The opposition leader insists there’s still a pathway to victory but has been criticised for stoking culture wars as he fights for conservative voter preferences.

Public polling has tracked away from the coalition over the course of the campaign and Peter Dutton has little time to turn it around before election day on Saturday.

Mr Dutton maintains internal numbers are more optimistic than the public ones, as he hits more than two dozen seats in the final week of campaigning.

He’s credited “quiet Australians” for his optimism, saying people in outer suburbs who believe Labor hasn’t delivered for them would turn to the coalition.

The parties’ polling was positive and those numbers reflected “the mood that the marginal seat members are reporting back to me at the pre-polling”, he said before campaigning in the ultra-marginal NSW south coast seat of Gilmore.

The term “quiet Australians” was famously used by former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison after his unexpected victory in 2019, which defied polls that consistently predicted a Labor victory.

The opposition leader on Tuesday also visited Whitlam in the NSW Southern Highlands, where incumbent Labor MP Stephen Jones is retiring.

Anthony Albanese criticised the opposition leader for stoking culture wars, most recently for criticising Welcome to Country ceremonies.

“Peter Dutton has spent a political career stoking division, trying to turn Australians against each other, trying to start culture wars,” the prime minister said while campaigning in Brisbane.

“I am not interested in culture wars, I am interested in fighting for Australians.”

Mr Dutton’s office was vandalised on Tuesday, with the shopfront covered in red paint.

Posters criticising his stance on refugees, comparing him to US President Donald Trump, calling him a fascist and hosting the Indigenous rights slogan, “always was, always will be Aboriginal land” were stuck on the windows.

Labor has sought to distance itself from the debate over whether Indigenous Welcome to Country ceremonies and acknowledgements to Country have become overdone.

Coalition campaign spokesman James Paterson said the opposition leader hadn’t proactively made the ceremonies an issue, but he was asked about it in press conferences and responded honestly.

Escalating a divisive debate was “the wrong way for this nation to deal with its practices and with cultural elements that are important to both sides”, former Liberal Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt said

“When you start to politicise elements of Aboriginal affairs or cultural practices, then you start a process of allowing division to occur,” he said when asked about Mr Dutton’s critique. 

Mr Albanese has also made a point of referring to the coalition’s preference deal with One Nation as Labor paints the opposition leader as a divisive figure.

Mr Dutton avoided answering why his party was preferencing One Nation second after former Liberal prime minister John Howard – who Mr Dutton has spoken of as a role model – put them last.

While the opposition leader has worked to shake off criticisms he’s borrowing policies from Donald Trump, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says Liberals have welcomed conservative ideas she was putting forward before the US president was elected.

“A lot of the sitting members within the Liberal Party agree with my policies, they know we’re on the same page,” she told AAP.

Support from right-wing minor parties could still help the coalition get over the line with preference flows to the opposition “dramatically higher” than the last election in 2022, Mr Morrison’s former media chief Andrew Carswell said.

A Roy Morgan poll showed Labor remained on track to form a majority government, leading 53 to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

The latest YouGov poll showed One Nation had a 10.5 per cent primary vote, more than double its 2022 result.

US President Donald Trump’s administration will move to reduce the impact of his automotive tariffs by alleviating some duties imposed on foreign parts in domestically manufactured cars and keeping tariffs on cars made abroad from piling on top of other ones, officials says.

“President Trump is building an important partnership with both the domestic automakers and our great American workers,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in a statement provided by the White House.

“This deal is a major victory for the president’s trade policy by rewarding companies who manufacture domestically, while providing runway to manufacturers who have expressed their commitment to invest in America and expand their domestic manufacturing.”

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the development, said the move meant car companies paying tariffs would not be charged for other levies, such as those on steel and aluminium, and that reimbursements would be given for such tariffs that were already paid.

A White House official confirmed the report and indicated the move would be made official on Tuesday.

