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A new thread for research and discussion of Australia's role in The Great Awakening.

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>>18422592 Q Research AUSTRALIA #28

Q's Posts made on Q Research AUSTRALIA threads

Wednesday 11.20.2019

>>7358352 ————————————–——– These people are stupid.

>>7358338 ————————————–——– All assets [F + D] being deployed.

>>7358318 ————————————–——– What happens when the PUBLIC discovers the TRUTH [magnitude] re: [D] party corruption?

Tuesday 11.19.2019

>>7357790 ————————————–——– FISA goes both ways.

Saturday 11.16.2019

>>7356270 ————————————–——– There is no escaping God.

>>7356265 ————————————–——– The Harvest [crop] has been prepared and soon will be delivered to the public for consumption.

Friday 11.15.2019

>>7356017 ————————————–——– "Whistle Blower Traps" [Mar 4 2018] 'Trap' keyword select provided…..

Thursday 03.28.2019

>>5945210 ————————————–——– Sometimes our 'sniffer' picks and pulls w/o applying credit file

>>5945074 ————————————–——– We LOVE you!

>>5944970 ————————————–——– USA v. LifeLog?

>>5944908 ————————————–——– It is an embarrassment to our Nation!

>>5944859 ————————————–——– 'Knowingly'

Q's Posts referencing Australia

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Q's Posts referencing Australian citizens

Malcolm Turnbull (X/AUS)

Former Prime Minister of Australia, 2015 to 2018

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Alexander Downer

Former Australian Liberal Party politician and former Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom

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Cardinal George Pell

Australian Cardinal of the Catholic Church and former Prefect of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy

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Julian Assange

Australian activist, founder, editor and publisher of WikiLeaks

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Virginia Roberts Giuffre

American-Australian survivor of the sex trafficking ring operated by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

https://qanon.pub/#4568

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Q's Posts referencing The Five Eyes intelligence alliance (FVEY)

An anglophone intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States

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"Does AUS stand w/ the US or only select divisions within the US?"

Q

Nov 25 2018

https://qanon.pub/#2501

Notables

are not endorsements

#28 - Part 1

Australian Politics and Society - Part 1

>>18427819 Court in the act: what else is voice lobby not telling us? - "Has there ever been a more flagrant attempt to deceive the Australian people than the Albanese government’s effort to force-feed the voice into our Constitution? Aided and abetted by an army of activist advisers and cheerleaders, Anthony Albanese and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney lead what can only be described as the great deception. The root cause of this deception is that the objective of this campaign is to enact a massive change to our constitutional arrangements, namely to begin the process of replacing our long-treasured sole and exclusive sovereignty of the crown with the form of co-sovereignty between the crown and Indigenous Australia demanded by the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This, in turn, is a first step to treaty and self-determination. This radical step could be implemented only by pretending the change was modest, encasing it with feel-good atmospherics, backed up with frequent browbeating." - Janet Albrechtsen - theaustralian.com.au

>>18432693 Lisa Wilkinson seeks to defend Bruce Lehrmann defamation suit by proving rape claim - Veteran journalist Lisa Wilkinson will seek to prove former federal Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann raped his then-colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House as part of a truth defence to his defamation claim against her and Network Ten.

>>18432699 Lisa Wilkinson ‘understood’ Brittany Higgins’ allegations against Bruce Lehrmann had been fact-checked: Defence - Lisa Wilkinson is “not a lawyer” and understood her interviews with Brittany Higgins were thoroughly checked by Channel 10’s legal team, her defence has claimed - In the 23-page legal document defending Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation claim against her and her employer, Ms Wilkinson’s team claimed she was not familiar with defamation law and “would have complied with any and all” advice or request from lawyers to alter her reporting.

>>18432707 Higgins to give evidence for Wilkinson in Lehrmann defamation fight - Brittany Higgins is prepared to give evidence as part of Lisa Wilkinson’s truth defence in the defamation case brought against the veteran journalist by Bruce Lehrmann, who is suing over an interview that he says accuses him of raping Higgins in Parliament House.

>>18432749 Video: Muslim and Christian communities to protest at Sydney’s Hyde Park over Jesus joke on The Project - Christian and Muslim leaders have dismissed Channel 10’s apology for a “disgusting” joke mocking their faith and have revealed plans to protest at Sydney’s Hyde Park - Thousands of viewers unleashed their anger on social media after queer comedian Reuben Kaye made a gag on its prime-time show The Project about Jesus on Tuesday night - Reuben explained that he regularly gets people negatively messaging him on TikTok and they criticise his sexuality from a “religious angle” - “I think it’s hilarious when someone messages me and says, ‘You have to accept Jesus’ love or you will burn in hell,’ because I love Jesus,” Kaye said - “I love any man who can get nailed for three days straight and come back for more.” - The Project host Waleed Aly and his fellow host Sarah Harris burst out laughing along with the other panellists - The severe backlash forced the hosts to issue an apology on-air on Wednesday night.

>>18432793 Trump attacks Murdoch for ‘throwing his anchors under the table’ - Donald Trump has attacked Rupert Murdoch in a blistering statement, accusing him of betraying his Fox News television hosts by admitting that he doubted their conclusions about the 2020 election - “Why is Rupert Murdoch throwing his anchors under the table,” the former US president posted to his platform Truth Social - “There is MASSIVE evidence of voter fraud & irregularities in the 2020 Presidential Election,” Trump wrote, repeating the lie he has promoted since losing the election to Joe Biden.

>>18438320 Bruce Lehrmann could face cross-examination in two weeks over Lisa Wilkinson defamation case timing - Bruce Lehrmann could be called to face cross-examination in two weeks’ time to explain why he did not file defamation proceedings against Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten within the usual 12-month time limit - Defamation claims are typically required to be filed within 12 months of the relevant publication. But in this case, Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson’s interviews with Brittany Higgins and the related publications were published in February 2021, two years before Lehrmann began proceedings - Lehrmann’s legal team is pushing for the limitation period to be extended.

#28 - Part 2

Australian Politics and Society - Part 2

>>18438389 Cheap Australian drones made of cardboard helping Ukrainian troops - Cheap Australian drones made of cardboard and rubber bands are helping Ukrainian troops fight off Russian invaders, as part of a $33m commitment to supply the ­country with an array of unmanned systems - At least 100 of the flat-packed drones are being supplied to Ukraine each month, allowing President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces to drop bombs, deliver supplies and undertake vital reconnaissance missions - The unmanned aerial vehicles, made by Melbourne-based Sypaq, are designed to be expendable on the battlefield, but some in Ukraine have undertaken 60 flights - The Precision Payload Delivery System drones are constructed from thick, wax-coated cardboard and heavy-duty rubber bands that secure the wings.

