Butler says Trump tariffs decision ‘deeply disappointing’ but battle’s not over
Federal health minister Mark Butler says Australia’s case for exemption from US tariffs is not over “by any means”. He is speaking live on ABC News Breakfast:
This is obviously deeply disappointing news, but we knew this was going to be a tough fight. The second … Trump administration seems much more determined on this front than perhaps the first administration. Even back then, when the Turnbull government was in office here in Australia, it took nine months to gain the exemption that they ultimately did. So we’ve been working very hard on this.
Today’s news is disappointing, but we don’t see this issue as being over, by any means. We will continue to press the case for an exemption from Australian exports from these new tariffs.
Key events
Cait Kelly
Just jumping back to the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, which called for a lift to jobseeker rate yesterday.
ACOSS, which was a member of the committee, called for the government to lift the merger rate in the upcoming budget.
ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said:
The benefits are crystal clear. It would improve people’s mental and physical health, it would improve wellbeing, and it would reduce poverty in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
It would also support women experiencing domestic and family violence, helping them to leave an abusive partner.
The Committee again heard harrowing testimony from people receiving JobSeeker and related payments about how it is not possible to get by on such little income. People broke down in front of the Committee because of the severe stress they are under, not knowing if they can pay the next electricity bill and keep a roof over their heads.
How many more times do people need to explain the distress and harm caused by living in poverty in one of the wealthiest countries in the world?
The way to fix this, in ACOSS’s view, is to lift JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and related payments to at least the pension rate of $82 a day so that everyone can get through difficult times.
Cait Kelly
Increase jobseeker payment, welfare groups urge: ‘$56 a day goes fast’
Mission Australia has joined other welfare organisations, including Acoss, in demanding the rate of jobseeker be lifted after the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee suggested raising the rate to bring people out of abject poverty.
The independent committee said increasing jobseeker to 90% of the pension from $56 to $74 per day would help ensure its adequacy.
Mission Australia’s executive of practice, evidence and impact, Marion Bennett, said:
Our frontline workers know that $56 a day goes fast and not very far when there is rent, food, bills and healthcare costs to cover. It is heartbreaking to see so many people relying on charities like Mission Australia for the first time in their lives because inadequate income support is pushing them into poverty, housing instability and even homelessness.
People in Australia are compassionate and caring and the government’s actions should reflect these qualities. We hope third time is a charm for the government to heed the recommendation of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee to permanently and adequately increase the base rate of jobseeker and youth allowance to help protect people and families from poverty and homelessness.
The Age has published an ad from Clive Palmer’s new Trumpet of Patriots party today which says “there are only two genders”. This comes after the Newcastle Herald apologised for publishing the same ad after journalists were “furious” yesterday, Guardian Australia reported.
In the past week the Age has published Palmer’s anti-immigration and anti-welcome-to-country advertisements, which have also appeared in News Corp publications.
Read more about the ad in the Newcastle Herald from Amanda Meade here:
Benita Kolovos
Victorian government lashed for ‘draconian bail reforms’
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, is going to hold a press conference later this morning on the changes, which will likely face opposition from legal and human rights groups, as well as within her own Socialist Left faction.
On X, the former president of Liberty Victoria, Michael Stanton, wrote:
The duplicity of this Government fronting Yoorrook and now desperately introducing these draconian bail reforms is just breathtaking. Including removing the principle of detention being a last resort for children? This will result in deaths in custody. It’s a disgrace.
Ali Besiroglu, the head of legal services at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, replied:
300 kids, that’s it. Overhaul the entirety of the bail system for 300 children (with 25 kids being responsible for a quarter of those offences). Unbelievable!
Besiroglu linked to our feature, which includes those figures:
Benita Kolovos
Scrapped Victorian offence set to be brought back
The Victoria government is also going to reintroduce the offence of committing an indictable offence while on bail. The offence was scrapped in 2023 an inquest into the death of Veronica Nelson, an Aboriginal woman who died in custody after being remanded for shoplifting.
The coroner investigating her death, Simon McGregor, found the state’s bail laws were a “complete, unmitigated disaster”, contributing to the death of Nelson, a proud Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman in custody on January 2020. She had been refused bail for shop theft offences in December 2019.
The coroner said the Bail Act had a “discriminatory impact on First Nations people, resulting in grossly disproportionate rates of [First Nations people] remanded in custody, the most egregious of which affects alleged offenders who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander women”.
Victoria moves to bring in country’s ‘toughest’ bail laws
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian government will today announce its plans to introduce the “toughest bail laws in Australia”, which will treat children accused of serious crimes like adults when courts decide whether to remand them or release them into the community.
As we reported earlier this morning, cabinet met on Tuesday to agree to make changes to the Bail Act, which – if passed by parliament – will scrap the principle of remand only as a “last resort” for accused youth offenders. In its place, community safety will become the “overarching principle” when deciding bail for children and adults.
