Australian news and politics recap April 1: Dutton wages war on woke, vows to stop indoctrination of kids

The former prime minister is talking about his favourite topic of late - Donald Trump.

Well, maybe it’s his second favourite topic, after himself.

He starts with a recap of the big talking topics from the Trump Administration over the past few months.

“There’s an eerie resonance between the language Trump uses about Canada and the language Putin uses about Ukraine - borders are fictional, doesn’t deserve to be a separate country and so forth,” he says.

“And then I need neo-not remind you of the shameful way Trump has treated Ukraine. In his endeavour to broker a peace deal, rather than using American might to compel the aggressor to come to the table, he’s humiliated and kneecaped the weaker, wronged party, cutting off military aid and intelligence sharing until Zelensky agreed to a ceasefire.

“And if that punching down wasn’t bad enough, he’s taken the opportunity to demand a huge share of Ukraine’s mill-or-mineral resources as compensation for the aid America has already given. Simply stated, the United States under President Trump does not share the values we’ve shared with every single one of his predecessors, Republican and Democrat, for over 80 years, and he does not pretend to share them.”

A reporter has asked Mr Dutton about comments he made last night potentially linking funding to schools changing their curriculum to eradicate the ‘woke agenda’.

“I want to make sure our kids, whether they are at school or secondary school for young Australians or at universities receiving the education their parents would expect them to receive and our position will reflect community standards in relation to what is being taught at our schools and universities.

“You have seen other academics that are out as part of protests on the streets and teachers similarly. That is been translated into the classroom. That is not something I support.

“I support young Australians been able to think freely, being able to assess what is before them and not being told and indoctrinated by something that is the agenda of others and that is the approach we would take.”

Mr Dutton confirms he has agreed to a leadership debate with Anthony Albanese on Tuesday, April 8 at 7.30pm AEST.

He went on to say that he was happy to do up to four debates but the PM had so far only agreed to the one.

“I’ll be there with bells on next Tuesday night and it will be a great debate and I am looking forward to it. The question is whether the Prime Minister is willing to commit to the debates beyond that.”

Mr Dutton said news that the Trump Administration had raised concerns about Australia’s ban on US beef imports did not concern him and he stodd with the PM on not compromising the country’s biosecurity.

He is then asked whose fault it was that Austraila had not received a tariff exemption.

“The President of the United States will stand up for America, I’ll stand up for Australia. It seems the Prime Minister is not able to stand up for our national security and is not able to stand up for homebuyers, is not able to stand up for families, he is not able to stand up against people who are trying to do a deal that is not in our country’s best interest.

“I have the strength of leadership and experience to be able to stand up to the President of the United States or anyone else if they are acting against our country’s interest.”

Mr Dutton brushed off concerns raised over the past day or two that the Opposition’s message was not getting through to voters.

“I think you haven’t seen anything yet, wait till we get into this campaign and you see more of what we have to offer and you see what the government is offering in terms of increasing taxes on prices,” he says.

“When you see the two parties by election day you will see a prime ministerial candidate who will be able to protect and defend our country when the Prime Minister is too weak to do so.

“You will see a prime ministerial candidate who is able to make a decision is required to get our economy back on track and to reduce inflation to make sure that we can restore the dream of home ownership, where the Prime Minister has taken a dream away from Australians.”

Mr Dutton has been promising to release modelling that proves the Coalition’s gas plan would leave Australians better off for four days.

A reporter asked him when that would be released.

“I like that anticipation is building because there is good news coming,” he says.

“People will know that gas prices will always be cheaper under a coalition government. People know that electricity prices will be cheaper under a coalition government.”

“We require connectivity to the rest of the world as an island nation and the way we communicate with our partners and allies world is contingent on those cables,” he says.

“The Prime Minister cannot stand up and be honest with the Australian public and I think this is a test that the Prime Minister has failed and I think he needs to be frank.”

Mr Dutton also hit out at Mr Albanese’s comments that the Australian military conducted similar exercises near China.

“The Prime Minister himself has no idea what he is doing,” he says.

Peter Dutton is at his most confident when talking about national security.

He seizes the chance to lay the boot in to the Albanese Government after a question from a journalist on the Chinese spy ship in Australian waters with the ability to scan our undersea cables.

“A first charge of any premise that is to protect and defend our country and Anthony Albanese doesn’t know what to do. One part of the government is saying the Australian Border Force is monitoring what is happening, the other part is saying it is the Australian Defence Force that is monitoring what is happening. The Prime Minister himself doesn’t know what is happening,” he says.

“That is the problem and for a Jetstar or a virgin pilot to have to notify the government of what was happening off our shores is a disgrace and it shows the gap there is in intelligence collection and in exercise of our military forces at the moment. It is unbelievable the Prime Minister can’t explain to the Australian people what is happening here.”

“We are saying that our priority for Victoria is this project (the airport link) and we are saying that, for us, we’re not supporting the Suburban Rail Loop,” he says.

“It won’t happen because it is a $200 billion pipe dream that is going to stop the Melbourne rail link from happening and every dollar of Commonwealth funding that Anthony Albanese provides to Jacinta Allan will be sucked into the suburban rail link which means that you were going to miss out on other road projects.”

Mr Dutton is asked about his comments yesterday in which he was perceived to have been “measuring the curtains”.

He said he would prefer to live in Sydney rather than Canberra if he was elected PM.

But he’s deflected the question and turned it into an attack on the Albanese Government.

“Victorians have had a gutful of the Allan Government. The extra taxes that Labor applies, the money they spend, they always rack up debt and that’s exactly what’s happening at a Federal level.

“Victorians are worried that Anthony Albanese is doing to the national economy what Jacinta Allan has done to the state economy here and Australians can’t afford that. No Australian can.

“I want to make sure we’re focused on how we can help Victorians. This project today is a revolutionary investment for this state. It’s the missing piece of infrastructure that Victorians need.”