Q: On your gas plan, you promised four days ago to release modelling that would say that prices will go down under your government. That was four days ago, you said very soon. How much longer do we have to wait?

Dutton:

I like that anticipation is building because there is good news coming. People will know that gas prices will always be cheaper under a coalition government. People know that electricity prices will be cheaper under a coalition government. We are promising a 25 cents reduction in the fuel tax so people living in the north and west of this great city, people in outer metropolitan and regional areas know that if you are filling the car up twice a week and having to drive to the city 40 minutes, one hour, hour 20 minutes in traffic each day and coming back the afternoon, you know that you are saving $28 roughly each week if you are filling your car up twice, if there are two of you in the same situation in a household, it is $56. That is a significant saving.

Q: Question from our readers. This is from Percy in Brisbane. Will there be any changes to superannuation under a coalition government, for example would you do as some backbenchers have suggested and dropped the super guarantee?

Dutton:

No, there are no changes to superannuation and as Assistant Treasurer, I pushed really hard for adequacy in superannuation, for people’s retirement. I believe very strongly in superannuation and I do also believe that you can do a lot of good with the current superannuation policy. The first thing is you can stop Labor’s big tax on unrealised capital gains and superannuation and I’m not sure whether millions of Australians have heard this but the government is proposing a tax on unrealised capital gains. (Labor already capitulated on this and didn’t need to – we are talking about a few thousand Australians who have more than $3m in their super paying a tiny bit more tax)

For farmers, if you have got a farm or if you were a mechanic with a shed or if you are somebody who has got family with maybe a delicatessen and a couple of shops either side and that is in your superannuation fund, you don’t have to sell that to pay tax under Labor. (They have put these assets into their super fund to AVOID paying the tax they should in the first place – it is taking advantage of a loophole, not a right)

Labor is going to charge you a tax levy against your superfund just because the value of that property goes up (that is because you pay lower taxes in the meantime)

We’re not going to do that and we have promised to repeal that and I think that is an important difference. The final point that I make in relation to superannuation is that we are going to allow young Australians to access up to $50,000 of their super because if we allow young people into superannuation a few years ago to take $50,000 to help them by their first home, they would be in a net position hundreds of thousands of dollars better off today, owning a home right now. (This would only increase house prices and mean young people had less to retire on) We require them to put that money back into super when they dispose of the house but that sets them up for their life and provides huge opportunities for them as they continue to have a family and go into retirement etc..

Q: Obviously have said you will invest in those areas. Will that be at a similar level that they are currently invested?

Dutton:

As you see the numbers in the budget papers now in relation to health and education, that is our commitment. We have said we will legislate

Q: Last night a woman asked you about getting the woke agenda out of schools. You spoke about potentially conditioning funding from schools to change their curriculum, to influence the curriculum. I think influence was the word used. Can I ask specifically what lessons or units you are concerned about having a woke agenda and in the same as you spoke about the Department of education employing a lot of people and not running any schools. Would the Education Department be one of those areas you would look to make cuts as part of your pledge to cut 41,000 public servants.

Dutton:

We have said we want to take waste out of the federal budget and put back into frontline services. The second point is I want to make sure our kids, whether they are school or secondary school for young Australians at universities receiving the education of their parents would expect them to receive and our position will reflect community standards in relation to what is being taught at our schools and universities and you have seen some recent examples in relation to law school and the requirements being made. I think Macquarie University of the time. You have seen other academics that are out as part of protests on the streets and teachers similarly. That is been translated into the classroom. That is not something I support. I support young Australians been able to think freely, being able to assess what is before them and not being told and indoctrinated by something that is the agenda of others and that is the approach we would take.

OK, few things there. One, protest is a democratic right. It doesn’t matter who you are, you have the right in democracies to protest. And the thing here is that Dutton doesn’t have a problem with protests (he did not bat an eyelid at the protests against lockdowns, and has had very little to say about far right nationalists marching in Victorian streets, or the protests anti-trans advocates have held. He has a problem with with some of the issues people are protesting. Like genocide. That’s what he is trying to control.

