Australian news and politics recap March 11: Peter Dutton slams ‘crass’ Tony Burke over caravan plot comments

This concludes our live news and politics coverage for the day.

Scroll back through for a recap on the impacts of the ASX wipeout, Malcolm Turnbull’s Donald Trump tirade, Peter Dutton’s response to Tony Burke’s Dural explosives caravan briefing accusation, the latest on flooding from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred and more.

Thanks for joining us! Catch us tomorrow on thenightly.com.au for more live news action.

Fed-up Queensland Police have issued a warning to the public after rescuing several stranded drivers and even charging a woman who allegedly tried to drive through floodwaters in Brisbane.

Bodycam footage of officers rescuing people during the flood crisis caused by torrential rains brought in by ex-tropical cyclone Alfred has been released to help reinforce the message that drivers should not attempt to cross floodwaters in their cars.

​Read David John’s story and see the incredible vision.​

A counterattack that recovered half of the Australian share market’s early losses has investors hoping they’ve seen off the worst of a global rout that has wiped 4 per cent from the value of local shares in the past week.

Having crashed 1.8 per cent on Friday, the S&P-ASX200 tumble repeated the loss in early trading on Tuesday before stabilising and clawing back ground to close 0.9 per cent lower at 7890.1 points as US stock futures turned positive.

Investors have become increasingly nervous about US President Donald Trump’s supposedly business-friendly policies, and the jitters intensified when he refused on the weekend to rule out a recession as the world’s biggest economy digests his tariffs and government spending cuts.

Read Sean Smith’s story

The political stoush over the Dural caravan fake-terror plot deepened on Tuesday, as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton hit back at Government accusations he had deliberately avoided briefings in order to “stoke fear”.

Mr Dutton denounced the claims, saying he had been in contact with ASIO head Mike Burgess in the weeks after the discovery of the explosives-laden caravan — initially described as a “potential mass casualty event” — was made public.

On Monday, police revealed the plot had been a “criminal con job” and not the anti-Semitic terror plot initially feared.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Monday suggested authorities had suspected it was a hoax early on in the investigation and accused Mr Dutton of being “reckless with national security” for deliberately staying in the dark for political point scoring.

On Tuesday afternoon, Mr Dutton accused the minister of “lying”.

He claimed the opposition had first requested a briefing from the AFP on January 22 after the commissioner revealed foreign actors could be involved in a spate of anti-Semitic attacks. The caravan had been discovered on January 19, but that did not become public until January 29.

Read the full story here.

More than 22,000 insurance claims have been lodged in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

Policy holders in NSW have submitted 1735 claims, while 20,665 in claims have been lodged in Queenlsand, according to the Insurance councilof Australia.

Most claims relate damaged homes (20,460) followed by vehicles (1182) and then commercial properties (758).

Council CEO Andrew Hall said claim numbers were rising daily with people assessing the damage to their properties and businesses.

“Insurers are committed to prioritising claims made by customers affected by this ongoing weather event,” he said.

“Today’s spike in claims was very much expected and in line with this stage in the recovery process as people start the clean-up process and get back to their homes to assess the damage.

“Where possible though, we do encourage impacted policyholders to lodge a claim with their insurer, even if the full extent of the damage isn’t yet known.”

Read the story

While the cyclone danger is now well and truly over, the clean-up is bound to take some time.

Here are just a few of the extraordinary pictures coming through of flooded Brisbane streets and clean-up crews on the ground.

From AAP:

Strides towards gender equality could be at risk if men are not included in the conversation, with leaders urging workplaces to stay the course on diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Paralympians, company founders and youth advocates are speaking at a leadership summit held by workplace advocacy group Future Women covering topics ranging from business and finance to wellbeing and culture.

The world is witnessing women’s rights being rolled back amid a rise of anti-feminist rhetoric and politicians, Future Women deputy managing director Jamila Rizvi told the summit audience in her speech on Tuesday.

Gender-equal workplace policies have become a “convenient scapegoat” for broader economic anxieties and young men are being sold a myth that feminism is the reason they feel left out or career plans are drifting away, she said.

This rhetoric is no longer held by an “unrepresentative handful” but spreading across the country mostly in young men, requiring a new conversation that includes them.

Read the full story here.

Well that’s as fired up as we’ve seen Peter Dutton over the last few months.

Tony Burke took no time to lay the boot in yesterday once the nation had digested the news that the caravan plot had been “a criminal con job”.

Here’s the original story about the caravan investigation for context.

It took almost 24 hours (bear in Mind Mr Dutton had been stranded inside his home by floodwaters yesterday) for the Opposition Leader to respond but he took no prisoners when it was his turn.

Is it a sign that the personal politics are getting to him? Hard to say, but it’s probably best summed up by Sky News political editor Andrew Clennell who described the nature of the impending election campaign as “negative big time from both sides”.

“I’ve never been in favour of tariffs because for a trading nation like Australia where we produce more than we consume, really rely on those international markets in Australia is a trading nation,” Mr Dutton said.

“We always have been and it is important that we have as best as possible a free trading arrangement, which is why in government we negotiated the free trade agreement with China and expanded other markets including in the Middle East.

“We should be doing all we can to expand further markets so that we don’t have a concentration or reliance and therefore vulnerability for any shock to the system and it is important that the Government is doing this work. Don Farrell is a nice person but he hasn’t done anything since he’s been a Trade Minister and that is the problem for this Government.”

“In relation to the tariffs it is important for the Prime Minister to pick the phone up and speak to the president,” Mr Dutton said.

“It is important for Jim Chalmers to pick the phone up and speak to his counterpart as it is for Don Farrell the Trade Minister. This is an incredibly important issue for our country and a priority for me is to make sure that we protect Australian jobs and Australian industry.

“Malcolm Turnbull was able to negotiate with President Trump during the first presidency to see Australia avoid the application of those tariffs. Mr Albanese has not been able to do that.

“I hope that he can and I want the President (to hear) a clear message that there is a bipartisan position in relation to tariffs.

“They are not in Australia’s best interest and frankly they are not in the best interest of the United States either and I want to make sure we can protect Australian jobs and protect Australian industry and I think the Prime Minister needs to pick up the phone and make sure he can apply every resource possible.”