Federal election 2022 live updates: Jason Clare says Albanese was ‘standing up’ to Morrison’s ‘try-hard bully-boy stuff’ in debate

The religious discrimination bill became an issue over the weekend, with Scott Morrison saying he remained committed to passing it through the parliament, while also claiming gay students were not being expelled from religious schools.

Paul Karp covers that off here:

Jason Clare spoke on that too:

We support the introduction of legislation to deal with religious discrimination. I got to tell you – as somebody who represents a really multicultural part of Australia in the western suburbs of Sydney, you know, I know that people get discriminated against based on their faith, whether it’s the cross they wear around their neck or whether it’s the hijab that they wear in the streets, you know, I see and hear stories of people being discriminated against.

So we should be taking action there. But we should be good enough and capable enough to be able to do this in a way that deals with all sorts of discrimination and doesn’t discriminate others more by trying to solve one problem. You know, we should be able to do all of that and I fear that what the prime minister is doing here is trying to tackle one issue, not another.

One of the consequences of that, though, is he’s got a divided party. He’s got his own members here they’ll they cross the floor again.

But he also said there was no reason protections for LGBTIQ students can’t be done at the same time:

You know, remember – we have some of the highest rates of teenage suicide in the world. Some of the most vulnerable kids here that are affected by this debate are relying upon us to act with maturity, to act with a bit of wisdom here and I think it’s not beyond us as a parliament to do it.

Updated at 18.38 EDT

Jason Clare says Labor’s policy will have ongoing wider impacts:

There aren’t many jobs, aren’t many professions more important than a teacher. I think we can all think of a teacher that shaped our life, changed our life. A quick shoutout to Peter, Peter Valenti if you’re watching today, mate, I still keep in touch with Peter today. We still catch up a couple of times a year. Teachers can change your lives.

We got two challenges at the moment.

One, we got a general teach shortage. It’s expect that there’ll be a shortage of around 4,000 teachers within the next couple of years. And we’re not getting enough people who get the top marks in the HSC in their Atars going into teaching.

If you go back 30 years, then 30% of the people who got top marks went into teaching.

It’s now only about 3% and that’s in stark contrast to places like Finland as well as Singapore.

These financial payments are about encouraging more people to become teachers, because the evidence from the UK, the work the Grattan Institute has done, is if you can get our best and brightest to become teachers, then it flows on, it helps our young people, our children, to get better results and set them up for the future as well.

Updated at 18.36 EDT

Labor’s policy announcement today is on education, as Paul Karp reports:

High-achieving students who want to become teachers will be given at least $10,000 a year to study education under a Labor plan to improve teacher quality.

Under the policy, to be announced on Monday, 5,000 students with an Atar of 80 or more will receive the scholarship to study an education degree, with an extra $2,000 bonus a year for those who teach in a regional area.

Labor will aim to double the number of high achievers studying to become teachers over the next decade, from about 1,800 to 3,600 a year.

The package will cost $146.5m over four years, and includes an extra 1,500 places in high achieving teachers’ programs.

On the opinion polls, Jason Clare says:

My advice to you, and I know you don’t need it because you know this – is ignore the polls. Treat them with suspicion, they were wrong last time.

I suspect they’ll be wrong this time as well. I do think Australians are fed up … with Scott Morrison and his government. I think they’re sick of the lies and rorts and incompetence. The fact is Scott Morrison can’t visit a whole bunch of Liberal party electorates at the moment because he’s political kryptonite.

If he turns up in some of these teal seats, some of his members will keel over and go in the foetal position. He’s got a problem that most Australians have worked him out and don’t want him as prime minister of Australia. But the next two weeks are a big opportunity for us to tell the story about how we can build a better future for all, the whole bunch, of different policies to tackle the sort of problems that Aussies care about.

Updated at 18.22 EDT

Jason Clare says Albanese was ‘standing up’ to Morrison in debate

Jason Clare is continuing his role as the Labor party’s campaign spokesperson, where he has adopted an “everyman” persona to explain things. Here he is on the ABC talking about the debate:

One of the things that struck me, was it had all the hallmarks of that first US presidential debate that we saw a couple of years ago with Donald Trump just yelling and being rude. You saw that from Scott Morrison last night. I think that turns people off. All that try-hard bully-boy stuff, might work in the Liberal party, but didn’t work last night.

Yes, but Anthony Albanese yelled as well, Clare is told, to which he says:

You’ve got to push back. When someone’s trying to bully you or overpower you, you stand up to them.

