<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"64a2c5cc8f08d64edbf1ab42","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says the Australian government is “deeply disappointed” by moves from Hong Kong authorities to issue arrest warrants for democracy advocates in exile, including two in Australia. ","elementId":"7005b465-0ea3-446e-850b-f300c416c65e"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Hong Kong police yesterday said they had issued arrest warrants for eight overseas activists, accusing them of contravening the city’s national security law and offering a reward of HK$1m ($A191,726) per person, as my colleague Amy Hawkins reported here. ","elementId":"c2ba6a1e-cdd1-4fda-8c6c-e347af61fa33"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" This list includes Australian citizen Kevin Yam, a former Hong Kong lawyer and…
Tag: Australian security and counter-terrorism
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…
Australia’s diplomatic network has ‘serious gaps’ and needs boost, review warns
Some parts of Australia’s overseas diplomatic network are “stretched to the point of ineffectiveness” and need a staffing boost, a review has warned the government. The review, overseen in part by the influential foreign policy expert Allan Gyngell who died last week, has identified “serious gaps” in Australia’s foreign service. It calls for reforms over the next 10 years to ensure the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade can “make Australia’s case and seek to avert shocks or conflict”. This should include boosting numbers at some diplomatic posts where currently…
Australia’s plan to confront the changing face of warfare – podcast
The defence strategic review has found that the Australian defence force is ‘not fully fit for purpose’ and recommended projecting military power further from its shores. Foreign affairs and defence correspondent Daniel Hurst talks to Jane Lee about the future of the ADF How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian
Australia would be ‘naive’ to think China’s new Antarctic station not for surveillance, analyst says
Australia should be concerned about the prospect of China using a new research station in Antarctica to assist surveillance operations in the southern hemisphere, according to national security experts. Satellite imagery collected by Washington-based thinktank, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), shows construction of the station on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea has resumed for the first time since 2018. The new station is located within New Zealand’s historic territorial claim and is close to the border of Australia’s claim, which covers 42% of the continent. It…
Australia news live: total fire bans in parts of Victoria, NSW and SA amid autumn heat blast
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"6414e8df8f089504f3596e3a","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Early voting centres have opened this morning across NSW ahead of the state election’s official polling day next Saturday. ","elementId":"23dbfb3a-0756-4d69-bff3-97da39f2c947"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement","html":" Early voting is open for the 2023 NSW State election. To view the eligibility criteria, and early voting centre locations and opening times visit: https://t.co/oaFDmOvgb2 pic.twitter.com/u4JiQTKlqK — NSW Electoral Commission (@NSWElectoralCom) March 17, 2023 ","url":"https://twitter.com/NSWElectoralCom/status/1636849897096765442?s=20","id":"1636849897096765442","hasMedia":false,"role":"inline","isThirdPartyTracking":false,"source":"Twitter","elementId":"e55ec751-6f7d-4691-b644-4f8a7abf1b4e"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" AAP reports that NSW electoral commissioner John Schmidt expects the early voting centres will see strong demand in the run-up to the day of reckoning on 25 March. ","elementId":"f7cafb73-4c34-432f-83fc-0f79489e7254"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The state…
Qantas pilots told to fly through radio interference reportedly coming from Chinese warships
Qantas has told pilots to fly through radio interference and GPS jamming reportedly coming from Chinese warships in Asia Pacific. In standing orders issued to pilots, Qantas says that some aircraft have experienced interference on VHF channels “purporting to represent the Chinese military” and GPS jamming from ships “off the north-west shelf of Australia”. But the orders added that the interference had not caused any safety problems and that pilots should report any incidents to air traffic control. It comes after the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA)…
Australia news live: Victorian energy prices to jump almost a third as Bowen calls on Coalition to ‘look in the mirror’
From 1h ago Chris Bowen throws back to Coalition on energy price rises The energy minister is borrowing a turn of phrase out of Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech when asked about the Coalition’s suggestion that capping coal and gas prices will, in the longer run, increase prices. Chris Bowen: I invite the Coalition to have a look in the mirror. I mean, he had the independent energy regulator this morning pointing out that without the intervention, the price rises would have been closer to 50%. An intervention that Mr Dutton…
Drawing closer to US while seeking warmer China ties leaves Australia with a tough balancing act
There was a moment in federal parliament this week when the seriousness of the looming Aukus announcement seemed to dawn on the defence minister, Richard Marles. “It is difficult to overstate the step that, as a nation, we are about to take,” Marles, in the acting prime minister’s chair, solemnly told the chamber on Thursday. “Australia will become just the seventh country to have the ability to operate a nuclear-powered submarine. We have never operated a military capability at this level before.” The statement may not have been intended to…
Speed, stealth and firepower’: the submarines that redfine Australia’s ‘strategic personality’
In a nondescript office building in Canberra, hundreds of officials have spent months fine-tuning highly secretive plans for Australia to become just the seventh country in the world to have nuclear-powered submarines. The clocks on the walls show three times – Canberra, London and Washington – reflecting the fact Australia is depending on the United Kingdom and the United States to achieve what V Adm Jonathan Mead calls “a generational challenge” that will “redefine Australia’s strategic personality”. Even towards the end of the planning process, eight or nine working groups…