Category Archives: Richard Marles

ADF member ‘person of interest’ after video recorder found in HMAS Leeuwin women’s showers

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Vice Adm Buckley calls incident an ‘act of sexual violence’ and a ‘despicable betrayal of trust’

The defence department says a member of the Australian Defence Force is a “person of interest” in investigations after a video recording device was found in a bathroom on HMAS Leeuwin, in what the chief of navy called a “despicable betrayal of trust”.

A day after senator Jacqui Lambie told the Senate that a hidden camera had been found in a female shower facility onboard the naval ship, docked in Cairns, navy chief Matt Buckley confirmed a “video recording device” had been located in one of the ship’s bathrooms.

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Australia investigating how F-35 fighter jet parts bound for US went missing in Hong Kong

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Disappearance of jet components sparks concern some of the program’s technology secrets could have been exposed

The Department of Defence is examining how F-35 fighter jet parts bound for the US from Australia were unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong, the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, has said.

Marles said “very much everything that has occurred at the Australian end” would be reviewed, but claimed the technology parts were not “sensitive”, as first reported by Politico over the weekend.

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Donald Trump hits Australian exports to US with new higher trade tariff over claims of ‘forced labour’

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Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, says tariff regime is unjustified and inconsistent with free trade agreement with US

Donald Trump has hit Australian exports with new trade tariffs, claiming the country is not doing enough to combat forced labour, but the Albanese government has demanded he remove them immediately.

The United States announced on Friday morning (AEST) that many Australian exports now attract a new 12.5% tariff as part of a broader regime affecting dozens of countries. However the Albanese government says Australia’s three largest export categories – including beef and gold – will avoid the tariff hit.

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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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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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AFP promises ‘swift action’ after Albanese, Ley and Morrison’s private phone numbers exposed online

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Richard Marles says investigation under way into how the prime minister and other senior government staff’s phone numbers appeared in databases

Federal police are scrambling to assist politicians after the private phone numbers of Anthony Albanese, Sussan Ley, Scott Morrison and senior government staff were discovered to be freely available in large contact databases published by American marketing companies.

The Australian federal police is seeking to have prime minister Albanese’s number removed from such databases, where it is available to users free of charge, and to assist other federal parliamentarians who have been similarly exposed. Police have warned that harassment by phone or carriage service is illegal, and promised “swift action” against those breaching such laws.

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Billion-dollar coffins? New technology could make oceans transparent and Aukus submarines vulnerable

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Quantum sensing, satellite tracking and AI are part of an accelerating arms race in detection that should prompt a re-evaluation of Australia’s defence strategy

Military history is littered with the corpses of apex predators.

The Gatling gun, the battleship, the tank. All once possessed unassailable power – then were undermined, in some cases wiped out, by the march of new technology.

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Australia pays US another $800m for Aukus amid Trump administration review of security pact

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Richard Marles has confirmed payment was made in the second quarter of 2025 to boost US boat-building, bringing total paid to $1.6bn

Australia made a second $800m payment to America’s shipbuilding industry – bringing total payments so far to $1.6bn which was promised before the Trump administration placied the Aukus agreement under review.

As part of the Aukus deal – in which Australia would buy nuclear submarines from the US ahead of its own nuclear submarines being built in Adelaide – Australia has agreed to pay about $4.6bn towards boosting US shipbuilding capacity.

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Hecklers and booers at Anzac Day welcome to country ‘must face the full force of the law’, PM says

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Anthony Albanese says disruption of ceremonies in Melbourne and Perth was ‘act of low cowardice on a day when we honour courage and sacrifice’

Anthony Albanese has condemned the booing and heckling of welcome to country ceremonies in Melbourne and Perth during Anzac dawn services as “a disgrace” and called for those responsible to “face the full force of the law”.

A small group of people booed and yelled throughout the welcome delivered by Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown in Melbourne. An acknowledgment in Perth was also interrupted by a person shouting obscenities.

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Twelve soldiers remain in Lismore hospital after army trucks rolled in northern NSW

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Two personnel in serious condition after accident near city lashed by torrential rain brought by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred

Twelve soldiers remain in hospital – two in a serious condition – after two army trucks carrying troops rolled on a country road near Lismore on Saturday evening as ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred lashed the northern New South Wales coast and southern Queensland.

Thirty-two defence personnel were involved in the crash – members of the 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment, part of the 7th Brigade based at Gallipoli Barracks in northern Brisbane – just after 5pm on Tregeagle Road, 9km south-west of Lismore.

