Category Archives: Australian military

New Aukus drone tech to protect critical undersea cables as Marles warns: ‘seabed is a battlefield’

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Minister at Singapore defence summit also reveals Australia to buy only secondhand Aukus submarines from US

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has said the “seabed is a battlefield” in a combative speech urging Beijing to be more transparent about its maritime operations, and taking aim at weak international controls over so-called “shadow-fleet” vessels.

The warning came as the US, UK and Australia announced a new Aukus project to develop new underwater drone technology to protect undersea cables.

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Aukus costs balloon with more cash and staff for submarine agency amid ongoing search for nuclear waste dump

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Labor has announced funding for Australian Submarine Agency will jump to $512m in next financial year amid concerns the sovereign submarine fleet may never arrive

The budget for Australia’s contentious Aukus deal has ballooned by more than $430m over four years, with the agency charged with securing the country’s nuclear-powered submarines requiring a massive injection of funding and staffing.

The Australian Submarine Agency’s resourcing for next financial year will jump by a third – from $385m to $512m.

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Gina Rinehart calls for immigrants’ social media to be screened in Anzac memorial speech

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Mining magnate also claims children are being taught to be ashamed of the Australian flag in a speech to 4,000 people on the Sydney Opera House steps

Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, called for immigrants’ social media to be screened and said children are being taught to be ashamed of the Australian flag in untelevised remarks before an Anzac memorial service on the steps of Sydney Opera House on Friday.

Rinehart’s public appearance was attended by about 4,000 people and sponsored by her company, Hancock Prospecting, and RSL New South Wales.

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‘Racism is a cancer’: Indigenous leaders condemn orchestrated booing at Anzac Day ceremonies

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Uncle Jack Pearson, an army captain, says heckling ‘not in the Anzac spirit’ after welcome to country booed in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth

Indigenous leaders have condemned people who booed welcome to country speeches at Anzac Day dawn services across the country, with an army captain stating “racism is a cancer”.

Elders who spoke at services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Saturday morning were booed following a campaign by Fight for Australia, the group formerly known as March for Australia, which has previously staged major anti-immigration rallies.

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Ben Roberts-Smith to attend first Anzac Day service since war crime charges

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Former soldier says he will ‘pay my respects’ at commemoration in Queensland where he has been living since being released on bail

Ben Roberts-Smith will attend an Anzac Day service in Queensland on Saturday morning, describing the day as “sacred” to him, the first commemoration since he was criminally charged.

Roberts-Smith, the recipient of the Victoria Cross and once one of Australia’s most lionised soldiers, faces five charges of the war crime of murder, allegedly committed during his service with the SAS in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

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Ben Roberts-Smith planned to leave Australia and researched buying wellness business in Spain, court documents show

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Partner of soldier accused of war crimes says the couple discussed possibility of moving overseas to ‘create some normalcy in our lives’

Ben Roberts-Smith was planning to leave Australia to live overseas and had a business class flight out of the country booked in four days’ time when he was arrested at Sydney airport this month, court documents allege, with investigators telling a court “his willingness to return to Australia to face prosecution cannot be judged”.

Roberts-Smith was ultimately granted bail last week under strict conditions, a move opposed by prosecutors who said there was potential concern he was a flight risk and might try to avoid ever having to face trial for a series of alleged murders he committed in Afghanistan.

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Ben Roberts-Smith released from prison on bail after being charged with five counts of war crime murder

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Former SAS corporal granted bail ahead of potential trial on charges relating to alleged killing of civilians in Afghanistan

Ben Roberts-Smith has been granted bail under strict conditions while he awaits a potential trial on alleged war crimes.

The Victoria Cross recipient, once Australia’s most lionised soldier, faces five charges of war crime murder over allegations he killed unarmed civilians during his service with the Australian SAS in Afghanistan.

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Susan Coyle to be first woman to lead Australian army in ‘deeply historic moment’

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Appointment part of senior defence changes as navy chief Mark Hammond promoted to chief of defence force

Lt Gen Susan Coyle, an officer of more than three decades standing, will become the first woman to lead the Australian army.

Coyle has been announced as the new chief of army, with her term beginning in July.

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Australian War Memorial amends Ben Roberts-Smith display after former soldier charged with war crimes

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Text on plaque in Hall of Valour updated to include references to war crime – murder charges and the ongoing legal process

The Australian War Memorial has updated the display dedicated to Ben Roberts-Smith after the former Special Air Service (SAS) corporal was officially charged with five counts of the war crime of murder.

The changes, implemented on Friday, mean nearly half of the descriptive plaque in the museum’s Hall of Valour is now dedicated to events occurring after his military service, beginning with the initial reports of misconduct in 2016.

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Ben Roberts-Smith is back in court, now as a defendant. His case reminds us that there are laws even amid war

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The former soldier’s previous defamation trial presents the rare situation of there being hours of evidence of his alleged crimes already on the public record

For almost every day of his marathon defamation trial, Ben Roberts-Smith VC, sat in the same spot in the federal court. A chair by the window, bathed in sunshine, from where he could glare at witnesses giving evidence.

