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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial halted for a month because of Sydney's COVID-19 outbreak

Jamie McKinnell - 29 June 2021

The high-stakes defamation trial of war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith has been paused for at least a month due to Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown.

Justice Anthony Besanko today adjourned the case for mention in three weeks, with a view to the trial starting again one week later.

It comes after the Federal Court heard three weeks of evidence and Mr Roberts-Smith's legal team closed his case on Monday.

The court has been told defence witnesses due to travel to Sydney would either be barred from returning home or endure quarantine impediments.

Mr Roberts-Smith is suing The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times and three journalists over reports published in 2018 which contained serious allegations about his deployments to Afghanistan.

The Victoria Cross recipient has denied allegations of unlawful killings in Afghanistan, bullying of his former soldier colleagues in the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) and committing an act of domestic violence against his then-lover in 2018 at a Canberra hotel.

Mr Roberts-Smith's legal team closed his case on Monday after three weeks of evidence, about a third of which he spent under tense cross-examination in the witness box.

But Nicholas Owens SC, the barrister for two of the newspapers, yesterday said the lockdown meant interstate defence witnesses would either be barred from returning home or face quarantine impediments if they travelled to Sydney.

The judge agreed the real issue was not the expiry of Sydney's stay-at-home orders, but the hard borders with other states and self-isolation requirements.

"In my opinion, it would not be a fair or proportionate exercise to enforce the attendance of these witnesses in the circumstances and at this point in time," Justice Besanko told the court today.

Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, yesterday conceded the adjournment was "a tragedy", but said he wasn't willing to cross-examine over video link and witnesses had a right for their lives not to be "completely upended".

Publisher Nine Entertainment is relying on a truth defence and will call 21 former or current SAS operatives, Mr Roberts-Smith's ex-wife Emma Roberts, and the woman with whom he had an affair.

A group of people known as "the Afghan witnesses" will also give evidence over video link from Afghanistan at some point in the proceedings.

Mr Owens today said the security situation in Afghanistan was "deteriorating rapidly" and Nine is concerned to have the evidence of the witnesses, currently in Kabul, heard as soon as possible.

They are expected to speak about the death of a farmer named Ali Jan, who Mr Roberts-Smith is accused of interrogating, handcuffing and kicking over a cliff during a 2012 mission in the village of Darwan.

Nine alleges he then entered into an agreement with other soldiers that Ali Jan be executed, before covering up the conduct by making it look like he was shot during a legitimate engagement.

Mr Roberts-Smith, 42, has told the court a man shot dead during that mission was a suspected Taliban "spotter" who had been hiding in a cornfield.

The adjournment will cause a blowout in the trial's lengthy duration, which was already estimated to take up to 10 weeks.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-29/ben-roberts-smith-defamation-trial-paused-due-to-covid-outbreak/100251262

Calls rise for Australia to rethink hostile approach to China as losses mount

Hostile actions lead to great economic loss: businesses

Chu Daye and Xiong Xinyi - Jun 28, 2021

Calls for the Australian government to pursue in-depth communication with China based on mutual understanding are rising among business communities and local officials in Australia, as Canberra's hostile approach to bilateral ties with China continues to inflict pain on local businesses.

The calls came as some in Australia continue to advocate decoupling from China as the two countries continue to spar over trade disputes at the WTO. Tension between the two countries has and will continue to seriously hurt the Australian economy, businesses warned.

Australia's move to tear up the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) pact with Victoria State in April has blocked direct foreign investment in the state, which would definitely affect employment and infrastructure development in Victoria, Alex Lim, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Victoria (CCCV), told the Global Times in an interview on Monday.

Lim said that the COVID-19 pandemic has already left the economy in Victoria in a state of limbo for a long time, and a perceived decline in direct foreign investment as a result of the move would greatly affect the economy of Victoria and even Australia.

The Chinese community in Australia believes that more efforts should be done for the two countries to discuss the bilateral issues, with more patience and understanding being put into the discussion and practice, Lim said.

Australian exporters are also seeking to retain positive relationships with China, as China remains a critical trade partner for Australian businesses in several key sectors.

A spokesperson from Woodside Energy, one of Australia's biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters, said that Woodside is maintaining strong business-to-business relationships with its Chinese customers, who are continuing to buy Australian LNG.

In a statement sent to the Global Times on Thursday, the company said that it has very productive ongoing relationships in China.

"We see China as a key strategic partner for the development of Australia's - and Woodside's - resources and firmly believe such partnerships deliver value for all. Woodside expects its strong relationships with Chinese counterparties to remain important into the future," read Woodside's statement.