Repeat offenders of serious and violent crimes will also have a greater onus to convince courts they can be bailed while they await trial, with a new test to be introduced the government says is “extremely hard to pass”.
Under the test, bail can’t be granted to repeat offenders unless a court is satisfied to a “high degree of probability” they won’t reoffend. The test will apply to offences such as murder, aggravated charges of home invasion, burglary and carjacking.
The government says a similar test recently introduced in NSW led to a halving of the number of people who received bail.
Victoria’s test goes further: it will apply to adults as well as youths and it will apply to more offences.
Tougher bail tests will also be introduced for crimes including home invasions and carjackings, even when no weapons are involved.
Australia will push for tariff exemption ‘until very last moment’ – O’Neil
The government is “fighting with every single tool” available on the US tariff decision, Clare O’Neil said on Sunrise earlier this morning.
The federal housing minister said Australia was still in discussion with the US, “so I’m not going to accept this as the situation yet”. She continued:
We still have a little bit of time and lots of discussions continuing to happen.
We’re in a world where Canada and Mexico, the two largest trading partners of the US, will have tariffs imposed. In Canada, perhaps even at 50%. I think, to put it mildly, we’re operating in a new context here.
It is obviously in Australia’s best interests for these tariffs not to be imposed. We are doing everything we can and fighting with every single tool that we have available in order to get ourselves in the best possible position. We’re still continuing those negotiations and discussion. That will continue until the very last moment.
Trump tariff decision bad for Australia-US ties – Butler
Mark Butler said the US tariff decision was “bad for our relationship” when asked whether it had a damaging effect on international relations on ABC News Breakfast a short while ago.
The federal health minister also said it was a bad economic decision:
This is a disappointing decision. It’s a bad economic decision. It’s bad for our relationship. It’s bad for the US, ultimately, because we think that the exports we send to them – which are significantly less than the exports they send to us – are good for the US economy. They’re good for US industry. They’re particularly good for defence, which is an important area of cooperation.
We think this is a bad decision that’s disappointing, and we’ll continue to press the case for it.
Australia to keep pressing ‘at highest level’ for tariff exemption
Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has been “relentless” in pressing the case for Australian exemption to US steel and aluminium tariffs, Butler says.
We’ve only been going at this for almost seven weeks that President Trump has been back in office. We intend to continue to press the case at the highest level – particularly ambassador Rudd has been relentless in this, meeting with officials almost constantly to press the American case. We’ve had a lot of senior ministerial engagement.
Obviously the prime minister has spoken directly with the president. We’ll continue to do that. It’s not only in Australia’s interest – which for us, is the most important thing – we’re confident, we’re very sure it’s in both of our interests’ interest to continue the open trade that has characterised particularly the last 20 years under the US FTA.
Butler says Trump tariffs decision ‘deeply disappointing’ but battle’s not over
Federal health minister Mark Butler says Australia’s case for exemption from US tariffs is not over “by any means”. He is speaking live on ABC News Breakfast:
This is obviously deeply disappointing news, but we knew this was going to be a tough fight. The second … Trump administration seems much more determined on this front than perhaps the first administration. Even back then, when the Turnbull government was in office here in Australia, it took nine months to gain the exemption that they ultimately did. So we’ve been working very hard on this.
Today’s news is disappointing, but we don’t see this issue as being over, by any means. We will continue to press the case for an exemption from Australian exports from these new tariffs.
House prices show signs of recovery in bellwether suburbs – CoreLogic
There’s bad news for prospective homebuyers looking to pick up a bargain in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs or Melbourne’s inner east, Australian Associated Press reports.
Following a relatively short-lived downturn, prestige housing markets in Australia are picking up momentum – a sign that the broader market is set for stronger growth following the Reserve Bank’s first rate cut in more than four years.
The upper quartile of the housing market tends to act as a bellwether and swung from a 0.3% decline in January to a 0.2% rise in February, says CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy.
“If this momentum continues, the quarterly change in upper quartile values could turn positive and potentially outperform the lower quartile and middle market for the first time since August 2023,” she said.
The northern end of Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including the ritzy locales of Point Piper, Double Bay and Vaucluse, recorded a 250-basis point turnaround from a 0.5% fall in January to a 2% lift.
Meanwhile, Stonnington in Melbourne’s inner east, which includes the well-heeled suburbs of Prahran, South Yarra and Toorak, experienced a 264-basis point recovery.
CoreLogic research shows the higher end of the market has historically been the most sensitive to changes in interest rates.
Clive Palmer kickstarts another ad blitz
In the latest of our series looking at what lies behind the headlines of the election campaign, Josh Butler and Dan Jervis-Bardy have been digging into what Clive Palmer has been spending on ads since he set up his new political vehicle – the Trumpet of Patriots.
