Australia news live: Dreyfus says opposition MPs privately apologised for gag move in antisemitism debate; ADF monitors Chinese warships
Australia and PNG go ‘next level’ through new defence deal
Australia and Papua New Guinea are set to announce negotiations will begin on a new defence treaty between the two nations, AAP reports, in a rebuke of Beijing’s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, will host his PNG counterpart Billy Joseph in Brisbane today, where they are expected to confirm the nations are entering into discussions for a bilateral agreement.
This would create a framework for the two militaries to step up their cooperation across security areas. The PNG government last year reaffirmed Australia should be its security partner of choice, and that it wasn’t considering a policing deal with China.
Beijing approached Port Moresby last year with a policing deal after an outbreak of deadly tribal violence which the nation struggled to get under control. A policing deal signed between Beijing and Solomon Islands alarmed Australia and the US, with concerns it opened the door to a potential Chinese naval base in the region.
Marles thanked Joseph for his ambition in expanding the defence relationship, which would be taken to the “next level”.
Practically, a treaty would make it easier for Australia and PNG to support each other’s security, and contribute to the collective security of the region.
Key events
Malinauskas on amount of debt owed to state government and creditors
The South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas has been making the rounds this morning, and spoke to ABC News Breakfast earlier about the Whyalla steelworks’ administration.
He was tight-lipped on the announcement the prime minister will make today, but said the state and federal governments had been “working closely together now for some time to be able to arrive at this point.”
Asked how much is owed to the government and to creditors, Malinauskas said there was “a degree of transparency now that is going to be allowed to take place that wasn’t true this time yesterday” in terms of GFG’s financial situations.
The numbers that have been bandied around publicly is over $300m worth of creditors that aren’t being funded by GFG, and we have no reason to believe that number is in any way too small. But let’s wait and see what the administrators find out about the full picture of the size of that debt.
‘Extraordinary’ opposition gag attempt was ‘wrong’, Dreyfus says
Continuing to speak on ABC RN, Mark Dreyfus said it was “it was an extraordinary thing to gag” in the parliament.
The gag is used very rarely. To seek to gag the attorney general of the Commonwealth when I’m talking about the subject as serious as this – and a subject as personal and as close to me as this – was wrong.
Asked how difficult it is to juggle being attorney general with also being a member of the Jewish community, he responded he is proud of his role – but it is personal.
I hope that I’m managing to balance those difficulties, but it is personal. We must never forget the Holocaust and I’ll keep saying that.
I’ve really just come back from the … 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a place where my great-grandmother died, was murdered by the Nazis. And it is very personal, but so it is for every member of the Jewish community.
Dreyfus said he believes Australians “stand with the Jewish community against antisemitism and stand with the Jewish community in wanting to remember the Holocaust and wanting to say ‘never again’.”
Dreyfus say opposition MPs privately apologised for gag move in antisemitism debate
The federal attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, spoke with ABC RN earlier, after the opposition last week attempted to gag him in parliament while talking about antisemitism.
As Krishani Dhanji reported at the time, Liberal MP Michael Sukkar moved that Dreyfus no longer be heard in his response to a question on antisemitism.
Tony Burke, the leader of the house, had his jaw drop open in legitimate-looking shock, while next to him Richard Marles also looked dumbfounded.
Dreyfus, who is Jewish, had spoken in his answer about standing in the debris of a firebombed synagogue in Melbourne and visiting Israel.
Speaking this morning, the attorney general said an “extraordinary number” of opposition politicians had reached out to him.
They saw that what happened in parliament was a mistake, and they’ve apologised to me for it.
He didn’t name those who had apologised, but said Sukkar had not.
Marles rejects Trump’s accusation Zelenskyy is a ‘dictator’
Richard Marles was asked about Donald Trump’s escalated attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after the US president called the Ukrainian leader “a dictator” who had “better move fast” or he “won’t have a country left”.
Asked if he thinks Zelenskyy is a dictator, Marles said “no”, but said “I’m also not about to engage in a running commentary of President Trump’s remarks.”
We obviously, and I think the world obviously, welcomes any efforts to bring about peace. The war in Ukraine has seen a very significant loss of life over what’s coming up to three years.
Having said that, it can’t be peace on any terms – and to be clear, I don’t think America is saying that either. It is really important that we are empowering Ukraine in this process. And we’ve said from the outset, and we continue to say, that this conflict can only be resolved on Ukraine’s terms.
