Peter Dutton makes big pitch to voters’ hip pockets in budget reply
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised Australians cheaper electricity bills as a key plank of a wide-ranging budget reply Thursday night that sets up an election fight over the cost of living.
However Dutton’s much anticipated speech was overshadowed by speculation Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to call the federal election as soon as Friday.
By early Friday, that had been confirmed. Albanese topped an early-morning visit to Governor-General Sam Mostyn with an announcement of a May 3 election.
“In uncertain times, we cannot decide the challenges that we will face, but we can determine how we respond,” he said back at Parliament House shortly after.
“Our government has chosen to face global challenges the Australian way – helping people under cost-of-living pressure, while building for the future. Because of the strength and resilience that our people have shown, Australia is turning the corner.
“Now on 3 May, you choose the way forward.”
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In an indication of where the Coalition means to fight for votes, Dutton outlined his vision for the country in his budget reply speech, including a national gas plan to bring down power prices.
“This plan will prioritise domestic gas supply, address shortfalls, and reduce energy prices for Australians,” he said in his speech to parliament.
The Coalition would establish an east-coast gas reserve to safeguard 10-20 per cent of demand and approval times will be halved in a bid to pump more gas into the system.
It would also add gas to the capacity investment scheme, which underwrites funds in renewable energy projects such as wind, solar and batteries, and earmark $1 billion for a gas infrastructure fund to pay for pipelines and storage.
The Coalition would forgo $6 billion to slash the fuel excise by 25 cents a litre, making it about $14 cheaper for a tank for the average motorist, Dutton said in his budget reply speech.
He further pledged $50 million over four years for food charities to expand their services, including school breakfast programs.
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A Coalition government would slash spending to try to bring down inflation and lower interest rates, with $46 billion on the chopping block across Labor’s housing investment fund, renewable energy fund and critical mineral tax credits, Dutton said.
More than 40,000 public servants will also be axed to save a projected $7 billion. Dutton said frontline services would not be affected.
Energy prices are central to the Coalition’s pitch to voters. Photo: AAP
He also said permanent migration would be cut by 25 per cent to take pressure off housing and services.
Dutton also made community safety a focal point of his speech, saying he would toughen bail laws for domestic violence offenders and work with states and territories to introduce uniform knife laws.
The Coalition spend the final parliament sitting day before May’s federal election peppering the government with questions about cost of living and delayed tax cuts.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor pledged to repeal legislated tax cuts that would save taxpayers up to $268 in 2026-27 and up to $536 every financial year after – as Dutton called it “a shameless election vote-buying exercise”.
But Treasurer Jim Chalmers quickly went on the offensive.
“If the shadow treasurer cared about the cost of living, he wouldn’t be the first shadow treasurer in living memory to take to an election a policy to increase income taxes on every single Australian taxpayer,” he told parliament.
The government was also quick to point to previous comments from Dutton and Taylor about how cutting the fuel excise would be inflationary, costly and eaten up by oil companies.
Dutton’s pitch
- Halve fuel excise for 12 months
- Cut permanent migration by 25 per cent
- Introduce an east coast gas reserve for domestic use
- Slash government spending on clean energy and housing programs
- Increase small business instant asset write-offs to $30,000
- Allow first-home buyers to access their super for a deposit
- Fast-track a decision on a major gas project in northern Western Australia
- Deregister the CFMEU
- Train 400,000 apprentices and trainees across Australia and offer businesses $12,000 to support them for the first two years
- Invest $9.4 billion in health and lower co-payments for PBS medicines to $25
- Set aside an extra $400 million for youth mental health services
- Provide $50 million across four years for food charities
- Toughen bail laws for domestic violence offenders and enforce nationally consistent knife crimes
- Establish a dedicated antisemitism task force
