Greens campaign signs defaced with offensive graffiti – as it happened (2025)

Many thanks for joining us on the blog for another day on the campaign trail – here are all the main takeaways from today:

• Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton largely paused campaigning today in a mark of respect for the late Pope Francis, who died last night aged 88.

• Albanese attended mass at Melbourne’s St Patrick’s Cathedral to pay tribute in the morning, and said Pope Francis would be “recorded in history as one of the most significant of all of the holy fathers”.

• Dutton, meanwhile, attended mass at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral in the afternoon.

• The governor general, Sam Mostyn, may represent Australia at the pope’s funeral.

• Labor announced it would help protect victim-survivors of domestic violence from financial abuse through tax, superannuation and social security debts.

• The Coalition announced it would relaunch a regional grants program that provided Liberal-held seats with twice as many grants as Labor electorates.

• Dutton faced questions on his personal popularity in the latest polls, but said “today is not the day for politicking.”

• Just $16.5m of Labor’s promised $1bn mental health package – or 1.65% – is due to be spent in the next financial year, according to official policy costings.

• Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots party will investigate the alleged “tampering” of how-to-vote cards after claiming an unnamed party had “interfered” with the minor party’s seat preferences.

• Early voting officially began across the country.

But that’s not all for today – the third leaders’ debate will begin at 7.30pm AEST, and I will bring you all the key takeaway’s in a separate live blog tonight, so make sure to stay tuned.

Dramatic rescue after rock climbing fall

Moving away from the campaign for a moment, and two people have been rescued while rock climbing at a national park in central NSW.

Footage of the dramatic rescue, released by NSW police, shows a 47-year-old woman, who had fallen while climbing, and an 80-year-old man, being hauled to safety in the Warrumbungle national park.

The pair activated a personal locator beacon after the woman slipped while climbing near Grand High Tops lookout last night.

Blue Mountains police rescue conducted a “vertical rescue” with PolAir, Toll Ambulance Rescue helicopter and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service about 8.30am this morning.

The woman was airlifted to Dubbo Base hospital with suspected broken ribs, and the man was uninjured.

Orana Mid-Western police district acting superintendent Paul Stephens said the operation represented a concerted multi-agency effort to rescue the two rock climbers safely.

This is a hugely positive outcome that is testament to the great work of all involved, particularly given the difficult terrain. We want to thank our emergency services partner agencies and volunteers for all they have done.

View all the latest polling results with our poll tracker

As the federal election approaches, political polls are coming thick and fast. You can stay up to speed with all the latest results using our poll tracker, below:

Chaney on the prospect of minority government

Asked about the prospect of a minority government, Kate Chaney argued that neither major party had “done anything that would reverse the long-term trend of declining primary support for those parties”.

I think people are really starting to come around to the idea that a balanced parliament may actually be the best chance we have to drive better long-term thinking and policy that is based on what we need rather than party ideology. I certainly am getting good strong signs from my community, but it is definitely going to be close.

Chaney says her electorate wants to protect nature and have job security for decades ahead

As a Western Australian-based MP, Kate Chaney was asked whether people in her electorate support the Coalition’s gas policy.

She said WA has amazing resources – but also “amazing natural features”, saying there is “a strong sense that people want to protect nature”.

There is a strong sense that people want to protect nature and also a broader awareness that as the world decarbonises we need to have an economic base that continues to be prosperous.

So that is what I hear from constituents here, is they want to know where are the jobs going to be in 10, 20, 30 years and make sure we are boldly moving towards that economy rather than holding on to the economy of the past.

Chaney argues Dutton is losing ‘women in modern electorates’

Kate Chaney, the independent MP for Curtin, is also up on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing this afternoon.

She was asked about the latest Newspoll out today, suggesting women are abandoning Peter Dutton – is that something she has observed in the last couple of weeks of campaigning?

Chaney responded that “I don’t think a Peter Dutton-led Liberal government is doing any more for women than a Scott Morrison-led Liberal government did”.

There are a lot of women in my electorate who don’t feel that the level of compassion or kindness that they would like to see in politics is reflected in what they see coming out of the Liberal party, so that polling would not surprise me.