He sits now in a very different position.

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Australia will be left with no submarines if it abandons Aukus, senior defence official warns

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Malcolm Turnbull asks defence department official what Australia would do if the promised Virginia-class and Aukus-class submarines don’t arrive

Australia will be left with no submarines if it abandons the Aukus deal with the US and UK, a senior defence official has warned, declining to publicly countenance an alternative plan if Australia’s promised nuclear-powered fleet does not arrive under Australian command.

“Defence has been directed to pursue Aukus and we are pursuing Aukus and that’s our plan. I would not venture into the space about ‘Plan B’ or ‘Plan C’,” defence department deputy secretary, Hugh Jeffrey, told a Sovereignty and Security Forum in Canberra on Friday.

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Australian soldiers’ bodies ‘very likely’ disturbed by Israeli bulldozing at Gaza cemetery, senator says

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David Pocock’s comments come as new photos show scale of damage and government official says its ‘quite possible’ bodies disturbed

The bodies of Australian soldiers buried in Gaza have “very likely” been disturbed, the independent senator David Pocock says, as new photos tendered to parliament show widespread damage of graves by Israeli bulldozers.

About 146 of the 263 graves of Australian soldiers buried in Gaza have been damaged, Senate estimates heard last week.

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Penny Wong refuses to say if any Australian crew onboard US submarine that sank Iranian warship

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More than 50 Australian sailors and officers serving across US attack submarine fleet as part of preparations for Aukus

The Australian government has refused to disclose whether Australian sailors or officers were onboard the US attack submarine which torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 people.

More than 50 Australian sailors and officers are serving across the US attack submarine fleet, a training regimen that is part of preparations for Australia to command its own nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus deal.

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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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Google to build new AI datacentre on tiny Australian Indian Ocean outpost after signing defence deal

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Military experts say facility on Christmas Island would be valuable asset to monitor Chinese submarine and naval activity

Google plans to build a large AI datacentre on Australia’s remote Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island after signing a cloud deal with the Department of Defence earlier this year, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with officials.

Plans for the datacentre on the tiny island located 350km south of Indonesia have not previously been reported, and many details, including its projected size, cost and potential uses, remain secret.

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Australia’s $20m ‘iron fist’ deal with Israel’s largest arms company signed two weeks before UN genocide finding

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Exclusive: Experts criticise federal government’s contract with Elbit Systems as ‘troubling acceptance’ of Israel’s conduct in Gaza

Australia’s $20m purchase of missiles from an Israeli arms company for its “iron fist” weapons system on infantry vehicles has been condemned as “morally questionable” and reflective of a “troubling acceptance” of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

The Australian defence department signed a contract with Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, on 1 September, two weeks before a UN commission of inquiry found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. Details of the contract were not published on the Australian government’s contract database until last week.

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Women launch class action against ADF alleging widespread sexual violence, misogyny and harassment

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Female members of the military shouldn’t have to fight off their colleagues on a daily basis, lawyer says

Women who allegedly suffered widespread and systemic sexual abuse, harassment, discrimination and victimisation while serving in the Australian defence force are taking part in a class action against the commonwealth.

There are four applicants in the class action, whose names are withheld for legal reasons, but any woman subjected to sexual violence, sexual harassment or discrimination while working in the ADF between 12 November 2003 and 25 May 2025 is eligible to join them.

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Trump says Australia will get the Aukus submarines – but the decision won’t be his to make

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If the US navy needs the subs, they cannot be sold to Australia, regardless of how much the president might wish it

Even by the standards of the Trumpian promise, the unvarnished commitment to Australia on US nuclear submarines – “they’re getting them” – is entirely unreliable.

They are not the US president’s boats to give.

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Australia says Chinese fighter jet released flares near RAAF aircraft in ‘dangerous’ incident

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Richard Marles condemns Chinese military after flares let off ‘very close’ to Australian surveillance aircraft over South China Sea

The acting prime minister, Richard Marles, has condemned the “unsafe and unprofessional” behaviour of the Chinese military, saying a fighter jet released flares close to an Australian surveillance plane over the South China Sea.

Australia’s defence forces expressed “concerns” about the incident in a statement, saying it posed a risk to Royal Australian Air Force personnel and their aircraft. No injuries or damage was sustained as a result of actions.

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Weapons maker Saab ‘directly linked’ to human rights breach after missile found in South Australian Indigenous area

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Lawyer hopes investigation for OECD into 2021 find near Australian military testing range sets precedent

The weapons manufacturer Saab was “directly linked” to a human rights violation when a missile it produced was found in an Indigenous heritage area, an investigation for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has found.

The four-year investigation could lead to more companies being held accountable for how their weapons are used by clients, according to human rights lawyers involved in the case.

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