Trump is travelling to Michigan on Tuesday to commemorate his first 100 days in office, a period that the Republican president has used to upend the global economic order.

The move to soften the effects of auto levies is the latest by his administration to show some flexibility on tariffs, which have sown turmoil in financial markets, created uncertainty for businesses and sparked fears of a sharp economic slowdown.

Automakers said earlier on Monday they were expecting Trump to issue relief from the auto tariffs ahead of his trip to Michigan, which is home to the Detroit Three automakers and more than 1000 major auto suppliers.

Last week, a coalition of US auto industry groups urged Trump not to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported auto parts, warning they would cut vehicle sales and raise prices.

Trump had said earlier he planned to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on auto parts no later than May 3.

“Tariffs on auto parts will scramble the global automotive supply chain and set off a domino effect that will lead to higher auto prices for consumers, lower sales at dealerships and will make servicing and repairing vehicles both more expensive and less predictable,” the industry groups said in the letter.

The letter from the groups representing General Motors, Toyota Motor, Volkswagen, Hyundai and others, was sent to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce’s Lutnick.

Peter Dutton is relying on “quiet Australians” to get him over the line as an former political insider says protest votes could offer him a path to The Lodge.

The opposition is seeking to defy a campaign-trail poll slump that has delivered Labor a significant lead, although the coalition maintains its internal numbers are more optimistic than the public ones.

Mr Dutton will hit more than two dozen seats in the final week of campaigning ahead of Saturday’s poll.

He said internal polling was positive and that gave him great confidence for the election result.

“(That) really reflects, frankly, the mood that the marginal seat members are reporting back to me at the pre-polling,” he told Brisbane radio station 4BC on Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of quiet Australians … particularly people in suburbs, who believe that the government hasn’t delivered for them.

“I think there are a few surprises coming and there’s no doubt in my mind that we can win this election.”

The term “quiet Australians” was famously used by former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison after his unexpected victory in 2019, which defied polls that consistently predicted a Labor victory.

Mr Morrison’s former media chief Andrew Carswell said he hadn’t written off the coalition, which needs to gain more than 20 seats to govern in majority.

The path to victory was narrow but still possible with public polling out of step with what was happening on the ground, the consultant told AAP.

“While Labor is very much the short odds to be in minority government, it will be closer than people think,” he said.

A Roy Morgan poll showed Labor remained on track to form a majority government, leading 53 to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis despite a slight improvement in the coalition’s position.

Support from right-wing minor parties could still help the coalition get over the line despite majority government being “awfully difficult”, Mr Carswell said. 

“The preferences that come from One Nation, Trumpet of Patriots and other centre-right minor parties to the coalition is dramatically higher than in 2022,” he said.

The latest YouGov poll showed One Nation had a 10.5 per cent primary vote, more than double its 2022 primary.

Mr Carswell added Victoria was also looking strong for the coalition, particularly in outer-suburban seats where cost-of-living pressures were hitting hardest.

But Labor sources say the party has mitigated some of the brand damage from an unpopular state government and is tracking better that it was just weeks ago.

Meanwhile, party figures have heaped further pressure on the coalition to release its full policy costings and come clean about how it would pay for nuclear power plants and where it would make cuts to the public service.

The government released its costings on Monday.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the updated numbers, which show a $1 billion improvement to the budget bottom line compared to previous estimates, meant all Labor’s spending commitments had been offset.

“Now it’s really time for Peter Dutton and his team to release their costings and their secret cuts that they’ll need to make to pay for their nuclear reactors,” she told ABC TV.

The opposition is yet to detail where it will cull a foreshadowed 41,000 people from the public service after it said it wouldn’t touch frontline services and only target Canberra-based jobs.

About three-fifths of the federal public service is based in the ACT.

Labor says the coalition can’t achieve the figure without cutting national security agencies or service staff, such as those helping to reduce waiting times for veterans’ pensions.