It is not just women who think that, but I think there is a broader sense of dissatisfaction as we see Peter Dutton take the party further to the right and further towards a Trump approach to politics.

I think he is really losing women in modern electorates like mine who are much more interested in the centre and have a strong sense of equality.

Bandt responds to Santos winning final approval for Barossa gas project

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, has responded to earlier news that Santos has received federal approval to commence production from its Barossa offshore gasfield off the coast of NT.

You can read all the details on this below from Lisa Cox:

In a post to X earlier this afternoon, Bandt wrote:

Labor has lit the fuse on a giant climate bomb, approving one of the world’s dirtiest gas projects that will emit hundreds of tonnes of pollution and put a safer climate out of reach.

Labor are climate charlatans and the Liberals are climate criminals, talking up renewables while opening up coal and gas, and we can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result.

Greens election corflutes have been defaced with swastikas and Islamophobic slurs in what the party says is the “tip of the iceberg” of the racism and hate it is facing during the campaign.

The NSW Greens senator, Mehreen Faruqi, and the Greens’ candidate in the inner-west Sydney seat of Grayndler, Hannah Thomas, have had swastikas drawn on election posters in Erskineville and Stanmore respectively.

Another one of Faruqi’s posters in Chester Hill was vandalised with the words “Arab muslims have kill (sic) more Palestinians than Israel”.

In a statement to Guardian Australia, Faruqi – who is the Greens’ deputy leader and anti-racism spokesperson – said:

The Greens are being targeted by a toxic mix of racists, Islamophobes and the far right because we are standing up against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Defacing election material is just the tip of the iceberg of hate, racism and attacks.

Our movement is bigger than the narrow minded and cowardly racists who target our election materials. This is an attempt to silence our supporters who proudly take part in our democratic process and it will not work.

Moving away from the election campaign for a moment: the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s banking app is down for customers and the company says it is investigating an outage.

The outage commenced before 3.15pm AEST.

In an update on its website, CBA said it was “aware some customers are experiencing difficulties accessing some of our services” and it was being urgently investigated.

The Netbank app currently does not load account information when opened.

CommBank later confirmed both the CommBank and Netbank apps were affected, but other services including ATMs, online and in-person payments were still working.

Asked if he expects a swing in his seat, given what is occurring in Gaza, Tony Burke responded:

Up until this morning at 8am, every single candidate had zero against their name. So I don’t take anything for granted and I always work on the basis that you have got to really scramble and fight for every vote that might be there.

One thing in the how to vote that surprised me was when you went through those numbers, [Muslim Votes Matter] put the Clive Palmer party Trumpet of Patriots above me as well, so I look at their policies and I can’t for the life of me work out what the logic is in that preference vote.

Burke was also asked about the fact that in Anne Aly’s seat, the Muslim Votes Matter how-to-vote card has placed her after the Liberal candidate. Burke responded:

I think when they are trying to take out the only Muslim woman in the parliament*, I think that will actually have more impact on how the campaign is viewed.

(*Burke clarified a moment later that he meant to say the House of Representatives, not all of parliament)

Burke asked about Muslim Votes Matter preferencing him fifth in seat of Watson

Tony Burke said this election campaign had been “the most aggressive campaign I have had by a long way.” He was asked about reports he left an event due to safety concerns, and said:

I don’t blame any of the other candidates for that … That particular WhatsApp message was with respect to issues around Palestine.

Burke said he attended a pre-poll centre in Bankstown today and had two separate conversations with voters – one person from Gaza, thanking Burke for what he has done on the matter, and another person who was more critical.

There are wildly different views that you get from different people on these issues and understandably there will be a whole lot of passion …

In his seat of Watson, the Muslim Votes Matter have preferenced Burke fifth on their how to vote card, above the Liberals. Asked if this means he is likely to retain his seat, Burke responded, “who knows.”

I have never taken ever granted. No matter what you are told your seat is on paper you have to treat every seat as marginal. I’ve always done that and I think most members of Parliament have done that.

Burke says tonight’s debate will be ‘a bit more subdued’

Tony Burke was also asked about the significance of the election campaigning being paused today, amid Pope Francis’ death.

Burke said there was a “real generosity from Australians in a moment like this” and it was important political leaders hear this.

