Jane Hume is then given the job of defending Peter Dutton, who once again went too far in criticising something when there was already ample criticisms available and verballed the Indonesian administration by making up they had commented on an issue they had not – while slamming Labor for not doing enough to cement the Indonesian relationship.

Q: Let’s talk about the international story that broke yesterday, which got a lot of attention during the campaign, regarding the reports that Indonesia was considering allowing Russian aircraft to be based in its territory, which later it was found out was false, what the Indonesian government told the Australian government. Penny Wong had a said this morning on ABC News Breakfast that Peter Dutton is too aggressive ask too reckless to be prime minister as a result of his comments yesterday. How do you respond toot too that?

Jane Hume:

That was a bizarre comment. It sounds very defensive from a Foreign Minister. Clearly, she was blindsided by this report and has been on the back foot since. We’re not going to apologise for having a strong leader that will stand up for national interests, particularly with a track record in national security, as opposed to Anthony Albanese, who’s been very weak on this issue.

But see, that’s not what happened? Dutton could have just said ‘questions to answer here don’t you think’ and that would have been enough. But he once again couldn’t help himself and dialed everything up to 11 and then ended up with diplomatic egg all over his face.

Q: Don’t you think Peter Dutton jumped the gun? He criticised the relationship between Australia and Indonesia. [Wong is] saying that he fabricated a statement by the Indonesian president. Did he go too far?

Hume:

We’ve actually asked for a briefing from the Foreign Minister and from the Defence Minister on this issue, what it was that they knew and when they knew it. Let’s face it – there are some serious national security implications in this report. If Penny Wong didn’t know about it before yesterday, we want to understand why.

Not the question though, was it.

So it looks like, yes, the Coalition would get rid of the fee-free tafe. Not all Tafe is free under Labor’s policy. It depends on the course and the subject and how many places there are. But there are some people who are receiving short course qualification for free in certain areas, which have helped in other ways. Sometimes its confidence, which in this world – is crucial. But looks like you can add it to the list of things the Coalition would scrap if in government, judging from this answer to the ABC”s question:

Q: To be clear, does that mean you will definitely reverse the fee-free TAFE policy?

Jane Hume:

We don’t believe that fee-free TAFE is delivering on its promise. People are starting courses. They’re not finishing courses. If you’ve got an unsuccessful policy, why would you continue it?

Q: Would you continue the government’s policy of many fee-free places for TAFE? Because there’s been a video going around of [shadow education minister] Sarah Henderson saying that perhaps you’re not that supportive of the policy. What is your clear policy on TAFE funding?

(That’s being very generous to what Henderson says in the video leaked by TikTok and Instagram creator toiletpaperau)

Hume:

The problem is with fee-free TAFE is that plenty of people start their TAFE courses but they don’t finish it.

The completion rates are so extraordinarily low.

We’ve said we want to see more young Australians get into trades, particularly construction. And that’s why we’re going to support an additional 400,000 places into apprenticeships.

We’re going to support businesses to take on apprentices to build that capability, particularly in the construction industry, but also others, into the future.

SIGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Q: We’ve seen a survey in Nine newspapers this morning saying Labor’s housing policy is getting more cut-through with voters. Why isn’t yours?

Jane Hume:

I’m actually surprised about this, because at the last election, Labor committed to building more houses. Their signature housing policy built zero houses – doughnuts. Now, they’re pledging $10 billion – 100,000 homes, at $100,000 per house. You can’t build a granny flat for $100,000. The coalition are offering a comprehensive housing policy to deal with Australia’s housing crisis. We want to make sure we reduce net migration to sustainable levels, to reduce the demand on housing. We want to make sure that we build enabling infrastructure to boost supply. That could unlock 500,000 homes over the next few years. We want to make sure that we incent haves have new home-buyers with deductible interest on new builds, and also allowing young Australians to access their superannuation to help with their deposit. And we want to reform the industry by making sure we de-register the CFMEU which has pushed building costs up so high particularly over the last term.

Labor’s policy has converted existing homes into liveable homes, or into more homes as the first part. There are more homes under construction. Not defending Labor’s housing policy here – of course more could be done, but it took Curtin and Chiefley years to get the post-war building going as well. At one point, they kept Australian soldiers overseas for longer because they needed to have the jobs and projects ready for them on their return, so they kept men in the defence forces, stationed overseas after the war, until they had stuff ready for them back home.

Shadow finance minister Jane Hume has been sent out this morning to spruik the Liberal party campaign message. How is she feeling at the midway point?

Hume tells the ABC:

Well, we’re not interested in the polls. We’re interested in what it is we’re hearing around the ground. Right around the country, we’re hearing people crying out for change. The cost-of-living crisis that’s occurred under Labor has seen Australians go backwards. They’re actually poorer than they were three years ago.

