Opposition leader responds to Labor’s pre-election budget. This blog is now closedDutton unveils gas reservation scheme and vows to sack 41,000 public service workers in budget replyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTaylor on reports Dutton had to tell colleagues to stop leakingIt’s been reported that Peter Dutton has had to read the riot act to the Coalition party room to tell MPs to stop leaking and undermining their colleagues.We will continue to fight hard for those hard-working Australians who deserve relief at the bowser, who are paying too much for everything right now and who can get a better deal. Continue reading…Opposition leader responds to Labor’s pre-election budget. This blog is now closedDutton unveils gas reservation scheme and vows to sack 41,000 public service workers in budget replyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastTaylor on reports Dutton had to tell colleagues to stop leakingIt’s been reported that Peter Dutton has had to read the riot act to the Coalition party room to tell MPs to stop leaking and undermining their colleagues.We will continue to fight hard for those hard-working Australians who deserve relief at the bowser, who are paying too much for everything right now and who can get a better deal. Continue reading…
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The Coalition will introduce a gas reservation policy for the east coast, which it says will lower wholesale electricity prices, and could come into effect by the end of this year.
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Labor has immediately rubbished the gas reservation policy and called it a “distraction” from the Coalition’s nuclear plan.
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Dutton’s also promised to fast-track more gas projects, and invest $1bn in a critical gas infrastructure fund to increase supply and storage.
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Dutton has confirmed he’ll slash 41,000 workers from the public service, but says that it won’t impact frontline workers and essential services.
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The opposition leader also promised there would be “significant” new spending on defence, which will be revealed during the election campaign.
Have a fabulous night and I will see you all here bright and early tomorrow morning!
Cabinet minister Jason Clare has responds to the budget reply
He says if Peter Dutton wins the next election “you’ll pay more tax”.
He admitted that on live TV tonight … the stage is now set, if Labor wins the election your taxes will be lower, if Peter Dutton wins the election, your taxes will be higher.
Clare says Dutton still hasn’t said how the Coalition will pay for it’s policies including its nuclear plan (Labor says it will cost $600bn while the Coalition says their costings show it will cost $330bn).
On whether Labor will support an east coast gas reservation policy, Clare says Labor has already secured “six times” as much gas through its own policies compared to the reservation scheme.
This is just a distraction from his nuclear policy which is about as popular as a fart in an elevator.
On to migration
Ferguson asks why Dutton hasn’t committed to a target for net migration, only for permanent migration.
He says the figure will be announced “in due course”, and clarifies it will be “over the next few weeks in the run-up to election day”.
He then goes to the numbers on permanent migration, which the coalition has already announced it decrease by 25% to 140,000 next year and the year after, before bringing it back to 160,000.
He says this will increase the housing supply.
We’ll prioritise what is in our country’s best interests …
There are millions of Australians, young Australians, older Australians, who are worried about either buying a house or their kids not being able to buy a house. I want houses for Australians first.
Dutton says despite pledge to scrap the rewiring the nation program, contracts will be honored
Where will all that new gas come from?
Dutton says there’s “plenty of gas that’s discoverable” across Australia, and points to Narrabri in NSW as a project that’s been delayed, as well as producing more gas from Queensland.
He says there’s more appetite in South Australia and Victoria to bring more gas on.
Separate to this, as Dutton has promised to scrap the rewiring the nation program, Ferguson asks whether the Coalition would renege on existing contracts.
Dutton says no, they’ll “obviously first and foremost honour those contracts”.
Dutton says while his nuclear plan – to be built on coal fired power stations – will use existing poles and wires, there will still be more that are needed (which would presumably be aided by the existing contracts under the rewiring the nation program).
Dutton says gas reservation scheme could drive down prices by the end of the year
Dutton says the $10 per gigajoule for gas could come as soon as the end of this year, and that he’s been doing “months of work” in relation to how the east coast gas reservation policy would work.
We think by the end of the year is about the timing.
On how the scheme would work around existing contracts with other countries and overseas markets, Dutton says Australian gas companies would continue to honour contracts with international partners.
But the gas that’s sold beyond that we want to divert between, you know, 50 to 100 petajoules back into the market and that will fluctuate depending on the domestic need at the time and it will increase supply. We don’t want to temper demand.
Our pledge is to bring more gas on more quickly.
Dutton also says he’s already spoken to some of the “key players in the industry” . He says he has a “longstanding relationship” with the Japanese ambassador and his predecessors.
