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Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt said Peter Dutton was under a “misapprehension” that all public servants lived in Canberra and claimed proposed job cuts of 41,000 positions would affect service delivery.
He made the comments after Dutton wound back his work-from-home edict for public servants again today, saying only public servants in Canberra would be subject to stricter rules.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Watt said Australia’s 185,000 Commonwealth workers were “decentralised” particularly in his home state of Queensland, a key election battleground that has been plagued by weeks of wild weather and natural disasters.
“People who just endured a crisis will be left waiting and the safety net millions count on could fail when it’s needed most,” Watt said.
“There are 41,000 livelihoods that are at stake as a result of these cuts but there are millions of Queenslanders whose livelihoods are at stake in terms of the kind of services that they receive from the federal public service.”
Watt said the size of the public service was “about right” and Labor did not intend to make changes.
The Community and Public Sector Union Mr Dutton’s comments on flexible work had caused “confusion and uncertainty” as until now, it was thought all workers would be affected by full-time office requirements.
AAP
Also at Peter Dutton’s press conference this morning, federal politics reporter Natassia Chrysanthos asked about the Coalition’s spokesman for migrant services, Jason Wood, who this masthead reported declared his family’s financial interests in a migration agency.
Wood’s wife, Judy Cheung-Wood, is the half-owner and co-director of a migration agency that has helped people stay in Australia and overturn their visa refusals.
Dutton said it was “perfectly legitimate” for MPs to declare their interests according to the rules, which he said Wood had followed.
Asked whether it was appropriate for Wood to have a stake in a migration agency that takes people through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, a process the Coalition had criticised, Dutton said he would address that question in government.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and frontbencher Jason Wood on the campaign trail in Melbourne on Tuesday.Credit: James Brickwood
Circling back to Peter Dutton’s press conference this morning, it also brought news that Jacinta Nampijinpa Price would be a high-profile addition to one of the cabinet’s most powerful decision-making bodies if the Coalition wins the election.
At a press conference in Darwin, Dutton said the recently appointed spokeswoman for government efficiency would join the cabinet’s Expenditure Review Committee.
Price’s new role has been compared to that of Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency, which has slashed and burned its way through the US public service and sacked thousands of people.
Coalition Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price stood alongside Peter Dutton at today’s press conference.Credit: James Brickwood
Dutton first hinted at the move in February in a Sky News interview, arguing “there’s a good case for her to be on the Expenditure Review Committee”, but adding “I haven’t made a final decision in relation to who will be on that”.
But on Saturday morning the opposition leader gave a one word answer – “yes” – when asked if the promotion would occur.
The Expenditure Review Committee typically comprises the prime minister, treasurer and assistant treasurer, finance minister and one or two ministers from big spending portfolios such as health or social services. Price is a first-term MP.
It plays a particularly important role leading up to the federal budget, with ministers presenting saving and spending proposals to the small committee and arguing the case for additional or new funding.
Last month, this masthead revealed that Price had improperly claimed expenses from taxpayers 13 times during her first term and that a 14th claim was being assessed.
Anthony Albanese has ventured deep into enemy territory early in the campaign. He spent part of his first day on the trail in his opponent Peter Dutton’s seat of Dickson.
Today he’s in Maranoa, held by Nationals leader David Littleproud with a whopping margin of 25.4 per cent. It’s the Coalition’s safest seat. This afternoon a reporter asked Albanese: if there’s little to gain politically from the seat, why was he there?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a visit to a sheep farm owned by Martin and Rebecca Eggerling today in rural Queensland.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“I want to be the prime minister of all Australians,” Albanese replied.
“I find it astonishing – I’ve read some reports saying we should just go to marginal seats. One of the things that I think has alienated some Australians from mainstream political activity is that view.
“These people are salt of the earth, the people I’ve met today. I’m so proud to be prime minister of a country that has people like Marto and Bec, producing food, raising kids like Cooper and Jacob,” he said, referring to a family running a sheep farm inundated by floodwater near Longreach.
“Funding and support from the government doesn’t look at the political map, and we don’t get out the colour-coded spreadsheet to determine infrastructure funding. We determine the national interest, and that’s important.”
Use the map below to see where each leader travelled during the first week of the campaign.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has used his footy kick-gone-wrong this morning to take a swipe at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Asked how he would make it up to Channel 10 cameraman Ghaith Nadir – who is wearing a bandage around his head after sustaining a bloodied forehead from a ball from Dutton this morning – Dutton made light of the situation.
Bandaged cameraman Ghaith Nadir and Peter Dutton.Credit: James Brickwood
“Well, I can do two things. One, I thought that I can buy him a beer this afternoon. And the second, I can teach him how to mark,” he said.
Then he continued: “Now, if the prime minister kicked it, he would have told you that it didn’t hit anyone, and you’re imagining something, that it just didn’t happen.”