The aggressor here is Russia. They were the ones who illegally crossed into Ukraine, who invaded Ukraine. That is why we are supporting Ukraine. We see that what’s at stake here.
The host notes that Trump is not “saying any of that”, and Marles repeats that he won’t give “a running commentary on what President Trump is saying.”
Marles says Australians should have “confidence” in Asio after chief revealing attempts to harm Australians abroad
Circling back to Richard Marles’s interview on Sky News earlier.
The defence minister was asked about a speech from the Asio boss, Mike Burgess, last night, who revealed at least three countries have plotted to harm Australians abroad and on home soil, including a planned assassination to silence a human rights activist:
Asked if Australians were vulnerable to attacks, Marles said he wouldn’t use this word, and Australians should have a “sense of confidence about Asio and the other security agencies that we have to meet the threat that we face.”
The fundamental fact is that we live in the most challenging, and in many respects, the most threatening strategic circumstances that we’ve faced since the end of the second world war. You can look around the world to see how complex it is, and in many respects, how volatile it is – and we’re not immune from that.
Asked if he is worried about the years ahead, Marles responded “I’m not sanguine, that’s for sure”.
We live in a very complex and, in many respects, threatening environment, and we need to be making sure that we are prepared for that.
Cait Kelly
Adam Bandt on Greens’ proposed Centrelink boost
Announcing the plan (see previous post), Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt said:
Finishing school and working out what’s next is a pivotal time for young people, but with rents, education fees and the cost of living all rising, many of them are finding completing further study is not a path they can afford.
Starting out your adult life shouldn’t be this hard. Labor should be doing much more to support young people to get established in the field or industry they want to pursue.
In a minority government, the Greens will keep [Peter] Dutton out and get Labor to act on cost of living by making sure more young people can access youth allowance and are supported to get the education they need to be able to do what they want to do.
Greens propose $7bn Centrelink payments boost for young people
Cait Kelly
Last night the Greens proposed a plan for changes to Centrelink that would give 200,000 more young people access to jobseeker, youth allowance or increased payments to support them in further studies.
The election commitment would lower the jobseeker eligibility age from 22 to 18 and eliminate the youth allowance parental income test for young people living away from home.
The changes would increase the average youth allowance payment for existing recipients by $4,700 a year and make 68,000 young people who are locked out of the payment newly eligible.
A further 76,000 youth allowance recipients would also become eligible for the higher jobseeker payment, putting an average of $4,900 extra into their pockets in 2025-26.
The party says the plan will cost $7.2bn over the forward estimates.
Liberal senator seeks to blame renewable energy for Whyalla steelworks issues
As Jonathan Barrett reported yesterday, there are a number of factors that led to the Whyalla steelworks being placed under administration.
It was beset by problems, including underinvestment, as well as a series of shutdowns of its coal-fired blast furnace. Timelines for upgrades have consistently blown out, and many financial problems are linked to the 2021 collapse of primary financier Greensill Capital.
But on the Today show earlier this morning, WA Liberal senator Michaelia Cash blamed the plant’s problems on … renewable energy. She said:
How did they end up in this position? How did manufacturing end up going to the wall in Australia? … It is the cost of energy. Labor’s renewables-only pipe dream has pushed the cost of energy up in Australia, and you’ve just got businesses – including manufacturers – now going to the wall.
Labor’s energy policy is not renewables only, including gas as a component “to 2050 and beyond”.
The host put to Cash that the plant was “badly run,” but she continued:
Mr Albanese, I think, needs to actually take a bit of responsibility here and say the renewables only pipe dream is destroying manufacturing and businesses.
Again, Labor’s policy is not “renewables only”.
Cait Kelly
SA premier on Whyalla steelworks administration: ‘you can’t do it on a whim’
Peter Malinauskas was also asked about why the government did not intervene after Greensill Capital, the primary financier of the plant’s owner, Sanjeev Gupta, collapsed in 2021. He said:
You cannot take the sort of action that the South Australian government has undertaken today lightly. You can’t do it on a whim. You can’t do it just because there’s a media storm. You’ve got to do it because you have the evidence and justification to do it.
Cait Kelly
Malinauskas on decision to place Whyalla under administration
The premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas spoke on the ABC’s 7.30 last night about the government’s move to save the Whyalla steelworks.
