What we learned, Thursday 10 April
Many thanks for joining us on the blog for another jam-packed day on the campaign trail. That’s where we’ll leave things for now – here are all the main takeaways from today:
Anthony Albanese began the day in Cairns, announcing $10m for the Great Barrier Reef, focusing on education and tourism, as well as $27.5m for a health and engineering wing at CQUniversity’s Cairns campus.
The Coalition, meanwhile, announced it would establish two future funds – one to pay down national debt, and the other to invest in regional infrastructure. You can read more details on these here.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, and finance minister, Katy Gallagher, lashed the Coalition’s plan as “a recipe for bigger deficits.”
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, rejected suggestions that any windfalls from their future funds would lead to pork barrelling.
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, and shadow energy minister, Ted O’Brien, went head-to-head at a debate in Canberra – and were briefly interrupted by a climate protester.
Bowen said there were “many” problems with the Coalition’s energy policy, while O’Brien took aim at Labor for having no modelling and basing decisions on their “gut”.
O’Brien said the Coalition wouldn’t abandon its nuclear policy if it doesn’t win the election. He also refused to commit to staying in the Paris agreement.
After the debate, three shadow ministers came out saying the Coalition was committed to the Paris agreement. Labor minister Anne Aly lashed the mixed messaging.
At a press conference, Peter Dutton defended the Liberal party’s vetting process.
Dutton also visited his sixth petrol station in seven days to spruik the Coalition’s pledge to slash the fuel excise.
The government has ruled out “holding China’s hand” amid the US tariffs after China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, called for Canberra and Beijing to “join hands” in response to Donald Trump.
Krishani Dhanji will be with you bright and early in the morning, and I’ll be back on the blog tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, take care and enjoy your evening.
New Zealand PM and deputy at odds over response to US tariffs
Now for some news from across the ditch, via AAP:
As the New Zealand prime minister, Chris Luxon, rallies regional leaders to discuss a united front to US tariffs, his deputy isn’t quite sure it is needed.
Luxon spent today delivering a speech on the risks to global trade from the US actions, suggesting a collective approach between trading blocs was needed:
You’ve got 15% of world trade tied up in the [Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership], there’s a real opportunity for us to coordinate and to work together. One possibility is that members of the CPTPP and the European Union work together to champion rules-based trade and make specific commitments on how that support plays out in practice.
My vision is that includes action to prevent restrictions on exports and efforts to ensure any retaliation is consistent with existing rules. Collective action, and a collective commitment, by a large portion of the global economy would be a significant step towards preserving free trade flows and protecting supply chains.
The CPTPP is a 12-nation trade region including Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and several Asian nations. Luxon said he would spend this afternoon talking to Indo-Pacific leaders and in the evening make calls to Europe, to gauge support for the idea.
But in an odd twist, his deputy PM and foreign minister, Winston Peters, said such action would be “very premature,” and in this case, NZ should “wait until we see what emerges with the tariff war that’s going on”.
It’ll come to a resolution much quicker than people think, and as in the last 24 hours we’ve already seen the beginnings of that, so let’s not panic here.
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