Federal election 2025: Unauthorised boat arrival on remote beach prompts urgent campaign statements — as it happened

That's a wrap for today's live blog — join us tomorrow morning to stay up to date with the rest of the weekend's developments.

It's hard to believe (some of you may disagree) but there's now officially just one week to go until polling day — and boy, do the campaigns know it.

We're expecting both major parties to dramatically up the pace over this final week, beyond even the already pretty hectic schedule the party leaders have been maintaining.

Maybe I should look into an ergonomic keyboard.

Don't forget, you can check out the rest of today's online election coverage at the ABC's Australia Votes page.

Have a great evening.

Anthony Albanese has arrived at his third and final media event of the day, visiting the Reverend Bill Crews's Exodus Foundation charity in Ashfield, in his own electorate of Grayndler.

He's joined by his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, as well as Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth.

Grayndler's a safe Labor seat, but Albanese has a tradition of handing out food to the needy at Exodus around Christmastime, so it's understandable he'd return to friendly ground at some point during a campaign largely focused on the cost of living.

The PM doesn't come empty-handed, though — he's promising $10 million from the government to support the charity's work if Labor is re-elected.

"I am so proud to call Bill a friend, and to have seen up close the impact his work has made on many thousands of people – and I’m proud that my government will support his legacy to continue," Albanese says.

About 1.4 million Australians will be voting for the first time this election — and they don't just have unique views, they also have unique ways of taking in the news.

It's why the PM's been hitting the podcast circuit this campaign — and why Greens senator Nick McKim has been streaming Fortnite on Twitch.

ABC Ballarat's Charlotte Wilkes spoke to some young first-time voters about not just where they can be reached, but also their priorities at the coming election.

Spoiler alert — they include gender equality, climate change and Indigenous recognition, but also housing, Medicare and HECS.

I posted earlier about the ever-unfolding stoush between the government and the opposition over Russia's reported request to Indonesia to base military aircraft on the island nation.

Political reporter Tom Crowley has since unpacked the morning's developments in a full story here.

He also goes into detail on a policy statement uploaded to the Liberal Party's website earlier today, expanding on the Coalition's earlier promise to spend an extra $21 billion over five years on defence.

The statement indicates the spend would focus on "projects that rapidly increase Australia's strike and counter-strike capabilities", including "missiles, drones and uncrewed undersea vessels".

The opposition is also proposing an "immediate" summit of experts, more investment in AUKUS, and efforts to boost defence recruiting and retention.

You can read the full story at the link below.

Those of you who remember the 2010 election result (and the 17 days of negotiation that followed — some say Rob Oakeshott is still speaking to this day) will understand why the prospect of a hung parliament has the press gallery chattering away.

With many analysts tipping such a parliament as a possible, if not necessarily inevitable, result of this year's poll, there's also a significant amount of noise from the crossbench (I'm looking at you, Adam Bandt) as to what kind of demands the next government might have to meet to secure their support.

But a hung parliament is not all champagne and caviar for minor parties and independents, as Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Andrew Wilkie, in particular, found out in the aftermath of their decision to back Julia Gillard and Labor in 2010.

Read the full story from ABC elections analyst Casey Briggs below:

Wowzers. If you can't keep up with the speed of the campaign trail, you're not alone.

With just one week to go until polls close, and pre-polling becoming more popular, the window is rapidly closing for the leaders to convince undecided voters — although Peter Dutton did point out several times today that he thought the election would be decided this week, suggesting many voters still hadn't made up their mind.

That's been the Coalition's thinking behind their choice to release a number of key policies so late in the cycle.

This week alone, Dutton's campaigned in every state and territory except SA and the ACT.

Today, for example, he started the morning in Cairns then flew three hours to Darwin.

We're now jetting off again after barely two hours (including transit to and from the airport).

Dutton didn't hold another press conference in the Top End — he just made "remarks" in front of cameras at a small business roundtable.

 An apparent unauthorised boat arrival on a northern Australian beach has prompted urgent statements from both the government and the opposition, the arrival echoing last-minute developments that have threatened to upend previous federal campaigns.

