State-owned company seeks partners to develop $50bn of untapped reserves in Timor Sea
Timor-Leste’s state-owned gas company has rejected reports it is set to take a $16bn loan from China’s Exim bank to finance the Greater Sunrise project.
The Timor-Leste government recently took majority ownership of the project after buying out its former partners – ConocoPhillips and Shell – with the aim of ensuring the gas is piped to its shores instead of Australia’s.
Continue reading...Fund managers call on world leaders to bring in carbon pricing and phase out coal power ahead of G20
Superannuation funds and investors representing US$34tn in assets – nearly half of the total under management across the globe – have called on world leaders to bring in carbon pricing and phase out coal power to limit global heating to 1.5C.
Released ahead of a G20 leaders meeting in Osaka, Japan, the statement by 477 institutional investors urges world leaders to accelerate their response to the climate crisis to ensure the goals of the 2015 Paris climate deal can be met.
Continue reading...Caught in the middle of a drug trafficking route, island countries are in danger of falling under the control of drug cartels
Four years ago I stood in front of a top level security conference and warned that we have just a few years to get on top of the problem of drugs being trafficked through the Pacific region or it could turn into a semi-narco region, controlled by criminal syndicates.
In the four years since I gave that speech, things have gotten worse.
Continue reading...Australia urged to take action to stop cocaine and methamphetamine trafficking from Latin America through Pacific region
Australia and New Zealand have been urged to do more to fight the drug trade across the Pacific and take responsibility for the fact that the demand for drugs in cities such as Sydney and Auckland was having devastating effects on small Pacific nations.
Drug traffickers transport cocaine and methamphetamines through Pacific nations from the US and Latin America to Australia and New Zealand, where drug users pay the highest price per gram (about A$300 or £180) for cocaine and have the highest cocaine use per capita in the world.
Continue reading...Shadow treasurer says decision an ‘unfortunate consequence’ of Coalition’s victory
The shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has ruled out reviewing Newstart in opposition, saying those hoping for a boost to the payment had Labor won the election will now “have to convince the government.”
As Labor prepares to reshape its policy agenda following its 18 May electoral defeat, Chalmers used his first speech after being promoted to the senior portfolio to outline the opposition’s economic priorities.
Continue reading...James Marape says foreign contractors should not be doing work that locals can do
Papua New Guinea’s newly appointed prime minister wants Australia to cancel its controversial contract with Paladin to deliver services on Manus Island.
James Marape, who became prime minister after the resignation of Peter O’Neill last month, told PNG’s parliament on Tuesday he would summon Australia’s diplomatic head of mission “to provide an explanation”.
Continue reading...ACL steps in after GoFundMe pulls plug on former Wallabies star’s online appeal
The Australian Christian Lobby is hosting a fundraising effort on its website for the former Wallabies star Israel Folau after his GoFundMe page was shut down.
As at 7am Tuesday, almost $50,000 had been donated via the link on the ACL site, with the group also committing to tip in $100,000 to Folau’s legal challenge. By 8.30am, $250,000 had been raised.
Continue reading...Exclusive: production at Australia’s only nuclear medicine facility halted after ‘safety incident’
Production has ceased and an urgent investigation has been launched after two employees at a newly-opened Australian nuclear medicine facility at Lucas Heights were exposed to an unsafe dose of radiation late last week.
Just two weeks after it was granted a license to enter into full domestic production, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Antso) has confirmed production at its new $168m nuclear medicine facility has been halted after “a safety incident” on Friday morning.
Continue reading...Questions over how chief executive David Hisco was allowed to run up large expense accounts and over wife’s purchase of a bank property
Pressure is mounting on the ANZ bank board after New Zealand’s central bank ordered two independent reviews into the company’s conduct following the departure of its NZ chief executive who ran up expense accounts averaging more than $400,000 a year.
The bank’s chairman, former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key, last week announced the departure of David Hisco, who is an Australian, after the company learned of his spending for “non-monetary benefits” including a personal chauffeur service and wine cellaring.
Continue reading...Administrators take action to ensure site ‘is inclusive of all’
One of the biggest knitting websites in the world, which claims to have more than 8 million members, has announced that it will ban users from expressing support for Donald Trump, saying that to do so constitutes “white supremacy”.
