Ellen Fanning that “more funding would help” on Thursday evening, hours after Williams had welcomed the prospect of another review into the efficiency of its operations.
“Excellence is a core part of our platform,” Marks said, in response to Dutton’s comments that he would reward excellence, and ensure the broadcaster was using its $1.1 billion in annual funding efficiently.
More is going to be required of the ABC than less going forward, Marks said, including providing for local communities, children’s programming, emergency programming, premium scripted content and more.
“When more is asked of us, more funding would help, and we need to be clear, though, that for that more funding, we have to deliver more and better services. And so that will be my job.”
Albanese addressed media from western Sydney today. You can watch via the video player below.
Albanese has defended his government’s immigration record, saying that migration fell by 31 per cent in the last year, and that many in western Sydney were unhappy with the former Coalition government’s suspension of flights from India during the COVID pandemic.
He said the government was “getting on top” of migration after the pandemic affected international student numbers and saw more Australians returning to the country, before sitting down with Daily Telegraph editor Ben English to play a word association game.
When given the prompt “western Sydney”, Albanese responded “opportunity”. “Migration” was met with “balance”, “power prices” with “sustainable”. “Trump” was answered with “president”, which drew laughs from the audience.
Western Sydney is always a critical zone in federal elections. A vast population means there are many seats here. And the mix of upwardly mobile aspirational voters and more working-class Australians, as well as its cultural diversity, means the region is imbued with special status as an emblem of middle Australia.
Many western Sydney seats have been safely held by Labor for years, and are now represented by Albanese government cabinet ministers: Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Education Minister Jason Clare, Energy Minister Chris Bowen, Science Minister Ed Husic and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.
However, several are in play as Peter Dutton makes his pitch to suburban voters. Labor is on the defensive in its seats of Parramatta, Werriwa and Macarthur, where inflation has hit hard and Dutton believes he can pick up disaffected Labor voters. It could work: the seat of Lindsay, which takes in Penrith, was previously a swing seat, but it is now considered safe for the Liberals.
Another consideration is independents. In seats with significant Muslim populations, Burke and Clare are facing challenges from pro-Palestine candidates. Labor has learnt it can’t take these voters for granted after losing one of its safe western Sydney seats, Fowler, at the last election to independent Dai Le.
Speaking from the Daily Telegraph forum in western Sydney, Albanese said “there is no better place to talk about building Australia’s future than right here,” and touted his $120 million investment in the new Rouse Hill hospital maternity unit.
“Our investment will enable women in northwest Sydney to give birth close to home and help take some of the pressure off Blacktown hospital”.
Albanese said the investment would be “an important and timely addition to the region” saying the area would grow by an additional 500,000 citizens by 2041.
The prime minister said that the values of western Sydney, of “hard work, ambition, the fair go and aspiration” were values that “drive” his government’s vision for the country.
“The aspiration to build a good life for yourself and your family, to back yourself, to turn an idea into a small business, and the most Australian aspiration of them all, creating a better life and greater opportunity for your children … No one held back, and no one left behind.”