Australia news live: Butler says government ‘deeply disappointed’ by Trump’s tariff exemption refusal but will ‘continue to press the case’ | Australia news

Butler said the US tariff decision was “bad for our relationship” when asked whether it had a damaging effect on international relations on ABC News Breakfast a short while ago.

The federal health minister also said it was a bad economic decision:

This is a disappointing decision. It’s a bad economic decision. It’s bad for our relationship. It’s bad for the US, ultimately, because we think that the exports we send to them – which are significantly less than the exports they send to us – are good for the US economy. They’re good for US industry. They’re particularly good for defence, which is an important area of cooperation. We think this is a bad decision that’s disappointing, and we’ll continue to press the case for it.

Australia to keep pressing ‘at highest level’ for tariff exemption

Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, has been “relentless” in pressing the case for Australian exemption to US steel and aluminium tariffs, Butler says.

We’ve only been going at this for almost seven weeks that President Trump has been back in office. We intend to continue to press the case at the highest level – particularly ambassador Rudd has been relentless in this, meeting with officials almost constantly to press the American case. We’ve had a lot of senior ministerial engagement.

Obviously the prime minister has spoken directly with the president. We’ll continue to do that. It’s not only in Australia’s interest – which for us, is the most important thing – we’re confident, we’re very sure it’s in both of our interests’ interest to continue the open trade that has characterised particularly the last 20 years under the US FTA.

Butler says US tariffs ‘disappointing’ but battle’s not over

Federal health minister Mark Butler says Australia’s case for exemption from US tariffs is not over “by any means”. He is speaking live on ABC News Breakfast:

This is obviously deeply disappointing news, but we knew this was going to be a tough fight. The second … Trump administration seems much more determined on this front than perhaps the first administration. Even back then, when the Turnbull government was in office here in Australia, it took nine months to gain the exemption that they ultimately did. So we’ve been working very hard on this.

Today’s news is disappointing, but we don’t see this issue as being over, by any means. We will continue to press the case for an exemption from Australian exports from these new tariffs.

There’s bad news for prospective homebuyers looking to pick up a bargain in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs or Melbourne’s inner east, Australian Associated Press reports.

Following a relatively short-lived downturn, prestige housing markets in Australia are picking up momentum – a sign that the broader market is set for stronger growth following the Reserve Bank’s first rate cut in more than four years.

The upper quartile of the housing market tends to act as a bellwether and swung from a 0.3% decline in January to a 0.2% rise in February, says CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy.

“If this momentum continues, the quarterly change in upper quartile values could turn positive and potentially outperform the lower quartile and middle market for the first time since August 2023,” she said.

The northern end of Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including the ritzy locales of Point Piper, Double Bay and Vaucluse, recorded a 250-basis point turnaround from a 0.5% fall in January to a 2% lift.

Meanwhile, Stonnington in Melbourne’s inner east, which includes the well-heeled suburbs of Prahran, South Yarra and Toorak, experienced a 264-basis point recovery.

CoreLogic research shows the higher end of the market has historically been the most sensitive to changes in interest rates.

Clive Palmer kickstarts another ad blitz

In the latest of our series looking at what lies behind the headlines of the election campaign, Josh Butler and Dan Jervis-Bardy have been digging into what Clive Palmer has been spending on ads since he set up his new political vehicle – the Trumpet of Patriots.

After starting up its Google and YouTube blitz last Thursday, it has spent about $15,000 in 48 hours. “Over the seven days to Monday, Trumpet of Patriots had spent about $140,000 on Google and YouTube ads, which generated between 4m and 5m impressions online, according to Google’s ad library tool,” they write.

Our reporters also look at a sporting chance for Eden-Monaro’s Labor member, Kristy McBain, and they have some banter with Adam Bandt.

Read the full piece here:

Rafqa Touma

Good morning, blog readers – this is Rafqa Touma. I’ll be taking you through the day’s live news updates. Thank you to Martin Farrer for getting us rolling this morning.

Labor just ahead of opposition in new poll

Labor has taken a slim lead over the Coalition in a weekly survey ahead of a federal election expected in May, Australian Associated Press reports.