>>18438407 Australia's Space Command pushes for 'soft kill' capability to take out enemy satellites - The head of the ADF's Space Command says Australia is working on a plan to acquire "soft-kill" capabilities to take out enemy satellites without creating dangerous debris - One year since the command was established, Air Vice Marshal Cath Roberts has given an update on its initial activities and the threats posed to Australian assets in space - Air Vice Marshal Roberts says since the launch of Defence Space Command in March 2022, the number of satellites in space had more than doubled to around 8000.

>>18438530 Catholic Archbishop invites The Project panelists to Sunday service to better understand impact on Christians of guest's offensive joke about Jesus - Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher has expressed deep disappointment about the 'inappropriate' ridiculing of Christian beliefs and wrote to Channel 10 owners Paramount ANZ - 'Many us are saddened and bewildered at the shocking comments about the crucifixion of Jesus which aired on The Project earlier this week,' he told parishioners - 'It's incredible that a mainstream television program would mock the beliefs of more than half of all Australians.' - 'In this season of Lent, let us continue to do penances for these all too common acts of blasphemy, and pray that the eyes of the ignorant will be opened to the life that Christ offers us.'

>>18444149 Katherine Deves in feminist fightback against Queensland name-your-gender laws - A radical feminist group operating under the banner of International Women’s Day will host a conference and rally on Saturday in protest against Queensland’s moves to allow gender self-identification on birth certificates - Former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves, who campaigned against transgender athletes in last year’s federal election, is among speakers at the conference organised by IWD Brisbane Meanjin, a self-described “left-wing women’s liberation organisation” - The Palaszczuk government’s bill, which the legal affairs and safety committee last week recommended be passed, will allow trans and gender-diverse people to change the sex on their birth certificate without undergoing sexual reassignment surgery.

>>18444173 Nigel Farage slams Australia a ‘wokest place in the world’ in US speech - UK Brexit leader Nigel Farage has slammed Australia as the “wokest place on Earth” in a fiery speech in the US that blamed big tech for spreading “poison” through English speaking nations - Mr Farage stole the show on the second day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, which included speeches – drawing significantly less applause – from former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley - “Governments, state governments in America, took away from us liberties and freedoms that had been fought for generations and centuries, we gave unlimited power to people to lock us inside our houses, tell us we couldn’t visit elderly relatives, in our case [the UK] couldn’t even play golf or go fishing,” Mr Farage said - “This is what tyranny looks like,” he added, admitting he had broken numerous lockdown rules in the UK, including illegally visiting his parents and friends - “Go to Australia, which has now become one of the wokest places on earth,” he bemoaned, dwelling on what he said was a rare “bit of good news” in the Antipodes: the resignation of Jacinda Ardern.

>>18444210 Nikki Haley heckled as Trump movement dominates Conservatives conference - Some of Trump’s biggest rivals, such as Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former vice president Mike Pence, decided to skip the three-day summit, highlighting the deepening divisions within the GOP over its ties to the former president - Others, such as Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, showed up to make their pitch, only to be heckled with chants of “We Love Trump” as she obliged supporters who asked for selfies and autographs after her speech.

#28 - Part 3

Australian Politics and Society - Part 3

>>18449342 ‘I am your warrior’: Fiery Trump promises to end wars, pay baby bonus - National Harbour, Maryland: Donald Trump has ramped up his 2024 presidential bid with a fiery speech in which he attacked his own party, pledged to stop funding endless wars and vowed to give out baby bonuses to kick off a reproductive boom in America.

>>18449349 $100m blowout hits Australia’s new embassy in Washington DC - Taxpayers have had to cough up an extra $100m for Australia’s new home in Washington DC, which will boast views of the White House when it opens this year.

>>18449357 Three Sydney United 58 fans charged under new Nazi symbol law - Crowd footage broadcast by Network 10 showed some Sydney United fans waving flags and banners featuring logos and symbolism closely associated with the Ustashe, a regime which collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II and was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Romani people.

>>18449371 WorldPride: Anthony Albanese joins march across Harbour Bridge - Anthony Albanese was among 50,000 marching across Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of WorldPride - The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong were greeted with cheers as they arrived at the march - It follows Mr Albanese being the first prime minister to march as part of Mardi Gras earlier this month.

>>18454205 WA Police Commissioner Colin Blanch praises American drug agents - Two US Drug Enforcement Administration officers who were forced out of Australia after complaints by the Australian Federal Police to US ambassador Caroline Kennedy have been publicly praised for uncovering what is claimed to be the country’s biggest ever cocaine haul - The agents, who are based in Sydney, tipped off police in Western Australia that 2.8 tonnes, valued at a billion dollars, was allegedly being shipped by a Mexican drug cartel to their shores leading to the arrest of 12 people including 8 from NSW in the past few weeks - “We worked with these two officers on this job, they are the ones that provided us with the lead,’’ said WA Police Commissioner Colin Blanch in a clear rebuke of the position taken by his federal counterpart, Commissioner Reece Kershaw.

>>18457200 Perth Mint sold diluted gold to China, got caught, and tried to cover it up - The historic Perth Mint is facing a potential $9 billion recall of gold bars after selling diluted or "doped" bullion to China and then covering it up, according to a leaked internal report.

>>18460361 Inside the Kennedy approach to US diplomacy - If you’re the daughter of one of America’s most famous presidents and part of the country’s most glamorous political dynasty, making a splash as US ambassador to Australia should be as easy as getting out of bed - What’s more, the US-Australia relationship is practically running itself at the moment: with both countries on the sharp edge of the strategic contest with China, initiatives such as AUKUS are flowing naturally out of the alliance’s policy pipeline - But Caroline Kennedy, who has been President Joe Biden’s envoy in Canberra for eight months, is taking none of this for granted.

>>18466555 News Life Media files defence in Bruce Lehrmann defamation case - News Life Media will seek to prove Bruce Lehrmann lied to police about why he was at Parliament House on the night he allegedly raped Brittany Higgins, and showed a “consciousness of guilt”.

>>18466676 ‘It worked for us’: Alexander Downer urges UK to take Australia’s zero-tolerance approach to boats - Former foreign minister Alexander Downer has called on the UK to follow his hard line policy on banning illegal people smugglers from entering Australia, saying: “It worked for us, Britain should do the same.”

>>18472586 Hillsong ‘committed fraud, evaded tax’: Andrew Wilkie - Independent Andrew Wilkie has tabled documents to parliament he says show Hillsong Church has committed fraud, money laundering and tax evasion, with revelations Hillsong earns more than $80m in Australian income than it reports publicly.

#28 - Part 4

Australian Politics and Society - Part 4

>>18472715 A year on, still no investigation into Kitching’s claims - "A year ago on Friday, my very dear friend Kimberley Kitching died. She died of a heart attack caused in large part, I believe, by the stress of workplace bullying in the Australian Senate. The bullying of Kimberley needs thorough investigation, especially after Penny Wong’s well-known 'childless' comments and after Kimberley was removed from key positions, such as the Senate tactics committee, and her demotion from the shadow ministry. There’s a pattern of behaviour here. That Wong continues to hold her position without an investigation speaks volumes for what Labor rewards. For those who are seeking guidance about how to advance in the ALP, they will see Wong’s actions as acceptable, even to be rewarded." - Cameron Milner - theaustralian.com.au

>>18472800 Gone Almighty: Council halts Christian prayer after legal warning - An urgent business motion was passed by the City of Boroondara last week to amend governance rules to remove reference to the prayer, which asks God to “direct and prosper [council’s] deliberations to the advancement of your glory and the true welfare of the people”. Jennifer Kanis, social justice principal at Maurice Blackburn lawyers, wrote to the council this year, advising that the inclusion of the prayer was unlawful under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities.

