Election 2025 live updates: Dutton tells Liberal campaign launch ‘Australia will become a nuclear powered nation’ and Coalition will again ‘stop the boats’

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Welcome to country being performed at Labor campaign launch

A welcome to country is now taking place at the Labor campaign launch in Perth. It’s worth noting, we did not see a welcome to country at the Liberal campaign launch.

Gillard the special guest at Labor campaign launch

The former prime minister Julia Gillard is the special guest at the Labor campaign launch, which is about to start.

She has just arrived to a standing ovation in the convention centre, taking a seat in the front row amongst senior cabinet ministers.

The venue is now playing a video montage highlighting Labor’s achievements in government. The soundtrack is a song with the lyrics “this is what we do”, pointing to investments in health, “fairer tax cuts”, and “improving the lives of every Australian”.

Labor campaign launch event about to begin in Perth

The Labor campaign launch event is about to begin in Perth. The room at this convention centre is filled with about 500 people, Labor sources said.

The front rows are filled with the expected frontbench cohort, including Richard Marles, Jim Chalmers, Katy Gallagher, Jason Clare and Penny Wong. We can also see the WA premier, Roger Cook, and the former Labor leader Kim Beazley.

Anthony Albanese’s son, Nathan, is also in the front.

Above a giant sign with Labor’s “building Australia’s future” slogan are large Australian, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander flags.

The venue is playing Australian rock classics like Jimmy Barnes and Powderfinger.

Dutton concludes speech with call to get Australia ‘back on track’

Wrapping up his speech, Peter Dutton ends with these words:

We live in the best country in the world, but our country has gone backwards because of this bad government. Australians can’t afford three more years like the last three. This election is about your future. It is about your family’s future, and it is about our country’s future …

I stand before you as a former police officer, as someone who started and successfully ran a number of small businesses, as a parliamentarian and a minister with 23 years experience across economic, national security and social portfolios. I’m ready to serve Australians as the strong prime minister and steady hand our country needs, and I lead a united and capable team. We are ready to govern. This is a pivotal election that will shape our future …

Australians, let’s make sure that we can get this great country that we love back on track.

Dutton says Coalition will ensure classroom place of ‘education not indoctrination’

Moving to education, Peter Dutton said education standards “have been in decline [and] it’s not an issue of funding”.

We’re now at a point where we know it’s not a funding issue. The issue is what’s being taught in our institutions. A Coalition government is committed to ensuring that classrooms are places of education – not indoctrination …

Under a Liberal Party that I lead, under a Coalition government that David Littleproud and I lead, our government will never be a substitute for parents and for parenting. We believe in the sanctity of parents and the role that they have in raising their children.

Coalition will conduct ‘full audit’ on funding for Indigenous programs, Duttom pledges

Peter Dutton said Jacinta Price would conduct a “long overdue, full audit” on government spending for Indigenous programs.

We will identify what’s working and what’s not. We will re-introduce measures that we know in government worked, in consultation with communities, particularly where drugs and alcohol are prevalent. We will hold a royal commission into sexual abuse in Indigenous communities.

It’s worth noting there is no evidence to support a royal commission on this issue.

Dutton says Coalition will announce ‘significant’ defence investment soon

Peter Dutton said the Coalition would soon announce a “significant investment into defence”.

We must equip our military at speed and scale. In these uncertain times, that is just not an option. It’s a necessary investment in our security, in deterring aggression and in maintaining peace. And only a Coalition government can deliver that for today’s generation, and for generations to come.

Dutton says Albanese made Port of Darwin announcement on radio after learning of Coalition’s plans

Peter Dutton said the Coalition would return the Port of Darwin to an Australian government-approved operator.

He claimed that Anthony Albanese heard the Coalition was planning to make this announcement and called ABC Radio Darwin “after a couple of wines”, and “tried to fumble his way through the interview to say what he was going to do, how tough he was, how he was going to take the Port of Darwin back”.

The trouble for him was that the journalist who took the call knew a little more about the subject than he did, and it started to unravel very quickly, and that interview didn’t end very well. And it demonstrated to me, and I think to the Australian public, that this prime minister does things on the run. He’s always late to whatever needs to be attended to.

Dutton declares that the Coalition will ‘stop the boats’

Peter Dutton has been speaking about reducing crime and received applause after saying the Coalition would “stop the boats”. He said:

My government will work with states and with the territories, and we will reduce crime in neighbourhoods, in suburbs, in towns, in cities around this great country. Under Labor, the people smugglers have resumed their trade. A Coalition government, again, will stop the boats.