A test that assesses certain particles in the blood could predict a person’s risk of developing heart disease more accurately than measuring cholesterol, according to a study.

Switching the focus on detecting the level of proteins associated with so-called “bad cholesterol” could “potentially save lives”, researchers said.

Cholesterol, a fatty substance mostly made by the liver and found in certain foods, is essential for maintaining healthy cells, but having too much in the blood can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

In the UK, if doctors suspect a person is at risk of heart disease, they will usually check the patient’s blood pressure and family history, as well as taking a blood sample to measure the amount of different types of fat in the blood, including cholesterol.

However, researchers in Sweden and the US suggest measuring levels of lipoproteins – particles comprising protein and fat that transport cholesterol and other fats in the bloodstream – may be a more accurate risk predictor.

There are four main classes of lipoprotein, three of which have a special protein on their surface called apolipoprotein B (apoB).

They are known as “bad cholesterol” as they can deposit cholesterol in the walls of blood vessels when found in large numbers.

The fourth class helps remove excess cholesterol from the blood and transports it back to the liver, often known as “good cholesterol”.

Jakub Morze, postdoctoral fellow at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, said: “This is the largest study of its kind to date and the results show for the first time the relative importance of the three major families of lipoprotein for the potential risk of heart disease.

“It was previously unclear if two patients with the same total level of ‘bad cholesterol’, but that differ in their carrier characteristics – lipoprotein type, size, lipid content – have the same risk of heart disease.”

For the study, academics analysed blood samples from 207,368 people in the UK Biobank with no history of heart disease.

“We found that apoB is the best marker when testing for risk of heart disease,” Mr Morze added.

“Since apoB indicates the total number of ‘bad cholesterol’ particles, measuring it offers a more accurate test than standard cholesterol measures.

“That does not mean conventional tests are ineffective; they generally perform well. However, in about one in 12 patients, standard cholesterol tests may underestimate heart disease risk, which is important to consider, since 20 – 40 per cent of all first-time occurrences of CVD are fatal.

“By switching to apoB testing, we can improve that accuracy and potentially save lives.”

Clemens Wittenbecher, assistant professor of precision medicine and diagnostics at Chalmers University of Technology, said the results, published in the European Heart Journal, show that “apoB particle count could eventually replace the standard blood cholesterol test”.

He added that “lipoprotein(a) also needs to be tested for to get a better picture of lipid-related CVD risk”.

“The blood test for these two markers is commercially available now and would be cheap and easy enough to implement,” Prof Wittenbecher said.

Peter Dutton is running out of runway in his bid to win the election, but a rise in protest votes against major parties could see his prime ministerial aspirations get off the ground.

With four days until polls close, the opposition leader is seeking to defy the national polls in a come-from-behind victory to become Australia’s 32nd prime minister, as he blitzes marginal seats.

While Mr Dutton is facing a considerable challenge to unseat Anthony Albanese, former media chief to Scott Morrison turned consultant Andrew Carswell said a path to victory was still possible for the coalition.

“The path is narrow, though it’s narrowing by the day, but I think the best most can do is ignore the established polls out there at the moment, because what we’ll see on Saturday will be out of step,” he told AAP.

“While Labor is very much the short odds to be in minority government, it will be closer than people think.”

A Roy Morgan poll on Monday showed Labor remained on track to form a majority government, leading 53 to 47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis despite a slight improvement in the coalition’s position.

Despite Mr Carswell saying a majority government is “awfully difficult” for the coalition to achieve, a rise in support for right-wing minor parties could flow back to the opposition.

“The preferences that come from One Nation, Trumpet of Patriots and other centre-right minor parties to the coalition is dramatically higher than in 2022,” he said.

“One Nation is a party of protest, they preference away, generally speaking, from incumbent governments, and that will bring in to play some seats that will be a surprise for people on election night.”

The latest YouGov poll showed One Nation had a 10.5 per cent primary vote, while Clive Palmer’s Trumpet of Patriots stood at two per cent.

