Federal Election 2025: Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton campaign on day six
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken a tumble while getting ready for a picture opportunity in the Hunter - but he doesn’t see it the same way.
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Anthony Albanese has taken a tumble while campaigning on the May 3 election trail.
After delivering a spiel on the ‘same job, same pay’ law, the Prime Minister was getting positioned to pose for photos with workers after who had benefited.
The PM stepped back into empty air behind him and took a tumble backwards, landing on his backside. He was immediately helped back up, unscathed and laughing.
“I stepped back onto a step, I didn’t fall off the stage,” Mr Albanese told ABC Newcastle a short time later.
“Just one leg went down, and I was sweet.”
Mr Albanese was addressed members of the Mining and Energy Union in the NSW electorate Hunter, held by Labor with an 8 per cent margin to spruik the law which was intended to boost the wages of certain Australian workers.
A Labor-aligned think tank, the McKell Institute, on Thursday released a report arguing those promised pay rises were already happening, faster than the government forecast they would.
“Five years ago, your union put Same Job, Same Pay on the national agenda. Two years ago, our government made Same Job, Same Pay national law. Today Same Job, Same Pay is making a difference to workers and families and communities all over Australia,” Mr Albanese told the MEU conference.
“You championed it. We delivered it. Australians are benefiting from it. Now all of us have to defend it.”
Earlier on Thursday, Peter Dutton said the Coalition would not undo Same Job, Same Pay.
While Coalition workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash has called for the rules to be abolished – a viewed shared by major business and industry bodies – Mr Dutton said this was not the Opposition’s intention.
“We’re not going to, and we’ve said right from the start, the big difference on the industrial relations policy at the next election between us and the Labor Party will be that we’re going to deregister the CFMEU,” said Mr Dutton.
Second leaders’ debate locked in
Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton will hold a second debate to be hosted by ABC TV and moderated by Insiders host David Speers at 7.30pm AEST on Wednesday April 16.
Sky News and The Daily Telegraph will host the first, a people’s forum next week.
Undecided voters will ask the questions, moderated by Sky’s chief anchor Kieran Gilbert.
Meanwhile, Jim Chalmers will face off with Angus Taylor in a treasurers’ debate next Wednesday.
Dutton’s 15min doorstop in WA’s southwest
It was an in and out exercise for the third media event out of the day.
After a quick flight from Perth to Busselton, in the state’s south west, Peter Dutton, the Coalition’s infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie, retiring Forrest MP Nola Marino and candidate Ben Small announced a $16.2m funding promise to upgrade Busselton Airport.
The funding is part of the $65 airport upgrade which will build a new terminal, and will also receive buy in from the state government and owners of the airport.
Senator McKenzie said the funding boost would also apply producers to export the area’s produce and agriculture, like marron, truffles, flowers and avocados.
“Everything beautiful and delicious comes from this part of the world,” she said.
“We’ve seen tourism numbers and flights into this airport increased tenfold over the next over the last decade … so the coalition is always going to support increasing tourism opportunities, increasing agribusiness opportunities, and supporting regional communities like the South West and Bustleton to grow and prosper over coming decades.”
The Opposition Leader had this little dig at the press pack.
“Okay, so the real reason we’ve come here is to tease media pack,” he said.
“We’ve come to Margaret River but you’re not to consume any wine or take any produce back with you.”
Well played.
The announcement lasted for all about four-and-half minutes before both the politicians and media pack got back on the plane.
Just another day on the campaign trail, we guess.
Protesters ambush Albo at hospital
Protesters have gatecrashed a hospital visit during a visit by the Prime Minister on the election trail.
Anthony Albanese was in the marginal Newcastle-region seat of Paterson on Thursday afternoon when the two climate change activists from Rising Tide started yelling.
They were quickly bundled from the area, as shock hospital staff looked.
Mr Albanese was once again talking about Labor’s Medicare Urgent Care clinics. But the protesters popped up as he was talking about the local coal industry.
“Mr Albanese, why did your government approve 33 new fossil fuel projects?” they shouted.
“It’s my future! It has to stop!”
They were removed by security.
