Federal election 2025 LIVE updates: Labor spruiks legal push to protect penalty rates; Coalition to offer tax breaks for small businesses We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. 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Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size 8.42amWatch live: Dutton speaks in Sydney 8.24amLabor promises to protect weekend penalty rates 8.15amWelcome to our live coverage Hide key posts Go to latest Pinned post from 8.42am Watch live: Dutton speaks in Sydney Dutton is speaking at the Royal Easter Show. Watch live below. Latest posts Latest posts Dutton says Labor penalty rate comment a ‘stunt’ By Millie Muroi Dutton has written off Labor’s claim that he wants to see cuts to penalty rates as “yet another stunt” in the election campaign. “It’s what they’ve done in relation to Mediscare, and their, you know, completely false claims in relation to nuclear energy, etc,” he said. “The independent umpire sets the conditions [for penalty rates]. It’s been abided to by from both sides of politics, and we don’t propose any departure from the current arrangements.” Dutton says there is ‘a lot of time’ to turn fortunes around in polls By Millie Muroi Dutton has pushed back against suggestions he may be running out of time to turn his fortunes around before election day. Speaking at Sydney’s Easter Show after announcing $20 million to help refurbish and upgrade facilities at regional shows, Dutton said he was not concerned about recent polling results. “I think there’s a big disparity, as you’re seeing in some of the published polls to what we’re seeing, and I think most people are more interested, frankly, in what is going to happen in their lives if Anthony Albanese is re elected,” he said. “I also think there are a lot of Australians, frankly, who just haven’t switched their mind yet to the choices and what they’re doing on election day. So we’ve got a lot of a lot of time between now and polling day.” Dutton pats cows at Sydney Easter Show Dutton has been inspecting all the different cows at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. Everyone is eager to speak to him about their breed of cow as he gives the dazed and confused animals some pats. Farmers watch on from the sidelines as Dutton speaks to kids about how they prepare for the show. “Good luck for today,” Dutton tells one boy who has a bowl of cereal. “And enjoy your cereal,” the opposition leader adds as everyone chuckles. Advertisement Labor promises to protect weekend penalty rates By Millie Muroi Labor has promised to introduce laws to protect penalty rates in awards affecting about 3 million Australian workers. In recent months, big business lobby groups in the retail, clerical and banking sectors have made applications to the Fair Work Commission to cut penalty rates of lower-paid workers from awards. Employment and workplace relations minister Murray Watt said if successful, these applications from employers can reduce the overall income of workers by thousands of dollars each year. “Penalty rates are an essential feature of minimum terms and conditions in modern awards and should not be reduced,” he said, noting Dutton had supported cuts to these rates. “Weekends are special times ... when we gather with our families, have weddings, birthdays and hold grand finals. So if you have to work during those times, we think you deserve to be rewarded for that.” Dutton at Sydney’s Easter show It’s an early morning start here on the Dutton bus as we have arrived at Sydney’s Easter show. Today is the third day Dutton has made his way to western Sydney, highlighting how significant this area is to win the election. The show is in Homebush, which is the electorate of Reid. Labor’s Sally Sitou won the seat at the last election and the Liberals will be hoping to win it back. Welcome to our live coverage By Millie Muroi Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of the 2025 federal election. I’m Millie Muroi, and I’ll be helming the blog today as we head into the fourth week of the campaign. After taking their foot off the pedal for Good Friday yesterday, the leaders are back on the road. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Sydney this morning, with Labor expected to commit to legislating penalty rates to protect the conditions of 3 million Australian workers. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is also in Sydney, offering tax breaks for small businesses for the first three years and a $2000 tax deduction for tech upgrades. We’ll keep you up to speed with Albanese and Dutton’s latest movements, and provide news and analysis from our reporters on the campaign trail and those based in Canberra. 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