Australia in discussions to avoid ‘devastating consequences’ of US aid cuts for Pacific nations

Exclusive: Penny Wong says diplomats are consulting US government and ‘engaging with countries in our region’ to determine need for additional support

The Australian government is consulting Pacific nations to assess the “devastating consequences” of the Trump administration’s freeze on foreign aid and considering what additional support it can provide ahead of next week’s federal budget.

In a letter to a Liberal MP concerned the freeze could cause “irreversible” damage to Pacific communities, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Australian diplomats were discussing its impact with US government officials.

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Warren Entsch may support Labor’s climate target if he can be shown it’s not a ‘brain fart’

Liberal MP says he is open-minded on bill but doesn’t want it to become an ‘impost on the community’ amid high inflation

The veteran Liberal MP Warren Entsch says he is open-minded about Labor’s bill to enshrine a 43% emissions reduction target if he can be convinced the Albanese government has a concrete plan to achieve the cut without driving up power prices.

Ahead of the first substantive Coalition party room meeting of the 47th parliament on Tuesday, Entsch told Guardian Australia he was seeking advice on the bill and might lend support if there was evidence to suggest the number wasn’t a “brain fart”.

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‘Beggars belief’: more endangered parrots exported from Australia

Warren Entsch demands investigation after German convicted kidnapper boasts about new shipment

A government MP has said it “beggars belief” that more endangered Australian birds have been exported to a German organisation headed by a convicted kidnapper and extortionist, after a Guardian investigation revealed there had been multiple warnings that the birds could be sold to collectors at a huge profit.

Warren Entsch repeated calls for an independent investigation into how the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots was able to receive hundreds of rare and endangered birds from Australia, after its founder, Martin Guth, used a social media post to say more endangered species had arrived at its facilities in January.

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