Federal election 2025: Peter Dutton claims Coalition convinced US to join AUKUS — as it happened

We will end our coverage here for today.

Thank you for joining us, we will be back to do it all again tomorrow!

In the meantime, you can check out the rest of today's online coverage at our Australia Votes page and you can try out the ABC's Vote Compass tool, to see how you align with the political parties.

See you tomorrow!

The Australian Electoral Commission has finalised the order of candidates on federal election ballot papers using a blindfold and numbered balls.

The randomised system is designed to keep the process fair for all candidates.

Friend of the blog Samantha Dick has more on what this system looks like in the story below:

Earlier today Anthony Albanese visited Rio Tinto in WA, here are some pics of his visit.

What does a blindfold, numbered balls and bingo have in common?

Democracy, of course!

Today the Australian Electoral Commission used all of the above to determine the order of candidates on ballot papers for the federal election. 

In a number of sombre ceremonies across the country staff used a caged collection of numbered balls to keep the process random, and fair.

The order on the ballot matters to candidates because of the 'donkey vote' which is when a voter numbers their ballot papers in order down the page, without paying attention to who they are voting for.

We'll know the results later this evening.

As an independent MP Spender says she would work with either of the major parties.

I have said I would provide confidence and supply to either of the major parties.

"I'm not going to be entering into any coalitions with either of the major parties but I would provide confidence and supply in the case of a minority government scenario if it was required," she told Afternoon Briefing's Patricia Karvelas.

"I will continue to do as I have done in this term,  is that I will treat each piece of legislation on its merits, look to the evidence, talk to the experts, talk to my community and vote on that basis".

Independent MP for Wentworth Allegra Spender was on Afternoon Briefing earlier this afternoon and was asked if she supported a review into AUKUS.

She says AUKUS is an important part of the country's defence strategy but she doesn't think there has been enough transparency with Australians.

I think that is one of the reasons why there is so many questions from the community about AUKUS because once it became bipartisan between the Coalition and the Labor Party, there wasn't a lot of scrutiny about it.

The UK Parliament has just undertaken a review of this and given how important it is as part of our defence strategy, I think it is appropriate to have that sort of parliamentary review, as I think it's important to have greater parliamentary scrutiny on defence more broadly.

Watt has been asked his thoughts on homophobia in Australia after homophobic slurs were made on banners targeting Labor MP Julian Hill.

"It's disgraceful PK and Julian is a great mate of mine. He's an incredible advocate and hard worker for his community."

"He's made an incredible contribution to our government. He's full of ideas, full of energy, exactly the kind of person you want in parliament.

"Neither he nor his loved ones should be subjected to that kind of vile abuse," Watt says.

"Homophobia remains a real issue in our community, unfortunately.

"We have made some really great strides forward, as a country in recent years, with marriage equality existing.

"I've been to wonderful weddings of gay couples in the last couple of years and it's great they finally have the right to marry their loved one," he says.

"Many in the community have taken a strong stand against homophobia but these kinds of events show it's not completely stamped out yet and there's more work to do".

Murray Watt has been asked if he think politicians are safe after Dutton was the subject of an alleged terror plot.

"I do think that politicians and leaders are safe in Australia, PK, and we never want to lose that."

He says despite this at different times politicians have had protection from the AFP,  including himself.

 "It hasn't helped that we do see a lot of the political debate, particularly online, happen in a completely unhinged way.

"I think it's right that we have that kind of protection in place.

"It's a terrible thing that Peter Dutton and his family have had to go through this experience.

"I know a number of politicians who have been through similar  experiences as well.

"It's why all of us in politics need to temper our language and not encourage the social disharmony we've seen out there in the community, especially over the last couple of years," Watt says.

Watt has now been asked about the Coalition's policy to cut public service jobs and how there will be "voluntary redundancies".

I think the problem with this policy for the Coalition, is that every day it's something different.

There's this lucky-dip policy when it comes to the Opposition about what they mean by their job cuts.

It started out being 41,000 immediate cuts and then when that proved unpopular, they said 'no' they'd move to a hiring freeze and natural attrition.

Today we learn that redundancies are back on the table.

God knows what they will come out with tomorrow, Watt says.

Employment Minister Murray Watt has been asked by Afternoon Briefing's, Patricia Karvelas if the Labor government and the PM are obsessed with Peter Dutton, after the opposition leader said earlier that they were.

Watt says Labor is focused on the cuts Dutton and his party want to impose.

 "Whether it be to wages, to jobs [or] to public services.

"That's what we're focused on and we think that is a big risk to Australians," Watt tells Karvelas.

He says he has been talking to people from Rockhampton, Maryborough and Bundaberg who provide public services out of those towns.

"Peter Dutton seems to think the public service only operates in Canberra.

"We've been talking to public servants who live in these towns all along the coast, they provide important services to their local communities and cutting them in the way that Peter Dutton is threatening to do, means regional Queenslanders will need to wait longer for pensions and NDIS packages."

It's time for Afternoon Briefing!

You can watch the show at the top of the blog.

The candidate cars are proliferating.