After starting up its Google and YouTube blitz last Thursday, it has spent about $15,000 in 48 hours. “Over the seven days to Monday, Trumpet of Patriots had spent about $140,000 on Google and YouTube ads, which generated between 4m and 5m impressions online, according to Google’s ad library tool,” they write.
Our reporters also look at a sporting chance for Eden-Monaro’s Labor member, Kristy McBain, and they have some banter with Adam Bandt.
Read the full piece here:
Rafqa Touma
Good morning, blog readers – this is Rafqa Touma. I’ll be taking you through the day’s live news updates. Thank you to Martin Farrer for getting us rolling this morning.
Labor just ahead of opposition in new poll
Labor has taken a slim lead over the Coalition in a weekly survey ahead of a federal election expected in May, Australian Associated Press reports.
The Roy Morgan poll puts Labor on 51.5% to the Coalition’s 48.5% on a two-party-preferred basis, with a two-point rise in support for the government and a two-point dip for the opposition flipping the prior week’s result.
A Roy Morgan survey issued in the last week of February had also had Labor leading the coalition, 51% to 49%.
Anthony Albanese said on Friday he would not pick 12 April as election day and that the federal budget scheduled for 25 March would go ahead.
Other Saturdays later in April have been ruled out for an election due to the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends.
While the election must be held by 17 May, the next most likely date is 3 May.
Henry Belot
SES warns of dangers for children playing in cyclone-eroded dunes
The NSW state emergency service has urged people to be careful around coastal sand dunes that have been damaged by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
The service’s assistant commissioner, Nicole Hogan, has expressed concern about reports of children and young people playing on the severely eroded dunes:
While the weather has now eased and it is encouraging to see communities return to normality and visit the beach, it is vital that I remind families that severe coastal erosion occurred on many beaches due to the storm surge and big waves which we experienced.
There is currently an increased risk that the sand dunes will collapse and cause injury due to the severe erosion. While it may appear fun for children to play on them, it is not worth the risk
Trump ‘considered against’ tariff exemption for Australia as deadline looms
Josh Butler
Australia will reportedly not get an exemption to US steel and aluminium tariffs, with Donald Trump said to have decided against giving a carve-out that he dangled in front of Anthony Albanese.
But the federal government says it remains in discussion with the Trump administration, and will have “more to say” on the matter soon.
Multiple Australian media outlets reported early on Wednesday (AEDT) that White House press secretary Katherine Leavitt had told them in a private briefing in Washington DC that Canberra would not receive an exemption to the 25% steel and aluminium tariffs due to come into force today.
The ABC reported that Leavitt had said Trump “considered it, and considered against it”, for the purpose of backing American-made products over overseas ones.
Trump had previously told Albanese that a carve-out for Australian products would be considered; the president said there would be “great consideration” given to such a move.
An Albanese government spokesperson told Guardian Australia on Wednesday morning that it had “been working hard at all levels to secure an exemption”.
“We remain in discussion with the United States administration, and will have more to say,” the statement said.
The Coalition had said it would be a test of Albanese’s leadership if Australia failed to receive an exemption, as Malcolm Turnbull’s government had in 2017. Shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan said on Wednesday that Albanese had “failed” steel and aluminium workers, claiming “the prime minister lacked the courage to travel to Washington” to discuss the matter directly with Trump.
But Turnbull himself this week rejected the claims from his former party, saying this week: “There has been an attempt to set Albanese up to fail on something that he was most unlikely to succeed in.”
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Rafqa Touma takes the helm.
Time is running out for Australia to escape US metals tariffs ahead of the deadline later today with a run on gold exports creating a trade surplus with the US and posssibly providing Donald Trump with another reason to place levies on Australian steel and aluminium. The US president’s spat with Malcolm Turnbull may not have helped Australia’s case and attitudes are hardening across the board, as demonstrated by Trump’s decision overnight to double tariffs on Canadian metal imports to the US. All of which has caused further losses on stock markets during the European and US trading day. The ASX is tipped to fall more than 2% at the opening this morning. We’ll have more as it unfolds.
Clive Palmer’s new party, the Trumpet of Patriots, is already outspending the major parties as the shadow election campaign gathers pace. The mining mogul has created controversy with newspaper campaigns and has invested in Google ads at a higher rate than even the Western Australian Liberal and Labor parties ahead of the state election last week.
Staying with politics, a poll out today shows that Labor has edged ahead of the Coalition. The Roy Morgan poll puts Labor on 51.5% to the Coalition’s 48.5% on a two-party-preferred basis, widening a lead that first emerged at the end of February in the polling series. And a report from CoreLogic today says house prices are rising again in some areas. More coming up.
And there has been severe erosion on eastern Australian beaches pounded by Tropical Cyclone Alfred – now authorities are warning about the dangers that poses to visitors. More on that very soon.