It’s not the first security incident of the election campaign.
Both Mr Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton were heckled by different protesters on the first day of campaigning in Brisbane.
Climate activists confronted Mr Dutton at two separate events, while Mr Albanese was heckled by a online activist while campaigning in Mr Dutton’s seat of Dickson.
Coalition won’t undo ‘same job’ laws
The Coalition says it won’t undo Labor’s ‘same job, same pay’ laws, which guarantees the same rates of compensation for permanent and labour hire staff.
While Coalition workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash has called for the rules to be abolished – a viewed shared by major business and industry bodies – Mr Dutton said this was not the Opposition’s intention.
“We’re not going to, and we’ve said right from the start,” he said.
“The big difference on the industrial relations policy at the next election between us and the Labor Party will be that we’re going to deregister the CFMEU.”
Labor appeared so elated with Mr Dutton’s emission, journalists were quickly sent a copy of the remarks at the press conference.
‘No point in being emotional about it’: PM
The Prime Minister says the government is not reacting emotionally to President Trump’s tariff decision.
“I’ll make this point: no country has received less tariffs than Australia. It’s a minimum 10 per cent across the board,” Mr Albanese said.
“We regard free and fair trade as being important for the global economy. It’s something that has lifted literally hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.”
When asked by ABC Melbourne presenter Raf Epstein why he wasn’t angry, Mr Albanese said: “Well there’s no point in being emotional about this, Raf.”
“What is important, as Prime Minister of Australia, is that we be considered, calibrated in our response. Firm in our response. And determined. And that is what we have done,” Mr Albanese said.
“I’ve announced five different measures that we’ll take in response to this: strengthening our anti-dumping regime, supporting affected sectors to expand our trade relationships with new markets, establishing an economic resilience program through our National Reconstruction Fund, encouraging people to buy Australian, and establishing a critical mineral strategic reserve.”
‘Didn’t know’: Dutton blasts Albo on Trump
Peter Dutton has put pressure on Anthony Albanese to get Donald Trump to repeal his 10 per cent tariff for Australian exports to the US done “in weeks”, effectively before the May 3 election.
“I think there is a possibility that the prime minister can negotiate an outcome within a matter of weeks, and I think that’s really essential to focus on, that the ingredients for a successful arrangement negotiation with the US are there in front of us,” Mr Dutton said.
Responding to the US President’s global tariff announcement on Thursday, Mr Dutton said he believed a Coalition government would have been able to negotiate a different outcome, despite Mr Trump not announcing any exemptions.
“The Prime Minister has been weak and missing in action and that’s why we find ourselves in the position we’re in today,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Perth.
The Opposition Leader said it was no victory that Australia was hit with the lowest tariff level, while other countries copped it much harder, saying it seemed Mr Albanese had no advance knowledge of the announcement.
“The Prime Minister didn’t know anything about it,” Mr Dutton said.
“It was first made known to him when it was publicly announced. So that will talk about the influence that the Prime Minister has in relation to this matter.
“I can say this much I want success in the relationship, that it’s not going to happen if the Prime Minister finds out about things through the press.”
Mr Albanese called the Trump tariff as “unwarranted” but ruled out retaliatory tariffs while outlining how the government would respond to help exporters.
Mr Dutton feared while Australia wasn’t subjected to higher tariffs, jobs will be lost and there “will be economic detriment” to Australia.
“The focus that we should have as a government and as an alternative government is to do a deal on that basis as quickly as possible, so that we can reduce the impact on Australians, on our industry, and on our export capabilities.”
He said a key negotiating bargaining chip should be defence manufacturing, such as the trade of critical minerals to the industry.
“When you look at the global map and you look at where these deposits are held, the Americans have very few options, and that’s why I think it’s an absolutely integral part to negotiate,” he said.
Mr Dutton also expressed bipartisan support for anti-dumping laws, which Mr Albanese pledging $5m to prevent other countries from undercutting Australian suppliers by selling their excess products at cheaper prices.
Dutton on tariff negotiations: ‘We’ll bring a bigger deal’
Mr Dutton later slightly expanded on how he would negotiate a tariff carve out, saying he wants Australia to expand in the US market, instead of restricting access, or retaliatory tariffs.
