Australian news and politics recap April 3: Anthony Albanese falls off stage on campaign trail in NSW

This concludes our live news and politics coverage for the day.

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Peter Dutton has announced a $16.2m package to upgrade the Busselton airport, in the electorate of Forrest.

MP Nola Marino is retiring, and former senator Ben Small is running to replace her. But he’s under threat from a local independent, Sue Chapman.

The total cost of the airport redevelopment is $65m. The Opposition Leader says the investment will boost local economic growth and ensure the long-term sustainability of regional aviation.

“Now, more than ever, we must invest in productivity-enhancing infrastructure that supports regional communities,” he said.

“Regional airports are economic lifelines—they drive tourism, create jobs, and ensure communities stay connected to essential services like healthcare, freight, and business opportunities.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken an unfortunate tumble onstage while posing for photos on the campaign trail.

Mr Albanese was delivering a speech at an event in Lovedale, NSW, in the Hunter region when he slipped from the platform.

He was quickly helped back to his feet before he waved to the crowd suggesting he was OK, laughing off the embarrassing situation.

The incident came after Mr Albanese was heckled by climate protesters. Read more here.

Watch it here:

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken to the Mining and Energy Union in the electorate of Hunter to promote Labor’s “same job, same pay” policy.

New research by a Labor-aligned think tank, the McKell Institute, claims this framework, introduced in 2023 as an amendment to the Fair Work Act, has driven significant gains in wages across the country.

It aimed to close the “labour hire loophole” to allow labour hire workers engaged by a host company to get the same pay as that company’s own employees.

“These are new laws, responding to a new challenge,” said Mr Albanese.

“But at their heart is a principle as old as the labour movement itself – a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.”

He said the new report confirmed the scale of this problem was bigger than anyone imagined and that the benefits of the solution have exceeded all expectations.

“This year alone, they are estimating a fair-go dividend of nearly one billion dollars,” he said.

“And then there is the multiplier effect: a $2.5 billion flow-on economic benefit to communities, especially regional communities.”

Labor has previously warned that Opposition Leader Peter Dutton would repeal the law.

However, Mr Dutton confirmed on Thursday that he will not overturn Labor’s industrial relations laws if he comes to government.

Ecomomists have been running the sums on what Trump’s tariffs will mean for the RBA’s next rate decision.

RBC Capital Markets economist Su-Lin Ong said there were “mounting risks to global growth” which run counter to the view of the RBA in keeping rates on hold this week at 4.1 per cent.

“Today’s global developments perhaps argue the opposite” to the RBA’s “cautious tone” Ms Ong said.

Christian Baylis, chief investment officer of Fortlake Asset Management, and a former RBA economist said the diversion of goods away from America might lead to prices declining here.

“If it’s a structural drop, you’re going to have a lot of TVs, a lot of cars and a lot of things trying to find a home pretty quickly. That would potentially push prices down, for sure, because you’re just gonna have excess supply versus demand,” he said.

NAB’s Alan Oster, said NAB is contuining to forecast a rate cut in May and further cuts to bring the official rate down to 3 per cent early next year. “The RBA will just watch the data, especially with so much uncertainty,” he said.

Peter Dutton held a second short press conference at a mining equipment company in Midland, in the seat of Hasluck, flanked by Nationals candidate for Bullwinkel Mia Davies and senior WA Liberal Michaelia Cash.

He announced the Coalition would restore the $100 million junior minerals exploration incentive, which gives tax credits to companies looking for minerals.

He spruiked the $600 million agriculture and mining roads fund, which is a national pool of money although the Coalition says WA will be a major beneficiary.

“There’s so much that relies on the success of the WA economy. It is an entrepreneurial spirit here alive in WA and we want to make sure that we can expand that,” Mr Dutton says.

He also spoke about the lengthy approval process for the Woodside’s North West Shelf gas export facility expansion, which took six years for the State government to approve and has been delayed at the federal level by environmental groups filing protests.

Mr Dutton’s message to everyone in or connected to the mining sector in WA they they won’t be able to trust a minority Labor government reliant on the Greens support.

Over on X, people have been trying to work out how each country’s individual tariffs have been caculated.

Despite waving a 400 page list of trade grievances on the Rose Garden lawn, it appears no-one at the White House has bothered doing any actual economic modelling of where the “recirprocity” lies.

Instead, the rate of tariff seems to be calculated mechanically.

The administration has taken the figure for the US trade deficit in goods with a country, divided by the imports from that country, then halves it.

Amercia, for example has a $US17.9 billion trade deficit with Indonesia. Indonesia’s exports to us are $US28 billion.

$17.9/$28 = 64 per cent, which means Indonesia’s tariffs are 32 per cent.

If America has a trade surplus with a country, such as Australia, the tariff is 10 per cent.

Economist Chris Richardson writing on LinkedIn said;

“It’s hard to describe just how dumb that mechanical formula is, let alone how dumb the impact of all this will be

I’m in Vietnam, which was just hit with a 46% tariff. Small business people are reeling, and emotions are starting to rise

It’s all so astoundingly pointless. 😞”

Anthony Albanese called the decision for Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Norfolk Island “a rather strange one”.

“It is of course is a part of Australia.”

“I’m not sure that Norfolk Island with respect to it is a threat to the United States economy and therefore I think it being singled out is rather strange,” he said.

“We will seek an explanation but I’ve got to say the global impact of what has been announced today I don’t think Norfolk Island is front and centre.”

Two climate protesters have crashed the Prime Minister’s media conference at Maitland hospital on the NSW central coast.

“Mr Albanese, why did your government approve 33 new fossil fuel projects,” one protester yelled while the Prime Minister was mid speech.

“It’s my future, it has to stop.”

Watch what happened:

As President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariff regime begins to take effect, a select group of goods has been carved out of the trade crackdown.

While most imports face a flat 10 per cent tariff from April 5 — and steeper country-specific rates from April 9 — the executive order outlines key exemptions.

Pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, copper, lumber, energy products, and certain critical minerals are all excluded under Annex II. Automobiles and auto parts already covered by separate national security tariffs are also spared.

Products with at least 20 per cent US-origin content will only be taxed on the foreign portion of their value, an incentive to shift production onshore.

Goods from Canada and Mexico that qualify under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement retain duty-free access, but non-qualifying imports face tariffs of 25 per cent — or 10 per cent for Canadian energy and potash.

The popular de minimis threshold for low-value imports remains — for now — but is expected to close once systems are in place to collect duties.

Steel and aluminium tariffs remain governed by prior orders and are unaffected by the latest executive action.

While these exemptions offer some relief, trade experts warn the broader plan still threatens major disruption to global supply chains.