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Politics on pause for Anzac Day

Campaigning on the federal election trail has again taken a pause as leaders stopped to remember Australia’s fallen soldiers. Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton paid their respects by marking Anzac Day at dawn services. The prime minister attended the service at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, while the opposition leader was at an event in Brisbane early in the morning.

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History

Reflecting on 110 years since Gallipoli

Australians will remember the courage shown by Anzac soldiers at Gallipoli during dawn services, laying wreaths and marches across the nation. Friday marks the 110th anniversary of Australian and New Zealand soldiers landing before dawn on Turkish...

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Election

Food security plan to help farmers

Consumers are being told they’ll pay less at the checkout under a food security plan that would also protect Australian farmers. Nationals leader David Littleproud committed to “fairness and transparency from the farm gate to your plate” by developing a comprehensive plan within six months if the Coalition wins government on May 3.

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Housing

Timber ‘tipping point’ threatens housing affordability

Australia’s chances of hitting nationally agreed housing targets and bringing down the prices of new homes are being hurt by challenges to the timber industry. Thousands of regional jobs are facing the axe unless a new national forest policy is delivered, including an expansion of plantations, a report has found. Native forest logging is in terminal decline after contracting 80 per cent across two decades, with plantations not expanding quickly enough to cover the losses.

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Election

EV, HECS relief in the firing line

Student debt handbacks and electric vehicle subsidies will be on the chopping block if the coalition wins the federal election. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said earlier this week that he would not repeal a fringe benefits tax break for EVs, which has blown out in cost due to its unexpected popularity. But the coalition has since revealed they would axe the incentive, putting their leader’s earlier statement down to him mishearing the question.

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Election

Pre-poll scuffles reveal tensions

Two people have been charged over incidents at pre-polling booths, including a teenager who seriously injured an elderly man during a tense stand-off in the prime minister’s electorate. The 17-year-old was due to face a children’s court after allegedly punching the 79-year-old at Ashfield, in Sydney’s inner west, on Wednesday afternoon. In separate incidents, a man allegedly aggressively intimidated people at a second Sydney polling booth while a punch was thrown as purported far-right agitators confronted candidates at a forum in the Melbourne seat of Kooyong on Wednesday night.

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Australia

Coalition commits to keeping NZ citizenship pathway

Bolstering trans-Tasman relations ahead of Anzac Day, the coalition has pledged to retain the direct citizenship pathway for Kiwis should it win the federal election. Access to Australian citizenship – and its associated benefits – was a long-running bugbear for New Zealanders living in Australia for two decades until changes made in 2023. In the days leading to Anzac Day two years ago, Anthony Albanese announced Kiwis would in almost all cases automatically qualify for citizenship after four years of living in Australia.

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Rural

Voters told loyalty not rewarded

Rural Australians should embrace political competition after decades of remaining loyal to parties that have done nothing for them, a former independent MP says. Tony Windsor, the former member for the NSW seat of New England, said the major parties...

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Conservation

Quolls thrive again in sanctuary

More than a dozen quolls have made a long-awaited return to NSW bushland as part of a major effort to rewild the marsupials on the Australian mainland. Eastern quolls are scavenging and scouting the Australian mainland in numbers not seen for more than 60 years. Researchers on Wednesday said 15 of the cat-sized marsupials were “thriving” after being released into a new feral-free mainland sanctuary on the NSW south coast.

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Environment

Quake rattles Hunter Valley, Sydney

Aftershocks are expected from an earthquake that shook residents awake along a stretch of Australia’s east coast. The quake struck at 2.55am on Wednesday near Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley about 200km north of Sydney, Geoscience Australia seismologists said. Its magnitude was initially read at 5.1 and later revised to 4.6.

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Election

Debate reboots election campaign

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have turned the election personal, taking verbal jabs at each other as they tried to prove their chops. The prime minister faced the coalition leader at Nine’s Sydney studios for a third campaign trail showdown, moderated by A Current Affair host Ally Langdon. Things got off to a subdued start as both leaders extended condolences to Catholic Australians following a day-long break in campaign activities in response to the death of Pope Francis.

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Election

Democracy has no bounds: remote voters have their say

Helicopters, charter planes, boats and four-wheel drives play a key part in ensuring thousands of Australians can exercise their right to vote this federal election. The Australian Electoral Commission has started rolling out dozens of mobile polling teams to almost 500 remote communities nationwide as early voting gets under way ahead of the May 3 poll.

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Tragedy

Drowning victim remembered as ‘bright, bubbly boy’

A nine-year-old who died after becoming trapped between rocks at a popular holiday spot has been remembered as a “bright, bubbly boy”. The Queensland family of Kaison Greaves are heartbroken after he died while on a trip to NSW, adding to Australia’s horror Easter drowning toll. Seven people are confirmed dead with another two missing across the nation after powerful swells lashed the east coast in one of the worst spate of drownings on record over an Easter break.

AAP Newswire

Election

‘No day for politicking’: leaders pause for Pope death

Leaders have paused politicking and trading barbs as a papal-sized shadow was cast over the election campaign. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton cancelled campaign events and attended church services to pay tribute to the late Pope Francis as early voting opened across the country. Albanese had planned to campaign in Melbourne while Dutton was scheduled to hit the hustings in Orange. “His kindness, humility and devotion was admired by people of all faiths and people of none, that’s why his loss is being mourned,“ the prime minister said after attending mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne.

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Diplomacy

Luxon strengthens ties on UK visit

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon is to discuss Kiwi peacekeepers heading into post-conflict Ukraine and bilateral trade on his visit to the United Kingdom. Alongside Sir Keir Starmer, Luxon will visit New Zealand and British troops at a base in Wiltshire on Tuesday, where the combined forces are training thousands of Ukrainian soldiers for battle.

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