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China conducts second live-fire drill near New Zealand

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Report from New Zealand navy personnel comes a day after similar drill forced multiple airlines to change flight paths between Australia and New Zealand

China’s navy has reportedly conducted a second live-fire exercise in international waters, a day after a similar drill forced multiple airlines to change flight paths between Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand navy personnel advised live rounds were fired from a Chinese warship in international waters near the island nation on Saturday.

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Australia confronts China over apparent live-fire exercises conducted off coastline

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Deputy PM Richard Marles says explanation for the drills, which were conducted in international waters and according to international law, are ‘unsatisfactory’

Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has confronted her Chinese counterpart after Chinese warships conducted apparent live-fire exercises at short notice on Friday, forcing commercial aircraft to change course.

In a post on X late on Friday night Australian eastern time, Wong said she met with China’s foreign affairs minister, Wang Yi, on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in South Africa that day.

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Trump ‘very aware, supportive’ of Aukus, says Pete Hegseth as Australia pays down $800m on submarine deal

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When asked if US will deliver nuclear submarines on time, US defense secretary says ‘we sure hope so’

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, said Donald Trump supports the Aukus nuclear submarine deal, after Australia on Friday confirmed its first $800m (US$500m) payment under the defence pact.

“The president is very aware, supportive of Aukus, recognises the importance of the defence industrial base,” Hegseth said in opening remarks at a meeting in Washington with the Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, according to a transcript.

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Agency in charge of Australia’s $368bn submarine program faces staff morale crisis

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Exclusive: the 17-month-old department has lost a senior leader and ranked second worst for staff wellbeing in the annual public service census

The agency overseeing Australia’s almost $400bn acquisition of nuclear submarines is facing a staff morale crisis and the threat of an external review of its operations, with a key deputy director leaving after just a year.

The Australian Submarine Agency, or ASA, was established 17 months ago to oversee submarine purchases under the Aukus pact but Guardian Australia understands it has become the subject of growing government concern about its priorities, governance and leadership.

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Marles says Aukus submarines on schedule despite US admiral’s warning of ‘exceptionally fragile’ industry

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Shipyards will not meet goal of 1.5 boats a year by 2025 to be on track to provide Australia with three Virginia-class submarines, program chief says

The admiral who runs America’s submarine building program has confirmed construction is behind schedule and nowhere near the rate required to supply Australia’s Aukus nuclear submarines on schedule.

R Adm Jon Rucker told the Naval Submarine League’s annual symposium in Arlington, Virginia, last week that the US had “an exceptionally fragile” military shipbuilding base and could not meet construction rates for its own vessels this year.

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Sussan Ley says Richard Marles should resign if he failed to provide safe workplace for chief of staff

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Deputy opposition leader expresses concern for Jo Tarnawsky’s welfare after chief of staff claims she was effectively sacked

The deputy opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says Richard Marles should resign if he has failed to provide a safe and respectful workplace as required under the ministerial code of conduct.

Ley said on Friday that allegations from the deputy prime minister’s chief of staff, Jo Tarnawksy, were “extremely serious” and expressed concern for her welfare.

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Dutton ‘intentionally lying’ about Australia’s stance on Middle East crisis, Marles says

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Opposition leader’s claim Labor is ‘at odds with our allies’ an attempt to sow division, deputy prime minister says

The federal government has hit back at Peter Dutton’s claims that Australia is at odds with its allies over the conflict in the Middle East, characterising this as “an intentional lie” that aims to fuel division.

With more Australians expected to fly out of Lebanon on Sunday as Israel steps up strikes in southern Beirut, the government said it was “deeply anxious” about the “extraordinary loss of innocent life in Gaza” and the prospect of the conflict spreading.

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Australia financially assisting some citizens to leave Lebanon as Israel launches ground incursion

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It is thought there are 15,000 Australians in Lebanon, and plans for an emergency evacuation have been in place for months

The federal government is understood to be financially assisting some Australians in Lebanon to leave the country as part of an escalated bid to expatriate citizens as Israel begins a ground incursion.

Guardian Australia understands Beirut-Rafic Hariri international airport – the only operational commercial airport in Lebanon – remains open and both Australian passport and visa holders were being assisted on to flights by diplomatic staff. An estimated 15,000 Australians are in Lebanon.

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ADF may assist Australians in Lebanon but government warns it can’t help everyone flee

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Defence force personnel already deployed to the Middle East may be called on to help in an evacuation operation after Israel said it was preparing for a possible ground operation

Australian defence force personnel who are already deployed to the Middle East may be called on to help in an evacuation operation from Lebanon as fears of a regional war escalate.

Government-wide contingency planning and talks with allies have been under way for “many months”, but there is no indication that a major Australian rescue operation is imminent.

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