We are now in Canning Vale at petrol station number 7 of the campaign and this time Peter Dutton is arriving in a van marked with Tangney candidate Howard Ong's brand.

There's a second truck with Ong's face on it and then a third, an SUV.

There's also a truck with digital advertising of the party's promise to cut the fuel excise by 25 cents a litre for a year.

The party is starting to rack up quite the petrol bill at these stops.

Dutton and Ong chat briefly as they refill at the bowser — the candidate is challenging Labor MP Sam Lim, who holds Tangney with the thinnest margin in the state, but is also lauded within Labor for his door-knocking efforts.

Dutton then heads inside to buy a peppermint Magnum (it's hot here).

He then heads out and briefly speaks with the Liberal campaign bus driver, who he appeared to think was a member of the public.

It is a blistering 37 degrees in direct sunlight and the media pack following the prime minister are waiting for a press conference on site at Rio Tinto.

Staff are handing out electrolyte icy poles, which are melting the minute they are taken out of the esky.

Today's picture opportunity is all about the prime minister appealing to WA voters and showing his support for the resources industry.

The prime minister watched iron ore being put on a shiploader and onto the Mount Ossa, a ship destined for China. It was about half full and will carry 220,000 tonnes of iron ore when fully loaded.

He's been travelling around the site in a "Go West" mini bus.

Senator Penny Wong spoke earlier today in Brisbane to discuss what the extra $1 billion mental health support will mean if Labor is re-elected.

"If elected, we will establish a Medicare mental health centre in Everton Hills and this is in addition to the new mental health centre opening in Strathpine in the middle of this year," Wong says.

 Nationals Leader David Littleproud has visited flood-affected Thargomindah in southwest Queensland.

Thargomindah experienced the worst flood in its history — two weeks ago — after ex-tropical cyclone Alfred sent floodwaters  south.

The entire community of this 220-person outback town had to move to the airport and has been sleeping in cars, swags and caravans ever since.

A makeshift hospital remains set up at the airport.

But families are slowly making their way back to town. Twelve houses are now occupied and the rest of the community is staying in temporary accommodation, including in swags in a local workshop.

Littleproud was shown around by mayor John Ferguson — known locally as "Tractor" — who said it could be a "long while" before the town's power supply was properly up and running.

Local Kerry-Anne Fleming was cleaning up her house and showed Littleproud the damage.

Language warning

She became emotional but said, "Nobody died, and that's what matters".

Littleproud hugged her and said: "Don't worry about this s***. Tractor's gonna get it sorted."

Thargomindah falls into the Nationals leader's very safe seat of Maranoa.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been told by the Northern Territory government to "put up or shut up" over Labor's plans for how it will deal with the lease of the Darwin port.

Albanese was in Darwin today for the first time during the federal election campaign, but declined to give further timelines around Labor's plans for the port, if it wins a second term.

Labor has previously said it was searching for a buyer for the port's lease, which is currently held by Chinese firm Landbridge for 99 years, but hasn't said how, when or who.

"I've told you what we will do," Albanese said in Darwin.

"We will enter into commercial negotiations.

"If you're in a commercial negotiation and you want to buy a house and you say 'We've got to buy that house, I need to buy it by the 13th of April' — guess what? You lose your power in the negotiations.

"What we will do is negotiate in the interests of Australian taxpayers, in the national interest … it will come back under Australian control."

However, acting NT Chief Minister Gerard Maley accused federal Labor of failing to deliver any certainty regarding the port, "its workers and the community".

"Today was the perfect day for them to clear the air but all we heard was more spin," he said.

One of the dealership owners is chatting with Peter Dutton who is using it as a chance to spruik his plans to de-fang a key climate law for cars.

Dutton is claiming the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard will push up the price of cars by thousands of dollarsby the end of the decade.

The exact cost increase is disputed but several car brands have warned they may need to wear fines associated with NVES and potentially pass some of that on to consumers.

While readying to take a Toyota HiLux for a short spin, one of the dealership owners asks Dutton how long he intends to keep a fuel excise cut in place.

Dutton responds he will keep it for 12 months and then review it.

Peter Dutton is at a Kalamunda car dealership in the seat of Bullwinkel, a newly created seat with a nominal 3.3 per cent margin based on how people in it voted at the last election.

We have a double header candidate appearance here, with both the Liberal candidate Matt Moran and Nationals candidate Mia Davies standing side by side at the event.

It's a three-cornered contest between them and Labor — the WA Liberals and Nationals don't have the friendliest history so it's not unusual to have competing Coalition candidates in the seat.

It's all smiles today though.

The Albanese campaign has touched down in Karratha, in WA's Pilbara region.

The Pilbara falls within the marginal seat of Durack, held by the Liberal MP Melissa Price on a margin of 4.7 per cent.

Durack is a huge electorate. It takes in more than 55 per cent of the state.

The prime minister, Resources Minister Madeleine King, and the the Labor candidate Karen Wheatland will head to Rio Tinto where a shiploader will be filled with iron ore.

This seems to be largely a photo op, designed so the prime minister can appeal to WA voters and talk-up Labor's contributions to the resources sector.