“It’s about what we can bring to the table in a bigger deal with the US,” he said.
“I think there is opportunity for us to take what is a bad decision and decision I’m dead against that’s been made by the President, (and) turn that into an opportunity for our country.”
He listed beef and critical mineral exports as areas Australia could increase trade.
Social media ban off table, Dutton
Mr Dutton also gave an absolute commitment to keeping the social media ban for kids under 16 and the revised News Media Bargaining Code, with the policies coming under criticism from social media giants.
“I’ll just make that very clear, we will not be negotiating on that basis. I fought for a long time for kids to be safe online,” Mr Dutton said of the issues the US has a gripe with Australia over.
“I want to make sure that we can put in place a safe environment where our kids can go online, mix with their friends and live a safe life.
“So I am absolutely non negotiable in that regard and in relation to the other elements.”
Trump stirs confusion on beef ban
Donald Trump raised eyebrows when he appeared to indicate the US would ban Aussie beef in his hour-long address as he announced global tariffs, including a 10 per cent “reciprocal” impost on Australia.
However, it such a ban was not included in the executive order the President signed to enforce the tariffs.
It was initially unclear what exactly was happening after President Trump seemed to announce a ban.
“Australia bans – and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything – but they ban American beef. Yet we imported $3bn of Australian beef from them just last year alone,” Mr Trump said.
“They won’t take any of our beef, they don’t want it, because they don’t want it to affect their farmers. And you know what, I don’t blame them.
“But we’re doing the same thing, right now, starting about midnight tonight, I would say.”
During the press conference in Melbourne a short time later, Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Trade Minister Don Farrell all said it was their “understanding” that beef would not be banned, and would in fact be subjected to the same 10 per cent tariff as Australia’s other exports.
It’s understood that was then confirmed through diplomatic channels.
The tariffs into effect from 12.01am on February 5, which will be 3pm Australian time.
Dutton camp hits Hasluck
While the tariff’s announcement has undoubtedly drowned out all other news, the Dutton camp has headed to the electorate in Hasluck, held by Labor’s Tania Lawrence on a 6 per cent margin.
Peter Dutton is there to spruik a $600m funding commitment to upgrade key freight roads for agriculture, farming and mining.
WA Senator Michaelia Cash and the Coalition’s infrastructure spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie were with him.
Local council and former mayor David Goode is the man tasked with winning the seat back for the Liberals.
Despite his first visit to WA for the campaign, Mr Dutton won’t be stopping in Collie, one of the areas selected to house on of the Coalition’s promised seven nuclear sites.
Mr Dutton said he won’t be able to go to every site over the remaining four-plus weeks of the election.
Given the Dutton camp is currently in Perth, the question was specifically directed at the WA site of Collie, about 213km south of the capital.
The site of the planned reactor is in the seat O’Connor, currently held by Liberal MP Rick Wilson – one of the Coalition’s only four seats in the state after it lost six electorates in 2022. Mr Dutton wouldn’t say whether he would allow the community the power to veto sites.
“I won’t be able to get to all of them,” he said.
“But I do know that when you speak to people in regions, including the Hunter in NSW, for example, they know the workers there know that when coal comes to an end.
“There is no there’s no shopping mall to work in, there’s no barista course that they can take that’s going to give them a job to provide support to their family.”
Dutton: The US will need our beef
Peter Dutton says any attempt by the US to ban Australian beef exports would be difficult as the country needed our need to satisfy its demands.
There’s was some confusion as to whether Australian beef would be banned in the US, or if it would incur the same 10 per cent levy to be applied to all Australian imports.
“Frankly, the US requires Australian beef. It’s not just that we’re great producers of beef and that we found an export market,” he told 2GB on Thursday.
“They can’t produce enough beef to satisfy domestic consumption.”
The Opposition Leader said Australia needed to find a way to “sensibly” negotiate with the US.
“So it’s a negotiating position, and we need to approach it sensibly, but we need to have a position here in Australia which is going to be taken seriously by the President,” he said.
