Liberal candidate for Bennelong criticised for handing Easter eggs to public outside primary school
Complaints have been raised about the Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung, handing out Easter eggs to students at a primary school in his electorate.
Yung handed out the eggs in front of the Lane Cove public school, prompting the school’s principal to officially raise concerns.
The NSW Department of Education is monitoring the matter. The department told Guardian Australia in a statement:
It is unacceptable for any member of the public to hand out Easter eggs, lollies or any other consumable to children outside a school.
A spokesperson for the Liberal party told Guardian Australia Yung was in a public space and offered the chocolate “with parents’ permission”.
Mr Yung was speaking with local parents in a public space about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on families …
While speaking to the parents he offered their kids Easter chocolate eggs, with parents’ permission, wishing them a happy Easter.
Key events
Luca Ittimani
The Australian sharemarket shed nearly $60bn in value in early trading on Friday, losing half its gains from the previous day as investors come to terms with a trade war between the US and China after Donald Trump’s volatile policy shifts.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell almost 2.4% to an early low of 7,524 points before recovering some ground, as Australian traders responded to their US counterparts’ sell-off on Wall Street overnight.
Health technology company CSL lost more than $6bn from its market capitalisation, after Trump threatened to remove tariff exemptions for Australian pharmaceutical products.
Gas producers Woodside and Beach Energy slid and all four major banks lost more than 3% from their share price.
Trade war concerns have weighed on miners Rio Tinto, BHP and Mineral Resources, each facing losses on but not falling as far as the lows plumbed earlier this week.
Gold miners, though, have continued to recover value and were among the biggest winners on Friday morning. Australia’s gold exports have so far been exempted from US tariffs.
Sarah Basford Canales
Peter Dutton is joined on stage by the West Australian’s Ben Harvey. In his first responses, he says the job as opposition leader is “pretty easy” compared to some of his previous roles.
Dutton also makes another little jab at the newspaper’s editor, Chris Dore, who delivered a somewhat odd welcoming speech earlier.
He says:
I’ve seen some things in my life that make this job pretty easy, regardless of what comes at you. If you know what you believe in, if you know what you stand up for, if you’re prepared to fight for and defend your values, then you know that makes a fairly easy day at work. You deal with all the stings and arrows and derogatory comments and, you know, editors trying to be funny and not succeeding and all of that.
Australian stocks follow US market to open more than 2% lower
Global markets are still shaky with the ASX down more than 2% at the opening this morning.
Overnight, the US S&P500 tumbled 3.4% and the Dow was down 2.5%, after a White House clarification that noted total tariffs on China had been raised by 145%, not 125%, since Trump took office.
Sarah Basford Canales
Classic Dutton: Perth speech mentions national security, domestic violence, strong borders
Peter Dutton concludes his address to the Leadership Matters conference in Perth by saying national security is the “most crucial” issue for the election.
One of the issues that hasn’t been spoken about enough, that perhaps is the most crucial as we go into this election, and that is the issue of national security, and it goes not only to where we are as a country in a precarious century, but it also goes to where we are domestically.
The opposition leader says he wants to end the scourge of domestic violence, referencing his time as a police officer, and keep Australia’s borders strong.
In other words, it’s pretty classic Dutton. The opposition leader will now answer questions from the audience.
Sarah Basford Canales
Dutton: Labor ‘at odds’ with Western Australia’s interests
Peter Dutton is pitching the Coalition as the party to enable Western Australia’s boom.
He says “inner city” Labor MPs are stalling gas and coal projects until after polling day because it’s not politically advantageous to win the votes of climate conscious voters in Sydney and Melbourne.
Dutton says:
The reason I say that this is a sliding doors moment at this election is that the options available to you in a two horse race are obvious. The prime minister has … spent his time and the Labor Party [has] spent their time trying to appease inner city Greens voters in Sydney and Melbourne …
The government has made a decision now because Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen see a focus in New South Wales and Victoria, which means they are at odds with the interests of WA …
Dutton laughs off ‘punch-drunk’ comment; says election is a ‘sliding doors moment’
Speaking at the leadership forum in Perth this morning, Peter Dutton starts off on a light note. After taking a playful hit from the West Australian’s Chris Dore, Dutton returns serve on the editor-in-chief.
I knew Chris from Sydney. It’s like a reformed smoker now being lectured about being an east coaster coming to WA. So Dory, it’s great to be with you. And I feel that, given I’ve probably spent at least as many nights in WA over the last 20 years as you have, I feel we are blood brothers in this cause.
Dutton acknowledges his many colleagues in the room, and then gets down to business, again saying this is a “sliding doors moment” for the country and for WA.
Coalition’s claims of consistently high inflation under Labor compared with other countries debunked
A Liberal Party federal election campaign advertisement blaming Labor for consistently delivering world-leading inflation rates has been debunked by experts, AAP reports.
Thousands of dollars have been poured into promoting videos that claim inflation under Labor has been consistently higher than any major advanced economy.
But economists told AAP FactCheck that inflation has routinely been lower in Australia than in other advanced economies – including G7 countries – since Labor was elected in May 2022.
Australia’s cumulative price growth since global inflation picked up during Covid-19 is also around the middle of the pack when compared with other advanced economies.
The claim appears in YouTube clips targeting voters in marginal seats such as McEwen (Labor held) north of Melbourne, Braddon (Liberal held) in north-west Tasmania and the NSW central coast seat of Roberston (Labor held).
University of Sydney macroeconomist Stella Huangfu said the claim is wrong.
While Australia did record the highest inflation among G7 countries at certain points in mid to late 2024, this occurred only occasionally and for a short period.
Liberal candidate for Bennelong criticised for handing Easter eggs to public outside primary school
Complaints have been raised about the Liberal candidate for Bennelong, Scott Yung, handing out Easter eggs to students at a primary school in his electorate.
Yung handed out the eggs in front of the Lane Cove public school, prompting the school’s principal to officially raise concerns.
The NSW Department of Education is monitoring the matter. The department told Guardian Australia in a statement:
It is unacceptable for any member of the public to hand out Easter eggs, lollies or any other consumable to children outside a school.
A spokesperson for the Liberal party told Guardian Australia Yung was in a public space and offered the chocolate “with parents’ permission”.
Mr Yung was speaking with local parents in a public space about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on families …
While speaking to the parents he offered their kids Easter chocolate eggs, with parents’ permission, wishing them a happy Easter.
Sarah Basford Canales
West Australian’s editor-in-chief describes Dutton as a bit ‘punch-drunk’
Peter Dutton is in Perth this morning for a leadership forum hosted by the West Australian newspaper and will soon deliver the keynote speech.
The opposition leader was greeted by business leaders and politicians, including the new state opposition leader, Basil Zempilas, at the Crowne Plaza in Perth.
In the crowd were Dutton’s colleagues, senators Michaelia Cash, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald.
The event was opened by the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Chris Dore, who delivered an eyebrow-raising address. Dore spent the first four minutes of his speech repeating negative characterisations of Dutton.
Mr Albanese is match fit, super confident and shameless in mocking and monstering his opponent … and frankly, Mr Dutton has, at times, looked a bit punch-drunk since the beginning of the campaign … in the words of the great 90s philosopher, Kurt Cobain, Mr Dutton, here we are now, entertain us.
It wouldn’t be an Anthony Albanese press conference without the medicare background and a tour of a health facility.
And he did just that this morning – here’s some pics we have of the PM’s day on the trail so far.
