Peter Dutton pledges to make Australia safer and greater

Peter Dutton has outlined his big pitch to middle Australia on the eve of an election to be fought on cost of living and economic management, promising a safer Australia where it’s easier to buy a home and go to the doctor.

The Opposition Leader unveiled a $6 billion one-year cut to petrol prices, $400 million for youth mental health, $50 million for food charities, a plan to copy WA’s gas reservation policy on the east coast, and the intention to reinstate incentive payments for businesses to hire apprentices.

With Prime Minister Anthony Albanese poised to call an election on Friday, Mr Dutton said repeatedly in his Budget reply speech that the choice ahead of Australians could not be clearer.

“We cherish this country because it affords opportunities like no other, but only – and I stress this point – if we’re governed well,” he said on Thursday evening.

“When Australia is governed badly, dreams and ambitions become beyond reach.

“A returned Albanese Government in any form won’t just be another three bleak years. Setbacks will be set in stone. Our prosperity will be damaged for decades to come.

“But you have the power to change the path our country is on.”

The are strong suggestions the election will be called on Friday.

Mr Albanese was asked repeatedly when the date would be set in a blitz of radio interviews on Thursday morning — prompting him to tell one station he will call it just to stop the questions.

Separately, he told Triple M he would be calling it “imminently”.

“I think that Australians want to get on with it. Certainly my caucus colleagues do,” he said.

Speculation was further fuelled by the prime minister’s department mistakenly posting on social media a notification that the Government was now in caretaker mode – something that only happens after election writs are issued.

Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said the AEC was ready to deliver an election “at any time a writ is issued” and had begun preparing for it as soon as the 2022 poll ended.

“Everything is locked and loaded and absolutely ready to go.”

The two Budget speeches set a stark contrast between the parties heading into the election campaign, with a heated fight over what each side is offering in cost-of-living relief.

Mr Dutton and his shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor have promised to repeal the $5-a-week tax cut that was the surprise offering from Tuesday’s budget.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was a “proper brain explosion” from the Opposition.

“It beggars belief that when Australians are under cost of living pressure, their main policy is to increase income taxes on every Australian taxpayer,” he said.

“This decision will haunt them every single day of the election campaign. We will not let them squirm off this hook. This means that if Peter Dutton wins the election, every Australian taxpayer will be worse off.”

The Coalition would instead put the money towards halving the fuel excise to 25.4 cents per litre, saving motorists about $14 a week on their petrol bill, reviving a pre-election offering used by two previous Liberal leaders

Mr Albanese said petrol excise was only so high because the Coalition had resumed its annual increases in the 2014 budget – a move that saw it branded “bowser bandit” on newspaper front pages.

Petrol prices in every capital city are lower now than they were in 2022 when Scott Morrison halved the tax for six months.

Hasluck MP Tania Lawrence used an impassioned speech to point out the Coalition needed power in the Senate to jack up the already legislated tax cuts.

“Do not vote Liberals in the House or the Senate. Don’t trust Dutton!” she said.

If the Coalition wins the May election, Mr Dutton promised four pieces of legislation on his first day aimed at lowering east coast power bills, cutting immigration, keeping Australians safe and a Guaranteed Funding for Health, Education and Essential Services Bill.

His speech reiterated much of what the Coalition has already put on the table, including a promise to fast-track approval of Woodside’s North West Shelf extension and halve environmental approval times.

The Coalition ramped up its attacks on Labor’s economic management over recent months, promising to reinstate “fiscal guardrails” such as caps on tax as a proportion of the economy.

Mr Dutton didn’t mention these principles in his Budget reply.

But he said the Coalition had to “rein in key inflationary, ineffectual, and imprudent spending measures” — including the $16 billion production tax credits, the $20 billion for financing power line upgrades and the $10 billion fund to help build social and affordable housing.

“The last three years are a lesson: no government can subsidise the economy to success,” he said.

Instead, the Coalition plans to lower power prices by forcing gas exporters to keep some gas for domestic customers and decouple the price from international markets.

It will also add a “use it or lose it” policy for offshore gas fields, which could impact companies in the west.

WA has required offshore projects to keep 15 per cent of gas for the domestic market since 2006. It previously had a total ban on exporting onshore gas, but last September eased this to allow some exports while keeping 80 per cent for the local market.

Dr Chalmers’ Budget offered a six-month extension of energy rebates, cutting household and small business power bills by a further $150 this year.

Mr Dutton said the Coalition wouldn’t oppose these, despite having done so for the previous two rounds, but labelled them “Labor’s admission of its energy policy failure”.

Housing affordability is another of the most pressing concerns for voters, who are grappling with high prices pushing up mortgages and rents.

Mr Dutton didn’t offer anything new on this front, instead restating plans to slash immigration, let people use their superannuation and a $5 billion fund for infrastructure for new housing developments.

Similarly, on health, which Labor has made a central pitch of its election offering, he outlined all the Government policies he has promised to match while accusing it of launching a “Mediscare” campaign for a third time.

However, he said the Coalition would add $400 million to youth mental health services.

He promised more Defence spending but said the exact figure would be revealed during the election campaign, and talked tough on crime and safety, saying Australians were telling him they had never been more worried.

The former policeman accused Mr Albanese of too often being “too weak, too late and too equivocal”.

“Under the Coalition, we will provide the moral and political leadership needed to restore law, order and justice,” he said.

“I will be a strong leader and a steady hand. I will make the tough decisions, not shirk them.”