I think they [international players] understand there is a need for us to provide support to Australians and Australian gas should be first and foremost for Australians and it’s an important export industry for us and we’re not going to disrupt those foundation projects.
Dutton says fuel excise not an ‘election bribe’ because the benefit will be felt ‘now’
Why isn’t the fuel excise an “election bribe,” asks Ferguson – the same words the Coalition has used to describe Labor’s tax cuts.
Dutton says it’s because the benefit will be felt “now”.
He claims to quote treasurer Jim Chalmers on the fuel excise two years ago:
Actually there was a great quote today around Jim Chalmers who said it’s fantastic for there to be relief at the bowser for families. They said that two years ago.
Dutton: ‘We won’t be able to provide tax cuts during this campaign’
Peter Dutton has come up to the parliamentary press gallery to speak to Sarah Ferguson on 730. She asks whether there’ll be any further offering on tax cuts.
Dutton says there’s a “great desire” to introduce tax cuts “at some stage” but won’t commit to anything during this election campaign.
I would love to introduce tax reform and tax cuts, but the Labor party has racked up what we now see in the Budget papers of about $1.2tn of debt. So we have to be realistic and understand the constraints that we have….
We have a great desire at some stage when we clean up Labor’s mess, but we won’t be able to provide tax cuts during this campaign.
There’s only a brief mention of defence in Dutton’s speech, despite reports the party is considering increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
But we might get more soon, and Dutton gives us a forward sizzle, saying there’ll be a “significant funding commitment to defence” during the election campaign.
Earlier this month the Coalition pledged $3bn for fighter jets, but there’s no new spending announced tonight.
Tonight, Dutton just backs the Aukus agreement, saying his government would “spend taxpayers’ money wisely”.
Aukus too has the potential to foster a new arm of our economy and transform our civil industrial base.
We will spend taxpayers’ money wisely – in a manner which has an economic multiplying effect, generates productivity, and can attract new investment.
My intention is to energise our domestic defence industry. And to retool the ADF with asymmetric capabilities to deter a larger adversary.
Dutton promises a dedicated antisemitism taskforce
Community safety is becoming an increasingly talked-about issue by the opposition, and Dutton makes several commitments on that front.
He focuses on immigration detainees released after a high court decision, overseas boat arrivals and the rise of antisemitism.
This government has released 300 hardcore criminals from immigration detention into the community – with more than a third having reoffended …
We will establish a dedicated antisemitism taskforce to turn the tide of this scourge of hatred.
We will work with states and territories to develop national uniform knife laws. We will toughen bail laws to stop domestic violence offenders.
It’s an area the opposition has sought to dominate and lead the narrative on, particularly with their attacks calling Albanese a “weak” leader on national and domestic security.
Dutton says he’ll provide the “leadership needed to restore law, order, and justice”.
Dutton pledges more funding for youth mental health services
On health, the Coalition had already announced it would match Labor’s $8.5bn spend on boosting medicare rebates for GP sessions, and $500m for women’s health.
Dutton says he’ll reinstate the 20 subsidised mental health visits up from 10 – another policy he’s previously committed to.
New promises include funding for youth mental health:
Tonight, I announce that a Dutton Coalition government will invest an additional $400m into youth mental health services.
We will expand the remit of the national centre for excellence in youth mental health which i created in 2014, into a national institute.
He also commits to boosting regional mental health services, particularly those for young people.
Dutton promises to cut permanent migration by 25%
On housing and migration (which have come under one umbrella for the opposition leader in his speech), Dutton promises to cut permanent migration by 25%.
It’s not new, and previously there’d been some confusion over the Coalition’s pledge to cut net migration more deeply, but there’s no mention of net migration tonight.
He also pledges to put stricter caps on foreign students which he says will “relieve stress on rental markets” (an international student cap is something the government had previously tried to do, but received no support from the crossbench nor the Coalition).
Under the Coalition, we will cut the migration intake to free up housing and restore the great Australian dream of home ownership. We will cut the permanent migration program by 25%.
We will ban foreign investors and temporary residents from purchasing existing Australian homes for two years.
Dutton has also announced a target of 400,000 apprentices and trainees training across Australia, with an incentive payment for small and medium sized businesses to support them.
He says this program would have a “particular focus on the building and construction sector”.
My colleague Dan Jervis-Bardy has more of the details on Dutton’s gas reservation policy and his other announcements here:
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