Australian news and politics live: Peter Dutton slams Anthony Albanese’s ‘incoherent’ Port of Darwin call

Anthony Albanese had been touring Wynn Downs, a sheep farm that runs across 28,000ha in Longreach.

Whiule there he met Martin and Rebecca Eggerling as well as their two children, Cooper, 11, and Jacob, who will be 9 tomorrow.

They surveyed the farm along with Longreach Mayor Tony Rayner, and even had ‘smoko’ - a cup of tea and some vanilla slice in down near some of the damaged pens.

Ellen Ransley reports:

The Eggerlings bought their property from Martin’s parents four years ago. Before that, his father Barry ran it for 40 years. None of them have seen a flood like this.

“It’s a fair wedge of water,” Martin said. “We had five inches over the first day and a half. It was beautiful, steady rain. And then it stopped and cleared and we though ‘you beauty.’ And then it came in again.”

Eggerling managed to move some of his stock to high ground but probably won’t know his full losses for weeks.

Rebecca Eggerling said the worst thing was knowing that animals were in trouble and being unable to help them.

“You feel for them. It is just that helplessness.”

The bright side of the flood for the Eggerling family is that the kids will get an extra week’s holiday from school. Barry Eggerling, 74, was also taken with the generous morning tea the PM bought with him.

“If we could get Albo to come every week and bring some more smoko, that would be good,” he said.

“Today I can announce we will agree to the Queensland Government’s request we received last night for an additional funding of $7 million further for fodder.

“I also want to make sure there is confidence they are that it is not going to run out, that it is available and it certainly will be. The other new fund we will establish today is our funf of $105 million between our two governments for exclusion fencing.

“This is absolutely vital to protect the stock which is there with exclusion fencing coming down, from wild dogs and wild pigs potentially as well we increased fodder on the ground.

“I have been to this area before, (and I’ve) never seen it so green. That will bring with it its own risk as well. That is why exclusion fencing, getting it up as soon as possible is really important.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is speaking now at Longreach alongside Emergency Management Minister Jenny McAllister.

He’s talking about the flood damaged areas he’s been touring in central Queensland this morning.

“At the worst of times we see the best of the Australian character. People helping each other, the emergency services personnel, the police, Australian Defence Force, everyone from the Royal flying Doctor Service here in Longreach, volunteers in the SES, and people around Australia who will kick in to provide support for their fellow Australians at what is a very difficult time.”

We’ll bring you all the latest as it happens.

A TV cameraman has required treatment after he was accidentally hit in the head with a football kicked by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during a routine media appearance gone wrong.

The Channel 10 camera operator, Ghaith Nadir, was standing with a group of kids who were kicking the footabll back and forth with Mr Dutton.

An errant kick from the Opposition Leader landed on his head, drawing blood.

Mr Nadir required treatment at the scene.

Caitlyn Rintoul reports he was feeling “a bit light-headed” but otherwise fine. The medicos determined he did not need stitches.

You can hear the moment the ball hits in the video below.

In a campaign where everything is tightly controlled, even refuelling can become a media event.

Fuel is, of course, high on the Opposition Leader’s agenda after he proposed a temporary cut to fuel excise in his Budget reply speech, the day before the election campaign officially kicked off.

US President Donald Trump has shared a confronting video of what he says is an attack on Houthis, presumably in Yemen.

The video shows dozens of people standing in an oval shape on the ground before a huge explosion rips through the area.

It has already been viewed 4.2 million times.

Mr Trump said the Houthis were “gathered for instructions on an attack”

“Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis,” he said.

“They will never sink our ships again!”

The Prime Minister’s campaign bus is hitting central Queensland today, with the media pack arriving in Longreach.

The group will be visiting a sheep farm before the PM holds a press conference.

We’ll let you know what time that will be happening as soon as it’s locked in.

It was a strong response for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton after his announcement was overshadowed by Anthony Albanese last night.

He hit out at Labor’s “incoherent” Port of Darwin announcement, outlined why the Port needed to be back in Australian hands and used it as an opportunity to lay the boot in to the Albanese Government on security - a topic on which Mr Dutton always performs well.

Interestingly, he was asked twice about the fact that a Coalition government was in power when the sale originally took place in 2015, but that line of questioning is a bit disingenuous.

It was the Northern Territory’s then-Country Liberal government that sold off the port, and there were no laws at the time that could have allowed the Federal Government to intervene in such a sale.

Since then, those regulations have been tightened up.

It will be interesting to see how Anthony Albanese responds later today.

The Opposition Leader is not holding back today.

He’s rounded on YouGov polling released yesterday that flagged his opposition to working from home as an issue with his popularity.

He’s clarified that his proposed cuts and changes to working from home policy only affect public servants in Canberra.

“I strongly support working from home, I’ve been very clear about that, and our policy doesn’t have any impact on the private sector, doesn’t have any impact on the public sector outside of Canberra.,” he says.

He also took aim at the Albanese Government for misrepresenting his working from home comments.

“The Prime Minister is out there lying to Australian women (when) our policy (only) affects people who are working for the public service in Canberra.

“Why he would go out there trying to deceive people?”