Federal election 2025 LIVE updates: Leaders pay tribute to Pope Francis; early voting opens

Greens leader Adam Bandt is holding a press conference outside Brunswick Masonic Centre in Melbourne’s inner north.

Watch below.

Dutton was due to begin his campaign in Orange, which sits in the NSW electorate of Calare.

The seat is held by former Nationals MP Andrew Gee, who quit the party in opposition to the Coalition’s stance on the Voice referendum.

Dutton was asked on ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning about the importance of beating out the incumbent to retain the seat.

“It’s certainly a critical electorate and Sam [Farraway] is doing a great job here. We need to make sure that we retain this seat and there’s been a huge campaign,” he said. “There’s obviously a lot of teal money coming out of Sydney into the campaign here.”

Opening his remarks this morning, Albanese paid tribute to Pope Francis as a consequential leader who would be mourned by people of all faiths.

“In the truest sense of the words, he practised what he preached. The holy father was one of the most consequential leaders of this century and of our lifetime,” Albanese said.

“He was, indeed, the people’s pope. He was tireless in advocating for the powerless, campaigning against poverty, for the rights of working people and for protecting our natural environment.”

Albanese said the pontiff “never rose above small acts of kindness”.

“There was a gentleness about him, but it was a gentleness that contained such inner strength,” Albanese said.

The prime minister said he had spoken to parishioners at St Patrick’s Cathedral last night and this morning who had “been deeply moved by the life and the legacy of the holy father”.

“Tributes we have seen from all over the world speak for people’s genuine sense of connection to Pope Francis, the qualities they recognised and admired in him,” he said.

Albanese said the change Francis had led was significant and he advocated for reforms that weren’t universally supported.

“He had courage and he showed true leadership, the first Jesuit to be the Pope. The PM said that many Catholics admired the Pope for his humility, “for the way that he embraced the poor, the way that he embraced the social justice message that I see as the message of Jesus Christ”.

Albanese and Dutton have both suspended campaigning for the day. Flags will be flown at half-mast on all Commonwealth buildings.

Albanese likes to say he was raised by three great faiths: the Australian Labor Party, the Catholic Church and the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

But he told media gathered this morning he has tried not to talk about his faith in public. “Catholicism is just [one] part of me,” he said.

Asked how much of an influence the pontiff’s death would have on the remaining 11 days of the campaign, the prime minister had this to say:

People will, I think, separate these things, and can make their decisions about the election on May 3. I think it’s very important that we have a secular democracy in Australia  … particularly people of Catholic faith, they will take time to reflect over coming days, coming so soon after Easter commemorations, and the commemoration of the resurrection just the day before. It’s a very significant time.”

Albanese is speaking to the media in Melbourne, where he said Governor-General Sam Mostyn would likely represent Australia at Pope Francis’ funeral.

“The governor-general was on her way to Turkey for the Anzac Day commemorations, and it is hoped – the details are, of course, still being finalised – but Her Excellency would be an appropriate representative,” he said. “I’ve also spoken last night with the ambassador-designate to the Holy See, Keith Pitt.

“Pitt, because of the illness of the holy father, has not been able to present his credentials yet, but Mr Pitt is assisting with the logistics and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are finalising details.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke earlier in Melbourne after attending Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Watch below.

An early voting centre in Sydney’s west will be closed today after a Liberal Party truck crashed into a building at the Quakers Hill Community Centre, causing extensive damage.

Photos posted on social media and sent to this masthead show a rented truck carrying branding for Greenway Liberal candidate Rattan Virk wedged underneath a building outside the community centre yesterday evening.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) confirmed the centre would not open today.

“The AEC is assessing the damage to this facility and will make a decision about whether the facility can be used or will need to be relocated in coming days,” the commission said in a statement.

All nearby early voting centres listed on the AEC’s website will be open from 8.30-5.30pm today and every day until the election.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland holds the seat of Greenway on a calculated margin of 7.9 per cent.

The threat teal independents pose in this election – to the dominance of the two-party system, to the stability of our parliament and to the Liberal Party’s base – is very real.

On today’s episode of Inside Politics, we focus on two of these seats: Bradfield in Sydney and Kooyong in Melbourne, where the teals and the Liberals are neck and neck.

The Age’s city reporter Rachael Dexter and NSW political editor Alexandra Smith join Jacqueline Maley to discuss.