NICOLA SMITH: Anthony Albanese & Peter Dutton must stop with the petty politics on Trump’s tariffs

The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have drawn swords over foreign policy in the first days of election hustings that have been dominated by US trade tariffs and a Chinese incursion near Australian waters.

It’s the sparring match they did not want to have and that the country does not need.

An election supposed to be about relief for struggling Aussie households has been derailed by US President Donald Trump’s dramatic reshaping of the world trade system and a Chinese survey vessel passing near the nation’s subsea cables.

These challenges, outside of Australia’s control, require a unified political response, rising above the partisan bickering we have seen this week.

As the world braced for the catastrophic fallout of Washington’s new trade levies on jobs and livelihoods, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s first instinct was to lash out — not at Mr Trump, the source of the turmoil — but at Mr Albanese, for not getting him on the phone.

“There has been a significant failing,” he told 2GB, blaming a “dysfunctional relationship” sparked by past negative comments about Mr Trump by the Prime Minister and Australia’s ambassador Kevin Rudd.

“This isn’t a time for partisanship,” retorted the Prime Minister. “People will draw their own conclusions about his behaviour,” he said, challenging Mr Dutton to fight for Australia, not the US.

But the Prime Minister was not above his own political jibes on Wednesday, accusing Mr Dutton of an “aggro” approach to foreign policy.

The Opposition Leader had called him a “wet lettuce” over his response to a Chinese ship, equipped with a submersible vessels capable of diving to 11,000m, that was found passing through Australian waters.

Mr Albanese sought to turn the tables, pointing to the sale of Darwin Port to Beijing-controlled company Landbridge Group under a previous Coalition Government in 2015 — viewed by many, including Washington, as a strategic mistake.

“I will have more to say (on the Port) over the course of this campaign. But I make it very clear that the hypocrisy of Peter Dutton who does all the hairy chested stuff, he was in the cabinet, they sold the port of Darwin to Chinese interests,” he said.

The world is rapidly changing beyond recognition, decades-long assumptions are being cast aside and global turbulence is now the new normal.

Historically, foreign policy has rarely been an issue that has intruded on Federal election campaigns, but the reality is that it’s now here to stay.

When Labor began its term in 2022, nobody could have predicted the scale of Chinese aggression in Australia’s neighbourhood, to be handling a three-year war in Europe, the horrific conflict in the Middle East, and an unpredictable second-term Donald Trump.

“We cannot control what challenges we face, but we can determine how we respond,” Mr Albanese said in response to the US tariffs.

It’s a phrase for turbulent times that do not allow Australia the luxury of isolation.

Election or no election, Australia’s leaders can’t afford to indulge in petty politics, in schoolyard one-upmanship to score a few votes, but must reassure Australians they will face the world together.