On Sunday, administrators for Ravelry, a site for knitters, crocheters, designers and anyone dabbling in the fibre arts, said that they were making any expression of support for Trump and his administration in forum posts, patterns, on their personal profile pages or elsewhere permanently off limits.
Continue reading...Explosion in number of boats carrying cocaine and meth from Latin America to Australia is causing havoc for islands on the way
• Cocaine used as washing powder: police struggle with Pacific drug influx
It is the drug route you’ve never heard of: a multibillion-dollar operation involving cocaine and methamphetamines being packed into the hulls of sailing boats in the US and Latin America and transported to Australia via South Pacific islands more often thought of as holiday destinations than narcotics hubs.
In the past five years there has been an explosion in the number of boats, sometimes carrying more than a tonne of cocaine, making the journey across the Pacific Ocean to feed Australia’s growing and very lucrative drug habit.
Continue reading...Under-resourced but undeterred, Fiji’s officers battle surge in trafficking – with just one boat
• The new drug highway: Pacific islands at centre of cocaine trafficking boom
Sitiveni Qiliho, Fiji’s police commissioner, says he doesn’t watch films any more because, since taking on Fiji police’s top job two years ago, his life has enough drama.
Over the past few months he has found himself scuba diving in search of multimillion-dollar stashes of cocaine stored in huge underwater nets, arresting drug traffickers on the high seas and informing remote islands communities that the mysterious packages washing up on their beaches are full of cocaine and shouldn’t be baked into cakes or put in tea.
Continue reading...Home affairs minister alleges 250 applications for medical transfer being reviewed by ‘activist’ doctors
Peter Dutton claims asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island and Nauru are refusing resettlement offers in the United States because of the medevac legislation, claiming 250 applications for medical transfer were currently being reviewed by “activist” doctors.
Despite conceding last week the US was “unlikely” to resettle 1,250 refugees under the deal Malcolm Turnbull struck with the then US president, Barack Obama, and begrudgingly held to by Donald Trump, Dutton said the medevac legislation had upended the process and claimed asylum seekers and refugees were still holding out for Australia.
Continue reading...Two worldviews face each other uncomprehendingly – and the flashpoint is the climate emergency
This is the first piece in a new series on what the election result means for the progressive side of politics and the path forward
Political commentators reflexively overinterpret election results. The story we’ve been told is that the Coalition’s win means that “Australian voters” have rejected Labor’s radical plan for reform of the tax-and-spend system, confirming that Australians prefer stability and incremental change.
Continue reading...Apartment owners have voted for $1m levy to fund initial works on the building, which developed cracks in its support structure
A Go Fund Me page has been established to help apartment owners at Sydney’s Mascot Towers in their efforts to have the building repaired, after it developed cracks a week ago.
The 10-year-old building in Sydney’s south had to be evacuated on 14 June when cracks developed in the primary support structure and facade masonry.
Continue reading...Clover Moore says ‘successive federal governments have shamefully presided over a climate disaster’
City of Sydney councillors are set to vote on declaring the climate crisis a national emergency that “poses a serious risk to the people of Sydney”.
If passed, the council will join hundreds of local governments worldwide that have made similar declarations.
Continue reading...The Illustrated City: In a multicultural city, soccer gives children like my daughter a common ground
Continue reading...Shadow home affairs minister says Labor would examine government amendments to laws, if necessary
Labor says it is prepared to consider government amendments to medical evacuation laws if necessary, but sees “no evidence” to suggest the laws are not working as intended.
As the home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, ramps up pressure on Labor to side with the government to scrap the so-called medevac laws passed against its will in February, Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, said the party was standing firm in support.
Continue reading...CFMMEU assistant secretary says decision was not made under pressure as Setka faces calls to resign
The controversy surrounding the Victorian construction union boss John Setka has escalated with his deputy, Shaun Reardon, quitting, saying it was “untenable” for him to continue.
The resignation came as members of the CFMMEU were being individually lobbied to support Setka, who faces calls for his expulsion from the Labor party and resignation as Victorian secretary of the union.
Continue reading...Move will free up extra 1m seats on high demand routes but business and premium seats will require more points
Qantas frequent flyer point users will spend less getting economy seats but more getting business and first class upgrades under changes announced on Thursday.
In what the airline described as the “single biggest overhaul” to the frequent flyer point system since it was established, the national airline has rebalanced the scales in favour of the cheap seats.
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