>>18478778 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declares India 'top tier' security partner during aircraft carrier visit - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has used a landmark visit to India's flagship carrier INS Vikrant to declare that India is a "top tier" defence partner and announce Indian forces will join the massive Talisman Sabre war games in Australia this year.

>>18478825 ‘Bullied and undermined’: Thorpe says she quit Greens over treatment by MPs - Independent senator Lidia Thorpe has alleged that she quit the Greens because she was bullied and undermined by several of her party room colleagues, saying she lodged a written complaint about her treatment with leader Adam Bandt and the parliament’s workplace misconduct support service last year.

>>18478953 Charities watchdog to review fraud allegations made in parliament against Hillsong - The charities watchdog will review allegations made in parliament that Hillsong church misused the donations of its members. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has used parliamentary privilege to accuse Hillsong church of breaking financial laws in Australia and around the world relating to "fraud, money laundering and tax evasion". Mr Wilkie claimed tens of thousands of leaked financial records and documents — including credit card statements, details of designer gifts and the use of private jets — show a misuse of church funds and lavish spending.

>>18484965 Fugitive Comanchero Hasan Topal found to be directing criminal activity in AN0M sting - A one-time model turned fugitive Comanchero bikie boss has been found to be directing criminal activity from his foreign bolthole. Fugitive Comanchero Hasan Topal directed criminal underlings to do his dirty work in the streets of Melbourne while being monitored by police. The name of the Melbourne bikie boss was revealed in court documents showing he gave sophisticated orders to his Australian underlings via the ill-fated ANOM app. Those messages were among millions intercepted by the Australian Federal Police and the United States Federal Bureau of Intelligence.

>>18485011 The shed where border officials take on the drug trade to Australia - The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald were given an exclusive tour of the Australian Border Force facility near Melbourne Airport to see how officials are tackling an unprecedented wave of illicit drugs making its way to Australian shores. Most of the drug shipments were hidden inside household items being transported by air cargo such as pumps, lamps, baby carriers and ink cartridges but Rosemond said some crooks were becoming more brazen in their attempts to smuggle drugs, sending them inside a parcel without attempting to disguise them. Traffickers have previously soaked drugs into clothing, hidden narcotics in car parts, filled more than 1600 mustard bottles with liquid methamphetamine, smuggled 300 kilograms of MDMA inside bottles of 2016 Bordeaux wine, and replaced the contents of cereal boxes with cannabis.

>>18485079 Rupert Murdoch’s ‘stupid emails’ have exposed the inner workings of his empire - An extraordinary paper trail has exposed the inner workings of Murdoch’s Fox media empire, revealing how he shapes coverage at his newspapers and cable networks and interacts with some of the most powerful figures in the Republican Party - After the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Murdoch seemed ready to use his power as never before — to cleanse the party of Trump once and for all.

#28 - Part 5

Australian Politics and Society - Part 5

>>18485201 Donald J. Trump Truth: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/109997309210727072

>>18485201 Miranda Devine Tweet: This is the same useless Alvin Bragg who lets crime run rampant while he wastes time and our tax dollars persecuting Trump over a personal matter that is none of the Manhattan DA’s business. A young woman was raped in a stairwell on the upper west side last weekend FCOL

>>18485227 Jack Posobiec Tweet: (Video) Yup it’s Mel Gibson - https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1633678232514863105

>>18491431 ‘Jesus loves you Mr Wilkie’: Hillsong pastor announces review after parliament allegations - Hillsong Church will launch an independent review of its financial structure and systems to ensure the organisation can carry out its religious mission in the wake of allegations of fraud and extravagant spending. Addressing the congregation on Sunday morning, global senior pastor Phil Dooley also revealed that 153 staff had taken voluntary redundancies in the last year, saving $9.47 million, and the church had implemented a new policy on gifts and honorariums, and changed its structures.

>>18511440 ACT DPP Shane Drumgold hires top NSW silk Mark Tedeschi KC ahead of Lehrmann inquiry - Zach Rolfe’s barrister and the crown prosecutor who put away serial killer Ivan Milat will play key roles in the upcoming independent inquiry into the handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape claim. The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold SC, has hired Sydney silk Mark Tedeschi KC to represent him at the inquiry while Steven Whybrow SC – who represented Bruce Lehrmann at his aborted rape trial – has hired Adelaide silk David Edwardson KC.

>>18517111 ‘Outraged’: Bruce Lehrmann breaks silence in the witness box - Speaking publicly for the first time since allegations of rape were made against him, former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has given evidence he was “outraged” after media outlets began reporting the allegations by Brittany Higgins, although he had not been named. Mr Lehrmann said he wanted to commence defamation proceedings, but was advised by his then lawyer to wait until the resolution of criminal proceedings.

>>18517144 ‘ISIS bride’ Mariam Raad fronts court charged with travelling to declared zone - Prosecutors are gathering financial records and scouring mobile devices for messages to prove that the wife of ISIS’s star Australian recruiter willingly entered a declared area, now confirmed as being the terrorist group’s stronghold Raqqa, in Syria. Police allege Ms Raad, who has four children by maths teacher turned ISIS recruiter Muhammad Zahab, travelled to Syria willingly in 2014 and was aware of her husband‘s activities. Ms Raad along with 16 other wives and children of Australian Islamic State fighters was repatriated in October, after spending years in al-Roj Internally Displaced Persons camp near the Iraqi border.

>>18517202 328,000 IDs feared stolen in ‘sophisticated’ Latitude Financial hack - Consumer finance provider Latitude Financial said it has been the victim of a hacking incident and believes identification documents of 328,000 customers were stolen, including the driver’s licence details of about 100,000 customers. Latitude provides consumer finance services to Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys, Apple and recently signed up David Jones. The company declined to say if consumers who are using financing from these companies are impacted.

>>18517224 Queensland to ban Nazi swastika tattoos as part of crackdown on hate symbols - The Queensland government has vowed to make it illegal to display Nazi swastika tattoos as part of its ban on hate symbols that it says will be among the strongest in the country. It will join New South Wales, which has already implemented a ban on displaying the symbol, in applying the restriction to tattoos. Western Australia and Tasmania are also moving to include tattoos in their proposed bans.

>>18530552 Lehrmann shocked at judge’s secret guilty-plea comment - In his first media interview, Bruce Lehrmann has revealed the judge who presided over his trial for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins made a comment to his barrister at a secret meeting early in the trial, which Mr Lehrmann says showed a possible “apprehension of bias” against him.