The result for Pauline Hanson’s party is more than double the result it got at the 2022 poll, when it had just under five per cent of the primary vote.

In many electorates, coalition how-to-vote cards have urged supporters to put One Nation second on their ballot.

Mr Carswell said Victoria was still looking strong for the coalition, particularly in outer-suburban seats where cost-of-living pressures were hitting hardest.

“The further from the CBD, the better – there is the chance of some surprises on election night in outer suburban seats,” he said.

Mr Albanese will begin Tuesday campaigning in Brisbane, where Labor is hoping to gain ground, while Mr Dutton will be starting the day in Sydney.

Global equity markets held at their best levels in over three weeks on Monday, reflecting some hopes that the worst of tariff pain is over, but confusion over US trade policy lingered and trapped the dollar.

European shares firmed and Asia markets made fractional gains at the start of an earnings-heavy week that also sees the release of key US jobs data and is book-ended with elections in Canada and Australia. US President Donald Trump looms large in both.

While Trump has claimed progress is being made on trade with China, and many other countries, evidence is lacking. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent failed on Sunday to back Trump’s assertion that tariff talks with China were underway.

“The fact that we are going through a de-escalation in trade tensions doesn’t mean that we won’t still get a growth slowdown,” said Mike Kelly, global head of multi-asset at PineBridge Investments.

The often confusing rollout of tariffs is expected to inflict lasting damage on the global economy as uncertainty weighs on business and consumer confidence, slowing investment and spending.

“Uncertainty is not just about a one-off event but its duration,” Kelly added.

MSCI’s world stock index hovered near its highest levels since April 3, the day after Trump unveiled his reciprocal tariffs that roiled markets.

Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.4 per cent, while Chinese blue chips were little changed as officials stuck with their economic growth projections, despite the drag from tariffs.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 21,971.96, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2 per cent to 3,288.41.

European shares rallied 0.6 per cent, building on two straight weeks of gains, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq stock futures pared earlier falls. The S&P has bounced almost 12 per cent from an April 8 trough, but remains 10 per cent below its peak.

Corporate earnings have been generally supportive, with gains of more than nine per cent, though BofA noted 64 per cent of companies had beaten earnings per share (EPS) guidance, compared to 71 per cent the previous quarter.

“Despite having played second fiddle to geopolitics of late, the US earnings season is moving along well and is on track for its seventh consecutive quarter of positive earnings growth,” said Rory McPherson, chief investment officer at Wren Sterling.

About 180 S&P 500 companies representing over 40 per cent of the index’s market value report this week, including mega-caps Apple , Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms .

In currency markets, the dollar struggled to make headway as trade wariness lingered.

It was down about 0.2 per cent at 143.47 yen, little changed against the euro at 1.1356, while sterling rallied 0.25 per cent to $US1.3344 .

The greenback is also down more than four per cent on both the euro and the yen in April, though bounced at the end of last week on a conciliatory shift in the tone of US-China relations.

A solid US jobs report on Friday could aid the dollar’s bounce if it dampens Federal Reserve rate cut expectations, analysts said.

Money markets imply a roughly 65 per cent chance of a rate cut in June and 85 basis points of easing by year-end.

“With the market already pricing in around 125 bps of easing into next year, taking the Fed Funds policy rate to neutral near 3.25 per cent, the next big story for the dollar will probably be whether US data is weak enough to merit Fed policy being priced below neutral,” ING’s global head of markets, Chris Turner, said.

Canada’s dollar was a touch softer at 1.3869 per US dollar. Canadians go to the polls on Monday after an election campaign in which Trump’s tariffs and musings about annexing Canada became the central issue.

Treasuries have also steadied in the wake of Trump’s assurance he would not try to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, leaving 10-year yields at around 4.25 per cent compared to the April top of 4.592 per cent.