That’s certainly playing out in the feedback that we hear. Which is why it’s been so important that the coalition has committed to a 50% reduction in the fuel tax – that’s 25 cents per litre every time people fill up – that will give them about an additional $14 every time they go to the bowser.

That will make a real difference to people’s hip pockets every single week – not just families, but also businesses, also the cost of freight to supermarkets or businesses that need to travel around. It will make a difference immediately. That will happen the moment the coalition comes to office.

We have had a few questions about why politicians answer questions like this. And there are a couple of reasons. One, training – media training is bip bap bop when it comes to the formula – address the question in your answer if it works, whoosh whoosh it if it doesn’t and then pivot to what you do want to talk about. Two, repetition works. You may be rolling your eyes all the way to Tasmania at the constant campaign messages, but they are not aimed at you – they are aimed the people not paying that much attention, who will get to the voting booth still undecided, but might remember that the blue guys are offering something on petrol and then put a one in front of their candidate.

That’s what they are aiming for.

Chris Bowen was then asked about the prime minister’s announcement he would like to see the UN climate conference, COP, held in Adelaide. Australia is bidding to host COP31, in conjunction with the Pacific (were they told Labor wanted it in Adelaide ahead of the announcement?) and is going against Turkiye which has refused to back down from its own bid, despite some diplomatic nudges

Well, the Conference of the Parties, the COP, which we are bidding to host in 2026, COP 31, which the Prime Minister has confirmed Adelaide would be the primary host, is the world’s most important climate conversation. There’s a few other things. It’s a chance to elevate the issues of the Pacific. We’re a Pacific country that hasn’t been a Southern Hemisphere COP in many, many years. That’s very important. It’s also an opportunity. It’s the world’s largest trades fair. We can take our renewable energy industry and show the world.

And I think Australia, as a traditional fossil fuel economy, which is well advanced on its transition, can say to the rest of the world, look, here’s our journey. It’s not easy. It’s not uncontroversial. There are bumps along the road, but if we can do it, others can do it too. That’s been a great opportunity for our country, a great opportunity for Adelaide.

And I do want to just pay tribute to Peter Malinauskas’ leadership in bidding to host COP31 to us. We are hoping to have this bid resolved, obviously, this year. There’s two countries bidding at the moment, but we’re getting lots of support from around the world, and I’m hopeful and confident that we can host it successfully in Adelaide.
 

Bowen also defended the conference.

Q: And I take your point about raising awareness about what’s happening in this part of the world and particularly what’s happening in Australia and making that point on a global stage. But there are a lot of people out there, Minister, who are very sceptical about these sorts of events and the value of them. What do you say to that sort of criticism?
 
Bowen

Yeah, I get it. But what’s the alternative? Countries don’t work together? Countries don’t push each other for more action? I mean, when this COP process started, you know, the world was on course for more than four degrees of warming. You know, are we down to 1.5 yet? No, we’re not. But we have made progress. And I can tell you, having been to these conferences, they do change behaviour. And they do send a signal to the companies of the world when the parties, the countries agree, for example, to transition away from fossil fuels, as we did at the COP before last. That sends a very clear signal to economies and to investors about the direction of travel of the world’s governments. So I completely get if people are sceptical, stroke cynical, I understand that.

But the alternative is to give up. So this is all too hard. We’re not going to bother. No point talking about it. Well, I don’t agree with that course of action.

This is a massive opportunity for Australia to restore international leadership, as we’ve been doing over the last few years, tell South Australia’s story as much as any. I mean, South Australia has the highest rooftop solar penetration in Australia and Australia has the highest rooftop solar penetration in the world. So South Australia leads the world in many instances. So the sort of COP I’d want to host and run here in Adelaide would be a very practical outcomes-focused COP. I would agree with those people who say we don’t need a talk fest. We need outcomes-focused implementation COP and that’s certainly the sort of COP that I’d be hoping to put on here in Adelaide.

That continued:

Q: People generally seem very concerned about it, Minister, and even more concerned about the fact that, yes, as you’re saying this afternoon, things are changing. We’re talking about it a lot, but what are we actually doing about it? Where’s the rubber on the road?
 
Bowen:

Well, what we’re doing is reducing our emissions. Now, it’s hard work. It’s easier said than done. And, you know, you can have slogans to say, stop this or stop that. Actually getting emissions down is hard work. That’s what we’re doing. We’re moving to an 82% renewable energy grid by 2030. It was 33% on the day we came to office in 2022. I’ve got to tell you Lee, that’s a big lift. It doesn’t happen easily or quickly. At the last quarter of last year, we were at 46. So from 33 to 46, well on the road to 82. Now, that changes seasonally and quarterly, but the trend is very, very clear. We’re adding more renewable energy and we’re storing the renewable energy so that we’re reducing our emissions at night. We’re reducing emissions from industry. Our Safeguard Reforms are having an impact. There’s figures out today showing that that’s the case. We’ve introduced the first vehicle efficiency standards in Australian history. Our opponents would rip them up, but Australia and Russia were the only two advanced economies without them. We fixed that situation so that we have more choice to more efficient vehicles. All of this has been highly controversial, contested, opposed by the federal opposition, but has been absolutely vital in reducing emissions. And now, Lee, I’m not here to suggest that all these policies have yet had their full impact because they haven’t. I mean, some of them have only just starting by the time we get them through the parliament and get them implemented and fully designed. For example, our new vehicle efficiency standards started on the 1st of January. Their impact is in years to come, but that impact is very, very important.

