Category Archives: Australian military

Australia politics live: Dutton calls Labor’s international student caps bill ‘a dog’s breakfast’; RBA fuels expectations for February interest rates cut

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First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund

The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.

The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.

Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.

In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.

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Australia news live: Antic claims misinformation bill is bid to stop young Australians being ‘red pilled’ on social media

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Matt Keogh on Aukus, second Trump presidency

Matt Keogh was also questioned on what he thinks the challenges will be for the Australian government amid a second Trump presidency?

We understand regardless of who is in charge of the White House or what is happening across the globe, what matters to Australians is being able to make ends meet themselves.

We expect that to continue even under a Trump Presidency.

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Australia politics live: Albanese tells caucus Labor will campaign on ‘risk’ of Dutton; Miles returns as Queensland Labor leader

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‘We need to extend the average time people stay in our defence force,’ says Matt Keough

The defence personnel minister, Matt Keough, has also been talking about that retention and renumeration package for defence.

We need to extend the average time people stay in our defence force.

That does mean it had a vulnerability. We’re looking at moving to more of a mesh-type arrangement of satellites, which provides greater resilience, with a more up-to-date technology, and we’ll be able to deliver the technology faster as well.

We are very much confident that we can meet these targets and that’s because we have properly funded them and we have a plan to get there, which is about really improving the terms of service for those who work in our defence forces.

We’re increasing and expanding the bonuses for continuing on in the defence force. We’re continuing the original retention bonus after your initial service obligation for three years and beyond that. There will be another bonus for people who stay in the defence force after that. And that’s really targeting those who are in their seventh, eighth, ninth years of service, which gets to the middle ranks where we’ve got an issue. And we’re also going to grow the active reserves so there are more opportunities for people in the reserve to do full-time or part-time work in the defence force.

This original plan goes back seven or eight years and it was about having two or three satellites above Australia to deliver that capability. Since then, we have seen technologies develop which can shoot satellites out of the sky but we have also seen technologies develop where you have thousands of micro satellites in a more distributed way providing the same effect and we are seeing that with Starlink above Ukraine.

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ABC to review editorial policies after investigation finds gunshots ‘inadvertently’ added to Afghanistan footage

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Director of news Justin Stevens apologises for ‘editing errors’ in the video clips

The ABC will review its editorial policies after an independent review found five additional sounds of gunshots were “inadvertently but inaccurately” introduced into footage showing a commando firing from a helicopter.

But the review by the former ABC editorial executive Alan Sunderland said there was no evidence that anyone at Australia’s national broadcaster “deliberately doctored, falsified, manipulated or distorted information, material or evidence in order to mislead audiences”.

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Former army lawyer David McBride appeals conviction claiming duty to disclose military secrets

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McBride has appealed his jail sentence of five years and eight months claiming he ‘blew the whistle on the unequal application of the law’ by the ADF

The former army lawyer David McBride has lodged his appeal in the ACT supreme court almost five months after he was sentenced to a maximum of five years and eight months in jail.

McBride pleaded guilty to three charges in November 2023 after the court upheld a commonwealth intervention to withhold key evidence the government argued had the potential to jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia”. The charges included stealing commonwealth information and passing that on to journalists at the ABC.

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Walkley-award winning journalist to investigate potential issues in ABC’s Line of Fire reports

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Alan Sunderland to undertake independent review of online article and 7.30 story about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan

The ABC has appointed veteran journalist and media executive Alan Sunderland to undertake an independent review of the broadcaster’s Line of Fire reports about an Australian military operation in Afghanistan.

The Line of Fire reports concern an online article and 7.30 story by one of the ABC’s most experienced journalists, Mark Willacy from the ABC’s Investigations unit.