#28 - Part 6

Australian Politics and Society - Part 6

>>18530599 Bruce Lehrmann trial: Balancing interests of complainants and defendants - "Understandably, many in the legal fraternity are concerned to learn that, barely five days into the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann, ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told Lehrmann’s defence lawyer during a secret conversation that, should his client decide to plead guilty, she would take that into ­account when sentencing. Justice McCallum is constrained in her capacity to respond to questions put to her on the issue. If she could speak freely she might say that it is entirely commonplace, and indeed necessary, to inform an accused that an early plea will result in a discount on sentence. That is not in dispute. But such conversations should occur in open court where a judge can eliminate any risk of a perception of bias by fully explaining any comments made." - Janet Albrechtsen - theaustralian.com.au

>>18530774 Neo-Nazi group marches into pro and anti-transgender protest in Melbourne’s CBD - A female police officer was allegedly placed in a headlock while another was allegedly slapped on the neck in a clash between pro-transgender and anti-transgender activists on Saturday (March 18 2023). The rally attracted a heavy police presence in the area including officers from the public order response team and the mounted branch. The group of men, dressed in black, performed multiple Nazi salutes while holding a sign that read: “Destroy Paedo Freaks.” Among the crowd was neo-Nazi leader Thomas Sewell, who founded the far-right European Australia Movement.

>>18530856 Soldiers of hate: Army investigates neo-Nazis in its ranks - "The Australian Army has launched an urgent investigation after discovering serving soldiers have links to neo-Nazi groups. The inquiry was triggered by an investigation by this masthead into white supremacist groups which features leaked recordings and conversations from encrypted forums that reveal an emerging cohort of Australian extremist leaders seeking to access firearms and ridiculing law enforcement." - Nick McKenzie - theage.com.au

>>18537925 Texts reveal Bruce Lehrmann sought ‘gear’ to ‘get lit’ on night of Brittany Higgins TV interview - Bruce Lehrmann texted a friend asking “got any gear” on the night Brittany Higgins appeared on television making her rape allegations, according to a trove of messages and documents released by the Federal Court.

>>18538063 Neo-Nazi salutes at protest could prompt changes to anti-vilification laws - The Victorian laws that ban displaying the swastika might be toughened after a group performed Nazi salutes on the steps of Parliament House

>>18543718 Victoria to ban Nazi salutes after far-right rally - Victoria will strengthen its anti-vilification laws to ban the Nazi salute following a far-right protest at Parliament House. Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes confirmed the move on Monday morning, condemning the behaviour at the protest as “disgraceful and cowardly”. “It’s clear this symbol is being used to incite hatred, not just towards Jewish people but our LGBTIQ+ community and other minority groups,” she said.

>>18543758 Deeming vows to fight ‘unjust’ move to expel her from Liberal Party - Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to fight Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s push to expel her from the parliamentary party and welcomed the government’s commitment to ban the Nazi salute. Addressing the saga that could lead to her expulsion from the party room, the upper house MP condemned the neo-Nazis who she says crashed the Let Women Speak rally organised by British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull.

>>18544011 Latitude cyber attack: Passport copies stolen, historical customers affected, trading suspended - Latitude Financial has confirmed a cyber attack in which almost 330,000 identification documents were stolen, has affected historical customers – and a number of copies of passports and Medicare cards have been exposed. The attack has resulted in the theft of about 315,000 copies of driver's licences being stolen, about 10,000 copies of passports and about 3000 copies of Medicare numbers, according to an update by the company.

>>18550892 In the aftermath of a bitter protest, only one group is happy - What most people saw when they watched the chaotic events on the steps of Parliament House was a group of neo-Nazis engaging in an act of self-promotion by spreading hate on the highest profile stage they could find. But on the channels of the National Socialist Network, the group of about 20 black-clad and mostly masked Hitler saluting neo-Nazis imagined themselves as a “vanguard”, forming a “wall” on Spring Street to protect a group of women who were protesting against transgender rights.

#28 - Part 7

Australian Politics and Society - Part 7

>>18550923 Deeming vows to fight move to expel her from party room - Deeming last year won preselection for a safe spot on the Western Metropolitan Region upper house ticket, with the backing of the “Moderate” faction of the Liberal Party. Her views on transgender rights have been well canvassed since her preselection, but Deeming insists that the values espoused at the Let Women Speak event were mainstream and global. She said she was horrified to see masked men inside the buffer zone, and thought they were going to attack her, adding she “completely rejected” the beliefs of the National Socialist Network.

>>18550954 The case against anti-trans Liberal MP Moira Deeming - Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has released a 15-page letter on why he believes rebel MP Moira Deeming should be dumped from the party, alleging she has associated with people who have expressed far right views, including sharing a platform with an activist who he claims advocated for a “white ethno state”.

>>18550964 ‘I’m no Nazi; just public enemy No. 1’, says transgender law critic - British transgender laws critic Kellie-Jay Keen has denied any links with “sad, pathetic” neo-Nazis, defended “courageous” Victorian MP Moira Deeming and blamed police and trans activists for ugly scenes at her rallies. Mrs Keen, speaking to The Australian after her Hobart rally was overrun by hostile transgender rights activists, said it was “bonkers” she had become “public enemy No. 1” in Australia and New Zealand.

>>18550996 AFP freezing assets as hunt for dirty money goes global - The Australian Federal Police has succeeded in freezing assets of drug-smugglers, money-launderers and gangsters in 11 countries as the hunt for dirty money goes global. Houses, apartments, cash, bank accounts and expensive cars have been restrained across Asia, ­Europe, the Middle East and North America, as the AFP works with law enforcement partners to target crime profits hidden overseas.

>>18558169 ‘Incorrect interpretation’: AFL says fans welcome to wave Israeli flag - The AFL has clarified that fans are entitled to display national flags at matches, and apologised for the confusion that followed after an Israeli flag was flown at Marvel Stadium. The clarification came after the national flag was flown last weekend in celebration of North Melbourne player Harry Sheezel’s stunning debut at Saturday’s clash against West Coast. It resulted in confusion about what is permitted to be shown at venues under conditions of entry. “For clarity, the AFL has no issue with the flag and signs supporting North Melbourne’s Harry Sheezel on the weekend,” a statement released by the AFL said. “We want fans to celebrate their clubs and players, and if that includes displaying national flags that amplify any of their team’s player heritage then the AFL is fully supportive.”

>>18558276 Marine Rotational Force – Darwin 2023 begins - The advance party for this year’s rotation of United States Marines have arrived in the Northern Territory. This is the 12th iteration of Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D). Over the next seven months, up to 2500 Marines will conduct combined training exercises with their Australian Defence Force counterparts, as well as with regional partner nations. The rotation will enhance the capabilities, interoperability and readiness of the ADF and the United States Marine Corps and is a significant part of the United States Force Posture Initiatives, a hallmark of Australia’s Alliance with the US.

