Australian news and politics live: Albanese addresses Rudd-Trump meet, rejects Coalition secrecy claims

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pointed to renewed trade with China as a win for Australian jobs, highlighting the return of key exports including barley, beef, live rock lobster and wine.

“We’ve worked hard to bring back trade with China — and that means jobs for Australians,” he posted on X.

Mr Albanese singled out South Australian wine producer Château Tanunda as one of the beneficiaries of resumed exports, saying it meant “bottles on shelves, jobs in the regions, and confidence for the future.”

The government has revealed Kevin Rudd met Donald Trump just over a week before the US president was sworn in, but there is scant detail about the interaction that has been largely unknown until now.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insisted on Friday that people should have realised the meeting had taken place because he had mentioned it briefly in television and radio interviews in January.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade revealed in a Senate estimates answer published this week that Mr Rudd had met Mr Trump “in the dining room of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida” on January 11.

“A diplomatic cable was produced. Ambassador Rudd has professional relationships with and has met with a range of senior Administration officials,” the department said, in response to a question the Opposition asked in February.

A separate question from March, about who within the Trump administration Mr Rudd has met, is still unanswered.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he hopes to reach a deal in a few days for the release of more Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Mr Netanyahu said 50 hostages were still being held captive by Hamas. Of that figure, he said, only 20 are believed to be alive.

“I want to take them all out. We now have a deal that supposedly will get half of the living and half of the dead out,” Mr Netanyahu said in an interview on Newsmax show The Record with Greta Van Susteren that aired on Thursday.

“And so we’ll have 10 living left and about 12 deceased hostages, but I’ll get them out, too. I hope we can complete it in a few days.”

On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliation has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians and reduced much of Gaza to rubble.

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Victorian Children’s Minister Lizzie Blandthorn has backed the use of CCTV in childcare centres, saying it could help deter abuse and protect children.

“I personally think that CCTV would act as a deterrent and police have told me that it will act as a deterrent,” she said, as the state launches a rapid review of the sector in response to sexual abuse allegations.

While Ms Blandthorn said she supports the idea, she stressed the need for a careful national approach, citing concerns over how footage would be stored and accessed.

“It is not as simple as just putting up cameras,” she said.

“There are questions that need to be answered about the best way to do that.”

President Donald Trump says the United States will impose a 35 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and plans to impose blanket tariffs of 15 or 20 per cent on most other trade partners.

In a letter released on Thursday on his social media platform, Mr Trump told Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney the new rate would go into effect on August 1 and would go up if Canada retaliated.

Mr Trump has broadened his trade war in recent days, setting new tariffs on a number of countries, including allies Japan and South Korea, along with a 50 per cent tariff on copper.

Read the full story here.

Murray Watt has touched down in Paris to advocate for ancient WA rock art to receive World Heritage listing.

In a video update posted on Friday, the Environment Minister vowed to lobby “as many ambassadors” as possible to get the site near the North West Shelf gas project inscribed.

“We’re backing the Murujuga traditional owners and custodians in their fight for this ancient and special site to be given World Heritage listing,” he said.

“It’s also a really special nomination because this is actually being led by the traditional owners of the Murujuga region.

“That’s a very rare thing to see both in Australia and overseas, to see applications for World Heritage listing of sites being led by Indigenous people.

“We’re going to keep up the advocacy over the next couple of days, speaking to as many different ambassadors as we possibly can.”

Debate over whether Anthony Albanese has been coy on details around a meeting Kevin Rudd had with Donald Trump on January 11 has left many scratching their heads.

The PM defended his transparency on it this morning by saying he’d aired it on breakfast TV at the time. Although — it was a delayed and only a brief mention, with 7NEWS on January 21.

A look back at other appearances at the time, has showed he also raised it on ABC on January 17 with political editor David Lipson. Again, it was brief.

The PM said there had been “direct contact” and it was “positive” — adding “we engage diplomatically rather than go into those details”.

After Anthony Albanese claimed this morning that Kevin Rudd’s January 11 meeting with Donald Trump wasn’t kept secret — in fact telling breakfast TV about it at the time — we’ve wound the record back to find the transcript.

The TV interview the PM had referred to was on Seven’s ‘National News at Noon’ program with presenter Natarsha Belling — more than a week after Mr Rudd’s meeting.

On January 21, Ms Belling had asked Mr Albanese about US relations. Towards the end of his 117 word response, the PM said: “The Ambassador, Kevin Rudd, who’s already had a meeting with the incoming President”.

It was the extent of his remarks about the meeting.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has played down a meeting Kevin Rudd had with Donald Trump in January, saying he’d previously spoken publicly about it.

The former Labor PM turned Australian ambassador and the Us President met on January 11, at the Trump international golf club dining room in west Palm Beach, Florida.

Speaking in Sydney on Friday, the PM said it wasn’t a secret and slammed criticisms from Liberal Senator James Patterson who has called for further details on the face-to-face.

“I’d spoken publicly about this at the time. I spoke in a morning TV interview. James Patterson needs to pay more attention,” he said.

“They had a brief discussion. It’s out there. What we don’t do is take meetings with world leaders. What we do is engage constructively.

“I talked about it at the time, so it’s pretty hard for it to be a secret when you talk about it and get asked on morning TV.”

The Prime Minister in January briefly mentioned in a TV interview Mr Rudd had met the US President but did not provide any details on that meeting, only saying he had “already had a meeting with the incoming President”.

Anthony Albanese has backed his Foreign Minister Penny Wong ahead of his China trip after she warned of China’s “worrying” military build-up at a Malaysian event this week.

Asked if Senator Wong had spoken out of turn in her Institute for Strategic and International Studies address, the PM said she “does a fantastic job”.

“Penny Wong speaks as Australia’s Foreign Minister and never speaks in any other capacity than that. She does a fantastic job,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

“We raise the full range of issues. We cooperate where we can and we disagree where we must and we’re able to have those honest conversations about some of the disagreements that are there.”