Australia news live: Shorten says Trump treating free world like ‘a reality show’; inquiry into Northern Beaches hospital after boy’s death
Bill Shorten suggests retaliation against Trump administration’s tariffs
Former opposition leader Bill Shorten says Donald Trump is leading the free world “as if it’s a reality TV show” and his administration’s tariff regime won’t “help anyone”.
Shorten, now the chancellor of the University of Canberra, was on Seven’s Sunrise earlier this morning where he said the tariffs were “unjustified”.
Like ordinary civilians, which I am these days, it’s like drinking from a fire hose watching Donald Trump lead the free world as if it’s a reality TV show.
The prime minister has correctly said – and I think Peter Dutton has agreed with him – these tariffs are unjustified.
We don’t dump our material in America. We pay first-world wages. So our aluminium and steel industry – and I used to be their union leader – doesn’t deserve this treatment from our ally.
Shorten also suggested Australia should consider retaliatory measures if the US refused to budge, saying:
Tariffs don’t help anyone, but if President Trump thinks he can push other countries around, sooner or later you have to push back.
At the end of the day, if they keep putting tariffs on all of our goods, then we’ve got to reciprocate dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff.
This is not the argument that Australia wants to be in, but I’m confident this government, and I think all reasonable Australians, will say at a certain point, “You push us, we push you”.
Key events
Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred causes heavy beach erosion at Surfers Paradise
Speaking of Surfers Paradise, we’ve got some photos of beach erosion caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, last weekend. The wild weather washed huge amounts of sand from the famous coastline.
Currumbin Beach on the Gold Coast was also badly affected by erosion, as you can see here in this photo from Monday:
Here’s some video footage of the Surfers Paradise hotel fire we brought you news of earlier. Fire crews had extinguished the pool deck fire by about 2.20am and put out the roof fire by about 2.40am, with guests allowed to return to their rooms at about 3am.
Matildas captain Sam Kerr recovering well from surgery, nearing return to Chelsea
Matildas captain Sam Kerr is recovering well but no date has yet been set for her return to action after being named in Chelsea’s Champions League squad, AAP reports.
Kerr hasn’t played since a knee reconstruction in January last year and Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor is tempering expectations when the striker returns.
Chelsea’s next Champions League fixture is against Manchester City on 20 March and Bompastor says it’s “difficult to predict” when the Australian ace will make her comeback.
Speaking to reporters in London, Bompastor said:
For Sam, we will see.
She is progressing really well in her rehab but I just want her to feel like the main focus for her will be to work really hard, be the best version of herself.
If we have positive news and she can bring in to the team her experience but also her competencies, it will be great.
I just want her to focus, step by step, but the main thing for me is to make sure she works hard and she just comes back in the squad.
I just want to make it clear, I think it is not really fair to expect from a player who has been injured for now 15 months … to be the hero in the team.
Bill Shorten suggests retaliation against Trump administration’s tariffs
Former opposition leader Bill Shorten says Donald Trump is leading the free world “as if it’s a reality TV show” and his administration’s tariff regime won’t “help anyone”.
Shorten, now the chancellor of the University of Canberra, was on Seven’s Sunrise earlier this morning where he said the tariffs were “unjustified”.
Like ordinary civilians, which I am these days, it’s like drinking from a fire hose watching Donald Trump lead the free world as if it’s a reality TV show.
The prime minister has correctly said – and I think Peter Dutton has agreed with him – these tariffs are unjustified.
We don’t dump our material in America. We pay first-world wages. So our aluminium and steel industry – and I used to be their union leader – doesn’t deserve this treatment from our ally.
Shorten also suggested Australia should consider retaliatory measures if the US refused to budge, saying:
Tariffs don’t help anyone, but if President Trump thinks he can push other countries around, sooner or later you have to push back.
At the end of the day, if they keep putting tariffs on all of our goods, then we’ve got to reciprocate dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff.
This is not the argument that Australia wants to be in, but I’m confident this government, and I think all reasonable Australians, will say at a certain point, “You push us, we push you”.
