Australian politics live: NSW and Victoria to ease Covid isolation rules; Morrison says Solomon Islands-China pact exposes ‘very real risk’ | Australian election 2022

AAP has a Treasury update:

The departments of Treasury and Finance believe the Australian economy remains strong despite significant global headwinds, including widespread inflation and the war in Ukraine.

Department secretaries Steven Kennedy and Rosemary Huxtable signed off on Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook on Wednesday, as part of the Charter of Budget Honesty that was introduced by former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello.

Their independent assessment of the federal government’s financial books has proved to be little different from the budget handed down by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last month.

“The economic and fiscal outlook has not materially changed since the publication of the 2022/23 Budget,” PEFO says.

“While there has been recent movement in some economic indicators, taking into account all available information, our judgement is that these have not materially altered the economic and fiscal outlook.”

PEFO’s forecast for the deficit for the 2021/22 financial year was $79.8 billion, the same as in the budget, but for 2022/23 it is now fractionally smaller at $77.9 billion compared with $78 billion in the budget.

Further out, the deficit for 2025/26 is now $42.9 billion rather than $43.1 billion, while other deficit projections were unchanged.

The report estimates policy decisions taken since the budget amount to $1.3 billion, although these were partly offset by the reversal of a number of decisions previously taken but not yet announced.

The contingency reserve has reduced since the budget by $338.4 million over the four years to 2025/25, which includes a partial drawdown of the provision for the potential costs of the long-term response to the February-March floods in parts of NSW and Queensland .

Economic forecasts for growth, unemployment, inflation and wages in PEFO were the same as in the budget.

These include 2022/23 predictions of economic growth of 3.5 per cent in 2022/23, an unemployment rate of 3.75 per cent, inflation at three per cent and wage growth of 3.25 per cent.

“As an energy and food exporter with very limited direct trade exposure to Russia and Ukraine, Australia is relatively well positioned to weather the effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” PEFO says.

It says the recent record prices for key export commodities will boost Australia’s income in the near term, although elevated global oil prices are flowing through to higher petrol and other consumer prices.

“While markets expect interest rates to normalise in coming years, materially higher household and business cash savings than at the start of the pandemic are expected to see domestic demand remain resilient,” it says.

(You may be able to watch the debate on free-to-air if you are in a region which receives Sky News on the Win network.)

Here are the latest coronavirus numbers from around Australia today, as the country records at least 38 deaths from Covid-19:

ACT

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 1,180
• In hospital: 63 (with two people in ICU)

NSW

• Deaths: 15
• Cases: 15,414
• In hospital: 1,639 (with 72 people in ICU)

Northern Territory

• Deaths: one
• Cases: 594
• In hospital: 44 (with two people in ICU)

Queensland

• Deaths: six
• Cases: 8,995
• In hospital: 594 (with 25 people in ICU)

South Australia

• Deaths: two
• Cases: 4,256
• In hospital: 252 (with 14 people in ICU)

Tasmania

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 1,816
• In hospital: 56 (with two people in ICU)

Victoria

• Deaths: 14
• Cases: 10,628
• In hospital: 437 (with 34 people in ICU)

Western Australia

• Deaths: 0
• Cases: 8,080
• In hospital: 244 (with 10 people in ICU)

20m ago23.04

Amanda Meade

Tonight’s leaders’ debate between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese is only available to people who have a subscription to Foxtel, news streaming service Flash or the Courier Mail.

It will be streamed live on the Courier Mail website as well as at skynews.com.au, both which require a subscription.

Sky News and The Courier Mail will host the critical first leaders’ debate at 7pm AEST on Wednesday 20 April from Brisbane – the first time the prime minister and opposition leader will come together to face voters’ questions at The People’s Forum.

Held in Brisbane, it will be moderated by Sky News chief news anchor Kieran Gilbert and the leaders will take live questions from 100 undecided voters chosen by Q&A Market Research, according to Sky News.

“The Sky News/ The Courier-Mail People’s Forum is the best format for leaders’ debates because it brings the views of undecided voters directly to our nation’s leaders,” Gilbert said.

The 7pm debate will be sandwiched between two Sky After Dark programs hosted by Coalition supporters Peta Credlin and Paul Murray.

39m ago22.45

The view from Murph

Katharine Murphy

We can keep this brief. There has been a lot of talk prior to the election about whether or not Anthony Albanese can find the extra gear necessary to best Scott Morrison in a political campaign, which is one of the prime minister’s core strengths.

The two leaders will meet tonight for the first leaders; debate of the campaign.

Albanese this morning reached for that extra gear, firing up about aged care to sketch a contrast between himself and his opponent – the Labor leader’s implicit pitch was I care, that bloke doesn’t.

Given this morning’s Guardian Essential poll shows Morrison remains in negative territory when it comes to voter approval, it’s a salient pitch, and this is a tempo he’ll need to sustain tonight because what this morning’s poll also tells us is voter disapproval of Albanese is up five points in a fortnight (which is a negative movement outside the poll’s margin of error).

The press pack travelling with Morrison was fired up today, and the prime minister was on the back foot about a significant regional security failure in the Pacific and whether or not nuclear submarines will ever be built in Australia given our lack of a domestic nuclear industry.

Unlike 2019, Morrison continues to be dogged by his record in this campaign. He’s trying to keep ahead of his baggage, but thus far, the baggage is shadowing him, stride for stride.

