Turnbull says negative gearing ‘examined by every government’ – as it happened

That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today – many thanks for being with us. Here are all the main takeaways from day 21 on the campaign trail: Peter Duttonclarified his stance on climate change after saying “I’m not a scientist” when asked if we are seeing the impacts of climate change during last night’s debate. He told reporters today: “I believe in climate change and that is a reality”. Anthony Albanesesaid he had been “stunned” by the opposition leader’s comments, adding: “I don’t know what it takes to give a wake-up call to the Coalition.” The treasurer,Jim Chalmers, said negative gearing changes were “not something that we are proposing” – and that the government gets “advice from the Treasury on issues that are in the public domain”. This comes after Albanese said during last night’s debate the governmenthad not commissioned modelling on negative gearing. Dutton, however,repeated his claimthat Labor wants to make changes to negative gearing – something it hasruled out. Former MPMalcolm Turnbullalso weighed in and saidnegative gearing is examined by every government. Jacinta Nampijinpa Pricehasdoubled downon her “make Australia great again”comment from last weekendin an opinion piece for the Australian. Bridget McKenzie, who’s yesterday walked backcomments she madeto the ABC on Russia and China, misidentified which Chinese leader called the PM a “handsome boy”on breakfast television this morning. The Coalition announced a $260m plan to establish 12 new technical colleges to get students from years 10 to 12 learning trades, as itattacked fee-free Tafe. Dutton said he wants toend bracket creep by indexing personal income rates– calling this an “aspiration” rather than a firm promise. Australia’s unemployment rateremained at a low 4.1%in March. Thanks for following along today, and enjoy your long weekend. 1.7 million people watched last night’s leaders’ debate The second leaders’ debate held on the ABC last night was watched by 1.7 million people across live TV and streaming on iview, according to ABC figures. The Insiders: Debate Analysis Special which followed last night’s event had a national TV audience of 748,000. The debate, which was also available live in Auslan on ABC iview, was also listened to on ABC Local Radio and ABC News Radio, and across the day the ABC News website and app had 2.2 million users. There were 167,000 live streams on the ABC News YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok accounts. ABC managing directorHugh Markssaid: The ABC was honoured to host such a significant national conversation and to be able to put the questions and concerns of Australians directly to our leaders. We can see that people tuned in to the debate on TV, radio or online wherever they were in the country. Paterson asked about Turnbull’s tweet on negative gearing James Patersonwas also asked aboutMalcolm Turnbull’stweet earlier today, saying that “negative gearing is examined by every government”. The opposition has been asking questions about whether Labor investigated negative gearing – did this also happen when there was a Coalition government? Paterson responded: Well, I’m not asking for the prime minister not to consider negative gearing. If that’s what he wants to do he’s welcome to do that. What I’m asking is the prime minister be honest about it, and clearly he wasn’t honest about it in the debate last night. He said his government did not seek any advice from Treasury on this issue. His own treasurer standing next to him today had to admit in fact they did seek advice on this. When a smooth talker likeJim Chalmerscan’t find a way to extricate the prime minister from his lie, I think that speaks volumes. Paterson argued that the PM had “lied about tax before,” pointing to changes to the stage-three tax cuts. But does he support the idea that governments ask for different advice, just like the Turnbull government did? Paterson replied: Yes, governments seek advice. When they do so, they should be honest about it, and the prime minister hasn’t been. Paterson asked if Coalition should be held to this same standard? Continuing from our last post:James Patersonwas asked if the Coalition should be held to this same standard – withPeter Duttonmaking comments over the Indonesian president andBridget McKenziemaking claims about China and Russia. Paterson turned the focus back on Labor and said briefings on these matters would be helpful: I would be very grateful if the government would abide by the caretaker conventions and provide the briefings so the opposition has an equal picture about what is going on here. He was pressed on the question again – should there be this same obligation on the Coalition – and said: Of course there’s an obligation on all of us to get the facts rightand to be informed of the fact, none more so than the prime minister. Paterson continued, arguing that politicians are thrown questions during an election and need to respond to breaking news, often with “incomplete pictures”. Occasionally people misspeak, it’s not unknown in government or in opposition.But one thing that would be helpful – and I think in the national interest – is to make sure we have access to those briefings so we have an equal opportunity to be informed about things being developed. Paterson defends Coalition commentary when asked if it should be more ‘cautious’ The Coalition’s campaign spokesperson,James Paterson, is also up on ABC