2 weeks Ago By Kat Wong and Andrew Brown
Australia will not weaken its biosecurity protections to appease US concerns, the prime minister has assured, as he shifts focus away from an expected underwhelming rates decision. Login or signup to continue reading On the eve of more US tariff announcements, President Donald Trump's office has released an annual report that highlighted various trade barriers imposed by Australia on American goods like beef, pork, chicken, apples and pears aimed at preventing pests and viruses. The report also pointed to issues over Australia's treatment of pharmaceutical patents and its news bargaining code, which requires tech platforms to pay news organisations for their content.
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said discussions with the US were ongoing, these three issues were off the table. "Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, we're not negotiating over the news bargaining code, we won't undermine our biosecurity," he told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday. "The idea that we would weaken biosecurity laws is really like - as my mum would say - cutting off your nose to spite your face.
" The US president's "Liberation Day" tariffs will be announced on Wednesday and are expected to wreak havoc on a litany of American trade partners. Australia, along with the rest of the world, has already been slugged with 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium, and potential further measures have cast an international shadow over the May 3 federal election. With 60 per cent of Australians believing Mr Trump's election has been bad for Australia, according to an April Resolve Political Monitor conducted for the Nine newspapers, the question of which major party leader could better handle the US president has loomed large.
Both have committed to working in Australia's best interests, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton insists he would be better placed to engage with Mr Trump even though no country has scored a tariff carve-out. As the election campaign continues, the Reserve Bank's Tuesday rates decision is set to feature on the domestic front. It's the only time the central bank will make an interest rate decision during the election campaign, the first since it cut for the first time in almost five years in February.
But with many economists believing the central bank will hold interest rates, the new outcome is not expected to significantly impact the campaign. "We have worked very hard with the Australian people - Australians have worked hard - to get those inflation rates down because we know that it has been punishing," Mr Albanese said. This comes as Mr Albanese shifts his campaign to Adelaide, announcing $150 million to expand a healthcare centre in the city, while Mr Dutton has taken his campaign to Melbourne to spruik plans to lower entry barriers for first home buyers to enter the market.
The coalition have pledged to lower the serviceability buffer, an increased interest rate banks apply to new loan applications to check whether buyers can repay a mortgage. The rate currently sits at three per cent, but opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said the rate had been inflexible. "Having these artificial rules in place, well intentioned though they may be, are ultimately just blocking young Australians from ever getting finance to ever buy a home," he told ABC Radio.
"Now that we have elevated interest rates, a serviceability buffer that has not remained flexible with those changes is just blocking first time buyers from entering the market." Australian Associated Press DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update.
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