Australian news and politics recap April 2: Howard says US President Donald Trump ‘not a real conservative’

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor is addressing the National Press Club in Canberra as we speak.

We’ll bring you all the latest from his speech.

In Melbourne’s seat of Kooyong, Liberal candidate Amelia Hammer’s team has taken an opportunity to have a clever dig at Teal incumbent Monique Ryan.

You may remember that last week Dr Ryan and her husband Peter Jordan apologised after Mr Jordan was filmed ​removing one of Ms Hamer’s signs from a public street​.

The sign was in a public place, which according to local laws is technically illegal, but the fact that he decided to do it in the middle of the day - and got caught by one of Ms Hamer’s team members - instead of letting the local council know showed a pretty big lapse of judgment.

Ms Hamer’s team has seized on that inglorious episode with their latest signage. This is what election campaigns are really all about.

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There are no babies today, but there are kids at a childcare centre being read to by the Prime Minister.

Sadly, the lack of audio means it’s unclear the level of animation the PM is employing while reading.

Is this better or worse than kissing babies? You be the judge.

Meanwhile, Peter Dutton is having a spot of tea - also in Melbourne.

Good day for it.

Peter Dutton says he’d fight with Donald Trump “in a heartbeat” if required in the national interest.

The Liberal Leader said Australians wanted a leader who would stand up for their country, labelling Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weak.

“If I needed to have a fight with Donald Trump or any other world leader to advance our nation’s interests, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” he told Sky News.

He claimed this wouldn’t put AUKUS at risk, saying there were enough people on both sides of politics in the US who recognised it was mutually beneficial.

“I’m not going to allow the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom or anyone else to walk over me or to walk over our country, but at the moment, they see a prime minister who is weak and flapping in the breeze,” he said.

Mr Dutton says the Opposition “supports wage increases” and that families are struggling Labor.

“Families have gone backwards under this government,” Mr Dutton said.

“There’s been seven quarters where families have been in recession.

“Mr Albanese can talk up about putting up wages.

“Real wages have gone down under this government.

“The Prime Minister out there telling Australians they have never had it better off, that everything is good, we have turned the corner.

“That’s not the experience of families we’re speaking to.

“Families are struggling under this government.”

Mr Dutton says a suburban rail loop under Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen and Mr Albanese if “not going to happen”.

He says it will just add further pressure on the Victorian economy and bring tax hikes to residents.

“We made a decision we’re better off to spend on a project that’s properly costed,” Mr Dutton said.

“Melbourne rail link is the missing piece of infrastructure in Victoria, and it can be achieved.

“I think it’s a game-changer here in Victoria.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Australia faces “disaster” if Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is reelected.

“In Victoria, people have seen a really bad Labor Government in action for a number of years,” he said.

“You’ve seen how Labor has mismanaged and really wrecked the Victorian economy, and you’re seeing the first signs at a Federal election as well.

“Three more years of Mr Albanese at a Federal level, governing like Jacinta Allan, will be a disaster for our country.”

“We’ve got a positive plan for our country, we want to make sure we can manage the economy more effectively than Labor,” Mr Dutton said.

“Coalition Governments always do that.

“We havea plan to bring down the price of gas and electricity.

“Across society, we’ve got a plan to bring down the cost of petrol by 25 cents a litre, or $14 a tank, and for a family where your commuting or you’ve got teenage kids and you’re fuelling two or three or four cars a week, this will make a real difference.”

Speaking from Melbourne, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says Labor won’t be able to help Australians with the cost-of-living.

“The story of millions of Australian families, they’re just under the pump,” Mr Dutton said.

“It’s their electricity bills, it’s their water bills, their gas bills.

Their mortgage has gone up 12 times under this Government.

“The Prime Minister has no solution for them.”

Mr Dutton said another Labor Government would lead to interest rates going up, predicting that Mr Albanese could only secure a minority Government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of “hypocrisy” and “hairy chested stuff” over the sale of Darwin’s port to a Chinese company.

The PM was asked whether a Labor Government would buy the port back from it’s 99-year lease to Landbridge by the NT’s Country Liberal Party Government in 2015.

“We wouldn’t have flogged it off in the first place,” he said.

“That’s the first point to make. I was the infrastructure shadow minister (at the time), we opposed the sale. We thought that was unwise.

“It was important to stay in Australian hands is my view.”

He said opposition leader Peter Dutton had been in the then Coalition Cabinet at the time and had no grounds to criticise a Labor government over the issue.

“I make it very clear that the hypocrisy of Peter Dutton who does all the hairy chested stuff - he was in the cabinet, they sold the port of Darwin to Chinese interests,” he said.