He said if the plant was allowed to continue on its current trajectory, it would have compromised “the ability to make steel in this country” which would put us at risk.
People need to appreciate that the steel that is made in Whyalla is all of the domestic long-steel-making capability that we have for the entirety of the nation.
Whether it be Optus Stadium in Perth or the Cross River Rail in Brisbane or whether it be the Western Sydney airport terminal, it’s all coming from Whyalla. If we lose it as a country that’s more than a problem, that’s a big sovereign risk.
Albanese to visit Whyalla as steelworks package announced
The prime minister will announce an industry support package while visiting Whyalla steelworks today, AAP reports, after it was placed in administration by the South Australian government.
Anthony Albanese and the SA premier, Peter Malinauskas, will today visit Whyalla to announce the package, described by the premier as “one of the most comprehensive industry support packages that this nation has ever seen”.
It is not yet known what role the federal government will play in the support package, but Albanese and the industry minister, Ed Husic, will be in Whyalla.
Husic is due on ABC News Breakfast later this morning – we’ll bring you the latest here on the blog.
Australia and PNG go ‘next level’ through new defence deal
Australia and Papua New Guinea are set to announce negotiations will begin on a new defence treaty between the two nations, AAP reports, in a rebuke of Beijing’s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, will host his PNG counterpart Billy Joseph in Brisbane today, where they are expected to confirm the nations are entering into discussions for a bilateral agreement.
This would create a framework for the two militaries to step up their cooperation across security areas. The PNG government last year reaffirmed Australia should be its security partner of choice, and that it wasn’t considering a policing deal with China.
Beijing approached Port Moresby last year with a policing deal after an outbreak of deadly tribal violence which the nation struggled to get under control. A policing deal signed between Beijing and Solomon Islands alarmed Australia and the US, with concerns it opened the door to a potential Chinese naval base in the region.
Marles thanked Joseph for his ambition in expanding the defence relationship, which would be taken to the “next level”.
Practically, a treaty would make it easier for Australia and PNG to support each other’s security, and contribute to the collective security of the region.
Marles says Chinese warships abiding by international law but presence is ‘unusual’
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has been speaking with Sky News this morning, where he was asked about those Chinese warships (see previous post).
He said “we are keeping close watch on them” and would “watch every move”.
We will assess everything we have seen to make a proper assessment of exactly what they were trying to achieve through this mission.
Marles said the ships are “not doing anything that is contrary to international law” from what has been surveilled so far.
From the moment that they came close to Australia, they have been abiding by international law. But there is no doubt that this is not unprecedented, but an unusual event.
Just as they have a right to be in international waters, which is what they are doing, we have a right to be prudent, to make sure that we are surveilling them, which is what we are doing … Early on here, I instructed that we needed to have assets, our own frigates and air assets, making sure that we are watching every move that they take.
Defence monitoring Chinese warships off NSW coast
The Australian Defence Force says it is monitoring Chinese warships off Australia’s east coast.
In a statement, it said this includes the “People’s Liberation Army-Navy Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class cruiser named Zunyi and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu”, which “continue to operate to the east of Australia”.
The Financial Times has reported that the vessels were “within 150 nautical miles of Sydney”.
Defence routinely monitors all maritime traffic in Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone and maritime approaches.
Australia respects the rights of all states to exercise freedom of navigation and overflight in international waters and airspace, under international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In a previous statement on the vessels, Defence said it would “continue to monitor the activities of the task group … with a combination of capabilities, including air and maritime assets.”
Welcome
Emily Wind
Good morning, and welcome back to the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
The Australian Defence Force says it is monitoring Chinese warships off the east coast of Australia. In a statement, it said three vessels “continue to operate to the east of Australia”. The Financial Times has reported that the vessels are “within 150 nautical miles of Sydney”.
As AAP reports, Australia and Papua New Guinea are expected to announce they are entering into discussions for a bilateral agreement. The defence minister, Richard Marles, will host his PNG counterpart, with the agreement create a framework for the two militaries to step up their cooperation across security areas.
Overnight, the Greens announced proposed changes to Centrelink that would give 200,000 more young people access to jobseeker, youth allowance or increased payments to support them in further studies. Cait Kelly will bring us all the details on this in a moment.
You can get in touch with any thoughts, tips or feedback via email: [email protected]. Let’s get started.