>>18558303 Defence Australia Tweet: Welcome back! US Marines have begun arriving in the NT for this year’s Marine Rotational Force – Darwin. Working with #YourADF, they will conduct training activities to deepen interoperability and better position our forces to respond to contingencies in the region. @MrfDarwin

>>18564973 Video: Senator Lidia Thorpe thrown to the ground while trying to interrupt anti-trans rally - The incident happened as Senator Thorpe tried to interrupt a rally by Kellie-Jay “Posy” Keen on Thursday afternoon, following similar demonstrations in Melbourne and Tasmania. In footage shared online, the independent senator – draped in an Aboriginal flag – was pushed to the ground by police as she attempted to crawl away.

#28 - Part 8

Australian Politics and Society - Part 8

>>18564992 Video: Senator Lidia Thorpe clashes with police at anti-trans rally - Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said he is seeking urgent advice from the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police after independent senator Lidia Thorpe was tackled by an officer after trying to confront an anti-trans rally outside Parliament House. Dreyfus said the footage of Thorpe going to the ground after being grabbed by a police officer on the parliament lawn was “concerning”, while Thorpe’s former Greens’ colleagues have also sought a briefing from police as soon as possible about the clash.

>>18565002 Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer a no-show in defamation case - A judge has questioned why Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer will not give evidence in his defamation case against media outlets as previously foreshadowed, suggesting he could draw an inference that the lawyer’s evidence would not assist Mr Lehrmann.

>>18565084 Video: Australian troops undergo live-fire exercise with new Boxer vehicle at Wide Bay Training Area - Weighing in at 36 tonnes, with a top speed of 105 kilometres per hour and equipped with a 30-millimetre automatic cannon – the Australian Army's latest asset, the Boxer, has been put to the test at a military exercise north of Brisbane. This week's exercise has been held in preparation for the ADF's largest bilateral training exercise with the US military, Exercise Talisman Sabre, which will begin in July.

>>18565084 Talisman Sabre - MAGIC SWORD - https://qanon.pub/?q=Operation%20Specialists - https://qanon.pub/?q=magic

>>18572111 Senior neo-Nazi slips out of Australia to fight Russian army - A senior Australian neo-Nazi linked to an international terror group has gone to fight in Ukraine amid efforts by security services to stop domestic extremists gaining overseas military training. Daniel Newman, a violent criminal with deep links to neo-Nazi leaders in NSW and Victoria and overseas terror outfit Combat 18, flew to Asia this month before then travelling to Ukraine, after telling associates he intended to take up arms with anti-Russian fighters.

>>18572187 Video: US Marines arrive in Darwin for ‘high-end live fire’ exercises - More than 2000 US Marines have landed in the Top End for seven months of training with Australian troops. Find out how it will benefit both nations. The latest rotation of US Marines has touched down in Darwin as they prepare to join Australian soldiers in training in “humanitarian assistance, security operations, and high-end live fire exercises”. The 2500 member strong Marine Rotational Force - Darwin will spend the next seven months working closely with their Australian counterparts as well as other partner nations from around the region.

>>18572187 Marine Rotational Force – Darwin Tweet: #OurMarines and sailors with @MRFDarwin arrive in the NT welcomed by our ADF #AlliesandPartners

>>18582928 Labor rules from shore to shore as Liberals brace for by-elections - Chris Minns’s thumping NSW election victory is the final nail in the coffin of the Liberals and Nationals on the mainland, and puts an exclamation mark on Labor’s political dominance over the Coalition. A devastating and predicted collapse in support for Dominic Perrottet’s government after 12-years of Coalition rule means Labor now controls eight of nine federal, state and territory governments.

>>18587912 Video: Barack and Michelle Obama tour Sydney ahead of speaking tour - Former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle met with prime minister Anthony Albanese to talk about the global economy before the pair toured Sydney. Albanese said he and Obama had a "very positive meeting" where they discussed the invasion of Ukraine and the global supply constraints.

>>18587918 Anthony Albanese Tweet: Honoured to welcome President @BarackObama to Sydney.

>>18587932 video: Barack Obama in line for $1 million payday on speaking tour - Barack Obama is potentially in line for a $1 million payday as he kicks off a whirlwind tour of Australia that has already included an off-the-record audience with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Kirribilli House. Mr Obama has been sighted being whisked around town in what one witness called a “20 vehicle motorcade” complete with “helicopter hovering overhead” during his first visit to Australia since 2018. While here, he will deliver two speeches in conversation with former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to sold out audiences paying as much as $495 for the privilege.

#28 - Part 9

Australian Politics and Society - Part 9

>>18587950 Q Post #4645 - What happens if 44 is actively running a shadow command and control [shadow presidency] operation against the current duly elected POTUS?…Importance of controlled MSM [propaganda][what you see is not true _ what we say is true not what you see]? Importance of controlling the narrative? All assets deployed. Nothing to lose. Treason. Sedition. Conspiracy. Information warfare. Irregular warfare. Insurgency. Infiltration not invasion. Clear and present danger to the United States of America. THE SHADOW PRESIDENCY OF 44 - PREVENTION OF POWER RETURNING TO THE PEOPLE. POWER. CONTROL. PREVENTION OF ACCOUNTABILITY. PREVENTION OF TRANSPARANCY. WAR. A CRITICAL MOMENT IN TIME. Q - https://qanon.pub/#4645

>>18588348 Video: Putin accuses Australia of joining a military ‘axis’ as part of a ‘global NATO’ - Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Australia of joining a new global “axis” with the United States and NATO that he said bears resemblance to the World War II alliance between Nazi Germany, fascist Italy and imperial Japan. In the interview on Russian TV channel Rossiya-24 on Sunday night, Putin named Australia, New Zealand and South Korea as being in line to join a “global NATO” and referenced a defence agreement signed by Britain and Japan earlier this year.

>>18588366 Latitude Financial hack: 14 million customer documents stolen - Latitude Financial has revealed that more than 14 million customer records have been stolen in a cyber breach, with legacy customers dating back as far as 2005 caught up in the attack. The ASX-listed credit card and loan provider on Monday reported that 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand driver’s licence numbers had been stolen, as well as 6.1 million records, 53,000 passport numbers and under 100 customer financial statements. Latitude chief executive Ahmed Fahour said the update was “hugely disappointing” and that his staff were still working around the clock to mitigate risks.

>>18588370 Victorian Liberals agree to suspend controversial MP Moira Deeming - The Victorian Liberal Party has reportedly suspended MP Moira Deeming for nine months. In a sharp blow to leader John Pesutto’s authority, his colleagues did not back the expulsion of Ms Deeming. A marathon two hour-plus party room meeting failed to back their leader and instead imposed a qualified sanction, sources said. Ms Deeming, who represents the Western Metropolitan region, faced the party room axe after appearing at a Let Women Speak rally which was also attended by neo-Nazis.