Five men who arrived on the boat in question were reportedly discovered on the beach by a commercial helicopter pilot on Thursday.

The pilot then alerted Border Force, who instructed him to leave water then picked the men up three hours later, according to The Australian.

The Coalition's campaign spokesman, Senator James Paterson, has issued a statement calling the reports "deeply concerning".

"Regardless of whether they are people smugglers or illegal fishers, no one should be able to reach the Australian mainland undetected," he says.

"Once again, we have seen the Albanese government relying on private businesses alerting the government to serious security concerns, like when a Virgin Australia pilot was the first to alert the government to a [Chinese] live fire exercise in the Tasman Sea.
     
"Time and time again, we have seen Labor fail to keep Australia safe. Only a Dutton Coalition government will restore Operation Sovereign Borders and stop the boats."

Immigration Minister Tony Burke also issued a brief statement, reiterating the long-held position of both sides (when in government) that they "do not confirm, or comment on, operational matters".

"There has never been a successful people smuggling venture under our government, and that remains true," he says.

"When someone arrives without a visa they are detained and then deported."

The country of origin of the five men and their reason for travelling to Australia remain unknown.

In the Top End, Lingiari comprises of most of the NT — 1,348,158 square kilometres to be exact or 99 per cent of the territory!

It includes many remote Aboriginal communities and has been held by Labor for its entire 24-year existence.

The state of roads, Indigenous issue and housing are high on voters mind this year.

"I think people are looking for instant wins and that's not going to happen," says Alice Springs voter and Alyawarre man Michael Liddle.

"If we don't push the reset button, their whole identity is going to be fast eroded, by the noises of things like alcohol, ganja, domestic violence, housing, employment — all the social negatives that are drowning out the positive signs of one's identity."

You can read more about it here:

ICYMI, 7.30 political editor Laura Tingle took a look at Australia's defence spend earlier this morning — specifically, now that a more well-funded defence force is by and large a fait accompli, what will that actually look like?

Whether military spending rises to 2.3 per cent, 3 per cent or a Gina Rinehart-inspired 5 per cent of GDP over the next 10 years, the question still remains where we'll get the money — not to mention what exactly we should spend it on.

Tingle makes the case that a dramatic increase in defence spending requires major structural change in our budget — more taxes, specifically — along with an "updated, coherent and clear-eyed bipartisan view" on what our defence strategy is trying to achieve.

You can read the full piece at the link below.

We’ve stopped at Darwin's Karama Shopping Plaza, where Peter Dutton, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Solomon candidate Lisa Bayliss and NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro are meeting with small business owners.

Dutton stops by a pharmacy, where the staff raise concerns about crime.

They say it's an ongoing issue in Darwin, and they're particularly concerned after a grocery store owner in Nightcliff was stabbed to death earlier this week.

It's not a completely universal view. While an older man I speak to blames crime for the closure of shops in the city, a young man tells me he feels the issue of crime is "overblown".

Covering some of the most regional and remote parts of Tassie, Braddon is known to swing between the Labor and Liberal parties.

The winning party is usually the party that best caters to jobs in the area.

One of the big topics in the area is salmon farming and the debate on whether or not it's good for the area continues to rage on.

Kerrie Laffer, a long-time local in the town of Zeehan hopes healthcare will be at the top of the promises list.

"We need more medical facilities…we need specialists that travel down, or transport for people that don't drive [to be more available]," Laffer says.

You can read more about it here.

At the last election there was just 373 votes splitting the difference in Gilmore and it looks like it may go the same way for the election next month.

The main political football in the area is renewable energy and wind farms, with large companies pulling out of offshore wind developments after locals opposed the projects being put forward.

Like most of the country rental stress is also a big worry for the region with rents being some of the highest in the country, aside from Sydney.

The use of Air BnBs and short-term rentals in Gilmore are also playing a hand in the rental woes for residents.

You can read more here:

The Liberal campaign has flown into Darwin, which in typical dry season fashion, is serving some serious sunshine.