There are three former prime ministers in this country who I’ve learnt a lot from in stopping the boats. We will stop them, I promise you, and we will make sure that we stop Labor’s bad policies, providing encouragement for people to hop on boats to come to our country.

Dutton said there is a “right and wrong way to come to this country, and we will make sure that we enforce the rule of law”.

Dutton unveils Coalition plan for first home buyers

Peter Dutton is now moving to the Coalition’s plan to allow first-time buyers of newly built homes to deduct mortgage payments from income taxes – as revealed by the ABC earlier today.

He outlined the plan as follows:

A Coalition government will allow you to deduct interest payments on the first $650,000 of a mortgage against your taxable income. We will allow these deductions for five years, provided you continue to live in that home for that period. This policy will be available to individuals with a taxable income of $175,000 or less, and joint applicants earning a combined income of $250,000 or less …

The announcement that we make today reflects the reality for young Australians. So we will be a government that restores the dream of home ownership for young Australians so that they can get on to the property ladder.

Dutton blames migration for housing crisis

Moving to housing, Peter Dutton is now taking aim at migration numbers, saying there is a “big difference between controlled, planned and sustainable migration, and uncontrolled, unplanned and unsustainable migration”.

In opening the migration flood gates, Labor has put more pressure on infrastructure, more pressure on services and, certainly, more pressure on housing.

The opposition leader outlined several measures the Coalition would take, including:

We’ll ban foreign investors and temporary residents from purchasing existing homes for two years. We will lower the permanent migration program by 25% for two years, and we’ll keep it sustainable ongoing. We’ll bring the number of new foreign students commencing higher education in our country down by 30,000 each year, and our cap will focus on major Metropolitan universities.

Is migration really to blame? Our economics editor has investigated this claim below:

Dutton says Coalition will deregister CFMEU if elected

Peter Dutton said a Coalition government would “defund the activist-led environmental defence office that stymied projects across the country”.

We will halve the project approval times, and we will tackle the criminal elements in our building industry … We will put a stop to this modern day Mafia in the form of the CFMEU, and we will deregister that organisation … We will reinstate the building watchdog, which was abolished by Labor when they came into power.

Australia would become ‘nuclear-powered nation’ under Coalition, Dutton says

Peter Dutton is now speaking about the Coalition’s nuclear policy and promises that Australia would become a “nuclear-powered nation” under the Coalition if elected.

With nuclear power there is no need carpet our national parks, our prime agricultural land and coastlines with industrial, solar and windfarms, or 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines …

Our economy has stagnated under the Albanese governments excessive and interference, privatising the agendas of inner-city Green voters, activists and union bosses, as they always do. Labor has used every tool at their disposal to target sectors critical for our economies.

It has gone after miners, small businesses, farmers, fishers and foresters, from Tasmania to Western Australia, and when these industries suffer, we all suffer. My intention is to make Australia a mining, agricultural and manufacturing powerhouse once again.

Dutton touts Coalition’s gas policy

Now moving to energy, Peter Dutton has labelled Labor’s “renewables only” approach as “disastrous”.

(A reminder – Labor has a future gas strategy, so it is not taking a renewables-only approach.)

Dutton has been outlining the Coalition’s gas policy, saying:

To reduce energy prices for Australians, a Coalition government will ensure that Australians have our gas to use here in Australia, to bring prices down. We will immediately introduce an east coast gas reservation. We will audit and green light new gas development projects right across the country and decouple the domestic market from overseas markets.

Coalition would ‘abolish Labor’s super tax’: Dutton

Peter Dutton said a Coalition government would “abolish Labor’s super tax”.

There will be no increase to capital gains tax. There will be no inheritance tax, and a Coalition government will always deliver lower, simpler and fairer taxes.

Dutton touts abolishing of ‘car and ute tax’ and tax cut policy

Peter Dutton has now been touting the Coalition’s plan to abolish the “car and ute tax” that some carmakers say will drive up the price of popular vehicles.

He said the Coalition would provide “choice” for Australians to “purchase whatever vehicle they want in our great country”.

If you want to purchase an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, that is perfectly within your right to do so, and good luck. If you want to buy a diesel or petrol vehicle, that is entirely your decision to make.

Dutton also highlighted the Coalition’s tax cut announced today, saying:

This will help people when they need help. These tax cuts will save families with two incomes as much as $2400. They will work in concert with our immediate fuel tax cut and with our plan to lower Australians’s power bills, which I will come to.