His comments allude to Albanese’s response to tripping off a stage on Thursday. While video footage showed the prime minister slipping backwards and someone catching his arms, Albanese played it down.
“No, I stepped back one step… I didn’t fall off the stage,” he said later that day. By Friday, he’d decided the better strategy was to joke about it.
Peter Dutton kicked a wayward ball which hit a cameraman this morning.Credit: James Brickwood, Mike Foley
Anthony Albanese was pressed on why an announcement of the government’s intention to end Chinese ownership of the Port of Darwin has come now rather than earlier in the prime minister’s term.
“When people have had a look at the comments that we’ve made over a long period of time, they’ll see that there’s nothing spontaneous about this,” Albanese said.
He said the government established an inquiry and wanted to ensure the impact on taxpayers was minimised.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a press conference in Longreach, Queensland.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Terry O’Connor is the non-executive director of Landbridge, the Chinese firm that acquired a 99-year lease of the port in 2015. He told The Australian Financial Review the firm was surprised because neither Dutton nor Albanese had contacted them ahead of their respective campaign announcements.
Albanese insisted the government had engaged with Landbridge but wouldn’t say how much the government would consider spending on acquiring the port or confirm if security advice had changed regarding Chinese ownership of the facility.
Asked if his announcement risked upsetting China, he said:
No. My job is to stand up for the Australian national interest. I’ll continue to do that, but I note that our relationships with China and our economic relationship has improved to the point where we have more than $20 billion of exports.
The prime minister was coy when asked why he called into ABC Darwin last night – beating Dutton to his own Port of Darwin announcement this morning.
“Why not? I do lots of interviews,” he said. “I called Triple M yesterday morning, and I called ABC Sydney yesterday.”
Anthony Albanese said he is prepared to use compulsory aquisition powers to gain back control of the Port of Darwin after a non-executive director of Landbridge, the Chinese firm that leases the port, told The Australian Financial Review it is not for sale.
The prime minister refused to put a timeline on a potential acquisition, however, refusing to match Peter Dutton’s commitment that the lease to Landbridge would end within six months if the Coalition takes power.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked about the Port of Darwin during a press conference in Queensland.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“When the port of Darwin was flogged off to a company with links to the Chinese government, we opposed that sale,” Albanese said.
“We have a clear view, which is that it should be in Australian hands, and Peter Dutton was in the cabinet that sold it.”
Peter Dutton said this morning that he had contacted the Chinese ambassador ahead of the Coalition’s announcement that they would seek the end of Landbridge’s lease, and claimed the government had not made contact with China before Albanese made a similar call last night.
Asked if he had any conversations with China ahead of his announcement, Albanese said:
“Well, [Dutton’s] obviously got better connections with the Chinese ambassador. It’s a very strange thing for him to say, and I’ll just leave that sitting there.”
Climate and energy correspondent Mike Foley just asked the prime minister what role he believes climate change may have had on the Queensland floods.
Here’s what Anthony Albanese said:
Look, you can’t say that any extreme weather event, any single event, is just because of climate change. What you can do, though, is look at the science, and what the science told us was that there would be more extreme weather events, so more frequent and more intense.
So that is what we’re seeing played out, not just here in Australia, but right around the world.
Earlier today the prime minister spoke with the Eggerling family, who run a 28,000-acre sheep farm near Longreach that has been inundated by water. They haven’t seen a flood like this in their decades of living on the land.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (second from right) during a visit to a sheep farm in Longreach.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is speaking from flood-hit regional Queensland, where he’s announcing some more local funding measures for flood recovery.
“There is no politics any of this. I spoke with Premier David Crisafulli yesterday, and we are working hand in hand making sure support is provided.
“I also spoke today to David Littleproud. I always try to tell people when I’m in their turf and I wish him well as well he’s working hard.”
Albanese said he had agreed overnight to a request from the Queensland government for $7 million worth of fodder and also announced $105 million in funding for exclusion fencing to protect fodder and livestock from feral pigs and dogs.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a press conference in Longreach, Queensland.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Peter Dutton has offered a Channel 10 cameraman a beer in apology after accidentally kicking a ball into his head during a photo opportunity, according to his spokesman.
After cameraman Ghaith Nadir doubled over with a bloodied forehead at a Darwin football ground but then stood and flashed a thumbs up as he clasped his head, Dutton, standing a few metres away, quipped: “That’s your exclusive footage too, mate.”
Peter Dutton checks on the injured member of the press pack, cameraman Ghaith Nadir.Credit: James Brickwood
Nadir was then attended to by media colleagues and Australian Federal Police personnel. The opposition leader approached Nadir to check he was alright, once his bloodied forehead had been bandaged, and the two shook hands.
Dutton jokingly denied the kick-gone-wrong was his Scott Morrison moment.“I was expecting him to mark it, I was sure he could take the shot,” Dutton told Sky News afterwards.
“He’s good. I just saw him then, so hopefully he’s able to get it dressed properly, but the AFP did a great job.”
