It has been A LIFETIME today.

So the big announcements happened outside the main campaigns:

The Coalition would designate gas as a ‘critical mineral’ which would mean the gas industry would have access to the $4bn fund for transitioning to net zero and also subsidies for trade etc. The subsidies are meant for non-fossil fuels.

The Coalition aims to lower the price of gas from $14 a gigajoule to “under $10 a gigajoule” and Angus Taylor confirmed that a Coalition government would intervene on the spot market.

Peter Dutton has said the ABC’s funding would be under question if it wasn’t showing ‘value for money’

The Coalition can not say where the public service cuts will come from

Labor have asked the Fair Work Commission to consider a real wage minimum wage increase, which is above inflation (there have been claims this is in inflationary – it is not)

Anthony Albanese won’t go into whether he would take Trump’s trade tariffs to the World Trade Organisation (there would be no point, even if we did)

Labor made a health precinct funding announcement in Burnie, Tasmania which the Coalition have matched

The Coalition continued on their side campaign issues of youth mental health funding (good!) and crime (not as good)

Both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have said they will ‘stand up for Australia’ but are keeping their powder dry on Trump criticisms.