So given that focus on budget management, when will the Coalition be releasing its costings?

“In the next day or so,” says Angus Taylor. Which is obvious, because there is only a next day or so left in this election campaign.

Taylor:

As did Labor and it at the last election. As is the convention. I won’t tell you here. You won’t need to wait long but I’ll give you a sneak preview. You’ll see a stronger economic position, a stronger Budget position than Labor’s and that’s because over three years we’ve been doing the hard work to find the savings that can ensure that we have a stronger budget. There’s two budgets we’ve got to fix here, James, the household Budget and the Government Budget and you’ll see a stronger position from us on both of those and that’s what Australians need.

There are questions over the savings Labor says it can make by cutting down on consultants, but there are even bigger questions over the savings the Coalition is claiming will come from cutting 41,000 public servants from Canberra (they have said they would all be coming from Canberra, which would destroy the local community, but also impact on national security staff)

Cutting the public service to save money, is like saying you are going to save money by cutting down on groceries and then going out to dinner every night. Because sure, you’re grocery bill has gone from $400 a week to $150 a week, but you’re spending $600 dining out.

Why? Because the work still has to get done and that means hiring short term labour and consultants. Which cost more. That figure though can be hidden in various ways in the budget (as part of particular projects for example) which means that it LOOKS like money is being saved, when in reality, costs have gone out – they have just been spread across different line items.

Angus Taylor, who has been making his own pitch to his colleagues as a potential next leader of the Liberal party, leaning on his ‘dry’ Liberal qualities (which is basically just saying strict budget management’) was just asked about his thoughts on Mark Carney winning the unwinnable election in Canada and dropped this little line:

Can I first congratulate Mark Carney. He’s an old friend. This might surprise you. We studied economics together in the UK for two years and we’ve stayed in touch since and I think it highlights the importance of strong economic management. He ran on that above all and, of course, we want open access to markets, as do the Canadians. We want a strong economy, as do the Canadians. We want to see strong investment as I know Mark Carney talks about a lot and I think there are similarities on those things and he and I share a very strong view that a strong economy is the key to prosperity

And then of course, Taylor brings that back to the Liberals at THIS election (which is obviously different to the Liberals in Canada)

Taylor:

That’s what we’re running on, what I’m running on and what I’ll continue to run on. We see today numbers showing that if productivity had been what it used to be – it’s dropped by 5.7% under Labor, which we haven’t seen before – the economy would be $250 billion bigger, $60 billion more of government revenue. That’s what a strong economy gives you – stronger household budget, stronger government budget, greater prosperity. That’s what we want to do.

There is still a lot of commentary over the Trump tariffs and whether or not the Albanese government could have done more to change the 10% tariff which was applied to Australian goods being imported into the US.

The SMH’s US corro Michael Koziol reported Trump was asked about Australia and told reporters:

They are calling, and I will be talking to him, yes.

Chalmers told ABC radio RN Breakfast that he would leave it to his colleagues (he means the prime minister) to work out when that might be but added:

Obviously, Australia, like every country around the world, is engaging with the Americans right now. We’re no different. We are not uniquely impacted by these tariffs, but we are uniquely well-placed and well-prepared.

Now, there has been a bit of commentary around Albanese’s comment about not being sure if Trump had a mobile phone (made during the last leaders’ debate on Sunday night) (Trump has a phone) and that under the Coalition, Australia managed to secure an exemption from the last round of Trump tariffs.

That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of THIS Trump administration. No country in the world has escaped tariffs this time round (cept for Russia and Trump says this is because the US and Russia ‘do no business) and tariffs were also one of the underpinnings of Trump 2.0s election platform. He, and those around him, are obsessed with tariffs as a general rule. It is only now, after massive domestic backlash and the market acting exactly as a scholar of Marxism would expect the market to react, that Trump is starting to backdown on some of the more outlandish tariffs. But so far, there has been no movement on the 10% tariff floor which applies to all countries as a baseline.

So the Coalition achieving an exemption in the last Trump administration is completely irrelevant because THIS round of tariffs apply to everyone, when the last time Trump was in office, they did not.

Now on the issue of the phone, it was a pretty stupid thing to say. Obviously Trump has a phone. The man is terminally on-line. What Albanese was trying to say is that it is not the relationship where you just ring up and say ‘hey, wyd?’ and that conversations between Australia and US leaders are always a formal affair.

Chris has responded to the chatter about One Nation maybe getting a boost in the senate from the Coalition preference deals:

Good help Australia if this is the case. Chaos will reign supreme with more nutters in the Senate,surely Pauline and Roberts is more than enough.
So glad you are back with a great blog Amy missed reading you. (Thank you! I missed being with you all!)

While Chris has thoughts about Ted O’Brien’s thoughts he could be leader of the Liberal party:

On Ted O’Brien’s aspirations, and with all due respect to the broader Queensland population, doesn’t he realise that whilst the Qld branch of the LNP may dominate the LNP party room, it fails to resonate with the broader population in other states.

Still though Chris, the LNP has held a lot of sway in the joint-party room for years and if Dutton does fall as leader, there will be a power gap there and it is unclear who fills it – both nationally and at a state level.

Jim Chalmers has also been out, pretty much everywhere this morning.

He has done the breakfast TV shows, as well as ABC radio this morning.

His main job has been trying to cement the message that Labor’s costings are legit, that the Coalition haven’t released theirs yet and that ratings agencies like S&P have nothing to fear from the election promises.

Which is true. Australia is doing very well when it comes to 10 year bond yields, so Australia is considered a very safe place to invest.

Peter Dutton is starting the day with FM radio interviews, calling into Melbourne radio The Fox where he was asked for his election party tips.

I think alcohol is the first essential ingredient, I’m sure of that -responsible drinking as well,” Dutton said.

But not watching the ABC would be a good start. For any young ones at home, forget the ABC.”

Well, looks like our election night live pre-game makes Dutton’s list of requirements then:

On Clive Palmers’ never ending unsolicited text messages (which have no opt-out option) Lambie says:

All the parties do it, the only thing is that Clive has more money. The only time you see majors come together, doing electoral reform, when it suits themselves, and they want to get the independents out. It’s filth. That’s where we’re at. They won’t change those laws because they do the same thing. The only reason you’re not seeing them coming thick and fast, they’re not throwing quite as much money behind it. But they’re just bad.

Lambie then confirms that this is her last federal election campaign asking for a senate spot (she is going for another six year term)

That’s it for me, mate. I’ll be 60 then. I tell you what, I have done 16 years. You need fresh blood. But 16 years in a job – I think, it’s time for those young guns to come in. Take positions like mine and get us into a new era and see what they’ve got. Enough is enough. Sixteen years of Jacqui Lambie, people say that’s enough.

Jacqui Lambie then speaks on salmon farming, which she says is a much bigger issue in Tasmania than people on the mainland realise:

I can tell you that salmon farming is a huge issue down here, and you will find that 65% of Tasmanians are against both of them. I would have thought they would have learned from a state election, when they thought these topics weren’t a hot potato, they’re very, very warm down here. All people are asking in Tasmania, those people who do – who do not want salmon farming, we’re asking those big corporations to push your nets out further in the sea, and get them out of Macquarie harbour.

Now, you know, that means they’ve got to take a hit, with their profits, so be it. But I tell you what – when you’re doing this at the expense of clean green Tasmania and its brand, I have a problem with that. So get those bloody nets and get them out in deep sea properly, so get them off the island, and also, um, get them, obviously, get them out of Macquarie harbour.

All they care about is making profits. They’re making those profits, on brand Tasmania. It’s not good enough. They’re not getting away with this any more. The people of Tasmania will win this argument. And yes, there will be votes that they will lose out there. Both those major parties. I tell you what, they’re not flying on the winds of the angels when it comes to salmon.

They take these donations from those salmon companies and have done for years. So you can’t believe a word they’re saying when it comes to salmon in Tasmania.

What we know, I’ve seen that sludge on our beaches. I’m seeing it in Macquarie harbour and so are the tourists. It’s time for the multinationals to make less profits and gets those god damn stinky fish out in deeper waters. That’s all we’re asking for.

On the absolutely ridiculous ‘debate’ over Welcome to Country, something that only became an issue after LITERAL NAZIS gatecrashed an Anzac dawn service to protest the Welcome, Jacqui Lambie says:

I will leave that for the associations right across, whether it’s on Anzac Day or any other time. If you’re having a meeting, you know, I think that’s your decision whether – that’s your association, whether you decide whether you want that, whether you want to sing a national anthem, that’s for people in charge of running whatever is going on that day. That’s for them to discuss with those people who do those ceremonies, and also with the national anthem. I thought this was going to become a problem in years to come. I can see it’s starting to, you know, rear its ugly head. I think this will be very interesting over the next months just to see whether that sort of evaporates.

Q: I was curious of your views. You have spoken of Indigenous issues in the past. Do you fear this topic is becoming a political football, because we’re in the final spotlight of an election campaign?

Lambie:

I think that, yeah, I’m surprised this is becoming a hot topic in the last few days, going into the election. It just goes to show how bored people are with policies out there, there’s no doubt about it. I would hope that, you know, I would just hope this doesn’t get vicious over the next few days or anything like this. That people aren’t carrying on about this at polling booths. There’s much bigger issues on the table. One for housing out there, and the cost of living, which is absolutely killing people and trying to keep our small to medium businesses open, really, really difficult. And they’re not getting a fair go from state or federal government at all.

Jacqui Lambie is asked about why she thinks people are early voting on the ABC and says:

I think they’ve been on Easter holidays. While they’re going past the polling booths, they’re taking their vote. We’ve seen bigger increases over the years for pre-polling, rather than people having to go out on Saturday morning. It suits parents who have young kids with sport on Saturdays. I think it’s really good. We’ve gone from three weeks to two weeks, that I think is great as well. Trying to get volunteers over the Easter period has been quite difficult. I’m sure not just for me, but the major parties are struggling as well.

It’s predicted half of Australia’s registered voters will vote ahead of Saturday.