>>18588375 ‘A huge result’: Legalise Cannabis likely to win NSW upper house seat - Legalise Cannabis is confident of winning its first seat in the NSW upper house, after early counting suggests it outpolled the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers and rivalled One Nation in its popularity among voters.

>>18594089 Adelaide man arrested for allegedly sharing Christchurch massacre footage online - Police allege the 53-year-old from Edwardstown posted an online link to footage "related to the Christchurch shooting". The man has since been charged with distributing extremist material and has been bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on June 2.

>>18600033 Video: Suspected Russian spy Marina Sologub will fight deportation from Australia - An Irishwoman detained in Australia on suspicions she was a Russian spy will appeal against the federal government’s decision to revoke her visa and deport her. Marina Sologub, a Kazakhstan-born Irish citizen, is in immigration detention in Melbourne pending an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal listed for July.

>>18600058 Obama warns about dangers of AI, polarisation and Murdoch at Sydney event - Former US president Barack Obama warned of the truth-warping dangers of artificial intelligence and polarised media, and took a swipe at News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, in a wide-ranging discussion before a Sydney audience that also canvassed China, Russian President Vladimir Putin and economic justice.

>>18600089 Video: Former US President Barack Obama arrives in Melbourne ahead of speaking tour - The 44th president of the United States is continuing his whirlwind trip to Australia as part of his sold-out speaking tour. Tickets for the Melbourne event have sold out, with prices ranging from $195 for a standard seat to a whopping $895 for “platinum” bookings. For the biggest Obama fans, purchasing a “platinum package” gets the ticket holder a welcome cocktail at a one-hour drinks function, a commemorative lanyard and a signed copy of Mr Obama’s book.

#28 - Part 10

Australian Politics and Society - Part 10

>>18600098 ‘Nation first’ laws ban Nazi salute -unless you are an artist, teacher or actor behaving ‘reasonably’ - Artists including comedians and actors, as well as educators, may still be able to display Nazi symbols and perform Nazi salutes under new Tasmanian laws, if acting in “good faith”. A Tasmanian Liberal government bill to ban displays of Nazi symbols introduced on Wednesday was extended to include the salute, after neo-Nazis used the gesture at a recent Melbourne rally against transgender reforms.

>>18600185 Hillsong founder Brian Houston charged with drink-driving prior to resignation from megachurch - Former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston was busted drink-driving in the United States in the weeks before his resignation last year from the global megachurch he founded. Court records obtained by News Corp show Mr Houston was charged in Orange County, California for driving over the legal blood alcohol limit of 0.08 per cent. He was also hit with a further charge for failing to display both front and rear number plates on his vehicle.

>>18606695 Queensland is set to have 'the strongest hate crime laws in the country' - The public display of hate symbols, like Nazi flags, will be banned in Queensland under proposed legislation introduced into parliament by the state government today. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said there was no room for hateful ideologies, after several recent anti-Semitic incidents in Brisbane.

>>18606748 Video: Obama tour organisers apologise for dumping Indigenous elder - The organisers of former US president Barack Obama’s speaking tour have apologised to Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy after she was dropped from his speaking event in Melbourne on Wednesday evening. Murphy, who worked with business events provider Growth Faculty for weeks to give a Welcome to Country for Wednesday’s event, was told she couldn’t bring a support person with her and that she was “too difficult” before being removed from proceedings, her representatives said.

>>18606751 Video: Former US President Barack Obama says gun laws biggest regret at Melbourne event - Days after the latest US school shooting, former president Barack Obama has lamented his inability to overhaul gun laws. Speaking in Melbourne, Mr Obama said his failure to overcome the United States’ powerful gun lobby was the lowest point in his presidency.

>>18606755 AFP, DPP told to produce material for Board of Inquiry into Lehrmann rape case - The Australian Federal Police has been reprimanded for failing to hand over “crucial” material to the board of inquiry into the handling of Bruce Lehrmann’s dropped rape charge. Just weeks out from the first public hearing, Walter Sofronoff KC, who is conducting the inquiry, has directed the AFP and the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions to produce material requested in subpoenas or explain their legal basis for withholding it.

>>18613189 Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post: Welcome Back! Royal Australian Air Force Base Darwin, NT, Australia (Mar. 26, 2023) - Col. Brendan Sullivan, Commanding Officer of Marine Rotational Force Darwin, is welcomed to Australia by Captain Mitchell Livingstone, Commanding Officer Headquarters Northern Command, to commence the 12th iteration of the rotation. MRF-D is focused on increasing interoperability with Allies and partners in the region to promote a stable and secure Indo-Pacific. #usmc #YourADF #AlliesandPartners

>>18621910 Labor's Mary Doyle snatches historic victory in Aston by-election in Melbourne's outer east - It is the first time in more than a century that a government has won a seat from the opposition at a by-election. Liberal candidate Roshena Campbell called Ms Doyle on Saturday evening to concede defeat, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Ms Doyle to congratulate her. The result is considered a devastating blow for the federal Liberal Party, which now only holds three suburban Melbourne seats. Former Liberal strategist Tony Barry called the result "cataclysmically bad" for the Liberal Party.

>>18625372 NSW Labor unable to form majority as Liberals retain Terrigal, Holsworthy - Labor will lead NSW with a minority government after the tallying of thousands of postal votes on Saturday confirmed two key seats had been retained by the Liberals. The counting of ballots received by mail in Terrigal, on the Central Coast, and Holsworthy, in Sydney’s south-west, confirmed both seats would remain Liberal held, meaning Premier Chris Minns’ government cannot win the 47 seats required for a majority.

#28 - Part 11

Australian Politics and Society - Part 11

>>18625638 NT Government has asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign - The Territory government has asked Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker to resign ahead of the top cop’s planned Easter leave. Sky News revealed the government contacted the NT Police chief executive on Friday and indicated it had lost confidence in him. Mr Chalker has taken about two weeks’ leave but he is not expected to return to his position.

>>18625673 Turnbull takes on Murdoch's Australian media empire - Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Murdoch's media empire of undermining democracy, and says a rigorous inquiry into Murdoch's News Corp is needed in the wake of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in the U.S.

>>18631287 Video: Tomahawk brawl turns quiet Darwin suburb into ‘war zone’ - Afrodite Larentzou feels imprisoned in her Darwin home after a pitched battle between warring families erupted in broad daylight outside her apartment on Friday afternoon. More than a dozen men and women, with their children watching on, ran at each other in the suburban street wielding tomahawk axes and other makeshift weapons. The single mother who lives alone with her two daughters – a six-month-old and a 14-year-old – is deeply afraid of speaking out after witnessing what she says was an “attempted murder”. Video footage of the attack emerged as Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles told The Australian she did not believe knife crime had “taken a hold”, but believed the issues plaguing the Territory could be overcome.