That’s what those did last night. You come back with the facts, you come back with the truth. That’s Scott Morrison’s problem here – you had two leaders going head to head here, one of them had a plan to fix some of the problems that we have in this country, the other just had a pack of excuses which shouldn’t surprise us. That’s been – that’s been Scott Morrison’s stocking trade for the last three year.

Anthony Albanese and shadow housing minister Jason Clare (left). Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Updated at 18.27 EDT

Bob Katter warns Australians could become a ‘vanishing race’ if they don’t procreate more

There is a world where Bob Katter could be one of the MPs holding the balance of power in the lower house. Hopefully not this one, but if the multiverse theory is true, then that universe exists.

Today he is worried about Australians being a “vanishing race”.

The Katter’s Australian party (KAP) MP says Australians are a vanishing race of people, and we must pull policy levers to encourage people to have families.

Double income no kids (DINKS) couples are paying tax at the same rate as families with a stay-at-home wife or husband and three kids. How can anyone consider this to be fair.

Income tax splitting should be legalised for families with a single income and children, and prorated down for less deserving situations. The income earner should be able to split their income with the number of people dependant on that income (whether that be their spouse and the number of children they have under 18).

…This policy will encourage people to have children.

It is an imperative because otherwise we will vanish as a race of people.

I’m saying have one for Mum, one for Dad, one for Australia and one for Bob.

The member for Kennedy, Bob Katter. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

Updated at 18.15 EDT

ACTU ups wage claim as inflation tipped to hit 5.5%

Unions are seeking a $2,200 per year rise in the minimum wage, upping their demands as surging inflation reduces workers’ pay in real terms.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions had originally asked for a 5% rise but will now ask the Fair Work Commission for 5.5%, less of an ambit claim now inflation is tipped to hit 5.5% by mid year and 6% by year’s end.

As runaway inflation has already triggered a mid-election campaign interest rate rise, cost-of-living pressures and wage stagnation have emerged as the most important issues for voters ahead of the 21 May election.

Unions have responded by increasing pay demands in the understaffed aged care sector and in state public services, subject to a 2.5% pay rise cap that amounts to a real wage cut.

In the minimum wage case, which sets the pay of 2.7m workers, the ACTU is now asking for the hourly rate to rise from $20.33 to $21.45.

The ACTU’s earlier claim was lodged in late March, after the Morrison government’s budget predicted inflation would peak at 4.25% mid-year.

The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, said “a 5.5% increase is what is now needed just to ensure people tread water, anything less has them drowning in bills”.

“Scott Morrison’s government’s submission to the Fair Work Commission is silent on backing a pay increase that keeps up with the cost of living.

“Instead it dedicates a whole section to the benefits of low-paid work.”

Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Sally McManus. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

In the earlier round of submissions, the Australian Industry Group called for a 2% increase, or $15.45 a week to the minimum wage.

The Restaurant and Catering Industry Association called for no increase in the minimum wage, arguing take-home pay is already rising due to job shortages, on top of super increases and budget giveaways.

Updated at 17.54 EDT

OK

Both leaders ended Sunday in Sydney, so they could take part in the debate.

They’ll be off pretty early this morning – we’ll let you know where as soon as it’s confirmed

Good morning

There are 12 days to go until election day. Twelve days of campaigning, commentary and complaints. Polls open today though, so if you’ve made up your mind, you can vote and tune out for the rest of the campaign.

It’s the morning after the leaders’ debate the night before and anyone who was unlucky enough to watch it is probably still wondering what happened. There was shouting. There was 60 seconds to answer each question. There was more shouting. Scott Morrison said he’d never seen corruption.

Morrison was declared the winner, then Albanese was declared the winner, then it was a tie. But really, anyone who didn’t watch it was the real winner.

There’s one more to go on Wednesday.

The debate happened just as the AFR published an Ipos poll showing Labor remained in an election-winning lead and the Australian published a Newspoll showing the same thing.

There is still just under two weeks though and don’t be surprised if individual electorates throw up some wildcards. As has been said many times before and by people much smarter than me, this is an election without a national mood. The last couple of years impacted people differently, depending on which state they lived in. That fracturing will play a role. So it’s going to be slugged out seat by seat. And that’s before you even get to the impact of independents and minor parties.

We’ll be sure to cover it all for you, with Katharine Murphy (still recovering from whatever it was she watched late last night) Paul Karp, Sarah Martin, Daniel Hurst and Josh Butler all here to help you make sense of it. You have Amy Remeikis on the blog for most of the day.

Ready? Sames. But alas, we must get into it.

Updated at 17.46 EDT