| Who said what at the treasurers debate? | Good afternoon,
Treasurer Scott Morrison and would-be-treasurer Chris Bowen have faced off in Canberra, a skirmish before this Sunday's leaders debate.
Here's what happened today:
1. Bill Shorten took aim at Donald Trump
"Barking mad" is how the prime ministerial hopeful described the views of the man who could well be the next US president.
The current Prime Minister didn't think that was a good look.
"You can imagine how Australians would feel if an American president were to describe one of our prime ministerial aspirants as barking mad," Malcolm Turnbull said.
A couple months back, though, Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne called the Republican's rising popularity "terrifying".
"I think the Donald Trump phenomenon is a real problem for the United States," he said at the time.
Today, Mr Trump took another step closer to the White House, securing the last delegates he needed to clinch the Republican nomination.
2. Morrison and Bowen spruik their economic credentials
The two of them were at the National Press Club to debate debts and deficits and everything in-between.
Mr Morrison, fresh from being endorsed by Mr Turnbull as the man who would remain Treasurer under a re-elected Coalition Government, said there was no doubt that Labor had a "black hole" in its spending promises: "It's just a question of how big it is."
For his part, Mr Bowen was quick to raise education, saying "it will be the hallmark of our government".
Housing affordability was also on the agenda, as you'd expect, as was Australia's current AAA credit rating, which Mr Bowen said was under "great pressure".
Read the recap on the ABC's election blog and decide for yourself who you reckon made the better argument. Then ready yourself for the leaders debate on Sunday night.
3. Labor could push the Coalition right to the brink
That's the analysis of Insiders host Barrie Cassidy, but he says Labor would be relying on some pretty dramatic swings.
"Applying national opinion polls to likely seat counts at an election is fraught," he writes.
"To get a reasonable read on likely outcomes you need to see polling in marginal seats and the major parties keep that research under lock and key - unless of course it suits them to do otherwise.
"The next best thing then is to look at state-by-state breakdowns."
Cassidy has done just that, and taking all factors into account, he thinks the Coalition's losses would have it winning the election but bumping right up against minority government.
4. Most women want a higher minimum wage, but men are happier with the status quo
The latest results from the ABC's great Vote Compass election tool (have you tried it yet?) are in and they tell a pretty interesting story.
A possible explanation: there's evidence that more women than men get paid at the lowest level.
Gender discrimination is part of the reason for that, as is women taking time out of the workforce to care for family and the proportion of women working in lower-paid occupations.
The current minimum wage is $17.29 per hour or $656.90 for a full-time work week.
ELECTION SPOTLIGHT:
This one isn't strictly an election story, but it could have repercussions for whichever party takes office.
When asked about the state of Australia's banking system, the ratings director at Fitch responded, "I wouldn't call it safe and solid."
Andrea Jaehne pointed towards the transition away from mining as a challenge.
The credit ratings firm (one of the big three globally) also drew attention to Australia's key economic weakness - world-beating levels of household debt.
COMING UP NEXT: - 7.30 will be looking at whether Labor could make gains in the west this election
- Howard-era minister Amanda Vanstone and human rights advocate Fr Frank Brennan will be debating asylum seeker policy on Lateline (9.30pm AEST on ABC News 24 and 10.30pm local time on ABC TV)
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