Marise Payne spoke to ABC radio AM host Sabra Lane this morning about the security pact between the Solomon Islands and China and why she didn’t go herself to the Solomon Islands. Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell reported on the day Zed Seselja left, Payne was at a fundraiser.

Payne:

I spoke at length and engaged at length with my colleague, minister Manele. The prime minister has been in contact with prime minister Sogavare, including through correspondence. And, of course, minister Seselja, who is our minister for the Pacific, visited as soon as he was able to, having experienced Covid just before that.

So, we have been in very close contact with the government of the Solomon Islands ultimately based on our respect for the sovereignty of Solomon Islands. And there have been multiple engagements, including across the region.

SL: But still, you didn’t go personally. The shadow minister Penny Wong says despite all of his tough talk, Scott Morrison’s watch on our region has become less secure. How do you respond?

Payne:

I think that’s an unfair characterisation. And I don’t think it recognises the sovereign decisions that governments, of course, make for themselves. And it also doesn’t recognise the strength and the engagement that Australia has made through the Pacific step-up. We are looking at very serious geostrategic challenges in our region. And they are realities. We deal with them across the region broadly, as I’ve already mentioned. But in terms of our bilateral relationship with the Solomon Islands, we are by far their largest development partner, and we’re very proud to work and engage with the Solomon Islands on a range of issues. The Covid-19 response is one example.

48m ago22.37

Lorena Allam

The Greens are calling on the Coalition to urgently step in to help the more than 13,000 Aboriginal people who have lost thousands of dollars after their funeral fund, Youpla/ACBF went into liquidation last month.

As we reported yesterday, Aboriginal families in at least two states have been forced to leave the bodies of their loved ones in morgues because they can’t afford a funeral, after the financial collapse of their insurer, which has previously been exposed for its “misleading and deceptive” conduct.

The collapse last month of Youpla Group has sparked calls for compensation for the more than 13,000 low-income Aboriginal people who face losing all they have paid into the funeral fund.

Labor has said if it wins government it will set up an inquiry into the collapse, while the Morrison government has dismissed calls for compensation. But Greens senator Lidia Thorpe says Aboriginal families are in urgent need of assistance.

We struggle to survive in this country, and we can’t even rest in peace.

Our family members are being left in morgues while the community saves for sorry business, or they face being buried as paupers! It’s devastating.”

The Coalition allowed Youpla Group to continue to trade and target First Nations people. This government’s failure to regulate the industry has caused these losses, they have a duty to compensate policyholders. This is about dignity. This is about respect.

This could be resolved by a government, who seem to have no trouble bailing out their mining and corporate mates. The hypocrisy of this government, to facilitate the ongoing loss and pain in our communities is a national shame.

Before the government went into caretaker mode, the minister for financial services, Jane Hume, said people could apply for a state-assisted funeral, commonly known in the industry as a “destitute” or “pauper” funeral.

Well that was quite the morning.

Both campaigns will go a little quiet now, as they prepare for the first leaders’ debate tonight.

That is being broadcast on Sky, so it won’t be shown on free-to-air.

Further to Murph’s story.

The ACL has released this statement:

This week, the Australian Christian Lobby launches its national election campaign, powered by an army of 7,700 active volunteers.

The purpose of the campaign is to highlight the record of certain MPs and senators – both good and bad – with a special focus on those who refused to protect people of faith from discrimination and tried to severely compromise Christian schooling.

We ask the question of voters, “Do their attacks on faith accord with your values?”

The truth about these candidates will be spread in target electorates through multiple flyers, digital ads, phone canvassing, billboards, and more.

The Australian Christian Lobby’s campaigning activities come off the back of new survey results revealing that thousands of local voters are yet to learn the truth about these Liberal rebels.

The survey of 4,063 voters in the Liberal-held seats of Bass (Bridget Archer), North Sydney (Trent Zimmerman), Reid (Fiona Martin), Wentworth (Dave Sharma) and the independent seat of Mayo (Rebekah Sharkie) found 49% were unaware of the role played by their MPs in ending a bid to protect religious Australians from discrimination.

ACL Managing Director Martyn Iles said:

These survey results mean there are still thousands of Christian voters who need to hear the truth about their MPs. I urge Christians to take the time to learn the truth about each of the candidates and understand where they stand on the important issues of religious freedom and protections for Christian schools.

This campaign is blind to party colours. Rather, it sees individuals and their voting record. When the election is over, whichever party wins, it is our hope that more individual parliamentarians from all parties will stand up for faith communities and the protection of Christian schools.

There’s been an effort by the Morrison government over the past day to challenge Labor about the costs of its plans to accelerate the decarbonisation of the power sector (see Adam Morton’s pieces here and here).

However, whoever forms government from 21 May, Australia’s power sector needs urgent attention as ageing coal plants near the end of their (often shortened) design lives.

The latest evidence comes today from AGL Energy, the largest electricity generator, which said a quarter of its 2.215 gigawatt Loy Yang A power plant will be offline after an electrical fault that it’s still investigating.

AGL expects to update the market by the first week of May on how long its Unit 2 will be offline.

As we noted earlier this week, wholesale electricity prices have soared in recent months, in part because of the closure of coal plant capacity – and are double the level touted in the recent federal budget for most of the national electricity market:

AGL’s announcement will nudge power prices higher, particularly in Victoria, where Loy Yang A is the biggest single plant.