LIVE

Mon 28 Apr

Australia Institute Live: Day 31 of the 2025 election campaign. As it happened.

Amy Remeikis – Chief Political Analyst

This blog is now closed.

Key posts

The Day's News

16.56 AEST

Good evening – see you tomorrow?

And on that note, we are going to leave you, although we will be back with you bright and tomorrow morning for the fifth last day of the election campaign (we count Saturday here)

In answer to Kim:

Does your site, fact checking and evidence based as it is, qualify to be a part of the “hate” media stable?

We couldn’t possibly comment.

And to Lewis:

Seems like there’s a lot more three/four candidate battles around the country this election than before. With all the parties having their preferences on HTVs and most independents not having preferences listed on their HTVs, how well people follow them will make it very interesting!

P S – Hope the Russian Caravan and coffee stocks are full!

Hello! And yes – I think you are right on the HTV cards – and something to watch for is how One Nation does, particularly in areas where the Coalition’s vote is tanking. You could see some surprises come election night – and that’s the democracy – but don’t think anything is set in stone until the votes are counted. Particularly in areas where One Nation has always held a bit of sway. Coming from behind to win is not unusual in these situations – so will we see One Nation back in the House of Reps? (You can read more on the Coalition’s relationship with One Nation in my column for the New Daily, here)

(And I ran out of Russian Caravan and it was a tragedy)

Looking forward to more of your comments tomorrow, and as we said, the Australia Institute will be going live from 5.30 (on Facebook and YouTube) on election day, so you’ll get to see some of our responses live on air (I promise to limit the swears)

Until tomorrow, take care of you. Ax

16.36 AEST

AAP has an update on how some of Anthony Albanese’s appearances have gone:

The prime minister has been heckled by another candidate on his whistle-stop tour of early voting booths.

Emanie Darwiche, who is the NSW Senate candidate for the Australia’s Voice party, headed by ex-Labor senator Fatima Payman, berated Anthony Albanese on Monday as he visited a pre-polling centre in the western Sydney suburb of Padstow.

“You are complicit in genocide,” she said.

“You are complicit in every Australian struggling to make ends meet.”

Many locals have become frustrated with both the federal government and the opposition over their response to Israel’s violence in Gaza, prompting them to turn against the major parties in favour of a candidate who advocates for the rights of Palestinians.

Corflutes of independent candidates like Ziad Basyouny dotted the nearby streets as one driver yelled “free Palestine”.

The issue prompted Senator Payman to leave Labor in July and later form Australia’s Voice.

Its policies are broadly progressive, with its candidates calling for action on property investors’ tax incentives, supermarket divestiture and action to “end the genocide” in Gaza.

“I wanted to hold the big man accountable for his complicity in genocide,” Ms Darwiche later said in a video on her social media.

The prime minister was met with a friendlier reception when he toured a pre-polling booth in Eastwood, with locals lining up to catch a glimpse.

But even there, in the hotly contested marginal seat of Bennelong, the Liberal Party signs were unavoidable.

Earlier in the day he announced a $20 million commitment to establish a women and children’s trauma recovery centre in the NSW Central Coast seat of Robertson, held by Labor on a 2.2 per cent margin.

The electorate has been a bellwether since 1983, having voted for the government for the past 15 elections.

16.03 AEST

Your comments

R Brown says:

Pre polled today and actually had a wide choice. Easy and not treated like a 74 year old.
But still know that the sad case fringe parties will get tax money just for putting in a “candidate”.
Democracy here has some dodgy sides.

That’s democracy for you. It certainly isn’t perfect x

15.52 AEST

Acknowledging that costings are lol as a general rule, Jim Chalmers has had a fun day:

15.45 AEST

Your comments

Jordan says:

I know the overwhelming message from the polls is Dutton can’t win, but I remember 2019 and how wrong they were so I remain nervous, 🙏 for a Labor green minority.

And we are hearing that a lot – a comparison with the 2019 poll. It is important to remember that in 2019 it was expectations which were sky high and that there has been a lot of work done by Australian Polling Council members since then. And also, the primary vote in 2019 was predicted by the polls (it was 2PP where it fell down). In the 2019 polls, Bill Shorten’s unpopularity was also shown, but largely ignored (although it turned out to be bang on)

I don’t know how people will vote, and I can’t say for sure the polls are accurate (they are, after all, just a guide) but in 2019, it was pretty much a repeat of the 2016 result – but the expectations were for more.

15.37 AEST

Join us for a (digital) election party

Because we just don’t know when is enough when it comes to punishing us with this campaign, we will be pre-gaming the election coverage. Join us for some pre-game fun, serious questions and discussions, and also to see how it looks from the blog side (I’ll be making some appearances on the show while blogging) ahead of the serious vote count (because yes, we know, you’ll be turning to Antony Green then)

15.19 AEST

Your comments

You can now send us comments! Huzzah and a big thank you to Andrij Stachurski for working through the weekend to set this up.

Comment through the blog and I will throw them up here (for now) to make sure we are all protected in all the ways.

Thank you to Renee for this lovely message

Amy I couldn’t have gotten through this election campaign without your humour and this blog (and the rest of the team) so a big thank you to you all! On an unrelated note I have squares left for election bingo on Sunday if anyone has anything hilarious I can put in a square let me know 😉

We have some squares left too so hopefully we can cross some more off on Saturday night x

15.01 AEST

The Great Wall of Hamer. Dirty tricks in Kooyong.

How’s Amelia Hamer going?

First, she goes from battling renter to slumlord (ok, international property investor), in one headline.

Then there was the small matter of the $20 million trust fund, of which she’s a beneficiary.

Now, she’s been accused of dirty tricks at an early voting centre in Malvern.

Rob Baillieu, Independent Councillor at the City of Boroondara and son of former Liberal Premier Ted, has posted an intriguing video of the Great Wall of Hamer.

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