Donald Trump is putting Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton on a unity ticket

Welcome back to your daily election wrap. Jacob Greber will catch you up on news from the campaign trail. 

He’s been lingering in the wings for weeks, but like an Aussie political Kabuki show, Donald Trump’s form is starting to cast a shadow over the campaign.

And just like any hammy performance, both of our leading candidates are adopting the brace position.

The day kicked off with the release of a report in Washington DC by the US trade office detailing America’s trade grievances with Australia.

It was a familiar list of complaints about Australian trade barriers, starting with US beef, pork, poultry, drugs, social media and local content streaming rules.

Trump is billing April 2 (Wednesday going into Thursday on our side of the planet) as “Liberation Day”, with the US to unleash a series of “country by country” tariffs.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is having none of it, using his press conference in Perth to set the scene for what we all anticipate will be a rocky 48 hours.

None of the grievances listed by the top US trade official are up for negotiation, Albanese said.

“The idea that we would weaken biosecurity laws is really that, as my mum would say, cutting off your nose to spite your face,” Albanese said.

“You undermine our biosecurity system. Not on my watch. On my watch, our biosecurity system is essential.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, in a break with normal campaign programming, backed-in the prime minister.

“I agree with the prime minister’s position. I’m not going to compromise issues of national significance and importance.”

And rather than making it about Trump, Dutton quickly pivoted to what he believes are the PM’s real weaknesses.

“It seems the prime minister is not able to stand up for our national security and is not able to stand up for homebuyers, is not able to stand up for families, he is not able to stand up against people who are trying to do a deal that is not in our country’s best interest.”

That last bit is fascinating. Dutton is loath to be seen to be in any way endorsing what Trump is doing.

And it’s a stark contrast from a few weeks ago, when Trump announced steel and aluminium tariffs on Australian exporters.

“It’s obvious that Anthony Albanese and Kevin Rudd have had a shocker,” Dutton said last week, before declaring he would win an exemption if he wins office.

As the campaign gets going, there’s no question the Trump threat is evolving. Who it hurts the most is not yet clear.

Meanwhile in the mortgage wars

Still reeling from his shaky start to the campaign, Dutton has sought to regain the imperative, switching to more familiar territory for the Coalition.

According to Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar, the Coalition plans to force the banking regulator to lower home loan serviceability buffers.

Currently banks assess whether someone can get a home loan if they believe they can carry an interest rate that is 3 per cent above the loan interest rate.

It’s one of those rules designed to avoid a repeat of the global financial crisis, but critics — including ANZ bank CEO Shayne Elliott — say it essentially means only wealthy households can get a mortgage.

Sukkar says the buffer was 2 per cent in 2014 and should be lowered to 2.5 per cent given he believes interest rates are more likely to fall than rise.

“Estimates from the industry is that nearly 40 per cent of potential first home buyers are not able to get finance for a loan, and therefore unable to buy a house, because primarily that serviceability buffer is now at 3 per cent,” he told ABC Radio National Breakfast.

“Now that we have elevated interest rates, a serviceability buffer that has not been flexible with those changes is just blocking Australians.”

Housing is one of the most fought over battlegrounds of this election, with Labor talking up its plans to roll out more public housing via its big housing funds.

The RBA also dipped into view, announcing there is no interest rate cut this month.

One of the early discussion points — way back a political century ago at the start of the year when we were all debating when Albanese would call an election — was the notion that it would look bad for Labor if the Reserve Bank didn’t cut today.

Instead, today’s rate decision looks like it will pass pretty much unremarked. A sign, perhaps, that Albanese is enjoying early campaign momentum.

Had he been struggling — like he was late last year — commentators would have been pointing to rates as a potential way for Labor to turn its flagging fortunes around.

As it stands, that happened in February, when the RBA cut for the first time in four years. The whole vibe is that its yesterday’s argument.

Friends and enemies

China is back in the campaign as well, with news of a research vessel ploughing the Southern Ocean, sending everyone into a lather.

Dutton has seized on news the Tan Suo Yi Hao vessel is returning through our neighbourhood from New Zealand, taking issue with Albanese’s suggestion defence is keeping an eye on the ship.

Turns out it was Border Force doing the monitoring.

“The prime minister himself doesn’t know what is happening,” said Dutton, who believes the ship is mapping our undersea cables.

“We require connectivity to the rest of the world as an island nation and the way we communicate with our partners and allies of the rest of the world is contingent on those cables,” he said.

“The prime minister cannot stand up and be honest with the Australian public and I think this is a test that the prime minister has failed and I think he needs to be frank.”

While we’re on enemies and friends, Dutton spent the day trying to link Albanese to Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan and their joint-venture Suburban Rail Loop.

Calling it a $200 billion “pipe dream”, Dutton said he’d scrap the project if he wins.

“It’s not happening,” he said, before vowing to “break the cabal up” between Albanese and Allan, who are “joined at the hip” with the CFMEU.

Albanese is shrugging off these taunts, and spent today with his second-best friend Peter Malinauskas, who stood up with the PM in Adelaide for a new health care centre at Flinders University.

The day before he was with his number one bro, WA Premier Roger Cook — who will be helping Albanese host the Labor campaign launch on April 13.

All eyes now on when Albanese does an event with his third-best friend, Allan.

Good day for…

Malcolm Turnbull. The former PM still loves to pop up in an election campaign and he didn’t miss in his National Press Club address today, with Peter Dutton’s living arrangements in his sights.

“Look, he’s been in Parliament longer than I was and he’s run in more elections than I did,” he said. “But if I was running in a seat in Brisbane, I wouldn’t be saying the minute I become prime minister I’m leaving to live in Sydney… This is one of the kind of gotcha issues in the election.”

Bad day for… 

Teal independent candidate Nicolette Boele. She apologised for making an inappropriate remark to a teenage worker, which led to her being banned from a hair salon on Sydney’s upper north shore. She told the 19-year-old employee that her haircut was “amazing, and I didn’t even have sex with you”. 

“It was a poor attempt at humour and I’ve apologised,” Boele said. “Everyone deserves to feel respected in their workplace and I’ll do better.”

What to watch out for 

The details of the first leader debate have been announced, with Albanese and Dutton going head-to-head on Sky News Australia next Tuesday from 7.30pm in Western Sydney. 

Where pollies have been

Catch up on today’s stories

LoadingLoading…

Having problems seeing this form? Try this link.