Australian news and politics recap: China sets ambitious 5 per cent growth target in response to tariff blow

As millions of residents prepare for Cyclone Alfred’s landing on Thursday night, Queensland locals have been left outraged after opportunistic hustlers have been outed advertising sand bags for sale.

Dozens of community based sandbag stations are operating in south-east Queensland to provide residents with an allocation of filled water-proofers, with lines lasting for hours to grab as many as possible.

But people in the path of potentially one of the worst storms ever to lash the Australian coastline are witnessing the best and worst of humanity as they prepare for the predicted cyclonic destruction.

Social media users are hot under the collar over the sandbags for sale ads popping up with enraged locals venting their frustration.

“Well that didn’t take long, Profiteering from others misfortune,” one post said showing one of the ads on X.

Read the full storyr here.

Richard Marles has distanced the Federal Government from WA Premier Roger Cook’s loose comment labelling US Vice-President J.D. Vance a “knob”, saying it would not have been his term of choice.

Mr Cook has twice apologised for the “light-hearted” remark that he made during a fill-the-blank section of The West Australian’s Leadership Matters event on Tuesday.

“Well, I wouldn’t use that language,” the Defence Minister told ABC.

“And I think Premier Cook has also perhaps said that this was not a moment of the greatest discipline on his part, which we can all understand.

“But look, we are working very closely in building our relationship with the new administration in Washington.”

Read the story

Peter Dutton says Anthony Albanese would have a “tin ear” if he decided to call the election this weekend if Tropical Cyclone Alfred wrecks havoc.

Speculation was rife the PM would travel to Government House on Sunday or Monday to fire the starting gun on an April 12 election, but the category 2 system headed for southeast Queensland northern NSW could complicate that.

The Opposition Leader said while he hoped the cyclone’s destruction was limited, he said if the forecasts were correct it would be foolish for the PM to call the election.

“I’d be surprised if he calls it this Sunday or Monday for the 12th of April,” Dutton said.

“(If the cyclone is extreme) there will be people waiting for waters to reside, there will be swift water rescues, there will be people cleaning out their houses or their businesses and some people will have lost everything. That’s the reality of these weather events, and to go to (an) election at this stage, at that time, I think the Prime Minister would have a tin ear to do that.

“I think people probably want from their prime minister is governing not campaigning at a time like this.”

The PM had earlier deflected a question about election timing, saying his focus right now was on governing.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says the Albanese government is against tariffs but concedes they are now a much bigger part of the global strategic discussion with the rise of Donald Trump.

Speaking at an Australian Financial Review business summit, Ms Wong said: “There’s no doubt that we have a very different American administration.”

“I have said President Trump and his administration envisage a very different America in the world. We saw that in the first Trump administration. But I think it’s clear that the scale of change in this administration has even more scale.

“Tariffs have become a much bigger part of the global strategic discussion and we have to navigate that. But I hope we can navigate this together.”

She said Australia was putting its case “very clearly” to the US on its proposed steel and aluminium tariffs.

The US walking back support for Ukraine has sent “tectonic changes” through the international system, the Ukrainian ambassador says as he calls for more aid.

Washington remaining a strong security partner to Europe was crucial for security and a step back would raise questions about its commitment to the Pacific and other parts of the world, Vasyl Myroshnychenko said.

Kyiv would work with any incoming Australian government following the federal election, as it requests more support in the form of armoured Bushmaster vehicles and more tanks due to be decommissioned, he said.

Read the story

One of the Gold Coast’s most experienced lifesavers and surf sports coaches has described the impending arrival of Cyclone Alfred as “a once in a lifetime event”, while surf lifesaving clubs warn their members to stay away.

Prolific surf sports-winning surf club, BMD Northcliffe on the Gold Coast, has had to take extraordinary measures to keep their members and the public safe amid the potential carnage ahead of the cyclone’s landfall at around 2am on Friday.

Some of the world’s best ironmen and ironwomen who are also patrolling surf lifesavers have been told to stay away as the massive waves surge toward beach-side frontage — making competition at the Queensland Surf Lifesaving titles impossible this weekend.

The surf club has been closed and all non-essential members and staff have been told to steer clear of the facility.

“This is a great unknown really,” said Northcliffe Surf Sports manager Paul Wotherspoon.

“I have been living on the Gold Coast for 44 years, have been at the beach for most of that time and never seen a storm move from a Category One to a Category Two cyclone that will hit this strip.”

Read the full story here.

Anthony Albanese was supposed to be headed to WA at the end of this week for Saturday’s State election.

But right at the end of his lengthy press conference in Brisbane he said he now expects he will stay on the east coast to keep across the cyclone and recovery efforts after it passes through.

“I was due to travel to Western Australia on Friday and Saturday, but chances are I intend to stay on the east coast,” he said.

“NEMA (the National Emergency Management Agency) is based in Canberra, that is a good place to monitor what is happening nationally there.”

The latest GDP figures are in and it’s good news for Australia’s economy.

GDP best expectations to grow by 0.6 per cent in the final quarter of 2024, bringing the annual rate of growth to 1.3 per cent.

The surprise results were thanks to a surprise lift in business inventory data released earlier this week.

Quarterly GDP growth of 0.6 per cent is the strongest showing in more than two years and suggests that the economy is recovering from a low point experienced in the third quarter of last year.

​Read the story​

The Prime Minister is asked whether he will rule out calling an election in the next couple of days.

He says his “focus is on governing”.

“That’s what I’m here for. I’ve been asked everyday for the last year about election timing. I am focused on governing, that is the sole focus that I have,” he said.

The PM said his team are working out whether he can get to northern NSW later today, where Premier Chris Minns is travelling to.

Matthew Collopy from the Bureau of Meteorology is next up to provide an update.

Tropical Cyclone Alfred is currently a category 2 system, sitting 400km east of Brisbane and moving west at around 11 km/h towards southeast Queensland.

It’s forecast to cross somewhere between Brisbane and the Gold Coast overnight Thursday into Friday morning.

Winds near the centre will be up to 95 km/h, with gusts up to 130 km/h.

Daily rainfall totals are forecast of between 200-400mm for southeast Queensland between Thursday and Saturday, but there could be totals over 800mm.

That rainfall could trigger life-threatening flash flooding.

Coastal warnings are also in place for high tides and large waves.

He said: “The coastal crossing of Tropical Cyclone Alfred presents a very rare and hazardous event for southeast Queensland. The wave, wind, rainfall and particularly the storm surge present significant risks. This situation is still evolving and the Bureau will update our warnings for all of these hazards as the system approaches the coast”.