China has conducted a long-range missile test in the South Pacific, in a move the Australian government condemned as “destabilising to the region” and which was also criticised by other regional leaders. A test missile topped with a dummy warhead landed in “designated waters” of the Pacific, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. The missile test was a “routine arrangement” of China’s annual military training, with prior notification to relevant countries, Xinhua said. The exact location of the test was unknown. The New Zealand government said it was…
Tag: Australian politics
Australia and Fiji sign surprise defence alliance amid push to limit China’s influence in the Pacific
Australia and Fiji have signed a major new defence alliance, further advancing the federal government’s strategy to limit China’s influence across the Pacific region. In a surprise move, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his Fijian counterpart, Sitiveni Rabuka, elevated Australia’s ties with Fiji to a formal treaty alliance. After 75 years of Australia only having formal alliances with the US and New Zealand, the Albanese government has now added two new agreements in less than 12 months, following a deal signed with Papua New Guinea in October. In Suva…
Petrol prices in Australia are now lower than before the Iran war began. Is the oil crisis over and what happens next?
Australians were warned soon after the Middle East conflict started that the country could run short on fuel, with prices rising to record levels owing to disrupted oil supplies. Now, amid an uneasy peace deal and continued supply disruptions, petrol prices are lower than they were before the conflict began and official warnings over fuel usage have largely disappeared. Why haven’t we run out of fuel? Why were we told to cut back? And what will happen now? How did refiners keep getting oil? The US-Israel war on Iran closed…
New Aukus drone tech to protect critical undersea cables as Marles warns: ‘seabed is a battlefield’
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. The same announcement also revealed that Australia would buy three secondhand Virginia-class submarines from the US under Aukus, instead of a mix of old and new, in a move…
Revealed: the internal BHP memo that slammed the brakes on world’s biggest miner’s climate push
In the middle of 2019, London was sweltering through a heatwave. Temperature records tumbled. Frail, ill and elderly people died in their hundreds. In a city not built for heat, trains were brought to a halt. Railway lines threatened to buckle and sagging power lines caused spot fires along the tracks. Across the channel, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany also hit record temperatures. During the hottest week in late July, the then global chief executive of one of the world’s worst polluters was preparing to take the stage at a…
Australia eyes security pact with Fiji as pushback from Beijing undermines agreement with Vanuatu
Australia looks close to signing a landmark security and economic agreement with Fiji as part of the Albanese government’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence across the Pacific. But pushback from Beijing has undermined a separate pact with Vanuatu’s government, resulting in a scaling back of a deal aimed at locking in Australia as the country’s primary security partner. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, and the minister for Pacific Island affairs, Pat Conroy, were due to arrive in Suva on Tuesday afternoon as part of a three-day trip focused on…
Australia refuses to say how many Chinese nationals are arriving by boat, saying it may damage bilateral relations
Exclusive: Indonesia reports growing number of attempts by Chinese nationals to organise boat journeys, as Australian authorities refuse to reveal details Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian government has refused to reveal how many Chinese nationals have arrived in Australia by boat since 2024, saying that disclosing the figure may harm relations with other countries. However, reports by Indonesian police show that there has been a consistent trend of Chinese nationals attempting to reach…
Paul Keating savages Nine on anniversary of ‘irresponsible prediction’ Australia faced looming China war
Paul Keating has again accused the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age of misleading the public with their “irresponsible prediction” three years ago of a Chinese attack on Australia. The former prime minister took the opportunity of the third anniversary of Nine newspapers’ Red Alert series to repeat his disdain for the reporting and its primary author, international editor Peter Hartcher. On 7 March 2023, the SMH and the Age published an alarming front page warning about the threat of “war with China within three years” by a panel of…
There can be no social cohesion while divisive groups like Advance aim to smear hate against some Australians | Lucy Hamilton
Last weekend, the astroturf body Advance Australia held its first national conference in Darling Harbour. Contrary to its theme, “evolve”, what leaked recordings of the speeches reveal is that Advance wants to return Australians to a mythical past. At a time when Australian politicians and certain members of the commentariat are lecturing us about “social cohesion”, Advance’s messaging was a reminder that our definition of hate speech often depends a lot on who does the speaking. Throughout the different talks came a consistent and clear message: the west is in…
Australia’s confidence in Trump’s US has evaporated. What will it take for the alliance to rupture?
Perched high above Canberra stands a stylised American eagle statue on a towering column. Colloquially derided as the Phallus in Blunderland or the Chicken on a Stick, the Australian-American Memorial was paid for by mid-century Australians “to commemorate the service and sacrifice of American men and women in the defence of Australia” during the second world war. But there is perhaps another way to interpret an 80-metre statue high above Australia’s defence headquarters: that of a malevolent power monitoring a subordinate. For seven decades Australia has sought and found security…