By MAX AITCHISON, POLITICAL REPORTER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 23:48 BST, 30 April 2025 | Updated: 00:47 BST, 1 May 2025

Both leaders are on opposite sides of the country as they launch their final campaigning blitz before Aussies head to the polls on Saturday.  

Follow Daily Mail Australia’s live coverage of day 34 of the Federal Election campaign. 

Labor frontbencher reveals Voice’s future

Labor frontbencher Anika Wells has appeared to offer a third position on the Voice in as many days.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong sparked a firestorm when she suggested the Voice, like the struggle for marriage equality, was inevitable in a podcast interview with the Betoota Talks podcast.

The Prime Minister denied that’s what she had said, insisting that the Voice is ‘gone’.

But now the Minister for Aged Care and Sport has suggested that the Voice may continue in another ‘form.

Appearing on the ABC’s News Breakfast this morning, Wells was asked directly: ‘Voice to Parliament, will it make a comeback do you think at some point?’

She responded: ‘The Voice in the form we took to the referendum is gone.

‘We respect the opinions and the votes of people, they made that very clear, but we’re always looking for ways to help First Nations people and for that policy to be tangible and credible,’ she said.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has touted Wells as a future leader of the party.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton Seized on Wells’ comments, claiming it was evidence that ‘the Voice, in some form, presumably through legislation, is going to be a part of the Albanese government’s next term in power, if they’re successful on Saturday’.

‘I’ll just ask Australians to think about that for a second,’ he said.

‘You sent a very clear message to the prime minister that you said no to the Voice, and now the prime minister is saying back to you, “well, we’ve got this secret plan, when we’re in government, to reintroduce the Voice in the form of legislation”.’

Albo quizzed on drug use

Kyle Sandilands grilled the PM on whether he had ever used illegal drugs.

‘Can you ever imagine you and I blowing a spliff together?’, the KIIS 106.5 shock jock asked the PM.

‘I can’t imagine that, Kyle, but each to their own,’ Albanese responded.

‘You’re more of a bong guy, right?’, Sandilands asked.

The PM responded: ‘Mate, I’m off the beers at the moment’, before trying to change the topic of the conversation to something more serious.

But that didn’t stop Sandilands.

‘What about the nose beers?’, he asked. Nose beers is a slang term for cocaine.

The PM merely laughed while co-host Jackie O expressed surprise that he seemed to know what Sandilands was referring to.

‘I do live in Marrickville, or I used to before I moved to Canberra,’ the PM responded.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton ruled out legalising marijuana on the same show yesterday.

The PM would not be drawn on his personal view of the issue, insisting it was a matter for the individual states.

Horrifying poll for one major party leader

Australia PoliticsThe Voice

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LIVE: Election 2025 – Labor frontbencher reveals what’s next for The Voice under Labor



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