To lighten your Friday morning, James Colley has made a video featuring the best bits of the pre-election campaign so far.
You can watch it here:
Inquiry will also look at previous scrutiny of Northern Beaches hospital operations
The inquiry will also consider the how the findings and recommendations of the last parliamentary inquiry into the Northern Beaches hospital in 2019, which looked at its operation and management, have been implemented.
Park said the inquiry was a commitment he made to Joe Massa’s parents “to undertake the necessary reviews to understand how they and their son have been let down, as well as to learn what changes need to be made to prevent such a tragedy from occurring again”.
I am grateful to the Massas for their generosity in time and spirit in working with us to honour Joe’s memory.
The chair of the committee holding the inquiry, Jason Yat-Sen Li, said they would announce the opening of submissions as well as hearing dates in due course.
Parliamentary inquiry into Northern Beaches hospital announced
Natasha May
The parliamentary inquiry into Northern Beaches hospital, which the NSW health minister promised would take place after the death of two-year-old Joe Massa at the hospital’s emergency ward in September, has been announced.
The NSW Health minister, Ryan Park, confirmed this morning the state parliament’s Public Accounts Committee will conduct the inquiry into the safety and quality of health services provided by Northern Beaches hospital.
The chair of the committee, Jason Yat-Sen Li, said “I am determined to get this inquiry under way as quickly as possible, but I also want to get it right.
The scope of the inquiry will stretch back to the hospital’s start as a privately operated facility in October 2018, and will consider incidents at the hospital, including those that are the subject of serious adverse event reviews, how the hospital responded, and the extent to which it implemented changes prompted by those incidents.
The inquiry will look at how the hospital supports patient and carer escalation, including the REACH protocol that allows relatives and carers to trigger an independent review of a patient’s treatment – an initiative Park acknowledge was “insufficiently accessible” in the case of Joe Massa.
It will also examine the adequacy of systems and processes designed to prevent adverse events, as well as the staff standards and capabilities.
Scott Morrison weighs in on Trump’s actions relating to Ukraine war
Former prime minister Scott Morrison says he doesn’t believe a Trump presidency will alter US intelligence sharing relationships with its allies, including Australia.
In an interview with Times Radio, Morrison has weighed in on the Trump administration’s potential effect on the Five Eyes partnership given his position on the war in Ukraine.
After more than three years of war after Russia invaded its smaller neighbour, Trump has outlined a ceasefire deal, which the Kremlin has yet to agree to.
Morrison said it was a “misread” to interpret this as Trump being prepared to “go it alone”.
I think what the president is trying to do here is end a war that has reached a stalemate.
For the last three years we have been engaged in this at terrible cost to everybody involved – most significantly, the people of Ukraine.
Morrison said he didn’t think Trump put the Five Eyes intelligence sharing arrangement between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US in jeopardy.
He said:
You don’t go into all of these particular events as a collective; everybody has their own capabilities, and there are ways that that is shared between all of us.
But how individual parties share what they have access to with third parties outside the agreement is a matter for them.
Thousands of people in Qld remain without power after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred
Thousands of households remain without power in south-east Queensland nearly a week after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred made landfall.
Energex, the Queensland government-owned electricity company that distributes power to 1.5m homes and businesses across the region, says 17,101 customers were still without power as of 7am, this morning.
A massive clean-up operation is under way after severe weather associated with Alfred hit the state.
You can read more about that here:
Coalition’s Hogan: Aukus funding could be tariff bargaining chip
Hogan says Australia could use also its funding for the Aukus security partnership to negotiate US tariffs.
We have the $800m Aukus cheque that [defence minister] Richard Marles just went over and threw on the table as part of the deal with Aukus.
Hogan’s comments come after Australia made its first $800m (US $500m) payment under the Aukus defence agreement, under which it will acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Reuters reported that the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said president Donald Trump supports the trilateral security agreement between Australia, the US and the UK.
Under the pact, Australia will pay the US $4.78bn to boost the capacity of the US submarine industry, and Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s.
Britain and Australia intend to later build a new Aukus-class submarine as part of the agreement.
You can read more here:
