<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"64808a8b8f080249d9e1cdd1","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The Coalition has accused the Albanese government of “delaying the delivery of further assistance to Ukraine despite urgent calls for support”. ","elementId":"60a1a143-562a-49b4-82f0-b41dbf9301e1"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" But the government hit back at the criticism, saying it “continues to engage with the government of Ukraine and our allies and partners to ensure meaningful support continues to be provided to Ukraine in its ongoing battle against Russian aggression”. ","elementId":"9adaa1c8-5a19-49ee-886d-4a4667634fdc"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The Coalition is today calling on the government to give urgent consideration to a package including Hawkei vehicles, M1 Abrams Tanks, F/A-18 Hornets…
Tag: Australia news
Paul Keating sent explosive email to Labor cabinet two hours before attack on Aukus, FOI documents reveal
At 10.45am on Wednesday 15 March, an explosive email landed in the inboxes of all of Anthony Albanese’s cabinet ministers. “Dear cabinet colleagues,” wrote Paul Keating, Labor luminary turned chief Aukus critic. “My views will not please the prime minister, the foreign minister nor the defence minister but the country is entitled to a rationale for such a radical and dangerous policy.” The purpose of the email was to forewarn ministers that he would be tipping a bucket on them – and the nuclear-powered submarine plan they had endorsed –…
Richard Marles meets Gen Li Shangfu, as Chinese defence minister refuses formal meeting with US counterpart
Australian defence minister Richard Marles has met his Chinese counterpart and called for “safe and professional interactions” between military planes and ships in the Indo-Pacific region. Marles is also believed to have raised concerns about the ongoing detention of Australian citizens and human rights issues during talks with China’s defence minister, Gen Li Shangfu, at a regional security summit in Singapore. The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue late on Saturday, was notable in large part because Li Shangfu had refused to have a formal meeting with…
US-China war not inevitable, Albanese says, urging countries to ‘prevent a worst-case scenario’
Anthony Albanese has warned against “harmful” assumptions that the US and China are heading towards an inevitable war, and called for “practical structures to prevent a worst-case scenario”. The Australian prime minister said a war in the Indo-Pacific would be “devastating for the world” and used a keynote speech to a regional security summit in Singapore to urge all countries to uphold peace and stability. Albanese also sought to reassure countries in the region that remain wary about Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus pact. “In boosting…
Joe Biden’s advisers say he doesn’t want to drag Pacific allies into ‘headlong clash’ between US and China
Joe Biden’s senior advisers have acknowledged countries in the Indo-Pacific don’t want to be “trampled by a headlong clash” between the US and China. In a webinar with an Australian audience on Friday, senior White House national security council (NSC) officials said the US president wanted to give allies and other close partners “breathing space” to engage with China constructively. Edgard Kagan, the NSC’s senior director for east Asia and Oceania, said Biden had been listening to the region’s concerns. “I think the president is very focused on the fact…
Coalition says Anthony Albanese should not go to China until trade sanctions are lifted
The shadow minister for foreign affairs, Simon Birmingham, says Anthony Albanese should not visit Beijing until all trade sanctions have been lifted. Birmingham, a former trade minister in the Coalition government, said Australia “deserves to have absolute clarity that these sanctions are going to be lifted and that clarity should be there before the prime minister entertains a formal state visit to Beijing”. “Why? Because China is acting very clearly in breach of its commitments to Australia,” Birmingham told the ABC’s Insiders. “China is acting in breach of its commitments…
Australia, India, Japan and US take thinly veiled swipe at China
The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour on Saturday at a summit in Hiroshima. The US president, Joe Biden, and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”. “We strongly oppose destabilising or unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,”…
Don Farrell on the future of Australia’s foreign trade – podcast
Trade minister Don Farrell speaks with Guardian Australia’s foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst about the minister’s first visit to Beijing where he met with China’s commerce minister. They discuss the results of the meeting, and the implications for the future of Australia’s trade with China and beyond How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian
China’s ambassador to Australia says Aukus an ‘unnecessary’ use of taxpayer money and ‘not a good idea’
China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, has denounced the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plan as an “unnecessary consumption of the hardworking Australian taxpayers’ money”. Xiao said the multi-decade defence plan would consume “tremendous” amounts of money “which could be used for other purposes like infrastructure, like reducing the cost of living, and giving the Australian people a better future”. Xiao made the pointed remarks during a press conference at the Chinese embassy in Canberra on Thursday, when he suggested further improvements in the diplomatic and trading relationship were possible but would…
The cancelled Quad summit is a win for China and a self-inflicted blow to the US’s Pacific standing
The Chinese government is probably the biggest winner from Joe Biden’s decision to pull out of his trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea, forcing the cancellation of the Quad summit in Sydney. Chinese state media outlets won’t need to muster much creative energy to weave together some of Beijing’s preferred narratives: that the US is racked by increasingly severe domestic upheaval and is an unreliable partner, quick to leave allies high and dry. To make matters worse for the US’s standing in the region, Biden’s planned visit to PNG…