Category Archives: Australian foreign policy

Ben Roberts-Smith denies war crimes allegations – As it happened

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Defence Minister Richard Marles says the success of Australia’s alliance with the United States should not be measured against a single president or federal government in Canberra, insisting the longstanding ties will endure.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticised Australia for not assisting with the war in Iran, while federal Labor, including Marles and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, say the White House has not made any specific request for assistance.

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Australia news live: refinery fire will not lead to tougher fuel restrictions, PM says, though petrol production down by 40% at plant

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Australia secures extra fertilizer and 100m extra litres of fuel, PM says

Albanese has also provided an update on Australia’s talks with its allies in Asia to shore up imports of fuel and other goods affected by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The advice that we have received today is that 80% of diesel production is continuing, 80% of aviation fuel is continuing, ongoing.

It has been slowed down just slightly because of the circumstances which are there, but 60% of petrol production [is] proceeding today as well.

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Chalmers warns of ‘more polarising politics’ – as it happened

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Seven-year-old girl drowns at swimming spot on Brisbane River

A seven-year-old girl has drowned at a popular swimming spot on the Brisbane River in the south-west of the city, AAP reports.

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Albanese didn’t return with shiploads of diesel. That doesn’t mean his Singapore visit wasn’t a success

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Having received assurances from Singapore over refined fuels, diesel supply will surely be next on the prime minister’s agenda

Anthony Albanese isn’t coming back from Singapore with a shipload of diesel in his checked baggage. That doesn’t mean his whistle-stop visit wasn’t a success, or that it won’t be seen in future as a pivotal moment if fuel stocks continue to be choked by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

The government never expected that the quick whip to Singapore, with just one full day on the ground, would elicit a new supply of petrol or diesel. Singapore already supplies 55% of Australia’s unleaded, 22% of jet fuel and 15% of diesel.

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News live: Labor dismisses Tony Abbott’s calls for Australia to join war; Queensland MP Jimmy Sullivan found dead

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Former PM asks ‘What is the point of having armed forces if they’re not to be used to support our allies in a just cause.’ Follow updates live

Head of IMF says Iran war will permanently scar global economy even if peace is reached

The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that the Iran war will permanently scar the global economy even if a durable peace deal in the Middle East can be reached.

But now, even our most hopeful scenario involves a growth downgrade. Even in a best case, there will be no neat and clean return to the status quo.

Penny Wong’s previous statements, whether it’s concerned or gravely concerned, have had no effect.

But cancelling more than a billion dollars in Israeli arms contracts – that would not only respond to the moral situation of the appalling Israeli military attacks, it would also have the benefit of putting a very real material pressure on Israel to pull back from what is a disastrous, illegal, immoral war in Lebanon that is threatening the entire globe’s peace.

We should not be buying weapons that have been tested by Israeli defence manufacturers in conflicts like Gaza and Lebanon, and we should not be contributing any weapons parts.

Right now it also would have the important additional benefit of making it clear to Israel that this comes at a direct and real cost to them.

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Liberals have ‘a lot of work to do’ after SA wipeout, Anne Ruston says – As it happened

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Australia not ‘contemplating’ fuel rationing but state and federal governments have powers, Bowen says

State governments also had fuel rationing powers, Chris Bowen said.

When I was a kid … in the 80s in Sydney, I remember petrol rationing was done by state governments – the state governments do have powers there.

Yes, the Commonwealth government, under the fuel emergency act, has powers.

It’s not designed to be invoked lightly. It really has powers primarily around defence and health, in the first instance, to ensure that those key areas are getting diesel that they need, but also other forms of fuel.

I would need to be satisfied that there’s a real shortage and that the powers under that act are useful.

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Australia news live: Tropical Cyclone Narelle poised to hit Queensland coast within hours with wind gusts up to 250km/h

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Tropical cyclone expected to make landfall in far north Queensland within hours. Follow today’s news live

Waves of near-record heights smash Cairns coastline

One of the challenges posed by Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is the lack of weather monitoring infrastructure in remote parts of Cape York.

Winds of that speed are pretty hard to imagine if you haven’t experienced them before. They are just so, so strong, capable of uprooting really large trees or completely stripping them of their branches …

It can also cause extensive damage to properties in the path of those very strong wind gusts as well as power outages.

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Danish royals Frederik and Mary begin six-day Australia tour with visit to rain-soaked red centre

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Royal trip includes stops in Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart and aims to deepen trade ties

Denmark’s King Frederik and Queen Mary have ended the first leg of their Australian visit with a sunrise trek to a famous Uluru watering hole.

The royal couple walked to Muṯitjulu waterhole in Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa national park with traditional owners on Sunday morning. The culturally significant site is one of the few permanent water sources around the sandstone monolith and a regular attraction for visiting dignitaries.

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‘We’re living in an Orwellian nightmare’: Grace Tame calls Anthony Albanese a ‘coward’ in scathing critique

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In an essay for Crikey, the former Australian of the Year says the PM is a ‘turncoat’ who is ‘capitulating to foreign powers’ amid the US-Israel war on Iran

Grace Tame has said “we’re living in an Orwellian nightmare” in a scathing critique of the prime minister and his government’s position on the war in the Middle East.

In an essay published in Crikey on Friday, the advocate for sexual abuse survivors and human rights activist accused Anthony Albanese of being a “coward” and a “turncoat” for refusing to condemn the US-Israel strikes on Iran.

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Former Iranian diplomat was granted asylum in Australia after defecting

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Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s former charge d’affaires in Canberra, sought protection in 2023, government source confirms

One of Iran’s former top diplomats in Australia has defected from the theocratic regime, with the revelations only coming to light this week after six members of the Iranian women’s football squad were granted protection.