The Northern Territory is a super interesting spot this election.

It's only got two seats in the House of Representatives, which are both Labor-held, but they both could be worth keeping an eye on next Saturday.

Lingiari is the more marginal of the two, but we’re in Solomon, which Labor holds by 8.4 per cent.

We’re expecting this visit to focus on cost of living pressures and crime.

Crime in particular was a primary focus of the CLP's territory election campaign last year that saw Lia Finocchiaro sweep to victory.

She'll be meeting Dutton here.

Hundreds of voters have streamed into the pre-poll centre at Old Parliament House in Canberra to cast their vote.

We're expecting some updated figures from the Australian Electoral Commission a little later today about how many Australians have voted so far.

Childcare services are a hot topic in the electorate of Wannon.

The region could be called a "childcare desert" with only one space for every three children in the community.

Parents are sitting on waiting lists for years to get a spot for their children so they can get back to work.

Courtney Finnegan put her three-year-old son's name down before he was born, but he didn't get a spot till he was 15 months old.

Now she needs three places with twins on the way.

"I put my name on the list even earlier this time since it's twins," Finnegan says.

"Needing two spots at once is a bit nerve wracking."

You can read more about it here.

Anthony Albanese is on the (BBQ) tools, on a flying visit to Launceston in the ultra marginal Liberal-held seat of Bass.

After serving up a bunch of snags, the PM revved up the crowd of Labor supporters, urging them to dig deep over the next seven days.

"Don't leave anything in the tank!" he urged them.

"Knock on doors, make the phone calls, have a conversion with your neighbours and your friends.

"I assure you that's what I'll be doing! We'll keep going hard all the way up to 6pm next Saturday."

Bass is one of three marginal seats in Tasmania that has a tendency of swinging from one party to the other at each election.

Ahead of polling day, Albanese is sharpening the contrast between himself and Peter Dutton warning the Coalition will take Australia to destination of cuts and chaos "with no coherent plan".

The Greens say they will push to reduce the aged pension eligibility age from 67 to 65 in the next term of parliament.

In 2009, the former Rudd Labor government legislated to raise the pension eligibility age to 67.

Greens leader Adam Bandt says the changes would make a difference to older Australians who are struggling with the cost of living.

"It's where the retirement age used to be. We know that too many people are finding themselves in poverty at the end of their life after working hard all your like," Bandt says.

"This is a very practical thing the government could do that would see our older people who've been working hard all their lives given an extra $18,000 a year."

He says it would cost Australians $3 billion per year, and says the funds could come from taxing corporations.

The prime minister has been asked whether he would take in more people fleeing Gaza and whether there's any merit to re-screening those who have already have arrived.

He says everyone who has arrived in Australia from Gaza has been through screening.

"Everyone who is here has been through screening, not just by our country, but also of course because of the nature of people getting out of Gaza, they had to go through security checks of Israel as well," he says.

Asked if he would allow more people from Gaza into Australia, he says the government can't at the moment.

Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister David Coleman and Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie have leapt on a report in The Australian this morning that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese acknowledged Indonesia did receive a request from Russia to base military aircraft — reportedly long-range bombers — in the country.

If you're not sure why that's so significant, you may want to have a read of a blog post I wrote last weekend in an attempt to sum up the saga.

Albanese earlier today would only acknowledge that there had been reports of a request — "and those reports are not surprising that Russia talks itself up".

However, Hastie and Coleman have labelled the PM's reported comments a "stunning backflip" and called him out for likening the opposition's requests for a briefing on the issue to asking for a briefing on who faked the moon landing.

"The government needs to stop mocking the concerns of Australians who are worried about apparent attempts to establish a Russian military presence 1,300 kilometres from our territory," Coleman and Hastie wrote in a joint press release.

"The questions [the government] must answer are: When did it become aware of Russia’s request? Was it before or after the Janes report? And if the government was aware of the request before the Janes report, what did it do about it?"

Let's take a look back at some of the photo opportunities from both Anthony Albanese's visit to Chisholm and Peter Dutton's stop in Leichhardt.