Australian politics and news live: Coalition says campaign ‘strategically timed’ to deliver 2019-style victory

Greens leader Adam Bandt has acknowledged that any plan to incorporate dental care into Medicare would need to be phased in over time due to workforce limitations and gradual uptake by patients.

The Greens have made free dental one of their headline policies this election, featuring oversized tooth props at press events and even turning Bandt’s Instagram profile picture into an image of his face superimposed onto a tooth.

He has said it will be a key policy they will push Labor on in the event of a minority government after the May 3 poll.

But when questioned on the feasibility of the policy on ABC Insiders on Easter Sunday, which has been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office at $45 billion, Mr Bandt confirmed the Greens expect a gradual rollout.

“In that costing... that’s basically what they’ve said would happen,” he told ABC’s Insiders host David Speers.

“It would take a while, based on international experience and based on their modeling, as people found out about the scheme, utilisation stepped up. So it would, in fact, slowly step up.”

The policy has raised concerns about the whopping cost to taxpayers and whether there are enough dentists available to meet a surge in demand.

Mr Bandt said while access may be a challenge in some areas, action was needed as the main barrier for Australians getting the care they need was still affordability.

“We know the main reason that people are avoiding going and seeing the dentist at the moment is cost,” he said.

“Now there will be some areas, of course, where it might be difficult to find a dentist, but the main reason is cost.

“In a wealthy country like ours, we think that people should be able to… afford to go and see the dentist.

“And one of the key messages that came back from that was that people were not choosing dentistry because of the massive debts they’d be left with, and we want to fix that as well with free education.”

Mr Bandt added that part of the Greens’ long-term vision involves growing the dental workforce by making education more accessible.

“We conducted a Senate inquiry into this that looked at things including the workforce,” he said.

Shadow NDIS Minister Michael Sukkar says the Coalition is committed to maintaining the integrity of the scheme, promising no drastic cuts but a focus on managing its growth.

“The NDIS, obviously, it’s growing at greater than 10 per cent at the moment. That target is about 8.4 per cent,” he said.

“I think we have to try and meet the targets.

“We’ve got a funding envelope now for the next four years that is quite ambitious, though, I might say, to get growth down from where it is at the moment... It’s going to be hard.

“I (have been) told by the department, they’re very confident that that can happen.

“At the moment, we’ve got a huge implementation schedule that we’ve sort of touched on, that sort of flows from the legislation.

“I think a lot of the future growth in the NDIS will depend on some of those administrative decisions that now are at an agency level, including how plans are created, how they’re structured, how the payments are made.

“We don’t want money wasted with fraud and foreign criminal cartels and gangs. That’s what we want to stop.

“But we want to make sure that everyone who needs the support gets it.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt has flagged a negative gearing shake-up if Australians vote in a minority government at the May 3 federal election.

Speaking to ABC’s Insiders, Mr Bandt said a fair phase-out of negative gearing would form part of negotiations with Labor in the event it needs Greens support to govern.

“We’ve got to diffuse this time bomb in a way that is fair,” Mr Bandt said, arguing that current tax concessions for investors are fuelling the housing affordability crisis.

He said the Greens’ policy would allow existing investors to continue negatively gearing one property in addition to their family home, but remove concessions for those with multiple properties.

“If you have one investment property, the existing arrangement applies, but in the future, if you (have) two to 200 investment properties you can pay the same tax as everyone else has to,” he said.

“You shouldn’t expect a handout from the Government for that.”

“For us there are three things that need to be done: One is winding back the handouts in a way that is fair. The second is (to) start to put caps on rent increases. We have that in the ACT at the moment.

“The third is (to) build more homes that can be rented out at affordable rates.”

Mr Sukkar warned in an earlier interview that a potential minority government with the Greens could provide Labor the opportunity to abolish negative gearing and change capital gains tax.

“If the government is planning to abolish negative gearing and change CGT after the election, they’ve just got to come clear with the Australian people. We know they’re itching to do it,” he told ABC Insiders.

“They went to two elections vehemently arguing for it, so we know they want to do it, and perhaps a minority government with the Greens will give them the opportunity to do what we know they want to do, and that’s abolish negative gearing and ultra CGT.”

Shadow housing Minister Michael Sukkar says Coalition aren’t “slaves to the polls” but understands the fight Peter Dutton has ahead of the May 3 poll.

Speaking on ABC Insiders he said the Coalition’s campaign was strategically timed and purposeful despite claims they had left policy announcements too late.

Mr Sukkar argued that Australians don’t fixate on politics months in advance.

“The truth is, in Australian politics ... you want to ensure that they are hearing the message at the time that they are focused on the election,” he said.

“I think the main series of policies that we’ve got are all out and all there to be ventilated.

“It’s now our duty to rinse and repeat those messages and try and ensure they hit as many ears as possible.

Despite dropping poll numbers, Mr Sukkar remained said “we’re in it to win it” and drew on parallels to Labor leader Bill Shorten’s surprising loss at the 2019 election.

“We’re in it to win it. I can assure you there’s no one on our side waving a white flag,” he said.

“If we, as we were, in the 2019 election, if we were slaves to polls, we would have given up then.”

Shadow housing Minister Michael Sukkar has hinted that the Coalition may make announcements on further support for homelessness services.

Speaking on ABC insiders on Easter Sunday, he said Coalition will maintain current funding and support structures for crisis accommodation.

When discussing Labor’s Housing Australian Future Fund’s $100 million for crisis accommodation, he stated that “any projects that are underway will continue, then that’s not going to be affected.”

“We’ll continue to support the National Action Plan, which we started in government ... We bought in place a program, the safe places program, which provides that sort of Crisis Accommodation,” he said.

