Australian news and politics live: Dutton demands CFMEU be de-registered after fresh corruption allegations

US President Donald Trump says he has no intention of creating exemptions on steel and aluminium tariffs, and that reciprocal and sectoral tariffs will be imposed on April 2.

In February Trump raised tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium to a flat 25 per cent, without exemptions or exceptions, in a move that was designed to help US industry while contributing to an escalating trade war.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump said reciprocal duties on US trading partners would come alongside auto duties.

“In certain cases, both,” Trump said when asked if he would be imposing sectoral and reciprocal tariffs on April 2.

“They charge us, and we charge them. Then, in addition to that, on autos, on steel, on aluminium, we’re going to have some additional,” he said.

Trump has said previously he would impose reciprocal tariffs on US friends and foes alike at the beginning of April.

- via AAP

The Reserve Bank of Australia says the Queen will no longer grace the $5 note and will soon be replaced by another image. And, no, it’s not the King.

The bank says it wants to try something new on the $5 note, not simply replacing the Queen with another portrait but an image that reflects what has shaped Australia and helped the nation grow.

On Monday, it was announced that the new image would be an artwork honouring the “enduring emotional, spiritual, and physical connection of First Nations peoples to Country.”

An imagery selection panel, which includes senior representatives from the Reserve Bank and Note Printing Australia, along with prominent First Nations business and community members, made the decision after an Australia-wide campaign which led to more than 2100 nominations from the public.

The reverse side of the note will continue to feature Parliament House.

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Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has hit back at the Opposition Leader over his calls for the CFMEU to be de-registered.

In a series of posts on X, Senator Watt said Mr Dutton’s plan would ”hand control of the union back to the very criminals we are beginning to remove”.

“Deregistering the union would allow it to operate without ANY regulation, with the worst elements free to run rampant on construction sites again.”

As for Mr Dutton’s plan to introduce US-style laws that would allow police to target groups that engage in a pattern of criminal behaviour, Mr Watt was also not a fan.

“We don’t need to import an American racketeering law - we already have our own laws to go after “kingpins”, such as section 390.6 of the Criminal Code, which already deals with directing criminal organisation.

Mr Watt also claimed Mr Dutton was putting at risk “the investigations and crime-fighting that the Coalition never bothered to commence in their decade in office”.

The Opposition Leader has likened the CFMEU to a modern-day mafia operation after fresh allegations of links to organised crime.

“The culture of criminality and corruption is so entrenched, and it will never change – especially under the weak and incompetent Albanese Labor Government,” Mr Dutton said.

He wants the union de-registered and has promised, if elected, to crackdown on the construction industry with an Australian Federal Police-led taskforce.

Mr Dutton plans to introduce new offences that will allow police to target groups that engage in a pattern of criminal behaviour.

“These offences will be based on the highly effective mafia takedown laws in the US,” Mr Dutton said.

He will also reinstate the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Australia’s scandal-riddled construction union is in fresh hot water over more allegations of criminal behaviour by officials.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has confirmed he will refer CFMEU-linked allegations of corruption and violence towards women, aired by 60 Minutes on Sunday, to police for investigation.

The CFMEU’s construction division was forced into administration by the Albanese government last year following claims of bikie and organised crime figures infiltrating the union and other serious criminal activity.

Elected leaders of the union’s construction division branches in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory were sacked and replaced by administrator Mark Irving KC.

Mr Watt credited Mr Irving and his team for uncovering the “unacceptable conduct”.

“I have spoken with the administrator tonight and he intends to investigate and take action against any serving CFMEU organisers or delegates implicated in these reports,” the senator wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“He will also consider further action to stamp out gender violence in the industry.”

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The Nightly’s chief writer Aaron Patrick can exclusively reveal that the Prime Minister hosted ten guests at a fundraising dinner at a high-end Sydney restaurant that cost them $10k a head.

The news comes in the wake of criticism directed at Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for planning a similar event.

What few people knew was that Labor leader Anthony Albanese had planned a similar event in Sydney the day after.

As ex-cyclone Alfred bore down on south-east Queensland, the Prime Minister’s staff decided to delay that dinner to Sunday evening, March 16.

The event was limited to around ten guests to convince each that $10,000 was worth the prime ministerial dinner at Aria, which overlooks the Sydney Opera House.

At a time when many Australians are cutting back on groceries, Aria charges $240 for five-course meals and sells $10,000 bottles of Krug champagne.

Read the full story here.

The Treasury anticipates an impact on fruit, vegetable and construction costs in the aftermath of ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, Jim Chalmers has warned.

“We also anticipate that there will be some impact on fruit and vegetable costs depending on how much of the farmland has been impacted,” he told reporters in Queensland.

“We’ve made a heap of progress on building and construction in the inflation numbers, but depending on how much rebuilding will be necessary, we can anticipate some upward pressure on building costs,” he added.

“We will provision an extra $1.2 billion in next week’s budget, in new funding for payments and also to help rebuild local communities as well.”

The Treasurer has slammed the Opposition’s record on tax policy, accusing opposition member Angus Taylor of “egregious dishonesty” in his presentation of Government figures.

“He should visit every single marginal seat and tell millions of Australians that he tried to deny them a tax cut,” Dr Chalmers said.

“He should visit every marginal seat and tell millions of Australians that he tried to deny them the cost of living help that they need and deserve,” he added.

“The Liberals wanted 2.9 million taxpayers to miss out on a tax cut. They wanted 84 per cent of taxpayers to get a smaller tax cut. They wanted 90 per cent of women taxpayers to get a smaller tax cut,” he said.

Labor had brought down average tax rates to 24.1 per cent, meaning the average worker would pay less tax every year over the next decade, the Treasurer added.

Recovering and rebuilding from natural disasters will be a key influence on the budget that the Government hands down next week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has confirmed.

This will include additional help for communities recovering from ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred he told reporters in Queensland.

The Treasury has warned it expects a $1.2 billion hit to economic output as a result of the natural disaster that deprived 450,000 homes of power and led to 12 million work hours lost when businesses closed down.

“We’re getting a handle on the economic costs and we’re getting a handle on the cost to the budget. We will report, our initial assessment of that in the budget, Tuesday next week,” he said.

The former PM has been a long time opponent of the AUKUS plan, and didn’t hold back on Monday when he was asked whether the pact is secure under Donald Trump.

Mr Turnbull, whose submarine deal with France was torpedoed under Scott Morrison in favour of the pact with the US and UK, says there needs to be a conversation about a Plan B.

“AUKUS is a terrible deal. It is so unfair to Australia, and the reason it is unfair is that we are paying $3bn US dollars to the Americans to support their submarine industrial base, but we have no guarantee that we will ever get any submarines,” he said.

“The most likely outcome of the AUKUS pillar one is that we will end up with no submarines of our own. There will be Australian sailors serving on US submarines... we will have lost both sovereignty and security and a lot of money as well.

“So people say, will Donald Trump like it? Of course he’d like it. It’s such a bad deal for us... He’ll be thinking ‘who are these dumb guys that agreed to this deal?’”