Anthony Albanese, Jim Chalmers hit back at Angus Taylor’s criticism of overseas trip

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has called for the opposition to “pull their head in” over mounting criticism of Anthony Albanese’s international diplomatic trip. Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has doubled down on his criticism of the Prime Minister’s “circumnavigating the globe” during the NSW floods, which threaten to be the worst in decades. Mr Taylor blasted Mr Albanese for being “more concerned about his reputation on the global stage than … making sure people in NSW have a place to sleep”. Mr Albanese has just returned from a 10-day trip to Europe where he attended the NATO summit, repaired Australia’s relationship with France and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledging $100m extra in military assistance. He will be in NSW on Wednesday alongside Premier Dominic Perrottet and will announce a $1000 payment for all impacted adults and $400 for impacted children. Dr Chalmers said Mr Albanese’s overseas trip had largely been focused on fixing the messes caused by the Morrison government. “Angus Taylor is as responsible as anyone for the mess we’re trying to fix up,” he told ABC Radio. “And if his argument is that we’ve been in government for six weeks or so and we haven’t cleaned up a decade of economic mismanagement, then I think he’d be best served as pulling his head in.” Mr Albanese also hit out at the opposition’s criticism, saying he was working closely with the NSW government to support victims going through their fourth flood event in two years. He said people had “conflict fatigue” and didn’t want to see governments arguing. “They don’t want to see government acting with the sort of childish comments we’ve seen with some of my federal counterparts in the last few days, criticising me for not making a phone call while I was in Ukraine without any radio equipment,” Mr Albanese told ABC News. “I’m very pleased that my government through Richard Marles the acting prime minister and Murray Watt have worked closely in partnership (with the NSW government). “That’s what people want.”