London-based news outlet Iran International, which is not tied to the Islamic Republic’s regime, reported on Friday that Mohammad Pournajaf, Tehran’s charge d’affaires in Canberra until at least 2023, had applied for asylum. Another Iranian diplomat had applied for asylum in Denmark, the outlet reported.

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Iraqi official urges Australia to take back alleged IS fighters during meeting with ambassador

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Iraq’s national security adviser Qassim al-Araji says he told Australian ambassador that countries should repatriate prisoners

A senior Iraqi government official has implored Australia to repatriate a group of suspected Islamic State fighters, raising the issue with Canberra’s top diplomat in Baghdad just weeks after the detainees were transferred out of Syria.

In a post on X, Iraq’s national security adviser, Qassim al-Araji, said he met with ambassador Glenn Miles last week, and told him that foreign detainees should be returned to their home countries. This is despite such a task being made more difficult by growing instability in the region, caused by the war in Iran.

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Australia news live: luxury car tax change could seal EU trade deal; far north Queensland braces for severe weather

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Jim Chalmers hints concession on threshold for imports could finally lead to an agreement. Follow the latest updates live

Two flights from Dubai land in Sydney and Melbourne

A second commercial flight landed in Sydney last night from Dubai and the first made its way to Melbourne from the Middle Eastern hub.

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Flights from Australia to Middle East cancelled – as it happened

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The foreign minister, Penny Wong, says Australia was not told in advance about the bombing of Iran but won’t say whether intelligence facilities here were used.

“We weren’t told advance. You wouldn’t expect us to be but you would see there’s obviously been a lot of discussion,” she said.

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Albanese should demand reparations from Israel, say families of Australian soldiers whose graves were bulldozed

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A third family says the Australian government must do more to hold Israel and the Israeli Defence Force to account, including demanding an apology

The families of dead Australian soldiers whose graves were bulldozed by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza have called for reparations and urged the Albanese government to hold Israel accountable.

Earlier this month, the Guardian revealed that the IDF had bulldozed parts of the Gaza War Cemetery – the resting place of Australian, British and Canadian soldiers who served in the first and second world wars.

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Australia will ‘examine all options’ to avoid new 15% tariffs announced by Donald Trump

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The trade minister, Don Farrell, says Australia has ‘consistently advocated’ against the ‘unjustified tariffs’, after the US president announced new levies

Australia will “examine all options” after the US president Donald Trump announced a temporary 15% tariff would apply to US imports from all countries.

The US president’s move came less than 24 hours after the US supreme court overturned his original 10% import tariff. Shortly after the ruling, Trump announced he was reinstating the 10% duties using a different law before raising it again to 15%.

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Australia news live: SA Labor pledges $100k stamp duty waiver for ‘empty nesters’; Burke says Hanson’s Lakemba comments a national security risk

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The home affairs minister says the One Nation leader was frustrated with the Muslim community because it ‘didn’t give her what she wanted’. Follow live updates

Police investigating the mistaken kidnapping of grandfather Chris Baghsarian are appealing for information about suspicious car fires that could be related to the case, AAP reports.

Hopes are fading of finding the 85-year-old alive, who was taken captive more than a week ago when three men stormed his Sydney home and bundled him into an SUV.

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John Kerry urges Australia to take ‘hard-nosed’ approach with world’s biggest fossil fuel-producing countries at Cop31

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Exclusive: Former US secretary of state calls for more demanding steps from Australia as it takes over presidency of next year’s UN climate summit

Australia’s government, which will preside over the next UN climate summit, should gather the world’s 25 biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries and push them to draw up a roadmap to end the era of fossil fuels, former US secretary of state John Kerry has said.

Only by “hard-nosed” confrontation with fossil fuel producers, and reducing their consumption in major economies, would the world be able to tackle the climate crisis, he said.

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John Kerry urges Australia to take ‘hard-nosed’ approach with world’s biggest fossil fuel-producing countries at Cop31

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Exclusive: Former US secretary of state calls for more demanding steps from Australia as it takes over presidency of next year’s UN climate summit

Australia’s government, which will preside over the next UN climate summit, should gather the world’s 25 biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries and push them to draw up a roadmap to end the era of fossil fuels, former US secretary of state John Kerry has said.

Only by “hard-nosed” confrontation with fossil fuel producers, and reducing their consumption in major economies, would the world be able to tackle the climate crisis, he said.

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Australian federal MPs warned to turn off phones when Chinese delegation visits Parliament House

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Liberal party senator calls Department of Parliamentary Services email ‘incredibly concerning’

Politicians and staff in parts of Parliament House have been urged to turn off their phones, laptops and internet during a visit by Chinese officials, with parliament administrators warning building occupants about interruptions to wifi service.

The shadow cybersecurity minister, Claire Chandler, called the warning “incredibly concerning”, saying the parliament advisory raised worries about threats to sensitive data.

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A translation of the Nauruan president’s remarks will stay suppressed for a decade – but secrecy in Australia’s offshore policy is nothing new

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From Scott Morrison’s ‘on-water matters’ to the Albanese government’s MOU with Nauru, successive governments’ attitude to legitimate scrutiny has been one of hostility

Offshore, secrecy dominates. But it doesn’t stop at the water’s edge.

In February, Australia brokered a new offshore arrangement with Nauru, striking a deal to send members of the so-called NZYQ cohort – non-citizens with criminal histories – to the Pacific island. Australia would give Nauru more than $400m in exchange.

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