Election 2022 live updates: Stuart Robert says ‘too late’ to debate Tanya Plibersek on education; prepoll voting rush; 49 Covid deaths

Nuclear safety “must be part of our DNA” as Australia acquires nuclear-powered submarines, according to the head of the submarine taskforce, Vice Admiral Jonathan Mead.

Addressing the Royal Australian Navy’s sea power conference in Sydney today, Mead said the plan to acquire at least eight nuclear-propelled submarines “does represent a substantial capability leap for Royal Australian Navy and will allow Australia to become a far more capable partner in the Indo-Pacific region”.

But Mead – who is working with the US and the UK on an 18-month study into how it can be done – also said the task ahead was “very significant”. Mead was at pains to reassure all partners about Australia’s commitment to nuclear non-proliferation (a point that has been a concern to countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia):

To be clear, I am talking about nuclear propulsion technology: Australia is not [seeking] and will not seek nuclear weapons.

Mead said Australia must demonstrate “an unwavering commitment to safe and secure stewardship of nuclear propulsion technology”:

This commitment, this nuclear mindset, must be part of our DNA …

Our mindset must reflect an unwavering commitment to safely and securely stewarding nuclear propulsion technology from cradle to grave. This nuclear mindset must permeate the culture of the entire Australian nuclear-powered submarine enterprise. It must manifest in every day to day activity now and into the future, whether an individual is working in our supply chain, a welder in the shipyard or personnel working in the operational headquarters. This is the work we are progressing – it is not just about the platform we will acquire.

Mead went on to say the Australian public must demand such standards:

I expect, I demand that the Australian public will hold the defence force [and] the task force to the absolute high standards of safety and security when it comes to nuclear-propulsion technology, as they must, and that we must achieve the gold standard on safety and security all the way through. And we must do that before we go forward in the very final phases of the programme. I see safety and security underpinning everything we do.

Mead also mentioned the “deteriorating strategic circumstances” which led to Australia’s decision to pursue a nuclear-powered submarine capability. He said 2020 Australian defence strategic update highlighted how military modernisation in the Indo-Pacific was occurring at an unprecedented rate.

Updated at 04.00 EDT

Today’s election briefing from Josh Butler has dropped, and it’s a real croc:

Elias Visontay gave us a bit of a teaser on this earlier, now he’s intercepted more information on Australia’s spy agency’s plans:

Further to the fascinating to and fro, below, between the ABC’s Fran Kelly and acting education minister, Stuart Robert, in which he claimed it’s “too late” to debate his shadow, Tanya Plibersek:

Updated at 03.12 EDT

Xenophon nominates water and the Murray-Darling Basin plan, gambling and the gambling lobby, and the structure of the NDIS as policy issues he’s keen to tackle if he gets a South Australian senate spot. He also says he supports defence spending, as long as it’s done properly:

We [need to make sure we] spend money wisely, and we also need to grow the pie. That involves productivity, that involves looking at Australia’s place in the world, in terms of economic complexity, which is hovering around Kazakhstan in terms of what we manufacture and how sophisticated our economy is.

Updated at 02.58 EDT

Nick Xenophon, who is both a former and an aspiring senator, is on the ABC. On running as an independent at the upcoming election, he says:

I am doing this not so much on a shoestring but a dental floss budget.

He once was lost, but now he’s found. Alan Tudge turns up, transport is on the cards, and Daniel Hurst and Jane Lee look at defence secrecy. Yes, it’s your Campaign catchup:

Updated at 02.52 EDT

Has today’s suburban rail announcement put you in a deja vu loop? Benita Kolovos looks at the history of the project:

Robert also says it’s “too late in the game” to accept an invitation to debate his shadow, Tanya Plibersek. It’s also Tuesday, he says. Voting has started. The last debate is on Wednesday.

(I’m just reporting what he said, I’m not going to try to explain it.)

Updated at 02.57 EDT

Kelly asks Robert:

The prime minister said that gender reassignment surgery is a significant issue that parents are concerned about. In this country, gender reassignment surgery is not available to adolescents and is only available to people over the age of 18. Is the prime minister misleading people? Is this an issue?”

Robert says it’s a “sensitive topic” and he thinks there may have been court decisions that allowed people under 18 to access surgery.

“A conversation is trying to be had,” he says:

Seek first to understand before being understood. Seek to understand the position that Australians find themselves in and let your words be seasoned with a bit of grace.

Updated at 02.29 EDT

The Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary, Sally MacManus, has been talking about the wage rises mentioned earlier, and says “any minimum wage increase below the inflation rate is a wage cut”.

The employment minister, Stuart Robert, has followed her on the ABC. He’s saying the Fair Work Commission will just make an independent decision and (I’m paraphrasing) there’s nothing the government can do about it.

Fran Kelly asks him: “But what does the government believe in?”

“An independent Fair Work Commission,” Robert replies.

Updated at 02.24 EDT