“But also the former government channeled a huge amount of funding into community housing providers, most of which have dedicated and specific projects for that cohort.

“Any projects that are underway will continue, then that’s not going to be affected.

“Obviously, we’re very concerned with the Housing Australia Future Fund. It’s under performance. Firstly, its structure. Secondly, and we obviously have seen reports in recent days that the fund itself is in potentially difficult circumstances.”

Women over 55 are now the fastest-growing group experiencing homelessness in Australia, with the aftermath of relationship breakdowns often leaving older women without stable housing, especially when compounded by limited superannuation.

Mr Sukkar said the Coalition recognised that women are particularly vulnerable, especially with smaller superannuation balances.

“There’ll be a little more to say from the relevant shadow, Sussan Ley, over the next couple of weeks,” Mr Sukkar said.

“We’ll have a bit more to say, but I think we don’t want massive changes to what has been a relative level of continuity between governments, because these programs have a long lead time.”

From chocolate eggs to a BBQ breakfast and a few pats for the local dogs, Peter Dutton has kicked off his Easter Sunday in relaxed fashion.

The Opposition Leader is spending the day in his home state of Queensland, stopping by Sutton Park in Ipswich — in the electorate of Blair — alongside his wife Kirilly and LNP candidate Carl Mutzelburg.

Six-year-old Ralph the Spoodle enjoyed a pat from Mr Dutton as he made his way through the park.

It’s a slow day on the trail for Dutton, with no other public events scheduled.

Easter weekend, landing midway through the campaign, offers both major party leaders a chance to soften their image after a policy-heavy few weeks.

There’s just 14 days to go before the May 3 polling day.

Read the full story here.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has admitted she was wrong to claim Russia and China wanted to see Labor re-elected but insists the “substantive issue” of potential military discussions between Moscow and Jakarta remains.

“Look, I made a mistake. I’ve owned it. I corrected the record on becoming aware of that,” she told Sky News on Sunday. “And I think that’s the right thing to do in politics.”

Ms McKenzie then took aim at Labor frontbencher Murray Watt, accusing him of lying about Medicare funding and calling for greater honesty across the political divide.

“If Murray watt could own up to the fact that he is lying to the camera, to your face, and your viewers faces this morning about some Medicare campaign ... and the cuts that the future coalition government’s going to make, I think there’d be a lot more trust in politicians and in the political class.”

Her comments come amid ongoing fallout from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s false claim that the Indonesian President had made comments about Russia seeking access to an air base in Papua.

Asked whether such missteps raised questions about the Coalition’s credibility, Ms McKenzie stood firm.

“I did the right thing by admitting my mistake.. but the substantive issue remains. The military reports,” she said.

“The journalists that broke the story, about the discussions between Russia and Indonesia around the military base particularly for Russian fighter jets ... stand by their story.

“So the substantive issue remains, and that is why we continue to seek a briefing similar to the briefings that the coalition provided the Labor Party in the last election.

“And the question has to be asked, why won’t the government provide a simple briefing? If it’s that easy... if (it’s a) non issue, provide the briefing.”

Labor has dismissed the Coalition’s concerns as baseless, with Mr Watt earlier likening the request for a security briefing to demanding answers about the Loch Ness Monster.

Labor’s Murray Watt has accused the Coalition of “fabricating” reports that Russia sought to base military aircraft in Indonesia, saying the Opposition’s request for a security briefing was as absurd as demanding one on the Loch Ness Monster.

The story that first appeared on respected military site Janes and prompted a feud between the major parties on how much Australia knew about the alleged request by Moscow.

“The Opposition is asking for a briefing on something that doesn’t exist,” Watt told Sky News on Sunday.

“Peter Dutton ran his mouth off ... accusing the Indonesian President of making statements he did not make.”

It comes after denials from Jakarta, with Defence Minister Richard Marles saying Indonesian officials have rejected reports Russia had asked to park planes at a Papua air base.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie also faced heat after claiming Russia and China wanted to see Labor re-elected, a comment she later walked back.

“Bridget Mackenzie, took it one step further and made the accusation that China and Russia want to see the Labor government restored. And of course, had to embarrassingly walk that back when that was also shown to be a lie,” Mr Watt said.

“Until this week, I didn’t think it was possible for the coalition’s campaign to become even more shambolic than the work from home back down, which apparently is now back on the agenda.

“But now this week, we’ve seen that the prospective Australian prime minister have to apologize for fabricating a claim made by the Indonesian President.”

An open letter from 60 Australian economists has rejected the coalition’s nuclear energy plan, promoting instead the subsidising of household clean energy policies, including incentives for home battery storage.

The organiser of the letter, Gareth Bryant, an associate professor in political economy at the University of Sydney, says the letter is intended as an intervention in the election campaign.

“As economists, energy analysts and policy specialists we strongly support government investment in household clean energy and industrial electrification and not in nuclear energy,” the letter says.

It says simple household clean energy upgrades can deliver immediate cost-of-living benefits and reductions in carbon emissions, and electrification can safeguard the future of industrial jobs and the communities that rely on them.

Read the full story here.

“I can’t believe you took the time to come on my silly podcast.”

That was how Abbie Chatfield, the host of It’s a Lot started her recent interview with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The former reality TV star quickly corrected herself: “It’s not that silly . . . It’s actually very important.”

Chatfield, who has since emerged as the face of a national Greens campaign to “keep Dutton out”, was right the second time.

Australia is experiencing its first podcast election.

This Federal election is the first where Millennial and Gen Z voters — aged anywhere from 18 to mid-40s — outnumber baby boomers as the country’s biggest voting block.

Read Kate Emery’s story here.