Australian news and politics live: Albanese refuses to say if he knew Russia had requested Indonesian airbase

The Opposition Leader is asked whether he has security concerns, given the PM had been confronted in his hotel overnight.

Mr Dutton says the police “do a fantastic job”.

The Opposition Leader has been pressed on what the Coalition is doing for women, with the reporter pointing out that they tend to skew more “masculine” in their messages and images.

The reporter points out that Mr Dutton has focused on mining, construction, agrictulre and energy as the four pillars of the economy, and in his campaign launch he only mentioned women twice - in the context of how he protected them from domestic violence and crime.

“I am offering the chance for them to get a home. Homeless women are at a record level under this government...,” he starts before the reporter points out that housing is an issue for everyone.

He’s asked what the Coalition is offering more female-dominated sectors like education and health, to which he says “we will invest more each year”.

He continued: “The 25 centre fuel excise reduction is targeted at women driving kids around or delivery truck drivers who are trying to make ends meet.”

Mr Dutton is asked what a Coalition government would do differently to manage the increasingly close relationship between Russia and Indonesia?

He says they would work “closely” with Indonesia, PNG and other Pacific nations and engance those relationships.

“We need to make sure we can work with (Indonesia) because having Russia with a permanent presence or greater presence in our region is not in our country’s best national security interests,” he said.

The Opposition Leader is asked whether a Coalition Government would maintain the eight per cent growth target for the NDIS.

To that, he says he wants to see the NDIS “grow” sustainably.

“I want to make sure the priority remains those participants and those most in need,” he said.

The Opposition Leader is asked if he had indeed “overreached”, as Mr Albanese claimed, and potentially insulted Indonesia.

Mr Dutton attacks Senator Wong in response, and skirts around questions of whether his comments could impact the relationship with Jakarta.

“The relationship between Indonesia and Russia is closer, we know that and we want to continue (our) relationship because we don’t want Russian assets in our region,” he said.

He’s later asked to concede whether he made a mistake to say the Indonesian President had confirmed reports, when he never did.

Mr Dutton says he’s already responded to that question, and won’t bite.

Mr Dutton is asked about the former Coalition Government being on the backfoot of a 2022 defence pact between the Solomon Islands and China, and whether saying he doesn’t want to cohost Cop31 with Pacific nations puts at risk the trust of our closest neighbours and “moving them towards China”.

The Opposition Leader says the former Government had also helped get Covid-19 vaccines to Pacific nations who had been “unbelievably grateful”.

“We worked very closely with our neighburs and met their need in a way China wasn’t able to... So I think if you look at the facts, when we were in Government we were a great partner with many countries,” he said.

Mr Dutton is asked whether President Prabowo ever said Indonesia had been approached by Russia, as the Opposition Leader said on Tuesday.

He said he was making a reference to “a credible military website, that talked about Prabowo government sources”.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Opposition Leader said explictly on ABC News it had been “publicly announced by the President of Indonesia”.

Mr Dutton says it’s a “matter of fact” Indonesia has enhanced its relationship with Russia in recent times.

He says Foreign Minister Penny Wong is “out of her depth”, and it’s damning that the Government is only finding out about significant matters of foreign policy - not just the Indonesia issue, but also on tariffs - from the media.

“This is a government out of its dept in relation to international relations and in the defence space as well,” he said.

Moving to questions, no surprise that the first one is about the comments he made yesterday regarding reports Russia had approached Indonesia to station military aircraft less than 1500km north of Australia.

Asked if he was “wildly irresponsible”, as PM Albanese had suggested, Mr Dutton said “no”.

But he says there are still outstanding questions.

“The prospect of having Russia with a greater presence in our region is very real, and there are a lot of questions the Government still has to answer,” he said.

“We have asked for a briefing in relation to the matter, that has not been forthcoming yet. We’ll get that today.

“Indonesia is an incredible important friend and neighbour, btu there are many questions that need to be answered.”

The Opposition Leader is up speaking in Melbourne, where he’s still spruiking the housing policy he unveiled on the weekend.

Peter Dutton says the Coalition wants to “restore the dream of homeownership”, and can do so by increasing supply, allowing young Australians to access their super, banning foreigners for two years from purchasing properties, and the new tax deductability policy.

The Prime Minister said two homes that would suit a single parent family replacing a single dwelling - was a sign of the government doing construction with an eye to the local community.

“You’re also getting a mix,” he said.

“You’re not getting concentrations of disadvantage, you’re getting a mix of public and private, different people which makes such an enormous difference in terms of social cohesion.”

Albo was also impressed by the apparent TAFE level skills of the workers.

Paul Williams, national safety manager for building company Simonds gave some safety instructions on site.