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

“This will take traffic off the road, it will bring Melbourne up to the same status as many of the airports across the world,” he says.

“We are committed to making sure that there are extra road projects that will be funded here by a Coalition government.”

Mr Dutton says the money will be redirected from other projects including the suburban rail link.

We’ll bring you all the latest as it happens.

An independent candidate in NSW has been banned from her local hair salon after making a sexual joke towards a teenager.

After getting her hair washed last week, Nicolette Boele allegedly said to a 19-year-old girl: “That was amazing, and I didn’t even have sex with you.”

According to 2GB’s Ben Fordham, the comment made the young hairdresser feel so uncomfortable that the salon sent a legal letter to the candidate for Bradfield, in Sydney’s North Shore, saying she had been banned.

Here’s the full story.

From Ellen Ransley on the campaign trail:

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has landed in Melbourne, with his first stop in the electorate of Calwell in the city’s north.

It’s held by Labor with a 12.1 per cent margin.

He’ll be joined by a number of Liberal candidates for surrounding electorates where they’ll talk up the coalitions announcement on scrapping the suburban rail loop and bankrolling the airport rail project.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite posted on Monday their worst quarterly performances since 2022, as uncertainty around the Trump administration’s economic agenda roiled US equity markets in the first quarter of 2025.

The two benchmarks also suffered heavily in March, recording their biggest monthly percentage drops since December 2022, as US President Donald Trump rolled out a swathe of new tariffs which raised fears of a global trade war that would hurt economic growth and spur inflation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that he has had “constructive” calls with Mr Trump.

“I have … very clearly indicated Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We’re not negotiating over the news bargaining code. We won’t undermine our biosecurity,” Mr Albanese said.

The Reserve Bank has been meeting this morning and yesterday, but markets have little confidence that rates will be cut from the current 4.1 per cent.

According to the Australian Securities Exchange’s rate indicator, which tracks changes in futures trading on the interbank cash rate, there is just a 10 per cent chance of a decrease today.

Major economists also share that view, with CBA’s Gareth Aird saying the current suite of softer economic data is not enough to justify a rate cut in April, given the previously hawkish stance of the RBA.

Westpac’s Luci Ellis said back–to–back cuts in February and April “were never on the table” but will be looking for new language about the state of the economy going forward, particularly concerns about global growth under a US tariff regime. Both economists are still forecasting a rate cut in May.

A rate cut would be a fillip to Labor’s election campaign, with Roy Morgan’s Michele Levine saying February’s rate cut resulted in a boost to consumer confidence and support for the Labor party.

Anthony Albanese has been grilled as to whether he could guarantee changes to AUKUS wouldn’t be on the table if he had to negotiate in a hung parliament.

“I won’t negotiate over coalitions or over our values. We’ll stand on our own two feet,” the prime minister says.

He highlighted when he became deputy to Kevin Rudd as prime minister in 2013, they didn’t do deals to hold on to the minority government.

“When Australians focus on what the choice is at this election, the choice isn’t whether the Government has been perfect and done everything that people would like,” he says.

“The choice is, at an election, is between a Labor Government committed to building Australia’s future, committed to strengthening Medicare, committed to providing homes for Australians, committed to our schools package giving fair funding for schools … a government that is seeing wages growing, inflation falling, interest rates starting to fall, that’s seen tax cuts for all Australians – and Peter Dutton, a Coalition Leader who will cut everything except for your taxes, because he has to pay for his $600 billion nuclear plan.”

Anthony Albanese has revisited Peter Dutton’s comments from Monday, where he said as Prime Minister, he would live in Kirribilli House on Sydney Harbour rather than the Lodge within walking distance of Parliament House.

“I’ll give him the tip: working from home is what he says he’s against. Well, the office is in Canberra. Parliament House is in Canberra. I live in Canberra,” Mr Albanese says.

Mr Albanese reminded the media that the Lodge is the official home of the Prime Minister.

“Not only have Victorians had to put up with three Liberal prime ministers who saw themselves as being just the prime minister for Sydney, they’re now going to have a Queensland who sees himself as being the prime minister for Sydney as well,” Mr Albanese added.

“I see myself – I’m a proud Sydneysider – as the prime minister for Australia.

“That’s why I have been to South Australia more than 20 times. That’s why yesterday was my 30th visit to Western Australia, and that’s why Victoria is now getting its fair share of infrastructure.”

Peter Dutton is headed to Melbourne on Tuesday to announce that a Commonwealth Government under his leadership would shift around rail funding to move money from the State Labor Government’s preferred suburban rail loop to the Liberals’ preferred airport rail link project.

Anthony Albanese says the proposal makes no sense.

“They have announced today cutting funding, which will be about delivering a railway line to the airport, and said it’s about delivering a railway line to the airport,” he says.

He pointed out that the deal for the existing funding has already been signed between the Commonwealth and Victorian Governments and the Melbourne Airport.

The PM faced a flurry of questions about US President Donald Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day”, on April 2, when the US President plans to impose wide-ranging “reciprocal tariffs” on countries around the world.

“I have … very clearly indicated Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We’re not negotiating over the news bargaining code. We won’t undermine our biosecurity,” Mr Albanese says.

He reiterated that he’s had two “very constructive” phone calls with Mr Trump and that Australia continues to engage at all levels.

The PM has been trying to get another phone call with the US President to further discuss tariffs.

He has made the point that “phone calls come together when things are agreed”, suggesting he’ll let officials and ministers work through the nitty gritty first.