>>18644367 'Operation Cookie Monster': AFP joins FBI in seizure of online cybercrime forum - The FBI has seized a popular cybercrime online forum accused of facilitating large-scale identity theft, and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) may already be swooping on criminals in Australia. According to an FBI notice posted to the site today, the bureau seized the web domains of Genesis Market, an invitation-only crime forum that sells login information stolen from hundreds of thousands of computers. An AFP spokesperson told 9news.com.au "the AFP and partners are conducting operational activity today as part of an ongoing global cybercrime operation".

>>18644395 Justice Adam Kimber rules AN0M app was not ‘intercepting’ messages, but enabled legal police surveillance - The encrypted communication platform at the heart of an international police operation that led to hundreds of arrests and the dismantling of alleged organised crime syndicates was legally run by police, a court has ruled. Phones with the AN0M app installed were used by thousands of people in Australia who police allege were using the devices to further criminal activities. The devices were secretly being monitored by the FBI and Australian Federal Police who, on June 8, 2021, disabled the app and moved to arrest hundreds of people across the globe. In Australia the crackdown was known as Operation Ironside, in the US as Trojan Shield and in Europe as Greenlight. On Wednesday April 5, Justice Adam Kimber, who has heard months of evidence as part of the nation leading Ironside test case, found the phones did not allow the AFP to illegally intercept phone communications.

>>18653903 Bruce Lehrmann targets ABC over Higgins and Tame’s Press Club address - Former federal Liberal political staffer Bruce Lehrmann is suing the ABC for defamation for broadcasting a National Press Club address last year by Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, in a case expected to test the defences available for live broadcasts. Lehrmann filed Federal Court defamation proceedings against the ABC on Wednesday. Documents released by the court on Thursday reveal he is suing over the National Press Club address on February 9 last year, which was televised by the national broadcaster, and a related YouTube video. He says the broadcasts conveyed the defamatory meaning that he “raped Brittany Higgins on a couch in Parliament House”. He denies the rape allegation.

#28 - Part 12

Australian Politics and Society - Part 12

>>18653925 ‘Operation Cookie Monster’: Australians arrested in international cybercrime sting - A sprawling stolen ID marketplace selling some 80 million credentials and popular with cybercriminals has been shut down by a multinational police operation that arrested 120 people, among them 10 Australians. “Operation Cookie Monster” spanned 17 countries, conducted more than 200 searches and culminated with police defacing the Genesis Market website, plastering the logos of European, Canadian and Australian police forces, and that of cybersecurity firm Qintel, across the page. Britain’s National Crime Agency said it was “one of the most significant access marketplaces anywhere in the world”. The US Treasury Department called it “one of the most prominent brokers of stolen credentials and other sensitive information”. AFP Assistant Commissioner Scott Lee warned police action would continue around the country as AFP and State and Territory investigators had identified additional alleged offenders. “Don’t think that because we haven’t knocked on your door yet, we won’t be at all. If you have used this website to purchase stolen data to commit cybercrime or fraud offences then we will find you and we will be paying you a visit.”

>>18653940 Bruce Lehrmann lawyer asked cops to investigate Brittany Higgins over ‘falsified evidence’ - Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer wrote to police during his rape trial last year seeking that Brittany Higgins be investigated over matters arising from the trial, including allegations that she falsified and destroyed evidence, fabricated a photo of a bruise on her leg and publicly called into question the evidence of a witness while the trial was still under way.

>>18654271 Australian Federal Police under investigation over forwarding of protected information about Brittany Higgins - Australia’s national anti-corruption watchdog has launched a probe into whether police “attempted to pervert the course of justice” by forwarding protected information about Brittany Higgins to the defence team during the aborted rape trial and pressuring her not to proceed with the matter.

>>18660041 New Batch of Classified Documents Appears on Social Media Sites - A new batch of classified documents that appear to detail American national security secrets from Ukraine to the Middle East to China surfaced on social media sites on Friday, alarming the Pentagon and adding turmoil to a situation that seemed to have caught the Biden administration off guard. A senior intelligence official called the leak “a nightmare for the Five Eyes,” in a reference to the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, the so-called Five Eyes nations that broadly share intelligence.

>>18660098 Army readies for record-setting logistics exercise in Pacific - The U.S. Army is preparing to put its logistics tail to the test in the Indo-Pacific, considered the most challenging operational theater in the world by service officials. This summer, the service will hold a large-scale exercise in Australia dubbed Talisman Sabre. As part of the two-week training event that starts in late July, the Army will deliver massive amounts of equipment across challenging terrain and large distances, Brig. Gen. Jered Helwig, the Army’s 8th Theater Sustainment Command commander, told Defense News.

#28 - Part 13

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 1

>>18427785 Australia should not buy British nuclear subs: Dutton - Peter Dutton has declared Australia should not buy a British nuclear submarine in comments branded as “irresponsible” by the Albanese government - The Opposition Leader said a British boat would be plagued by problems, and the government should choose the “proven” US Virginia-class sub.

>>18454173 U.S. NAVY SUBMARINE VISITS PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA - United States Navy submarine USS Asheville is visiting Perth, Western Australia for combined training exercises with Royal Australian Navy submarine forces as part of a regularly scheduled patrol in the Indo-Pacific region - The Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine docked at HMAS Stirling Naval Base on Garden Island, near Rockingham - USS Asheville’s Commanding Officer Commander Thomas Dixon said crewmembers were eager to work with their Australian allies - “Australia has no closer friend than the United States. Together, we are deterring aggression and ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” Cmdr. Dixon said.

>>18460391 Albanese to cement submarines deal in US next week - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will mark the next stage of the AUKUS pact at a meeting in San Diego with United States President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, revealing the likely submarine choice for a project expected to cost at least $100 billion.

>>18472462 Australia expected to buy up to 5 Virginia class submarines as part of AUKUS - Australia is expected to buy up to five U.S. Virginia class nuclear powered submarines in the 2030's as part of a landmark defense agreement between Washington, Canberra and London, in a deal that would present a new challenge to China.

>>18472486 Australia to Buy U.S. Nuclear-Powered Submarines in Naval Expansion - The U.S. will speed up Australia’s acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines by arranging for Canberra’s first few subs to be built in the U.S. - The arrangement is part of a multifaceted plan to be announced Monday in San Diego at a meeting attended by President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The plan to sell up to five U.S. Virginia-class submarines to Australia is intended as a stopgap to provide the country with nuclear-powered subs by the mid-2030s.

>>18472507 Aukus submarine deal: Australia expected to choose UK design, sources say - An enthusiastic Rishi Sunak has told ministers to expect a positive outcome next week when he travels to San Diego to unveil a deal to supply nuclear-powered submarines to Australia as part of the Aukus pact with the US. Multiple sources said they believed the UK had succeeded in its bid to sell British-designed nuclear submarines to Australia, a deal that will safeguard the long-term future of the shipyard at Barrow-in-Furness.

>>18472515 Australia ‘set for two types of nuclear submarines’ - Leaks from both sides of the Atlantic suggest Australia will buy not one but two types of nuclear submarine – the US-designed Virginia-class and a future British-designed sub – in an acquisition plan set to cost hundreds of billions of dollars and run for at least 40 years.

