The Murdoch media’s Sky News network is planning to show up the ABC with its coverage of the imminent impact of Cyclone Alfred on South East Queensland.

Sky CEO Paul Whittaker said for years the national broadcaster had claimed special privileges and justified its “overblown taxpayer-funded budget” by pointing to its emergency broadcaster role at times of natural disasters.

“Cyclone Alfred gives all of us here at Sky News the perfect opportunity to showcase our ability to deliver essential information to disaster-hit communities,” Mr Whittaker said.

“We are ready to bring all the skills and resources we have to that important task and our lead presenters such as Paul Murray, Andrew Bolt, and Peta Credlin (all far right in main picture) have been in the studio rehearsing for our 24/7 coverage of the cyclone.

“We will be broadcasting non-stop from this morning to let those people hit by the cyclone know just how badly the Albanese Government and the Labor Party have let them down and how badly they are bungling the response and recovery efforts.

“This is the sort of essential role the ABC just can’t or won’t do despite its multi-trillion-dollar annual budget,” Mr Whittaker said.

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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has stepped in to clarify his position on Commonwealth public servants working from home.

Shadow finance minister Senator Jane Hume sparked a public debate on the issue after suggesting a Coalition government would force all public servants to abandon working from home arrangements in place since the COVID-19 crisis and return to their offices.

Today Mr Dutton said as prime minister he would have “no problem” if public servants who currently stay at home continue to do so.

“After I get to The Lodge almost all federal public servants will be free to work from home,” he said.

“I don’t care what sort of work they do. They just won’t be working from any Commonwealth office any longer, that’s for sure.”

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OTTOWA: It has been revealed that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delayed for several hours his media conference responding to the imposition of trade tariffs on Canadian exports to the US by President Donald Trump.

But a spokesperson for Trudeau said the delay was not caused by any wavering in the Prime Minister’s resolve to tackle Trump’s decision by imposing retaliatory tariffs on US-made imports.

“Mr Trudeau just needed more time to rehearse his delivery of the line: ‘Now it’s not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal. But Donald, they point out that even though you’re a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do’,” the spokesperson said.

“He kept on breaking up in uncontrollable laughter when he hit the word ‘smart’ so we were forced to delay the news conference.”

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