<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"65303b038f0858f6e93c8a63","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Thank you to Martin for getting us started this morning – you have Amy Remeikis with you now for the last parliament sitting this week. ","elementId":"ebcf54b3-a0ce-4923-b31d-e1c0f7500109"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The Canberra team will be with you very soon – that’s Katharine Murphy, Daniel Hurst, Paul Karp, Sarah Basford Canales and Josh Butler. ","elementId":"bad8faa1-da8c-454c-ada9-dbf882f4feeb"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" You’ll also be treated to some Mike Bowers magic and be kept up to date by the entire Guardian brains trust. ","elementId":"68adaa37-1b17-41c2-9f94-cbefc32f353e"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" It’s a three-coffee morning so far. Hope your Thursday (always the worst day…
Tag: Australian foreign policy
Australian businessman being used as ‘guinea pig’ for reckless foreign interference charge, lawyers say
More than six months after Sydney businessman Alexander Csergo was arrested on allegations he was providing sensitive material to Chinese agents, Australia’s attorney general has still not consented to his prosecution. Lawyers for Csergo say he is being used as a “guinea pig” on a never-before-proven charge, and will seek to have him released on bail after prosecutors secured more time to confirm the charge against him. Csergo, charged with one count of reckless foreign interference, is alleged to have swapped reports on business and politics with two Chinese handlers,…
Cheng Lei: Australia’s foreign minister reveals the promise she made to jailed journalist’s children
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has revealed she promised the children of the formerly jailed journalist Cheng Lei to “do everything I could to bring her home”. Speaking a day after Cheng returned to Melbourne after three years in detention in China accused of ill-defined security-related allegations, Wong said the Australian journalist was “in extraordinarily good spirits” and was “pretty tough”. “I think I was more emotional than she was,” Wong said on Thursday, as she described greeting Cheng at Melbourne airport the day before. “It was really moving…
Cheng Lei: Australian journalist released after three years in Chinese detention
The Australian journalist Cheng Lei – jailed for three years in China on ill-defined allegations of sharing Chinese state secrets overseas – has been freed and reunited with her family in Australia. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese,said she had been returned to Australia on Wednesday afternoon. “When I spoke to Cheng Lei I welcomed her home on behalf of all Australians,” Albanese said, describing her as a strong and resilient person. Albanese was opaque about the details or conditions of Cheng’s release. “Her release follows the completion of judicial processes…
Aukus could weaken China deterrence,
Doubts about Australia’s willingness to join forces with the US in a war against China are being cited by congressional researchers as a potential obstacle to the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine deal. A new research paper looks at the US plan to sell Australia between three and five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s but suggests the idea “could weaken deterrence of potential Chinese aggression”. That stage of the deal aims to help Canberra bridge a “capability gap” before Australian-built nuclear-powered submarines begin to enter into service in the 2040s. The paper,…
Bondi businessman accused of selling secrets to China can only be accused of plagiarism, lawyers argue
Lawyers for a Bondi businessman accused of selling Australian secrets to China say simple artificial intelligence tools used to check for plagiarism at universities verified his claim he only provided publicly available information. Alexander Csergo watched on via video link from Sydney’s Parklea prison on Wednesday as prosecutors told Downing Centre local court they would ask the federal attorney general’s department if it wanted to continue his case. Csergo has been held in prison on remand after he was arrested in Bondi in April. He was the first person in…
Daniel Duggan: US extradition case could be delayed due to fight over AFP and Asio documents
Lawyers for an ex-US navy pilot accused of training Chinese airmen say delays in obtaining crucial material from the government mean an upcoming extradition hearing will have to be delayed. Daniel Edmund Duggan, 55, was arrested in October last year after the US government accused him of arms trafficking by providing military training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. He is also accused of money laundering while a US citizen. The father of six denies all the charges. Appearing at Downing Centre local court on Wednesday,…
‘What if there was a war?’ Chinese Australians wear the scars after bitter years of hostile rhetoric
Yun Jiang doesn’t mince her words when reflecting on how the recent decline in Australia’s relationship with China has affected Chinese Australians. “It’s almost as if we’re already at war,” the scholar and former government policy adviser says. “During times of war, we are kind of forced to choose.” Australian government rhetoric on China may have cooled since Labor came to office, but Chinese Australian communities are still dealing with the consequences of “drums of war” fears stoked over the past few years. Some say the media’s negative portrayal of…
UK espionage saga a ‘wake-up call’ for Australian parliament, opposition says
An espionage scandal in the UK should serve as a “major wake-up call” for Australia, a senior opposition member has said. Australia’s shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, called on both countries to “harden” their political systems to reduce the risk of alleged compromise, including wider use of vetting of staff members. British MPs complained that they should have been told sooner than an aide operating at the heart of parliament had been arrested on suspicion of allegedly spying for China and breaching the UK’s Official Secrets Act. The man,…
Albanese’s China trip suggests a smoother relationship rather than a cosy one
In a far cry from Henry Kissinger’s secret trips to China in the 1970s, Anthony Albanese’s planned travel to the country has been an open secret for months. Still, the Australian prime minister’s confirmation this week that he had accepted an invitation to fly to Beijing is another key step in his government’s efforts to “stabilise” a relationship that hit rock bottom in 2020. It also reflects a key calculation of Albanese’s team: that dialogue with a major power such as China, in and of itself, is of value. On…