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Video of Chinese jet’s apparent intercept with Australian defence plane ‘deeply troubling’ propaganda, Coalition says

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Shadow defence minister calls on Australian prime minister to raise matter with Chinese president, saying it is ‘not the actions of a friend’

The release of a video appearing to show a Chinese military aircraft in a “dangerous” interception with an Australian surveillance plane has been criticised as “risky” and “deeply troubling” propaganda by the Australian opposition, who are calling for the prime minister to raise the matter with China’s president.

The footage, posted on video-hosting site BiliBili with the watermark of Chinese state television’s military affairs channel, appeared to show a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) J-16 fighter intercepting an Australian P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft. The incident took place in international airspace over the South China Sea in 2022.

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Defence force failed to replace Taipan helicopter engine blades prior to Jervis Bay crash despite advice

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Redacted report tabled in Senate reveals findings of investigation into March 2023 MRH-90 incident, while questions over later crash continue

The Australian Defence Force failed to replace helicopter engine blades prior to a crash near Jervis Bay last year despite longstanding advice from the manufacturer to do so, an investigation has found.

A report tabled in the Senate reveals the findings of an investigation into the March 2023 incident in which the crew of an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter escaped with only minor injuries.

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Politics live: Senate question time spars over housing and the economy; plan for Australia to build rocket motors for ‘world’s most advanced missiles’

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Albanese says it’s a ‘good thing’ Trump is safe after apparent assassination attempt

Anthony Albanese has responded to news about an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Everyone wants the democratic process to be peaceful and to be orderly. This incident in the United States is of concern, again. It is good that President Trump has said that he is safe and that the incident, the details of which are still coming out, so it’s not quite clear all of those details but what is clear is that President Trump is safe. That is a good thing.

The first round of Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund and National Housing Accord programs will deliver 4,220 social and 9,522 affordable homes, including 1,267 homes for women and children escaping domestic violence and older women at risk of homelessness.

In just the first round of these programs, the Albanese Government is directly supporting more social and affordable housing than the Liberals and Nationals did in their entire nine years in office.

Housing Australia has recommended contract negotiations for 185 projects, with construction on almost 40 per cent of the 13,742 dwellings forecast to get underway this financial year.

Round one of the programs’ funding will unlock $9.2 billion of investment in social and affordable housing across Commonwealth, State and Territory government, and the private and community housing sectors.

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Brendan Nelson suggested censoring chapters in Australia’s official history of Timor-Leste operations, Dfat head claimed

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Exclusive: Documents released under freedom of information show Nelson, the director of the War Memorial in 2019, subsequently opposed cutting the chapters, and they appeared in the published work

The former director of the Australian War Memorial, Brendan Nelson, offered in 2019 to censor nine chapters from the official history of Australia’s operations in Timor-Leste and seal them for 30 years, according to a claim made in correspondence from the then head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Dfat).

But within weeks Nelson decided to actively oppose the move, the documents released under freedom of information laws suggest, and the chapters were included when the volume was eventually published.

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Australia and Indonesia to deepen military ties after striking ‘historic’ security pact

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Anthony Albanese and Prabowo Subianto announce conclusion of treaty negotiations but reporters weren’t able to ask questions about new deal

Australia and Indonesia have struck a new security pact that will lead to more joint military exercises and visits, prompting human rights advocates to call for safeguards.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, told the Indonesian defence minister and president-elect, Prabowo Subianto, in Canberra on Tuesday that there was “no more important relationship than the one between our two great nations”.

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Australia indemnifies US and UK ‘against any liability’ from nuclear submarine risks

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New text reveals any party can terminate their collaboration on nuclear-powered boats with just one year’s notice

The United States, the United Kingdom or Australia could terminate their collaboration on nuclear-powered submarines with just one year’s notice, according to the terms of a new treaty designed to make the Aukus security pact a reality.

The Australian government published the text of the new agreement on Monday as it sought to dispel claims it was failing to tell the public about potentially significant political commitments to the US and the UK.

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Linda Reynolds defends actions following Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape – as it happened

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Budgets running on fumes as car costs outpace inflation

High transport costs are fuelling household budget concerns, AAP reports, with research revealing a surge of more than 10% over the course of a year.