Together with iron ore, LNG is the most valuable commodity export of Australia. Relatively stable trade of the two commodities has helped ensure Australia's exports to China stay at a high level despite growing trade disputes that engulf a long list of goods.

Calls for the Australian federal government to reflect on its China strategy also came from local officials.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has urged the federal government to stop antagonizing China, as China remains Australia's top trade partner, Reuters reported on June 15.

The growing calls came as losses for Australian businesses continue to mount.

A strained China-Australian diplomatic relationship has gravely affected Australian exports to China, especially wine and seafood, said Lim, adding that the group's members who own wine export businesses have experienced losses close to 50 percent, and losses for seafood exporters have reached 50-90 percent.

Members with hospitality businesses including hotels, student accommodation, rentals, restaurants and other services supporting the student community have had to close or scale down the size of their operations, said Lim, noting that rentals in Melbourne have fallen 20-30 percent.

The education sector has been significantly affected, with the number of students from China being reduced, which has affected businesses not only linked to the Chinese community but also across the economy.

Lim said that Australian universities have had to roll back spending and cap the number of employees due to the decrease in student enrollment, which is reducing tuition income, as the number of Chinese students dropped significantly amid tense bilateral relations.

Australia has repeatedly taken discriminatory measures against Chinese companies, politicized trade and investment, and heightened cross-border investment reviews based on so-called national security concerns.

China has harshly criticized the Australian government's unreasonable provocations against China and stressed that Canberra must rectify its mistakes to improve bilateral ties.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Wednesday that the Australian side bears full responsibility for successive setbacks in China-Australia relations over the past several years.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227301.shtml

‘We’ll take it’: Countries line up to take CSL’s AstraZeneca vaccine

Emma Koehn - June 28, 2021

Biotechnology giant CSL says its Australian-made AstraZeneca vaccines will not go to waste with other countries eager to take its finished doses after the government restricted the jab to people over 60.

The $130 billion biotech will finish its 50 million dose run of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the first months of 2022 and then plans to turn its focus to big investments that will help support the nation through future pandemics.

Senior vice president of operations at CSL’s vaccine arm Seqirus, Chris Larkins, said even though the government’s latest advice to restrict the vaccine to those over 60 had reduced demand in Australia, he expected the doses would be used overseas.

He said governments of other nations had been calling to say “we’ll take it”.

“This product will be manufactured, it will go to other countries who probably need it more than we do anyway and it will go to save lives in those countries,” Mr Larkins said.

The Australian government has the final say in where surplus doses are distributed.

Once CSL finishes production, it will turn its focus to other investments that could help support the country during future health crises.

The company’s planned $800 million cell-based vaccine plant at Tullamarine in Melbourne is on track to open in the middle of 2026. It will produce cell-based influenza vaccines, which have significant production advantages over CSL’s current egg-based doses, which have to be planned more than 18 months in advance.

Mr Larkins said there were no plans to build production capacity for mRNA vaccines at the site at the moment. However, CSL is in talks with government and is considering whether it could “potentially provide something that could be valuable for Australia” in the mRNA area.

Once the Tullamarine site launches in 2026, it could also be used to produce other pandemic products, including booster shots for coronavirus if they are still needed.

“That plant is really looking for the next pandemic, not necessarily the one we’re currently in at this period in time,” Mr Larkins said.

While CSL has been firmly in the spotlight due to its involvement in COVID vaccines, it has also spent the past year working on billion-dollar projects to boost the core of its business, which is the production of blood plasma products and the development of new drugs.

These include its new “base fractionation” facility at Broadmeadows in Victoria, which is a $900 million project that will allow the company to process 9.2 million litres of blood plasma each year when fully operational, preparing the raw materials for its life-saving medicines.

Also, the ASX-listed giant will bring the firm’s laboratories and office spaces together in a $341 million project in Melbourne’s Elizabeth Street as part of a new research precinct set to open in 2023.

While the firm has not developed its own COVID vaccine product, Mr Larkins said CSL’s technology could still be used in coronavirus projects. CSL has a proprietary adjuvant, or substance added to boost the immune response of vaccines, called MF59, which it had hoped to use in the University of Queensland’s now-shelved coronavirus project.

CSL has already been in talks with a range of other companies about using MF59 in other projects, including COVID vaccines. “It definitely has a potential and a future,” Mr Larkin said. CSL shares were ahead 1.1 per cent in mid afternoon trading to $288.01.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/we-ll-take-it-countries-line-up-to-take-csl-s-astrazeneca-vaccine-20210625-p5847j.html