Mr Dutton suggested Mr Trump’s tariff announcement reflected his initial “negotiation position” but doubted the Albanese government’s ability to secure a carve out or reduction.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric and discussion, but I think in the end, what we need to be able to do is to sit down with the administration and negotiate hard on our country’s behalf,” he said.
“And I think part of the problem is that the Prime Minister hasn’t been able to get a phone call or a meeting with the President, and there’s been no significant negotiation leader to leader.”
Mr Albanese has two date secured two phone conversations with Mr Trump and has requested a third to no avail.
In response, Mr Albanese hit back at Mr Dutton calling for him to “stand up for Australia and back Australia’s national interest”.
“This isn’t a time for partisanship, I wouldn’t have thought, but people have got their own conclusions.”
He accused Mr Dutton of being “critical of Australia” instead of standing up for it.
Albo vows action, but no payback tariffs
Australia won’t hit back with tariffs on the US after President Donald Trump slapped “reciprocal” tariffs of 10 per cent on Australian exports.
But Prime Minister said Australia would be taking action to have the “unwarranted” tariffs removed.
In his announcement from the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday morning Australian time, the President said all countries that export to the US would be hit with a “baseline” tariff of 10 per cent.
In a list of countries, Australia was 21st with a 10 per cent reciprocal tax, while China faces 34 per cent and Vietnam 46 per cent.
Anthony Albanese said the tariffs came “as no surprise”, after weeks of speculation and commentary from the White House.
“But let me be clear – they are totally unwarranted,” Mr Albanese said on Thursday shortly after the early morning announcement.
“President Trump referred to reciprocal tariffs. A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10 per cent.
“The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic and they go against the basis of our two nation’s partnership. This is not the act of a friend.”
He said his government would continue to “stand up for Australia” to fight to have the tariffs removed from our exporters.
But ruled out retaliation with our own tariffs on American exports.
“We will not join a race to the bottom that leads to higher prices and slower growth.”
Albo’s tough words for Trump
Mr Albanese had some unusually sharp words for the Trump administration during his press conference in Melbourne, describing the tariffs as “unwarranted”, “no basis in logic”, and “not the act of a friend”.
“Today’s decision will add to uncertainty in the global economy, and it will push up costs for American households. It is the American people who will pay the biggest price for these unjustified tariffs,” Mr Albanese said.
“This is why our government will not be seeking to impose reciprocal tariffs. We will not join a race to the bottom that leads to higher prices and slower growth.
“The Australian people have every right to view this action by the Trump administration as undermining our free and fair trading relationship, and counter to the shared values that have always been at the heart of our two nations’ longstanding friendship.
“This will have consequences for how Australians see this relationship.”
At another point, Mr Albanese suggested the debate over tariffs had regressed.
“It’s a decision which we think, importantly, is not in the interests of the United States. Tariffs impact the country that is imposing them. And Australians need to understand that.
“I think that there is a debate that, frankly, I thought had gone away from my Year 7 economics class at school.
“I didn’t have to go to uni and get an economics degree to get that. But there appears to be a debate.”
Albo talks up PBS on the campaign trail
With the Trump administration’s tariff announcement looming over everything on Thursday, the Labor campaign is keen to re-emphasise the government’s support for the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which is a source of consternation for the US.
The PBS was included in an updated list of trade grievances from the Trump administration earlier this week, which factored into its tariff decision.
Mr Albanese made his first stop after his press conference in Melbourne to a pharmacy in the suburb Pascoe Vale South.
He tied that to an announcement that new drugs were being added to the PBS, and access to others was being expanded.
“The Albanese government is committed to making medicines cheaper for all Australians,” Health Minister Mark Butler, who accompanied Mr Albanese to the pharmacy, said.
“These life changing medications now become affordable for thousands of Australians.
“Since coming to government we’ve added over 300 new and amended listings to the PBS.
“We are fulfilling our promise to deliver medicines cheaper and faster to Australians no matter where they live.”
New drugs being added include Dabrafenib and Trametinib, which are being expanded for eligible children who are diagnosed with low-grade glioma or high-grade glioma and display the rare BRAF v600E mutation.