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Aukus pact will turn Australia into ‘51st state’ of the US, says Paul Keating

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Former prime minister argues Australia has made itself a target by aligning with American ‘aggression’ towards China

Australia’s participation in the Aukus defence pact risks handing military control of the country to Washington and becoming the “51st state of the United States”, according to former prime minister Paul Keating.

Speaking on ABC’s 7.30 on Thursday night, Keating argued that Australia had made itself a target for aggression by joining the military alliance with the US and the UK in implicit opposition to China’s growing power in the Asia Pacific region.

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Chinese navy destroyer and helicopter shadowed Australian warship during high-profile standoff, documents show

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Exclusive: Australian helicopter was outside Chinese territorial waters when forced to manoeuvre to avoid fighter jet flares in ‘unsafe’ operation

An Australian helicopter was flying south-east of China’s Shandong peninsula but outside its territorial waters when a Chinese fighter aircraft released flares in its path, new documents show.

Guardian Australia can reveal that Australia’s HMAS Hobart warship was also being shadowed by a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) navy destroyer and another Chinese helicopter at the time of the 4 May standoff.

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Police seek Sydney woman’s partner over alleged stabbing death – as it happened

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Australians feel ‘crushing burden’ from humanitarian crises

Many Australians are feeling a “crushing burden” as they see images from multiple humanitarian crises around the world, a prominent charity says.

I think sometimes people see this stuff on the news or read about it in the newspaper and they feel like they have to carry this burden on their own shoulder, and so they have nothing in between crisis and themselves.

And they look at something like what’s happening in Gaza and Israel, what’s happening in Ukraine, what’s happening now in Sudan, and think how can they possibly make a difference? What can they possibly do to make that situation better? And so it feels like a crushing burden.

Abortion is a very personal choice, and every Queenslander deserves the level of support and care we are offering with this investment.

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Defence probed 16 alleged links between personnel and extremism in two years

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Exclusive: Documents reveal the ADF has conducted more than a dozen investigations into allegations about army and navy personnel since 2022

There have been at least 16 investigations into defence personnel allegedly engaging with extremism or supremacism in the last two years, documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal.

Of the cases, which span February 2022 to April 2024, nine are still “pending”while two are open. Sixteen concerned army personnel in various units and two in the navy.

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Australia politics live: Julian Assange leaves Belmarsh prison after plea deal and will return to Australia, WikiLeaks says

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WikiLeaks X account has tweeted that ‘Julian Assange is free’. Follow today’s news headlines live

‘It’s just a lazy delay’

Bill Shorten says a further delay of the Senate vote on the NDIS bill won’t actually lead to any changes:

There’s no good reason on God’s green earth to have another eight weeks of review, which isn’t actually eight weeks.

There won’t be a whole lot of new submissions come in, there won’t be some brand new arguments not considered.

I’m horrified after 12 months of reviewing the NDIS and then another six months of discussing the review including [in] the last three a Senate committee having public hearings calling for submissions.

The opposition has used words never ever said before by them.

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Shadow energy minister says system in ‘dire trouble’ – as it happened

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Australia needs more gas supply on east coast, Albanese says

Anthony Albanese is speaking to the ABC from Devonport.

We’ll work those issues through with Aemo.

We need more gas supply. We announced our future gas strategy a short while ago because we understand that we need more supply. Gas has an important role to play in manufacturing in particular. But also in providing firming capacity for the renewables rollout.

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Australian War Memorial allegedly defaced with pro-Palestine graffiti, police say

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ACT police say man allegedly graffitied the outside of building and the ground with ‘pro-Palestine slogans’

The Australian War Memorial has been allegedly defaced with pro-Palestine graffiti, ACT police have said.

The police said a man allegedly graffitied three areas on the outside of the Canberra building and on the ground in a publicly accessible area about 1am on Friday morning. Police would not say what the graffiti said, only that it was “pro-Palestine slogans”.

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