3m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:53pm
Australia trying to get ‘sense’ of what Trump administration planning
Mark Butler is doing the media rounds this morning and he’s just stepped into the ABC Radio National Breakfast studio.
The health minister was asked for his reaction to Donald Trump’s latest plan to lift baseline tariffs up from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.Â
“I think that’s only happened in the last hour or two … I mean, this is the nature of some of these trade positions from the US administration,” he says.
Butler makes note of the US president’s changing position on pharmaceuticals. Trump originally said he’d give manufacturers a year before slapping 200 per cent tariffs on pharmaceuticals made outside of the US. But then he suggested they could come into effect on August 1.
“The nature, the timing, the scale of tariffs that might be imposed not just on Australia but on pharmaceutical imports to the US from anywhere in the world,” he says.
“So, you know, we’re trying to make sure that we have a sense of what the US administration is planning, but continuing nonetheless to prosecute Australia’s national interest and reinforce the importance of free trade between our two countries.”
But he says the government recongises it is a “significant challenge” for Australian medical exports, which are “by and large” blood and plasma products.
15m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:41pm
Nats net zero push ‘total madness’: Pocock
David Pocock, an independent senator for the ACT, has described the Nationals push against net zero as “total madness”.
“I think it’s total madness to see the path that the Coalition is taking on this,” he told Nine.
“The Labor government, yes, they’re doing something, but they’re not doing enough. It’s not actually aligned with what climate scientists are telling us.
“Australians love punching above our weight. You look at [that] on the sports field, historically, in terms of global diplomacy, we’ve punched above our weight. This is an opportunity.”
He added it was “so unhelpful” for the Nats to be opposed to the climate target given the farmers they represented were “at the front line” of climate change.
19m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:37pm
Rishworth bats away questions about 2035 target
One of the world’s top climate diplomats, Simon Stiell, has urged the federal government to commit to an ambitious 2035 target to cut carbon emissions.
So could the government, which is still waiting for advice from the Climate Change Authority (CCA) on its next emissions target, listen to the demand?
Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth says the UN climate change executive secretary is just telling Australians what they already know.
“We need to take action on climate change,” she told Nine.
Asked again if Australia needed to do more, Rishworth reiterated it was still waiting on advice from the CCA.
24m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:32pm
Greens call for PM to establish ‘watchdog with teeth’
The government is scrambling to act as it faces pressure to do more to increase safety standards in childcare centres, following allegations of abuse.
Steph Hogkins-May, the Greens early childhood spokesperson, has described the reforms currently before the parliament as a bandaid solution.
Speaking with ABC’s News Breakfast, she says she’s written to the prime minister, urging him to work with the minor party to establish a national watchdog “with teeth” to enforce national quality standards. However, she says she has yet to hear back from him.
“At the moment, we’ve got this patchwork effect where multiple states have different regulations, but no national body to actually enforce and work towards raising national quality standards across the country,” she says.
33m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:23pmAustralia position on tariffs ‘unchanged’ following fresh Trump threat
We’ve just heard the federal government’s first response to Donald Trump fresh threats to lift tariffs further.
Speaking at a press conference in Scotland, the US president said he was planning a new tariff “for the world”. Asked how high it would be, he said: “I would say it’ll be somewhere in the 15 to 20 per cent range.”
A spokesperson for Trade Minister Don Farrell said Australia’s approach was “unchanged”.
“Any tariffs on Australian goods are unjustified and an act of economic self-harm,” they said in a statement.
“We will continue to engage at all levels to advocate for the removal of all tariffs, in line with our free trade agreement with the United States.”
40m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:16pm
Hanson uses Senate motion to wedge Coalition
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson dialed up the pressure on the Coalition overnight, using a Senate motion to wedge the opposition over its net zero by 2050 pledge.
While most opposition senators abstained from the vote, some decided to stake their position anyway.
Jane Hume and Andrew McLachlan cast their vote against the Hanson motion, while Matt Canavan and Alex Antic swung in behind the One Nation motion.
The motion was put forward on the same day Barnaby Joyce introduced his private member’s bill in the House. Typically most bills introduced in this manner lapse without ever being debate.
The move puts the pressure on internal reviews underway within the Liberals and the Nationals about the support for the emissions target.
41m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:15pmDonald Trump flags plan for 15-20pc tariff ‘for the world’
Donald Trump says the minimum tariff imposed on the US’s trading partners, including Australia, could soon double.
Speaking at a press conference in Scotland, the US president said he was planning a new tariff “for the world”.
Asked how high it would be, he said: “I would say it’ll be somewhere in the 15 to 20 per cent range.”
“I just want to be nice,” he said. “Probably one of those two numbers.”
Most of the US’s trading partners, including Australia, are currently subject to America’s 10 per cent “baseline” tariff. Australia was not hit with a higher “reciprocal” tariff. But Trump’s comments in Scotland suggest Australian exports could be hit with the new, higher world tariff.
53m agoMon 28 Jul 2025 at 9:04pm
👋 Good morning
Hi friends, welcome to our politics live blog.
I’m Courtney Gould, logging in from the ABC’s Parliament House bureau in Canberra, ready to bring you all the news as it comes in.
Just a reminder, Speaker Milton Dick will be joining us for a live blog Q&A this morning. Submit your burning questions by using the comment button now to get a response!
Let’s jump straight into it!
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