00:00Flags are flying at half-mast across the nation and the election campaign has paused
00:09but not stopped as tributes flow in for Pope Francis following his death in Rome overnight.
00:16We now know that there are plans to send the Governor-General Sam Mostyn to Pope Francis's
00:22funeral whenever that may be in the next couple of weeks because she's already going to be
00:27in Europe for Anzac Day commemorations. As you say the Prime Minister was in Melbourne this morning
00:33and he's paid tribute to Pope Francis describing him as one of the the greatest and most significant
00:40leaders of the Catholic Church and really praised him as well for some of his advocacy for social
00:46change. We did hear from Mr Albanese too making some personal reflections on his Catholic faith
00:52which is something that we don't hear all too often. He did though also reaffirm his belief
00:58in a secular democracy. Have a listen. Look I try not to talk about my faith in public.
01:07I say I was raised with three great faiths, I've said that a number of times and
01:11at times like this I think what people do is to they draw on who they are and certainly my
01:24Catholicism is just a part of me and one of the things about the Holy Father is that
01:32he for so many Catholics I think his humility for the way that he embraced the poor, the way that he
01:46embraced the social justice message that I see as the message of Jesus Christ is really important for
01:57so many Catholics. And Olivia early voting does start today. Yes so as we know the federal election
02:06isn't until May 3 but Australians are able to cast their ballots from today and we are seeing
02:13an increase in Australians opting to vote early. What does this mean for the campaign more broadly?
02:20Well it means that there is less time really for the major parties and the minor ones at that to really
02:26cement their policies in the minds of voters and try and win undecided voters over. So we have seen
02:35a bit of a fragmentation in the campaign more generally over the weekend with Easter. There are further
02:41public holidays next week with Anzac Day and also school holidays as well. So both campaigns will be
02:48very much mindful of this and really trying to drive their messages home to Australians before
02:55election day proper. As I say more generally there's been a bit more of a sombre tone to campaigning today
03:02but both leaders will go head to head tonight in the third debate of this election campaign. It will be
03:09the penultimate one before polling day.
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