From 44m ago No state funeral service for George Pell: Victorian premier Benita Kolovos Victoria’s premier, Daniel Andrews, says there will not be a state funeral service for George Pell out of respect for victims of institutional child sexual abuse. Asked if Pell, who died on Wednesday morning AEDT from heart complications arising from hip replacement surgery in Rome, would receive a state-funded service, he replied that he would not: I couldn’t think of anything that would be more distressing for victim-survivors than that. <gu-island name="TweetBlockComponent" deferuntil="visible" props="{"element":{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement","html":" Victoria's premier,…
Tag: Australian military
Australia live news update: fifth child airlifted to hospital with irukandji jellyfish sting; Albanese and Dutton trade insults over Indigenous voice
From 4h ago Fifth child stung by irukandji on K’gari in a fortnight A primary school-age girl has become the fifth child airlifted to hospital from K’gari with suspected irukandji jellyfish stings in the past fortnight, AAP reports. The girl was swimming in the ocean near a popular creek at K’gari – also known as Fraser Island – when she was stung on her lower back and leg. Her parents used vinegar and water on the stings before the RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter landed on a beach on the western…
US asks Australia for extradition of former Marines pilot Daniel Duggan
The US government has sent an extradition request to Australia for former US Marines pilot Daniel Duggan, who is accused of breaking US arms control laws by training Chinese military pilots to land on aircraft carriers. “The US has made a formal request for extradition for Mr Duggan,” Trent Glover, a lawyer for the US government, told a Sydney local court on Friday. Australia’s attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has until 25 December to make a decision under a bilateral extradition treaty, said Glover. Outside the court, Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis,…
Penny Wong issues emphatic plea to US and China to ‘prevent catastrophe’ of war
Australia’s foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has urged China to take up a US offer to put in place “guardrails” to prevent growing tensions from spiralling into war. Wong will use a speech in Washington DC on Thursday to hit back at claims that Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under Aukus is driving a regional arms race. Wong will also urge the leaders of China and the US to learn from diplomacy spurred by the Cuban missile crisis, saying she hopes “nationalistic domestic posturing won’t sink their efforts to…
US to increase rotation of forces to Australia, condemns China’s ‘dangerous and coercive actions’ in region
The US will increase rotations of its air, land and sea forces to Australia and has condemned China’s “dangerous and coercive actions” across the Indo-Pacific region. As part of the step-up in defence ties, the US plans to preposition munitions and fuel in Australia to support its military forces. Airfields in northern Australia are set to be upgraded to enable rotations of US aircraft. The defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, also said the US would not allow Australia to experience a capability gap in its naval forces and pledged to help…
Shrouded in secrecy: the Australian trial of a former Marines pilot facing extradition to the US
Planes are Daniel Duggan’s passion. His professional life has been spent flying military aircraft and training others. His social media is filled, almost exclusively, with videos of aircraft from around the world. But a man so often untethered to the ground has now spent 45 days in segregated and high-security custody in New South Wales. He still does not know the charges against him. The arrest of Daniel Edmund Duggan, an Australian citizen and former US Marines fighter pilot, on secret charges is a “politically motivated injustice”, his wife has…
Australian defence chief warns of rise in ‘grey-zone activities’ in Indo-Pacific region amid China tensions
The chief of the Australian defence force, Gen Angus Campbell, has offered a gloomy assessment of developments in the Indo-Pacific region, warning of a rise in “coercive statecraft and grey-zone activities”. Ahead of a major defence review, Campbell has declared that Australia and Japan are bound together by “increasingly shared strategic challenges” in our region. “Across our region, large-scale military modernisation is accelerating,” he said, in a clear reference to China. “National sovereignty, the law of the sea, freedom of navigation are all facing challenges from both states and non-state…
‘Abusing China’s restraint’: Beijing accuses Australia of provocation at sea
China has accused Australia of provocation in the South China Sea and said Australia – along with the United States and Canada – must “refrain from abusing China’s restraint”. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin was responding to a question about recent military encounters in the South China Sea, including reports in Politico that a Chinese fighter jet had an “unsafe” and “unprofessional” interaction with an American C-130 aircraft. Politico reported that the interaction came amid more aggressive military actions by Chinese pilots involving Australian and Canadian planes. Just after the…
Australia sees climate crisis as a national security issue, defence minister tells US
Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, has warned of the use of “force or coercion” in the South China Sea and “intensification of major power competition”, references to China’s rising power in the Indo-Pacific. Marles made the comments in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies on his visit to the US, committing Australia to closer cooperation with the US, higher defence spending and to address the climate crisis in part as a national security issue. It coincided with a separate announcement that the Australian and US governments…
Australia news live: NSW flood warnings; Sydney train strike delays; at least 27 Covid deaths recorded
From 5h ago NSW rail union pushes ahead with industrial action Sydney commuters are in for a “very messy day” as the NSW rail union pushes ahead with industrial action that will take out 70% of the train fleet, AAP reports. The Rail, Tram and Bus Union has been locked in long-running stoush with the Perrottet government over a new Korean-made Intercity fleet, which it says is unsafe. While the government has signalled it could be prepared to spend $264m to modify the fleet, the union says it has refused…