TRANSCRIPT:
- Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese visit marginal seats in the last few days of the federal election campaign;
- New South Wales confirms the second site of a pill testing trial;
- No return date yet for Sam Kerr at her UK club, Chelsea.
Peter Dutton is hitting more than two dozen seats in the final week of campaigning ahead of Saturday's poll.
A Roy Morgan poll shows Labor is on track to form a majority government, leading 53 to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
But the coalition maintains it can still win the federal election despite dismal polling.
The opposition leader says the party's internal polling is positive, and is giving him great confidence for the final result.
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Meanwhile Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is campaigning today in the Greens held seat of Griffith, an electorate Labor is hoping to reclaim.
His policy focus on the campaign stop is housing, an issue that Labor and the Greens regularly clashed over during the last term of Parliament.
Labor plans to build 100,000 homes set aside for first home buyers if it's re-elected.
Mr Albanese says that will help address affordability issues.
"We support increased housing supply as being the key. Whether that be increased numbers of social housing, whether that be increased numbers of affordable housing, increased private rentals, or increased home ownership."
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An advocacy group has focused on marginal seats in a gambling harm blitz in the final days of the election campaign.
It's a relatively modest campaign, with the alliance known as Gambling Reform spending just under $4200 on Facebook advertising in the month to April 25.
But paid posts comparing the stances of candidates on banning gambling advertising have targeted three key electorates: Gilmore in New South Wales, Brisbane in Queensland, and Deakin in Victoria.
The anti-gambling alliance is also ramping up spending in the Greens-held seat of Brisbane, which Labor and the Liberals are trying to win.
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A Sydney-based music festival has been confirmed as the second site of a year-long pill testing trial in New South Wales.
The Midnight Mafia event at the Sydney Showground will host the free and anonymous drug-checking service this weekend, which allows patrons to bring a small sample of substances they intend to consume for analysis.
Opponents of pill testing say the service sends mixed messages about the risks of using and possessing illicit drugs, while advocates say pill testing is a proven harm minimisation strategy used in many countries for decades.
Health Minister Ryan Park has called it a crucial health intervention.
"This is not a green light for people to necessarily go and use drugs. You'll never have me standing up here and say it is safe to do so. I never will. What we are saying - what we are saying - is that we know young people use illicit drugs. We want to see whether this type of testing gives them a final chance to make a difference, to take a different path, to take a different course of action."
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has branded a three-day truce announced by his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as an attempt at manipulation.
Putin ordered the ceasefire to coincide with Moscow's World War II commemorations, which will mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in 1945.
But Ukraine says that it wants an immediate truce with Russia for at least 30 days.
The President has said in his nightly address that that kind of ceasefire would provide a real chance for diplomatic efforts to end the war.
"We value human lives, not parades. That is why we believe — the world believes — that there is no reason to wait until May 8. The fire must be stopped not just for a few days, only to resume killing afterward. An immediate, complete, and unconditional ceasefire, for at least 30 days to ensure it is guaranteed and reliable, is what can provide the foundation for real diplomacy."
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The cause of a mass outage across Spain and Portugal remains unclear, hours after the power cut brought public transport and other key services to a halt.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro says there is no indication a cyberattack is the reason for the outage, which are rare in Europe on such a scale.
Portugal has suggested however that the issue originated in Spain, while Spain has pointed the finger at a break-up in its connection to France.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says an investigation is underway that he is confident will pinpoint the cause.
"It is better not to speculate. We will know the causes later. We are not ruling out any hypotheses. But for now we must focus on the most important thing, which is restoring electricity to our homes."
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To sport,
Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor says there's still no return date set for Sam Kerr.
The West Australian has been out of action since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during warm weather training in early January 2024.
Kerr has been included on Chelsea's Champions League roster in the hope she would be able to play a part in their campaign, but she was never fit enough to even be named in a matchday squad prior to the English club's exit at the hands of Barcelona at the weekend.
But Sonia Bompastor says she still has no clarity as to when she would be able to select Kerr for the first time.