But Labor is still opening up new fossil fuel mines, the one thing we know we have to stop. We can’t even get a major politician to say when they will stop opening up or expanding fossil fuel projects.

On ABC radio Adelaide late yesterday, Chris Bowen was pushed on climate change – which both major parties are largely avoiding talking about.

Q: We are experiencing record dry across most of South Australia in the last 12 months, Chris Bowen. What do you make of that?
 
Bowen:

Well, look, I think, Lee, that increasingly climate change is not a forecast or a projection. It is a lived reality. Now, of course, droughts have been part of our landscape forever, but it’s a statement of fact that natural phenomenon, whether they be fast-moving disasters like floods, cyclones and bushfires or slower impact disasters like droughts, are getting worse and more extreme across the board. There’s absolutely no doubt about that. And we’re seeing temperature records tumble, you know, hottest year until next year, which will replace this year as the hottest year and the same could be said for months. So obviously this has a huge impact and is having an impact and climate change will go in and out of fashion in political commentary but it remains real and urgent and remains something that we are, that action on is important as well.
 

Q: But it does appear that we are very much living that in South Australia at the moment.
 
Bowen:

That’s my point, I agree.
 

Q: And the irony is that we’ve got flooding in the far northeast of the state and quite the opposite for the rest.
 
Bowen:

And look, some people look at climate change and just think well only bushfires will be made worse by that for example even if they accept that. Well that’s not true. Cyclones are impacted. They’re not necessarily more frequent, but they are more severe. We’ve got drought, obviously a big impact. And it’s not just natural disasters. It’s also impacts more broadly. You’ve got mosquito habitats changing and tropical diseases spreading into areas they hadn’t been before. We’re adding a day of heatwave every five years. You know, if you live in the suburbs without much tree cover, without air conditioning, that has a huge impact on your heart health, particularly if you’re elderly and vulnerable. So it really doesn’t matter where you look. Climate change is having an impact.
 

Peter Dutton’s insistence that Australia does not have a shortage of gas and that the Coalition is “not here to line the pockets of big gas companies” is a big hit with voters, particularly conservative voters, according to new polling released by The Australia Institute.

“Conservative voters get it,” said Dr Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australia Institute. 

“Older voters and voters in regional areas were the most likely to believe Australians should be getting a fairer share of the proceeds of our gas exports.

“Conservative voters also strongly support the introduction of a tax on gas exports. They understand that Australian governments need to put the interests of Australian businesses and households ahead of the interest of the export gas industry.”

The Survey of 1089 people by YouGov, conducted on 8-10 April, shows that  71 percent of Coalition voters agree with Peter Dutton that Australia does not have a gas shortage and that high gas prices in Australia are caused by the fact that Australia exports too much gas. 

The polling also found:

• 71% of Coalition voters and 73% of Trumpet of Patriot voters support a gas export tax.
• Support for an export tax is strongest among men (66%), voters over the age of 65 (69%) and voters who live in regional areas (66%).
• Across the community as a whole, 56% of voters agree with Peter Dutton that Australia exports too much gas and 61% support his call for a gas export tax. 
• 13% of people disagree that Australia exports too much gas and 12% oppose the introduction of a gas export tax.

“This polling shows why Peter Dutton has been so strong in his support for putting the interests of Australians ahead of the gas exports tax industry. At a time when Donald Trump is declaring his determination to put the interests of America first, it should come as no surprise that Australians want their representatives to put Australians first as well,” said Dr Richard Denniss.

 “Australians aren’t stupid. They know Australia has plenty of gas and that exports are the problem, and can see through the gas industry’s self-serving propaganda. 

“The only question now is whether Labor will risk the wrath of the gas industry and join the Coalition in calling for a gas exports tax of its own.”

Labor’s Mark Butler has announced $16.7m for another eight perinatal mental health centres, which offer free mental health support to parents from pregnancy to when a child turns one.

The additional eight centres would bring the program to 20 across the country.

From the release:

 
This is a time when up to one in five women and one in ten men experience anxiety and/or depression

GPs will be able to refer parents to Perinatal Mental Health Centres with a mental health care plan, which will provide psychological services with no out-of-pocket costs.