So I was really glad when it was decided that you wouldn’t have the same sort of partisan conversations during the day today. And while the debate still going ahead, the tone of it, certainly, we can expected to be a bit more subdued.

Asked why the debate wasn’t cancelled, Burke said he wasn’t involved in those conversations.

I don’t think you need to say there will be no political conversation … And obviously any of the aggression of that is not happening at all during the day today, but tonight it will sort of be a bit of a reset once the debate takes place.

Burke said “you don’t get knockout punches in these sorts of debates”, but rather it is a chance for Australian’s to better understand each leader’s plans.

Burke reflects on Pope Francis’ legacy

The home affairs minister, Tony Burke, has been speaking with ABC Afternoon Briefing this afternoon to reflect on Pope Francis’ legacy after news of his death.

Burke agreed with Anthony Albanese’s earlier comments that the Pope would be recorded in history as one of the most significant holy Fathers, and said:

This particular holy Father has been extraordinary in that pastoral role of trying to find people who would be considered on the fringes and making sure they feel welcomed and brought back in …

There was a real pastoral role that he played I think has made a lot more people feel included, and I think after the church had been through some really really difficult years, a lot of people were able to turn back a bit more hope.

Burke said he did not meet Pope Francis but did, as immigration minister, did issue him a visa.

Shortly after I became a minister for immigration after the reshuffle, the brief arrives to sign off for a visa to Australia for his Holiness Pope Francis, so I signed that. At some point that will exist somewhere within [the] archives but that is the closest connection that I have had in that way with him.

Pictures from the remote pre-poll centre at Pirlangimpi on Melville Island

As we’ve flagged earlier, pre-polling has opened across the country today – including at the remote polling station at Pirlangimpi on Melville Island in the Northern Territory.

The Australian Electoral Commission says remote voting teams “usually consist of three to four polling officials”:

They travel by car, plane, helicopter, or boat to many remote communities to collect people’s votes. Many of the places these teams visit are in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Queensland. Teams visit hundreds of remote communities nation-wide, many of these being remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Here are some photos from Melville Island today:

After a brief Easter weekend pause in campaigning, things are revving back up.

And while there are two more leadership debates still to take place, voters are going to start switching off — early voting opened today, and with the Australian Election Commission estimating around half of voters will cast their ballot early, the parties need to home in on their messaging asap.

Krishani Dhanji catches you up on the campaigns with 11 days to go until 3 May:

Candidates’ support for foreign aid highlighted ahead of election

The Australian Council for International Development (Acfid) is continuing to call on all parties and candidates to commit to increasing Australia’s aid budget from 0.65% to 1% of the federal budget, in the lead-up to the election.

Acfid has today launched a podcast episode with the international development minister, Pat Conroy, the deputy leader of the Greens, Mehreen Faruqi, and Warringah’s independent MP, Zali Steggall, highlighting each of their positions on foreign aid.

In a statement, Acfid said the Coalition declined to appear on the podcast. The organisation’s interim CEO, Matthew Maury, said:

As the election date approaches, Acfid continues to call on all parties and candidates to commit to increasing Australia’s aid budget from 0.65% to 1% of the federal budget.

We can address our domestic challenges and support our neighbours simultaneously. The same factors driving the cost-of-living crisis here are causing severe poverty and instability abroad.

By lifting our modest aid budget from 0.65% to just 1% of the federal budget, we can strengthen regional stability, unlock new economic opportunities, and still ensure that 99% of the budget remains focused on domestic priorities.

Santos wins final approval for Barossa gas project as environment advocates condemn ‘climate bomb’

Santos has received federal approval to commence production from its Barossa offshore gas field off the coast of the Northern Territory.

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema) decided to accept the environment plan for the project’s production operations. It marks the final approval required for the project, clearing the way for the gas giant to extract and pipe the gas to Darwin.

The development is projected to add more than 270m tonnes of heat-trapping CO2 to the atmosphere over its life once the gas is sold and burnt overseas. Gavan McFadzean, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s climate change and clean energy program manager, said:

This is Australia’s dirtiest gas project and it should never have been given the green light.

You can read the full story on this below: