Australian news and politics live: Dutton says Labor message on interest rate cuts means ‘recession’ in sight

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the country could face recession under a Labor government which “just hasn’t prepared our economy.”

He spruiks the Coalition as the “better manager” of the economy, pointing to its performance during the Covid-19 pandemic. He slams the Government for making the wrong decisions to ready the Budget to deal with the current economic instability.

“There is always a desire to spend and then to tax, and inflation goes up and prices go up across the economy. That’s exactly what’s happened again under this Labor government,” he says.

“And the question is, what is best for the Australian economy? What is best … is that if we have strong and competent managers of the economy, and we can achieve that after the election.”

The Coalition would always adhere to the principles of making sure that we can provide support to families and making sure that we’re not continuing to build on the pressure that families are under by pushing prices up all the time, he says.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is talking up the Coalition’s planned fuel subsidy of 25 cents a litre as “great for families and for business as well.”

He says the plan, announced shortly ahead of the election campaign, will prop up anyone involved in the moving of goods around the economy.

“All of that additional petrol cost, all of the additional costs of running a business under this government, it’s all being passed on to consumers,

“So our energy policy, our fuel policy is all about how do we address the cost of living, pressures that have built up under this government in the economy.”

Mr Dutton says Australian families have lived through almost two years of household recession and accuses Labor of not being up front about a coming recession amid global economic turmoil.

“The Treasurer is out there talking about a 50-point reduction in interest rates, which means, obviously, that he sees a recession coming for our economy,” he says.

“He wouldn’t be talking about 50 points as a reduction next month if he didn’t believe that there was going to be a significant souring of the Australian economy on his watch.”

Anthony Albanese has refused to rule out the possibility of a recession, as Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to wreak havoc on international markets and create global economic turmoil.

After the US President threatened an extra 50 per cent tariff on China, heightening fears of an all-out trade war, the Prime Minister said Australia was not immune from global instability but defended Labor’s fiscal approach.

He argued now was “not the time for cuts”, despite deficits forecast for the foreseeable future and economists raising concerns that a lack of buffer could harm Australia.

When asked if he could explicitly rule out a recession, the Prime Minister promoted his government’s record and cautioned against changing tack.

“We’ve continued to see now, over the last five quarters, wages grow five quarters in a row. We have, in addition to that, seen tax cuts for every taxpayer dealing with cost-of-living relief. And we’ve seen inflation, importantly, brought down to 2.4 percent,” he said.

“That hard work that we have done, if we had not done that, we wouldn’t have been as prepared for what is happening in the global economy.”

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Ousted Liberal candidate Benjamin Britton has hit out at the Liberal Party after Opposition Leader Peter Dutton dumped him on the weekend for comments made about women serving in the ADF.

“At the end of the day, it’s a witch hunt because they didn’t want me there,” Mr Dutton said on 2GB.

“And it’s the factions within the party that didn’t want me there. It’s because I wouldn’t, you know, sign up for a faction. I wouldn’t be controlled.

“My position is the same as Andrew Hastie, the Shadow Minister for Defence and the great Jim Molan, that women should not serve specifically in combat roles, specifically in the Army itself.”

“The (Liberal Party) left faction works in hand in glove with members of the right faction, who are traitors to stab Peter Dutton in the back (to) ensure he doesn’t get elected as the Prime Minister, so they can roll him as leader.

“That’s what’s happening.”

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has made his fifth fuel station visit in five days of his election campaign. This time at BP station in Hoxton Park in Western Sydney.

Mr Dutton pulled up in the passenger seat of Liberal candidate for Werriwa Sam Kayal’s diesel van.

The Liberal leader chatted to several members of the public during the appearance.

One Elizabeth Hills man, Amir Moushi, who meet the Opposition Leader and thanked him for the fuel excise pledge admitted he was a Liberal party member when asked by the media.

He had initially said didn’t directly answer when asked how he intended to vote but described Mr Dutton as a “beautiful” man.

“He looks after the country. He looks after families,” he said.

Mr Dutton is in Sydney ahead of the Sky News debate with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at 7.30 pm AEST.

A protester has disrupted Anthony Albanese’s $1b mental health announcement.

A Rising Tide protester charged into Mr Albanese’s press conference saying she wanted to take a stand against the prime minister’s “hypocrisy”.

Alexa Stuart, 21, took aim at Mr Albanese for having a press conference to talk about mental health while approving dozens of new coal and gas projects in his first term.

“I think it’s hypocritical that our government, on one hand, claims to care about young people, to care about mental health, and yet on the other like clearly do not, because they are continuing to fuel the climate crisis and make it a lot worse for young people like me,” she told reporters outside headspace.

“What I wanted to do today was to draw attention to the hypocrisy of our Government, who, on one hand, says that they care about young people, and yet, on the other, continuing to fuel the climate crisis by approving new coal and gas projects.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warns Australia is “not immune from (the) impacts of the global economy”, but stresses that Australia is ready.

“What we have shown consistently is the preparedness to act for the times to provide support that is needed for people,” he said.

“Now is the time to continue to manage the economy responsibly.

“Whilst we make sure we build Australia’s future by building up our education system, by making sure that people’s health is looked after, by making sure as well, that people have rights in the workplace.”

The PM is fielding questions on the economy after President Trump’s new tariff regime caused a bloodbath on the stock market.

Mr Albanese sidesteps a question about whether he can rule out a recession.

“We have as a Government, continued to see the economy grow. We’ve continued to see now, over the last five quarters, wages grow five quarters in a row,” he says.

“We have, in addition to that, seen tax cuts for every taxpayer dealing with cost of living, relief, and we’ve seen inflation, importantly, brought down to 2.4 per cent. It had a six in front of it when we were elected,” he says, adding that the Government inherited a deficit of $78b.

“When we came to office, we had to repair that, and we turned that around at a time when we’ve had the largest global inflation issue to deal with since the 1980s and the biggest energy crisis since the 1970s.”

Mr Albanese says his Government’s work sets the country in good stead for the current turmoil in the global economy.

“If we had not done that, we wouldn’t have been as prepared for what is happening in the global economy.

“We’ll continue to engage. But I tell you what, it’s not the time to do. It’s not the time for cuts in order to pay for a $600 billion nuclear plan,” he said, in a swipe at the Coalition.

Young men and young women have issues that we need to talk about more, says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, stressing the need for more mental health support.

These issues should not be hidden, says Mr Albanese.

“Australia is leading the way, having the courage to show leadership and to get that support.”

He says the new support for mental health services is “not an “add-on” but a “central part” of Labor’s health polices, that include an %8.5b for Medicare bulk-billing.

Health Minister Mark Butler says the new funding will boost the workforce to address a diverse range of conditions from relatively mild, moderate and temporary to severe and chronic mental illness.

The Prime Minister has launched a $1b mental health package at Headspace Ashfield, on the outskirts of his own electorate of Grayndler.

“Australia has led the world in building this youth mental health ecosystem. Headspace is a core part of it, not the only part, but a really important part of it,” he says.

“It gives a level of support to young Australians that, frankly, most countries around the world just don’t have.”

Anthony Albanese says that headspace is crucial for young Australians in their teens and early 20s when most mental health disorders emerge.

“Today, we extend our strength Medicare program into mental health with a $1 billion investment in the mental health of all Australians, but particularly young Australians,” he says.

“We’re building on investments that we’ve been putting in place for the last few years that deliver free mental health services.

We know that access to good mental health support is a really important challenge, really significant challenge in the community, but so is affordability.”

The PM says that far too many services in the private market cost too much and are beyond the means of many households.