What we learned today, Thursday 3 April
Thank you for being with us on yet another whirlwind day on the campaign trail. That’s where we’ll leave things. Here are the main takeaways:
Anthony Albanese began day seven of the campaign in Melbourne to tout the government’s “same job, same pay” laws, while Peter Dutton was in Western Australia, announcing $600m for roads critical to mining and agriculture.
The day was quickly overshadowed by news Australia had been hit with a 10% tariff on all imports to the US.
In response, the prime minister said this was “not the act of a friend” and would have “consequences” for how Australians views the US-Australia relationship.
Albanese said his government would not respond with reciprocal tariffs, but would use “every asset” available in talks with the US. He outlined a five-point plan in response.
The opposition leader claimed the Coalition would have been able to achieve a different outcome on tariffs – without citing exactly how, and despite the fact no other country in the world was granted an exemption.
While being questioned on this, Dutton wouldn’t commit that as prime minister he would be able to get these tariffs removed.
The trade minister, Don Farrell, said he would meet with his European counterparts to re-discuss a free trade agreement with the EU.
The former prime minister Paul Keating labelled Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement as a “blitzkrieg on globalisation”, saying it represents the “effective death knell of NATO”.
The ABC will host the first free-to-air leaders’ debate at 8pm on 16 April with Insiders host David Speers as moderator.
Krishani Dhanji will be back with you first thing tomorrow morning for another day of action. Take care, and enjoy your evening.
Updated
Pocock requests ANU be investigated for potentially misleading Senate
The ACT senator David Pocock has requested the Australian National University be investigated for potentially misleading the Senate last year, accusing it of seeming to “hide key information from our community” over a contract with a consulting group.
Appearing before the Senate in November last year, Pocock asked the ANU vice-chancellor, Prof Genevieve Bell, if the university had engaged consulting group Nous and if so what the contract was worth.
The ANU’s chief operating officer, Jonathan Churchill, said the university had paid “circa $50,000 so far this year”.
In a subsequent response to a question on notice from the committee chair, Tony Sheldon, the ANU confirmed the maximum value of the contract, entered into in September 2024, was $837,000, which had subsequently been increased twice to a total of $1,127,000 excluding travel and expenses.
Pocock said he was “appalled” the leadership appeared to have shown “such contempt” for the Senate estimates process and “misled” him as a senator.
As a measure of how seriously I take this incident, I have written to … Sheldon … requesting an investigation into the matter and potential contempt of the Senate.
A spokesperson for ANU said the statement provided by Churchill to the Senate was “factually accurate”:
The arrangements with Nous were based on the University’s needs, were subject to regular review, and contained the ability for ANU to exit without committing the full amount of the contract if the University desired. Additional work was identified as required.
Updated