Momelotinib, which is used to treat the rare bone marrow cancer myelofibrosis in patients who have anaemia, is being added to the PBS for the first time.
And Ravulizumab, which is used to treat neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, will also be listed on the PBS.
Dutton can’t name ‘favourite’ ABC journo
Peter Dutton has started day six of the campaign in Perth, but his first media interview was on Sydney radio.
While the main news event of the day is Australia’s response to President Trump’s tariffs, Mr Dutton was also asked about his “favourite” ABC journalist on 2GB this morning.
While Ben Fordham suggested some names which included Insiders host David Speers, 7.30 presenter Sarah Ferguson and political reporter Laura Tingle, Mr Dutton struggled.
This comes after Mr Dutton wouldn’t rule out cuts to the public broadcaster as part of his war on government spending.
“I think there are some good journalists at the ABC, but I think there are some who, frankly, are just partisan players, and people see that on their TV screens every night,” he said.
“And again, the ABC is using taxpayers money, so use it wisely.”
FROM EARLIER
Trump’s bombshell announcement
Donald Trump announced his tariff plan in the Rose Garden of the White House at 7am Australian time in front of reporters, his cabinet and auto workers and farmers.
The wide-ranging tariffs were touted as Liberation Day for the US, to level out the playing field. And he had a message for the countries affected by the tariffs.
“If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product right here in America,” he told foreign countries,” he said to foreign countries.
The President in his preamble singled out Aussie beef producers.
“Australia bans – and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything – but they ban American beef,” President Trump said.
“Yet we imported $3bn of Australian beef from them just last year alone.
“They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers.
“And you know, I don’t blame them but we’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight.”
Donald Trump’s much-hyped “Liberation Day” is here.
The US President is unveiling his sweeping worldwide tariffs, which are almost certain to have significant ramifications for Australia, along with the rest of America’s trading partners.
If it lives up to Mr Trump’s rhetoric, this new American tariff system threatens to be astonishingly complex, with different rates imposed on every product imported to the United States, and those rates adjusted for each country based on a range of factors, such as any existing tariffs in the other direction or any subsidies, for the relevant industry, from that country’s government.
The effect on the global financial system, then, could be immense. And Australia is unlikely to escape unscathed.
The noises coming from Anthony Albanese during this first week of the election campaign have been cautiously pessimistic.
The Prime Minister has held open the possibility that Australia’s negotiations with the US will pay dividends and spare us from the worst of the tariffs.
He even dined with golfer Greg Norman in Melbourne on Wednesday night, who has previously acted as a go-between for the Australian government and Mr Trump.
But the signals are that he expects no exemptions to be forthcoming, and has left open the option of taking World Trade Organisation action.
“We are prepared for it,” Mr Albanese said on Wednesday.
“We’ll wait and see if President Trump pursues his position, which is to punish, essentially, the imports that the United States has from all over the world.
“It doesn’t make a difference to prices here in Australia. What it does is increase prices for American consumers.
“That’s why tariffs are an act of economic self-harm.
“But we have been working hard on a range of measures to prepare if there is a negative result.”
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Don Farrell has reportedly been telling various stakeholders to brace for 20 per cent tariffs across the board.
At various stages throughout the week, Mr Albanese has pointed out that fewer than 5 per cent of Australia’s exports go to the US.
But those industries still employ people, and have still relied on American business to help sustain them. So the danger is very real.
Peter Dutton has an advantage here insofar as he’s not in power, and thus bears no responsibility for whatever pain Mr Trump’s policies will cause.
Earlier this week, speaking to Sky News, Mr Dutton argued he would be a more formidable diplomatic force in Australia’s dealings with the Trump administration.
”If I need to have a fight with Donald Trump or any other world leader to advance our nation’s interest, I will do it in a heartbeat,” he said.
Both leaders will be under intense scrutiny on Wednesday as they respond to Mr Trump’s tariffs, and lay out their competing plans for Australia to handle them.
Mr Albanese will be starting the day in Melbourne, while the Opposition Leader is in Perth – where it will be only 4am when President Trump announces his plan.
More to come
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