Secondly, the Coalition under Scott Morrison wanted to do the same thing – which is a continuation of what John Howard did when he started protesting against the ‘black arm band of history’. Abbott and Morrison both wanted a very euro-centric western civilisation version of history taught, where there were no questions of actions taken by settlers, or those who attempted genocide of Australia’s Indigenous people. Dutton is also against age-appropriate sex education being taught in schools and wants a very rigid binary taught to children (imagine the 1950s version of sex ed) where the research shows that children taught appropriately about their bodies and sex ed not only have healthier views of it, they are also better protected.

There is not a ‘woke’ ideology taught in schools. There are research backed facts. That is what he is pushing against.

Q: Tony Abbott said no cuts to health or education. Would you make a similar pledge?

Dutton:

We have said before we are going to provide support and funding to essential services, guaranteed funding in relation to health, for example, in relation to education and examples that you cite because I want to make sure that we are spending money on frontline services, not back office operations and I have been clear about that.

I was Assistant Treasurer in the Howard years and I worked on a number of budgets since then.

A Liberal coalition government will always manage the economy more effectively than Labor. Look no further than what is happening in Victoria. Look no further than what is happening in Queensland, they rack up debt, $1.2 trillion in debt that the government announces in this budget and it is going to take a generation to pay it off because it is about $125,000 per household so the next generation is going to have to pay the bill and Labor will continue to rack up that debt.

That has what has been inflationary in our country and that is part of the reason why groceries are up by 30%. The reason why gas is up by 34%, while electricity is up 32%, why insurance premiums are up. This government has made an economic disaster of the last three years and families, Australian families are paying the price so we will always manage the economy more effectively.

Q; On the Chinese ship off Australia’s southern coast, are you concerned about the route it has taken and what would a Dutton government to deter such activity and specifically, are you concerned such activity is about collecting intelligence on the undersea cables leading from different parts of Australia to another and why would China want to be looking at our undersea cables in that way?

Dutton:

(and me)

A first charge of any prime minister is to protect and defend our country and Anthony Albanese doesn’t know what to do. (There is no threat to our country. The Chinese vessel is not in Australian waters. Oh my Dolly I am going insane)

One part of the government is saying to the Australian border forces monitoring what is happening, the other party saying it is the Australian Defence Force that is monitoring what is happening. (Dutton, as a former defence minister knows that both can be true)

The Prime Minister himself doesn’t know what is happening. That is the problem and for a Virgin pilot to have to notify the government of what was happening off our shores is a disgrace and it shows the gap there is in intelligence collection and in exercise of our military forces at the moment. (That is not what happened here)

It is unbelievable the Prime Minister can’t explain to the Australian people what is happening here. (It has been explained. Several times. This ship was previously in a joint operation with NZ)

Of course there is a collection of intelligence and of course there is a mapping of sea cables. (OK – to do what? We know where theirs are as well.)

We require connectivity to the rest of the world as an island nation and the way we communicate with our partners and allies of the rest of the world is contingent on those cables. (No one has said there is any actual evidence the Chinese are after our sea cables and as Frank Yuan has pointed out, to do anything to the underwater cables would actually require the Chinese to come into our waters, which we can do)

The Prime Minister cannot stand up and be honest with the Australian public and I think this is a test that the Prime Minister has failed and I think he needs to be frank. (About what?!)

The other thing I think is completely offensive to the men and women of the royal Australian navy draw some equivalence between the men and women of the royal Australian Navy and the exercises that they conduct in our country ‘s name and that of the Chinese Communist Party and what those vessels are doing. (This is absolutely ridiculous. Australia does conduct ‘exercises’ in the ‘north Philippine sea” which we know annoys the Chinese. Every nation does this. So everything Australia does is fine and upstanding and anything that is done to us is horrendous and evil. Honestly. The victim mentality here is off the charts)

The Prime Minister needs to explain that statement. (No, he doesn’t) He has made it on multiple occasions. He does it in a way to dismiss what is happening but this is a very serious concern forever Australian and we need to make sure that we have the defences and be a strong country and show leadership to show up for our interests because if we don’t, weakness does not prevail in difficult circumstances and when the Prime Minister says to the Australian people that we live in the most precarious period since 1945, he is right. It is based on intelligence and it is being played out not far from our shores right now and yet the Prime Minister himself has no idea what he is doing.

HONESTLY.

Peter Dutton and Bridget McKenzie have moved out of the white board in a field to a room for the press conference where they are talking about infrastructure funding.

