Australian news and politics recap: Jim Chalmers and Angus Taylor face off in tetchy treasurers’ debate

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has been asked about his father on Wednesday after he suffered a medical episode just hours before he faced off against Anthony Albanese in the first leaders’ debate of the election campaign on Tuesday night.

Bruce Dutton is now stable in hospital.

Look, I spoke to Dad this morning, and thank you for the question and asking about him,” said Mr Dutton.

“He’s doing well. He’s stoic. He’s a tough bugger.

“He’s worked hard all of his life, and he’s been an amazing dad. So, yeah, of course you think about him. But he’s fine and he’s doing well.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is refusing to answer questions about whether he has spoken to US President Donald Trump directly, following his big tariff announcement.

Mr Albanese has been asked by reporters to disclose what communication has been going on and comes after Mr Trump on Tuesday said he has spoken to the leader of South Korea and Japan, that are sending top teams to the US to negotiate on tariffs, suggesting that their potentially open to to a deal.

“We have continued to make representations through the US administration. One of the ways you deal with diplomacy isn’t to do it with a loud hailer, to engage,” said Mr Albanese.

“We had direct contact with the United States administration and we’ll continue to do so. We’re in caretaker mode at the moment but we’ll continue to engage as we are through our officials.

“Jim Chalmers travelled directly to the United States, met with the US treasury secretary, there have been documentations going between our two countries as I have said before. And we will continue.”

But when asked if he has spoken to Donald Trump directly, Mr Albanese dodged the question.

“We’ll continue to make representations to the US administration,” he said.

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NSW Premier Chris Minns has doubled down on his plan to get public sector employees in NSW back into the office.

Mr Minns says the NSW plan is different to the Commonwealth’s, and says in NSW they want public service workers to “spend majority of work in the workplace”.

“The Prime Minister is being clear and consistent about his policy. I think that’s a key choice for voters in the election campaign. You know where I stand, you know where the PM stands,” Mr Minns said.

“You have no idea where Peter Dutton is on what used to be a fundamental part of his election pitch. One day he’s for it, the next day he’s against it.

“I think at the end of the day voters will say to themselves, how can we trust this bloke if his policies have got the life span of warm yoghurt?”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denied NSW Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s plans and policies are the same when it comes to public servants working from home.

“I think Chris Minns is a great Premier and he’s doing a great job. I think that Peter Dutton’s policy is very different,” Mr Albanese said.

“On work from home, he (Dutton) said he’s against it, then he said it’s just about Canberra as if all public servants work in Canberra, they don’t.

“Public servants are at the Centrelink office up the road here (Sydney). They’re in offices right around Australia. They help. They help people on the ground. I will ask Chris to make some comments.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has responded to a fiery debate in US Senate, where a US Senator came to the defence of Australia over new 10% tariffs announced by President Donald Trump.

Australia faces a 10 per cent “baseline” levy on all exports to the US, despite running a decades-long trade surplus with Washington.

Democrat Senator Mark Warner fired up at US trade representative Jamieson Greer, calling the tariffs “insulting” to Australia.

Mr Albanese says he has seen the comments.

“He used a footy term for when you have a lead trying to get a further lead. The fact is that what he’s drawn attention to is what I have been saying consistently and what I have said very directly to President Trump.

“Which is the United States has a trade surplus with Australia, of around about two to one. They’ve had that since the Truman presidency.

“And therefore not only is it an act of economic self-harm for the United States, but it certainly is not an appropriate action and it certainly isn’t reciprocal that Australia has received a 10 per cent tariff.

“Whilst we acknowledge that every other country has a worse arrangement than Australia, or certainly no one has a better arrangement than Australia.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken from the newly redeveloped Paddy’s Markets, paying tribute to the Sindarelli family for their “enormous” contribution to the city of Sydney.

Mr Albanese said the newly redeveloped food hub “will be a place celebrating our multiculturalism.”

“We have a great privilege in this country of sharing this continent with the oldest continuous culture on earth, but also being able to experience the food, the music, the dancing, the culture, the language of all around the world.

“This here will be (the) centre of it.”

The Prime Minister said the new redevelopment, which open just over a week ago, will bring jobs and opportunities to Sydney.

Women are under-represented as candidates in the upcoming federal election and are more likely to be running in hard-to-win seats for the major parties.

A report by the Australian National University has found fewer women than men are running in the May 3 poll, with many of those facing an uphill battle to secure a place in the next parliament.

“Across both major parties, women candidates are more likely to be placed in more challenging, ‘glass cliff’ seats compared to men,” report co-author Elise Stephenson said.

Only one in six (16 per cent) of coalition female candidates are in safe or fairly safe seats, compared to 28 per cent of men.

Half of the women running for Labor are contesting safe or fairly safe seats, a significant increase from 24 per cent in 2022.

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will return to the road on Wednesday, after facing off in the first leaders debate of the election campaign for the May 3 election.

Mr Albanese will make a stop in Sydney’s Paddy’s Market alongside NSW Premier Chris Minns on Wednesday morning before heading to Cairns in Far North Queensland, where Labor is hoping to pick up the LNP seat of Leichhardt held by Warren Entsch who is retiring.

Details of the Liberal campaign are still unknown, but the modelling to increase the supply of gas domestically and reduce energy costs will likely dominate the morning.

The Coalition released the highly-anticipated modelling from Frontier Economics, in the middle of the debate on Tuesday night.

Democrat Senator Mark Warner has laid into US trade representative Jamieson Greer at a Senate hearing over “insulting” Australia with its trade tariff regime.

Australia faces a 10 per cent “baseline” levy on all exports to the US, despite running a decades-long trade surplus with Washington.

“We already have a free trade agreement. We have a trade surplus. So giving the least bad? Why did they get whacked in the first place?” charged Mr Warner, a leading member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr Greer hit back that the Trump administration was “addressing the $1.2 trillion deficit, the largest in human history, that President Biden left us with. We should be running up the score with Australia. They ban our beef, they ban our pork.”

Australia was “getting ready to impose measures on our digital companies,” he argued.

But a fired-up Mr Warner continued his line of attack.

“We have a trade surplus with Australia. We have a free trade agreement. They are incredibly important national security partner. Why have they been whacked with the tariffs?” he asked.

“The idea that we are going to whack friend and foe alike, and particularly friends, I think is insulting to the Australians, undermines our national security and frankly it makes us not a good partner.

“The lack of trust from our friends and allies based upon this ridiculous policy … is extraordinary.”

Opposition leader’s Peter Dutton has revealed he considered pulling out of Tuesday’s leaders debate after his father had a medical emergency hours before taking to the stage.

Mr Dutton described his dad as “stoic” while speaking on Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa with Kate Ritchie show.

The Nightly understands Mr Dutton’s 80-year-old father is in a stable condition in hospital.

“He’s stoic and he’s a tough old bugger so he’ll be fine,” he said.

“Look, I thought, do I pull out of the debate, do I? But anyway, my sisters were up there with him and giving me regular reports.

“He’s a great man. I love him very much.”