Former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh, with whom Trump is reported to have discussed firing Powell and installing him in his place, on Friday unleashed a barrage of criticism of the Fed and argued for fundamental changes to how it operates.

A tentative improvement in risk sentiment saw gold slip 0.9 per cent to $US3,290 an ounce, from its all-time peak of $US3,500.

Oil prices were stable as investors weighed up uncertainty over trade talks between the US and China, clouding the outlook for global growth and fuel demand, as well as the prospect of OPEC+ raising supply.

Brent crude and US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were both down about 0.5 per cent each, with Brent crude trading at around $US66.50 a barrel.

with AP

A major city council is looking at subsidising “granny trolleys” for vulnerable residents to reduce the number of shopping trolleys dumped in the area.

Sydney’s Liverpool City Council said it was looking at providing the two-wheel canvas frame trolleys in a move “it hopes will drastically reduce the dumping of supermarket-owned trolleys across the city”.

The council in the city’s west on Monday said it had impounded nearly 1200 shopping trolleys in the past two months, prompting the plan to supply up to 500 so-called granny trolleys.

“While the law places responsibility for trolleys fair and square at the supermarkets, Council is left with the problem and so Council has come up with a solution,” Deputy Mayor Peter Harle said in a statement.

“In some ways it’s an old-fashioned solution to a modern problem. Years ago, every home had its own shopping trolley and by going ‘back to the future’ we can probably find a commonsense solution to a massive problem.”

Griffith University marketing professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele said the initiative could have merit in the area and other cities, but suggested more work was needed to determine why trolleys were being dumped.

It was unclear whether those dumping trolleys were children “using the trolleys for joyriding, or is it people who actually need to take a lot of groceries somewhere and so just take the trolleys for a walk”, she said.

“It could be that we’re moving towards the wrong people with the wrong ideas,” the academic said.

Supermarket giant Woolworths, when asked if believed the plan had merits, said most of its customers did the “right thing” and returned shopping trolleys.

“Abandoned trolleys can be a nuisance and that’s why we invest millions in collection services and have additional measures in place which feature a locking mechanism to help mitigate their impact in the community,” a Woolworths spokesperson said in a statement.

Supermarkets have previously trialled coin-locked shopping trolleys in a bid to stop trolley dumping in waterways, parks and on footpaths, but the initiatives have faced backlash from shoppers.

Hiking international student visa fees and trimming consultant spending are Labor’s plan to keep the budget in shape while splashing out on election sweeteners.

An assurance by Treasurer Jim Chalmers that more than $7 billion in savings would offset the cost of his party’s election promises follows a stern warning from ratings agency S&P Global.

Australia risks losing its coveted AAA credit rating, the agency said, as spending soars from ill-disciplined state governments and federal election promises.

Labor’s pre-election costings claim a crackdown on the use of consultants and labour hire in favour of public servants would save the public purse $6.4 billion.

An extra $760 million would come from bumping up international student visa fees to $2000 from $1600.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the fee hike amounted to a “small uplift”.

“We think that’s a sensible measure that really prices the value of coming here and studying in Australia,” she told reporters in Brisbane.

Dr Chalmers said the savings and extra revenue would leave public finances roughly $1 billion better off over four years compared to the pre-election economic and fiscal outlook.

“We will finish this election campaign with the budget in a stronger position than at the start of the election campaign,” he told reporters on Monday.

He urged Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to show his hand on secret cuts to pay for nuclear reactors.

“The risk to our AAA credit rating is Peter Dutton and the coalition.”

Hours before Labor revealed its costings, S&P alerted the major parties to the dangers of promising higher spending at the same time as eroding the Commonwealth’s revenue base.

“The (federal) budget is already regressing to moderate deficits as public spending hits post-war highs, global trade tensions intensify, and growth slows,” the ratings agency said in the report.

“How the elected government funds its campaign pledges and rising spending will be crucial for maintaining the rating.”

