Election 2025: Peter Dutton walks back ADF-tariffs link

Peter Dutton has been forced to clarify comments that he would use Australia’s defence relationship with the US to secure a better outcome on tariffs.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton speaks in Blacktown in Sydney’s west on Friday. Picture Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

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Peter Dutton has been forced to clarify comments that he would use Australia’s defence relationship with the US to secure a better outcome on tariffs, after backlash over his response to the news that Australia would be captured by Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” economic sanctions.

The Coalition leader on Thursday hinted that his bargaining power in any negotiation with the US would lie in critical minerals and defence, in the face of 10 per cent tariffs being slapped on most Australian exports.

“We have enormous capacity to contribute to the United States in a very uncertain time and (provide) assurances in relation to their surface fleet and subsurface fleet – that is something that Australia brings to the table,” he said.

But Defence Minister Richard Marles slammed Mr Dutton’s invocation of the defence relationship, criticising his linking of the topics with the tariff negotiation as “reckless” and “dangerous”.

“We’re not going to engage in the kind of panic that Peter Dutton has engaged in today, and we’re not going to engage in reckless and dangerous thought bubbles such as what Peter Dutton has done,” he told the ABC.

“What we will do is engage Australia’s national interest.”

Mr Dutton on Friday clarified that he would only build further on the US-Australia relationship, rather than withhold any elements of the current deals on defence and critical minerals.

When asked if he wouldn’t go ahead with parts of the AUKUS agreement to pressure President Trump, Mr Dutton said: “No, I want to go ahead with more. I think there is more opportunity in the relationship.

“We are a reliable partner for the United States, but the gov­ernment hasn’t done anything in this regard.

“So you need to look at offtake agreements, you need to look at stockpiles. You need to look at every component of what that deal looks like, but this Prime Minister hasn’t been able to do that.”

Mr Dutton has previously said he would not deploy Scott Morrison in any capacity – ambassador to otherwise – to the US to improve the relationship, given the former prime minister’s close ties with Mr Trump.

“I’ve got high praise for Scott … but we’ve got an ambassador in place,” he said on Sunday.

“I strongly believe that I will be able to drive a competitive deal with Australia in our negotiations with the US.”

Mr Dutton on Friday sought to hone his message on providing greater cost-of-living relief than Labor, visiting a petrol station in the marginal seat of Parramatta to spruik his policy on halving the fuel excise.

However, the Coalition faced questions as to why it had taken him seven days to appear at the petrol pump, given the centrality of the policy to his election pitch.

“We’ve spoken about this from budget night, and that’s, I think, a game changer in terms of family budgets,” he said.

In a bid to shore up support in Western Sydney, Mr Dutton announced a record $1.7bn infrastructure spend that included matching much of the state ­government’s funding on critical projects.

While confirming his gas ­policy would decrease the price of gas by 15 per cent, Mr Dutton was still coy on when he would release modelling for the policy after flagging it would come out “in a couple days” earlier this week.

“We’ve got a month-long campaign,” he said.

“There’s a lot that we’ll talk about over the course of this month, but the main message is, who can you trust at the next ­election to manage the economy effectively.”