Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has outlined the, in a pitch focused on the cost of living.
Dutton also announced the Coalition’s official slogan: “Let’s get Australia back on track.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been travelling to Queensland and Western Australia to secure support for the Government.
Election 2025
Australia must go to the polls by 17 May.
The Prime Minister needs to provide 33 days notice, so an official announcement has to be made by Monday 14 April.
While political campaigns will not officially begin until after the election is called, both the Labor Government and the Coalition Opposition have begun outlining their policies.
Peter Dutton
Over the weekend, Dutton delivered a major speech in the Melbourne electorate of Chisholm, which the Liberal Party (part of the Coalition).
The cost of living crisis was a central theme of Dutton’s speech.
The Opposition Leader reflected on his suburban Queensland upbringing, in a pitch to outer-suburban voters who may be struggling with the price of everyday goods and services.
He expressed concern about the rising cost of “food, rents, mortgages, power, and insurance”, and promised to limit “inflationary spending”. Dutton blamed Government policies – such as a $300 energy bill discount and HECS debt reductions – for high interest rates and inflation.
The Reserve Bank has kept the cash rate at 4.35% since November 2023. The rate of inflation was 2.3% in the year to November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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During his speech, Dutton said: “I’m in the game of ending government waste.” He accused Labor of “living beyond its means”.
Other plans
Dutton repeated some of his previous policy commitments, including developing nuclear power and making knife laws consistent across the country.
He repeated his pledge to cut Australia’s migration intake by 25% in the first two years of a Coalition Government, which he first.
In response, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth this morning said Dutton had “no solutions [and] no real ideas for cost of living relief”.
Slogans
Dutton’s tagline, “Let’s get Australia back on track”, has been compared to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s 2023 election slogan: “Get our country back on track”.
Luxon’s centre-right National Party won the most seats at that election and negotiated a coalition of other right-wing parties to form government.
By contrast, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has framed the election as “a choice between building Australia’s future or taking Australia backwards”.
Government
The Prime Minister has visited Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Sydney over the first two weeks of 2025.
In response to Dutton’s pre-election speech, Albanese has touted the government’s tax cuts and cost of living measures.
“Energy bill relief, cheaper child care, free TAFE [and] the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for Medicare… are all support for cost of living,” Albanese told ABC Radio Melbourne.