Credit ratings assess a government’s ability to service debt, with a score of AAA denoting the lowest risk.

Losing the top rating would make government borrowing costs more expensive.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said coalition costings would be released in coming days.

A better budget position, lower taxes and a stronger economy could be expected under a Dutton government, he promised.

“If we continue in this way for another three years, S&P has said, that our credit rating is at risk, here’s the price you pay for that,” Mr Taylor told Sky News on Monday.

The coalition has pledged to cut 41,000 positions from the government workforce to lower costs, in contrast to Labor’s strategy to trim “expensive” external contractor and consultant spend.

Australian Catholics, including major political leaders, have joined millions overseas to farewell and reflect on the hope, mercy, and forgiveness embodied by Pope Francis.

Archbishop Peter Andrew Comensoli led hundreds of mourners for the Solemn Pontifical Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne on Monday.

The mass followed weekend services held across the nation, including at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Parramatta and St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral in Adelaide.

They are the first local services following the Pope’s funeral at the Vatican on Saturday, attended by 250,000 people and watched online by hundreds of millions.

Speaking at the Melbourne service, Archbishop Comensoli described Pope Francis as a person of “mercy”.

“If there was ever a pope that proclaimed, lived, and embodied God’s mercy, it was Francis,” he said.

“Not just in word but in action. He reached out to the poor, the excluded, the wounded. He taught us not to judge but to accompany.”

The mass was attended by hundreds including Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. 

Among the attendees was Melbourne woman Virginia, who hoped the church could continue to follow in the steps of the late Pope.

“Pope Francis is a symbol of what we need in the world: peace, simplicity, humility, and not being judgmental. Just learning how to accept and love each other,” she told AAP. 

“The world is in such a mess. Pope Francis has opened some doors which need to be kept open and widened as well. He’s taken a really big step in the right direction.”

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Gabriel told AAP it was important to take time out of his day to farewell the Pope and that staying to pray held deep meaning for him.

For 20-year-old Anita Cabric, the prospect of electing a new Pope felt challenging, but she was optimistic. 

“It will be tough to follow the last Pope, but I’m hopeful,” she told AAP. 

Maeve Heaney, director of the Xavier Centre of Theology at the Australian Catholic University, was among those who attended the service in Rome.

She said it was a coincidence that she was there after she originally travelled to Rome for a symposium.

Associate Professor Heaney, who had met Pope Francis on three occasions, paid her respects as he lay in state in the days before his funeral. 

“The days before the funeral have been very intense but I have a feeling it will be more tranquil as we move into a period of mourning,” she told AAP.

Following the mourning period, cardinals will gather in Rome for a conclave to elect the new Pope, a process expected to start in 10 days.

Prof Heaney hoped the new Pope would continue Francis’s legacy of synodality. 

“For me, it’s also an important point about bringing more women into leadership positions,” she said.

“I want to trust that (the voting cardinals) will sit down and think carefully about what the church needs today and choose someone who will continue to bring it forward.”

Labor will deliver a billion-dollar improvement in the budget bottom line, the treasurer says, despite unveiling a raft of election sweeteners.

Jim Chalmers said the cost of Labor’s election promises would be offset by more than $7 billion in savings, meaning the budget deficit would be reduced by $1 billion over the next four years compared to pre-election forecasts.

A crackdown on the use of consultants and labour hire in favour of public servants will save $6.4 billion, he said, offsetting the price of Labor’s election policies such as a tax cut and more money for health services.

Dr Chalmers said the government would also save $740 million from increasing application charges for student visas to $2000 from July.

“These costings show that we are managing the budget and the economy in a responsible and a considered and a methodical way,” he told reporters in Brisbane on Monday.

“We’ve made it very clear what our costs are and how we will pay for the commitments that we have made in this election campaign.”

The savings from reducing consultant spending in favour of relying on the public service come as the coalition pledges to cut 41,000 positions from the government workforce.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said coalition costings would be released “in due course”.