The Roy Morgan poll puts Labor on 51.5% to the Coalition’s 48.5% on a two-party-preferred basis, with a two-point rise in support for the government and a two-point dip for the opposition flipping the prior week’s result.

A Roy Morgan survey issued in the last week of February had also had Labor leading the coalition, 51% to 49%.

Anthony Albanese said on Friday he would not pick 12 April as election day and that the federal budget scheduled for 25 March would go ahead.

Other Saturdays later in April have been ruled out for an election due to the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends.

While the election must be held by 17 May, the next most likely date is 3 May.

Henry Belot

SES warns of dangers for children playing in cyclone-eroded dunes

The NSW state emergency service has urged people to be careful around coastal sand dunes that have been damaged by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

The service’s assistant commissioner, Nicole Hogan, has expressed concern about reports of children and young people playing on the severely eroded dunes:

While the weather has now eased and it is encouraging to see communities return to normality and visit the beach, it is vital that I remind families that severe coastal erosion occurred on many beaches due to the storm surge and big waves which we experienced.

There is currently an increased risk that the sand dunes will collapse and cause injury due to the severe erosion. While it may appear fun for children to play on them, it is not worth the risk

Trump ‘considered against’ tariff exemption for Australia as deadline looms

Josh Butler

Australia will reportedly not get an exemption to US steel and aluminium tariffs, with Donald Trump said to have decided against giving a carve-out that he dangled in front of Anthony Albanese.

But the federal government says it remains in discussion with the Trump administration, and will have “more to say” on the matter soon.

Multiple Australian media outlets reported early on Wednesday (AEDT) that White House press secretary Katherine Leavitt had told them in a private briefing in Washington DC that Canberra would not receive an exemption to the 25% steel and aluminium tariffs due to come into force today.

The ABC reported that Leavitt had said Trump “considered it, and considered against it”, for the purpose of backing American-made products over overseas ones.

Trump had previously told Albanese that a carve-out for Australian products would be considered; the president himself said there would be “great consideration” given to such a move.

An Albanese government spokesperson told Guardian Australia on Wednesday morning that they had “been working hard at all levels to secure an exemption.”

“We remain in discussion with the United States Administration, and will have more to say,” the statement said.

The Coalition opposition had said it would be a test of Albanese’s leadership if Australia failed to receive an exemption, as Malcolm Turnbull’s government had in 2017. Shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan said on Wednesday that Albanese had “failed” steel and aluminium workers, claiming “the prime minister lacked the courage to travel to Washington” to discuss the matter directly with Trump.

But Turnbull himself this week rejected the claims from his former party, saying this week “there has been an attempt to set Albanese up to fail on something that he was most unlikely to succeed in.”

Welcome

Martin Farrer

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Rafqa Touma takes the helm.

Time is running out for Australia to escape US metals tariffs ahead of the deadline later today with a run on gold exports creating a trade surplus with the US and posssibly providing Donald Trump with another reason to place levies on Australian steel and aluminium. The US president’s spat with Malcolm Turnbull may not have helped Australia’s case and attitudes are hardening across the board, as demonstrated by Trump’s decision overnight to double tariffs on Canadian metal imports to the US. All of which has caused further losses on stock markets during the European and US trading day. The ASX is tipped to fall more than 2% at the opening this morning. We’ll have more as it unfolds.

Clive Palmer’s new party, the Trumpet of Patriots, is already outspending the major parties as the shadow election campaign gathers pace. The mining mogul has created controversy with newspaper campaigns and has invested in Google ads at a higher rate than even the Western Australian Liberal and Labor parties ahead of the state election last week.

Staying with politics, a poll out today shows that Labor has edged ahead of the Coalition. The Roy Morgan poll puts Labor on 51.5% to the Coalition’s 48.5% on a two-party-preferred basis, widening a lead that first emerged at the end of February in the polling series. And a report from CoreLogic today says house prices are rising again in some areas. More coming up.

And there has been severe erosion on eastern Australian beaches pounded by Tropical Cyclone Alfred – now authorities are warning about the dangers that poses to visitors. More on that very soon.