Still with the Greens and Adam Bandt also had a bit to say about the coming Trump tariff announcements:

If there was ever any more evidence needed that Australia needs to put its own interests first and detach itself from Donald Trump, it’s unfolding in real time right now.

Other countries have realised we’ve got to stop being joined at the hip to the dangerous Donald Trump, because otherwise, Australia’s interests are at threat – our defense interests, our security interests and our economic interests.

Trump says it’s going to be Liberation Day. Well, we should say the same, and it’s time for Australia to liberate itself from Donald Trump and not be joined at the hip to this dangerous demagogue that is a threat to peace, a threat to democracy and a threat to Australia’s economy.

We’ve got a Prime Minister who is hiding behind the couch while Peter Dutton takes a leaf out of Donald Trump’s playbook every day. It is time for us to put our country’s interests first, have an independent foreign policy and realise that there are now countries right around the world who are also in Donald Trump’s firing line.”

The Greens have announced a plan to have a “full national regulator that would have the power to shut down [child care] centers that aren’t keeping our kids safe, and aren’t meeting the basic minimum standards”.

Adam Bandt said he wants to see early childhood education treated the same as primary schools.

Early learning should not be an opportunity for these corporations to take billions of dollars in subsidies from Labor and the Liberals only to leave our children wanting and falling behind basic standards.”

And then there is a rapid fire end to Anthony Albanese’s press conference:

Q: There’s a couple of examples in Chinese state media, praising you and accusing Dutton of beating the drums of war. Is this a sign that you’ve gone easy on the Chinese government?

Albanese:

I stand up for Australia’s national interest. That’s what I do each and every day.

Q: Prime Minister, following up on [another] question, so you’re not ruling out action at the World Trade Organisation against the US?

Albanese:

No, I’m not engaging in hypotheticals because if you do that – we’re still in discussions with the United States.

There’ll be plenty of time to respond to whatever the decision is for the United States and I’ll respond after.

Q: Are you concerned about claims that EPBC Act amendment do not apply to Macquarie Harbour salmon farms as Bob Brown referenced before?

Albanese:

No.

And with that, he exited the press conference

Anthony Albanese is asked about the Coalition either pre-empting or instantly backing spending pledges – like the health hub in Burnie, which the Coalition are also backing.
So how does Albanese close the gap he is talking about:

This is a guy who said along with the Coalition last time they came into government there will be no cuts to health and education. $1 billion out of health, try to stop bulk-billing altogether when he was health minister, tried to impose a tax every time people visited a hospital and they tried to increase the cost of pharmaceuticals, not decrease them, and Peter Dutton, in a moment of candour, under a grilling, I assume, I did not watch the program on Monday night, said that essentially if you have… If the Commonwealth doesn’t run schools why do we have an Education Department?

He said yesterday if the Commonwealth does not run hospitals, why do we have people working for the Health Department?

Tony Abbott before 2013 there said there would be no cuts to education and the ABC. At least this bloke has told people in a roundabout way there will be cuts to health, education, the ABC if the Coalition are elected.

Will the Australian government take any tariff dispute to the World Trade Organisation if Trump moves forward with his tariff plan against Australian steel and aluminum?

Anthony Albanese:

I don’t want to preempt the decision that is made by the United States in the coming period. What I can say is that we are prepared for all possibilities going forward and a repeat what I’ve said before – tariffs are an act of economic self-harm by those who have imposed them, increase costs for buyers in the United States of America.

The important issue to state as well and I will make one more thing on top of the comments I have already made on this is the United States represent under 5% of our exports, goods exports, around the world. But, importantly, as well, we will continue to diversify our trade relationships. We do that, we have done that over the last few years, not in anticipation of action by the United States, but because one of the lessons of the trade issues that were there with China is we did not have enough diversification of our trading relationships.

We think free and fair trade is important, but Australia more so than the direct effect of any trade decision by the United States on Australia, the issue I think is for global trade and the impact that will have if the United States takes actions that diminish global growth and diminish global economic activity. That is one of the concerns that we have, is the indirect impact as well.

Sky moves away from its exclusive interview to the prime minister’s next press conference in the Tasmanian electorate of Braddon, which is in Burnie.

Gavin Pearce, the Coalition MP is retiring, which is why Labor had it on its target list. They have Anne Urquhart running in that seat, but Tasmania is a mixed bag and Labor are not doing as well there as they first hoped.

Labor is announcing a health care hub for the area, which is part of the health week announcements.

Sky News is running an “exclusive” interview with Peter Dutton, which is like me saying coffee has an “exclusive” interview with me each and every morning.

Dutton says he thinks his campaign will grow in momentum….later.

…There’s a lot of water to go under this bridge and I think, a lot of policy to come out, a lot of contemplation. And when people compare the pair, they’re going to see a Prime Minister who has let them down over the last three years, broken his promise about $275 power bill reductions, they’ve gone up by $1,300 and that’s just the start of the financial pressures families are under. And on the other hand, we have a positive plan to manage the economy effectively, to keep Australians safe, to make sure we can help young Australians realise the dream of home ownership and also deliver a quality healthcare system. And that’s the choice that people will have at the next election.

We will have some more to say to you on gas very shortly.

Anthony Albanese’s campaign has landed in Tasmania for the first time – he is in the seat of Burnie, where he will make a health announcement (health week continues!)

Ok, here is something interesting.

Q: Will your plan only apply to future offshore projects? Or, as Mr Dutton suggested in his speech, on current projects, which therefore is a market change of rules? And if that’s the case, how do you possibly improve price business the end of the year and supply?

Angus Taylor:

No, it’s on, the focus is on getting more gas supply in from current production.

So that’s a change of rules. It’s a production reservation program. And that means we can move 50 to 100 petajoules and it will did every from year to year, so that number won’t be the same number each year, into the Australian get network to drive down the price and we’re very confident that we can get that price down to below $10 a gigajoule with a significant reduction…

Q: So you’re changing the rules?

Taylor:

Yes. I think I’ve answered the question. So, you know, as I say, this is incredibly important, this is the one big lever we have in the short term to bring down the cost of energy in this country and the cost of everything that uses energy. This is the key. It’s not just energy itself and it’s why Andrew’s question was a good one, asking about the flow-on to industry and households. It flows onto everything that uses energy and it’s a very, very powerful leave and it gives us space, then, over the medium to longer term to put in zero-emissions nuclear generators.

We are back to gas, where Angus Taylor says:

Well, the economics of this is absolutely essential to understand – more supply drives down price. It’s always been true. And we have an opportunity in this country, as one of the biggest gas exporters in the world, between us and the US and Qatar, is to make sure that Australian gas is not just working for international customers but is working for Australians. And that means pumping more gas into our network in the short term we think that gap is between 50 and 100 petajoules in a market of just over 500 petajoules and that’s a substantial domestic market.

We don’t need more supply. We have plenty already. And you could still have a domestic gas reserve without eating into those exports everyone is worried about, because the gas industry has said about 20% of gas is uncontracted.

But more supply does not mean lower prices if those prices are exposed to the international market. Taylor keeps talking about the North West Shelf extension which is ONLY for export. And Woodside wants more of WA’s domestic gas to run its expansion project. THIS WILL NOT LOWER THE PRICE OF GAS IN AUSTRALIA.