We have just seen Peter Dutton and Bridget McKenzie looking at a white board in a middle of an empty field. Which absolutely looked like something out of Utopia, not helped by the poor Sky camo who was doing their best to get in amongst the scrum, but was having to move fast meaning the camera shot took you on a bit of a roller coaster, in case you were wondering what was happening on the Coalition campaign today.

Here is a screenshot

We are still waiting on Peter Dutton’s first press conference of the day, but AAP has an update on how Victoria’s state Labor government has reacted to the news he would scrap federal funding for the suburban rail loop (Jacinta Allan’s pet project)

A coalition plan to scrap federal funding for a contentious Victorian rail project in favour of an airport link would devastate thousands of workers, the state’s premier says.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has made an election campaign pledge to pump an additional $1.5 billion into Melbourne’s airport rail if the coalition wins government on May 3.

This would shorten travel from the city to half an hour and reduce congestion on the arterial Tullamarine Freeway, the coalition says.

The additional $1.5 billion – which would take the Commonwealth share to $6.5 billion, or half of the estimated cost – would be matched by a future Victorian coalition government, Mr Dutton said.

However, the next state election isn’t until November 2026.

The other catch is that the money will come from the axing of federal Labor’s $2.2 billion commitment to the suburban rail loop.

That would likely be the final nail in the coffin of the contentious project, as the debt-laden state struggles to find funding.

The contentious suburban loop is a major 90km orbital rail project running from Melbourne’s southeast to the outer west via the Tullamarine airport, with the first stage due to open in 2035.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said the coalition’s plan amounted to a cut, rather than a redirection of funding.

“It’s April Fools’ Day but Peter Dutton’s cuts are no laughing matter,” she told reporters at state parliament on Tuesday.

“His cuts will cut thousands of jobs, but those job cuts also mean cuts to the pay packets of those workers.”

She deflected questions about whether Victoria would go it alone to fund the Suburban Rail Loop if the federal coalition won government, saying that was a hypothetical prospect.

“The Australian community is voting in the coming weeks to determine the outcome of the next federal election,” Ms Allan said.

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Ahead of today’s RBA decision the market says there is about a 10% chance of a cut. So it is likely they won’t because usually the RBA doesn’t do surprising things (probably because if you do the thing most people expected you to do it gives you cover to justify doing it).

But should the RBA cut rates? Of course they should!

Three reasons.

1. Inflation is under control.

The RBA consistently says it wants to see “underlying inflation” consistently within its 2% to 3% band. Underlying inflation is nothing special – it’s just inflation that cuts out the biggest 15% rises and biggest 15% falls in prices – so it gets “the middle” 70%.

So how is that going? Well the monthly inflation measure that came out last week showed that underlying inflation has been trending down and has also been below 3% for 3 straight months

2. Unemployment

The RBA’s job is not to just worry about inflation but also “contribute to the stability of the currency, [this is economic speak for inflation] full employment, and the economic prosperity and welfare of the Australian people.”

So how in unemployment going? Well, it’s ok. Holding up around 4.0%, and underemployment is also doing ok. But the RBA has kept thinking that “full employment” is actually 4.5% unemployment. Because it thinks we need that many people out of a job and living in poverty to keep inflation from rising. Well unemployment has been below 4.5% for 3 years and 3 months and in that time, inflation went up and then down. Unemployment is currently 4.1% and guess what – inflation is not rising! The RBA should be doing all it can to keep unemployment from rising and a rate cut would do that, with little risk to inflation.

3. Welfare of the Australian people

So about that last bit of what the RBA needs to care about. Well the rate cates have caused at least half of the rise in cost-of-living for anyone paying a mortgage, and have also helped make sure rents have gone up as landlords used the rate rises as an excuse (even though they get to deduct mortgage costs – you know, negative gearing!). So a rate cut would definitely help improve our welfare. Also how is our welfare right now? Well a good guide is are we spending in a way that suggests we are happy and feeling good? Nope. In 2024 we bought less stuff per capita (ie per person) than we did a year earlier.

Once you take into account inflation, on average every Australian bought $3,849 worth of stuff in the shops in the last 3 months of 2024, compared to $3,883 worth of stuff in the last 3 months of 2023. That is not good – we should be buying more each year because we should have more money to spend!

Why aren’t we? Well if you have a mortgage you know why…