Albanese condemns Dutton’s pledge for mass public service cuts ‘only in Canberra’

‘Asio, the Australian Signals Directorate, all of our security and intelligence agencies – where does Peter Dutton think they are based?’ Albanese (left) asked on Thursday after Dutton pledged to limit his proposed mass cuts to the public service to Canberra. Photograph: Abc Pool/AAP

Peter Dutton has pledged to cut almost two-thirds of Canberra’s federal public servants if elected, in a move Anthony Albanese has criticised as “outrageous”.

In a testy press conference in Tasmania on Thursday morning, the opposition leader batted away questions about not visiting a single proposed nuclear power station site, as well as confusion over shifting positions on migration targets, tax breaks for electric vehicles and Coalition support for recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.