Afternoon Briefing where he was asked if the Coalition needs to be more cautious with its commentary going forward, and not “jumping too quickly.” Paterson replied that it is “important that leaders in government get the details right.” I was concerned when the prime minister first said the Chinese government gave us adequate notice of the live-firing exercise in the Tasman Sea. That turned out not to be true. I was also concerned when he claimed he heard from the ADF around the same time he heard from the Virgin Australia pilot those exercises were being conducted. That subsequently turned out not to be true. And I was concerned when he said the Chinese research vessel was being tracked in the Australian waters by the Australian Defence Force, when it was in fact being tracked by the Australian Border Force. Scamps weighs in on negative gearing debate Asked if there needs to be reform to negative gearing in the next parliament,Sophie Scampssaid there was “broad agreement this country does need tax reform”. There’s a lot of issues that our tax reform needs to face. We need to do it holistically and do it all at once, not just picking off bits here and there … I think that debate around housing, people are genuinely concerned about where their children are going to live. I had a conversation with a dad this morning, he’s got four children in their 20s, they’re all still at home, and he doesn’t think they’ll be able to move out any time soon, or live on the Northern Beaches. It’s breaking up families and networks. We’re going to have a society where we don’t have the key workers that we need living in our suburbs. Teal independent reacts to Dutton’s comments on climate change The independent MP for Mackellar,Sophie Scamps, is up on ABC Afternoon Briefing to weigh in onPeter Dutton’s comments regarding climate change. She described his comments at last night’s debate as “concerning” and said he seemed to give an “evasive slippery answer”. In case you missed the debate: Dutton was asked if we are seeing the impacts of climate change, and answered that he is “not a scientist”. He clarified the comments at a press conference today and said “I believe in climate change and that is a reality”. On his comments last night, Scamps said: I think he was asked very specifically about climate change and how he would act on it. Instead he tried to fudge it and say he didn’t know what the weather was like in a particular place at a particular time.There is a very clear consensus globally about trends – not about weather – about global trends on climate.There is this consensus around global warming over our land, in our oceans, increased frequency and ferocity of extreme weather events. That’s irrefutable.To not come out and claim that was a bit slippery. Here is what Dutton said at last night’s debate: One expert has weighed in on the major parties housing policies, saying the discussion around cost has “largely overlooked” the need to improve the quality of existing housing. Dr Trivess More, an associate professor of the school of property, construction and project management at RMIT, said more support is needed in this election for retrofitting – AKA making a house more sustainable. He said this funding needs to “go beyond just funding solar panels and residential battery storage for households”. This is important given the majority of existing housing will still be here when we need to achieve our 2050 decarbonisation goals. Dr More said programs already exist to deliver this type of retrofit – through government support programs and tools like the residential scorecard. The problem is that not everyone can easily access this support and often renters and low-income households are overlooked or do not have the upfront resources to participate. Therecent announcement by the Victorian government to fund ceiling insulation retrofitis a good development, but we need more support from all levels of government to support an equitable retrofit revolution. Sex discrimination commissioner reacts to UK ruling on definition of woman Australia’s sex discrimination commissioner,Dr Anna Cody, has issued a statement of support for the transgender community after the UK supreme court ruled that trans women are not included as “women” under the UK’s Equality Act. Cody said that trans and gender diverse people “should be safe, respected and legally recognised”. The laws in the UK are not the laws of Australia.Our laws should reflect inclusion, respect and the right of all people to live with dignity. Trans and gender diverse people are a vital part of our community, and this moment reminds us that we must continue to advocate for the full enjoyment of human rights for all in our communities here in Australia, not retreat from it. Beachgoers urged to take care in the water over long weekend Moving away from the election campaign for a moment: Beachgoers in NSW are being urged to take care this long weekend, with warm conditions and hazardous surf forecast. Warm conditions are forecast across the state and a hazardous surf warning is also in place statewide. This Easter long weekend also coincides with the middle of school holidays, the minister for emergency services,Jihad Dib, noted in a statement. There are more than 20,000 volunteer lifesavers and lifeguards across the state, and I want to thank them for their contribution this holiday weekend and right across the summer. Volunteer lifesaver flags will come down across NSW on Sunday 27 April, at the end of the Anzac Day long weekend.