>>18472545 AUKUS submarine plan is high risk, high reward - "The expected decision to purchase three to five US Virginia Class submarines ahead of building a next-generation submarine in Adelaide is the Albanese government’s long-term answer to the challenge of a rising China. This two-stage Aukus submarine plan would amount to a generational transformation of Australia’s future submarine capability. But the risks are high and the lesson of history is that enterprises like this are never smooth sailing." - Cameron Stewart - theaustralian.com.au

>>18472561 Video: Albanese government and Coalition recognise Scott Morrison's 'vision' and praise former PM for AUKUS involvement ahead of nuclear submarine announcement - Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have heaped praised on Scott Morrison amid a major advancement in the progress of the AUKUS alliance.

>>18478626 Analysis: Nuclear submarine plan aims to give Australia strategic edge to deter China - Australian nuclear submarines are key to defending the country's 36,000 kilometres of coastline and maintaining an edge against China, whose growing military presence means conflict can erupt without notice, defence officials and government advisers said. The shift from Australia's diesel-electric fleet to nuclear-powered subs brings additional range, stealth and strike capability - crucial capabilities given Canberra's reliance on sea cargo for trade, and undersea cables for telecommunications.

#28 - Part 14

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 2

>>18478650 AUKUS nuclear plan torpedoes Collins subs upgrade - Richard Marles has warned Australia’s Collins-class submarine capability will become questionable by the mid-2030s, casting doubt on the boats’ planned $6bn-$10bn life extension as the government looks to acquire US-built nuclear subs from early next decade.

>>18478671 Nation’s challenge: how to deliver on AUKUS - "Next week in the US, Anthony Albanese will make the most consequential national security announcement of his prime ministership – revealing the agreed pathway for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. Much broader than nuclear propulsion, the AUKUS technology-sharing agenda could potentially turn Australia into a leading strategic power in the Indo-Pacific." - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au

>>18478706 Canberra urged not to risk national interests to serve Washington over possible submarine deal - With the latest updates of Australia's possible purchases of five US Virgina class nuclear powered submarines being revealed by Western media in advance of the AUKUS meeting in the US, Chinese observers urged Canberra not to blindly follow Washington's strategy in containing Beijing, and risk its own national interests on economy and security only to serve Washington's interests. - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn

>>18478707 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on March 9, 2023 - "China has made clear its strong position on nuclear submarine cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia on multiple occasions. This trilateral cooperation constitutes serious nuclear proliferation risks, undermines the international non-proliferation system, exacerbates arms race and hurts peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific. It has been widely questioned and opposed by regional countries and the wider international community."

>>18478740 China's atomic agency envoy slams AUKUS - A Chinese envoy at the UN’s atomic energy agency, IAEA, slammed the AUKUS submarine deal as a "textbook case of nuclear proliferation" and an "unprecedented" transfer of "weapon-grade uranium". Li Song, Permanent Representative of China to UN and other International Organisations in Vienna delivered the harshest criticism against the AUKUS deal at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting yesterday. "The essence of the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation is the transfer of tons of weapon-grade highly enriched uranium by the United States and the United Kingdom, which are nuclear-weapon states and also the depository states of the NPT, to Australia, their military ally and a non-nuclear-weapon state, out of geopolitical and strategic security considerations," Mr Li said in a speech published by the Chinese UN mission in Vienna.

>>18478740 True Multilateralism is the Answer to Maintaining the NPT Regime - Remarks by the H.E. Ambassador LI Song at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting under agenda item 8: Transfer of the nuclear materials in the context of AUKUS and its safeguards in all aspects under the NPT - 2023-03-09

>>18484519 ‘An absolute priority’: Albanese promises AUKUS will mean jobs for Australia - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised the AUKUS pact on nuclear-powered submarines will deliver a significant injection of jobs for Australia, amid concerns the decision to buy up to five boats from the United States will come at the expense of domestic manufacturing.

>>18484553 Morrison reset Australian defence structure by planning AUKUS - "The argument that Australia should not have gone ahead with AUKUS to avoid upsetting France was naive. It boiled down to the national strategic interest, and here Australia and France did not necessarily align. For Morrison, the French being unable to see why Australia needed to head in a different direction reflected their lack of clarity on what the issues in the Indo-Pacific actually were." - Simon Benson and Geoff Chambers - theaustralian.com.au

>>18484597 Scott Morrison kept AUKUS secret from cabinet ministers and senior diplomats - Senior diplomats and cabinet minsters were kept in the dark over AUKUS negotiations amid concerns that plans to acquire nuclear submarines from the US and Britain would be leaked through ­Australian embassies in Europe, scuttling the landmark deal.

>>18484690 Biden’s AUKUS Point Man to Exit - James Miller, U.S. President Joe Biden’s top advisor on the trilateral AUKUS military alliance between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States is set to leave the administration soon after the leaders of the three countries meet in California next week to announce Australia’s forthcoming nuclear submarine program. Miller’s role is expected to be folded into the portfolio of Kurt Campbell, Biden’s top Asia hand at the National Security Council.

#28 - Part 15

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 3

>>18484914 Japan muscles up to neighbourhood bully China - As the Albanese government prepares urgently to overhaul Australia’s defence capabilities, Canberra’s “quasi ally” in Asia is implementing its own landmark national security strategy to deter an attack by China. Late last month, Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, announced an order for 400 US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles for delivery in the next 12 months.

>>18491283 AUKUS meeting to put Australia on track for a ’21st-century submarine fleet’ - Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney, one of America’s biggest proponents of the AUKUS deal with Australia and the United Kingdom has vowed Australia will not be getting substandard submarines despite suggestions that the vessels purchased will be rebadged Virginia-class models instead of newly built boats.

>>18491295 AUKUS submarines 'transformational' for Australia - US Congressman Joe Courtney, co-chair of Washington's "AUKUS Caucus" said the announcement was going to be a "very thoughtful product". "It's going to be a transformational enterprise for working people in Australia," he told ABC's Insiders.

>>18491321 US promises ‘no clunkers’ amid suggestion Australia may get second-hand submarines - US congressman Joe Courtney has given the clearest signal yet that Australia could receive second-hand Virginia-class submarines from the United States under the landmark AUKUS deal. “What you will get is of the highest quality. And I say that sincerely,” he said. “The shelf life of a Virginia class submarine is 33 years and it has a life-of-boat nuclear reactor, it doesn’t require refuelling. No one’s going to be foisting off clunkers on good friends and allies.”

>>18491342 Video: 'No clunkers': US Congressman says second-hand submarines for Australia are high-quality - David Speers interviews US Democrat Congressman for Connecticut, Joe Courtney, ahead of the official AUKUS nuclear submarine announcement in Washington - ABC News (Australia)

>>18497095 Anthony Albanese warns: price of AUKUS submarine security is $200bn - Australia’s nuclear submarine plan will cost more than $200bn over 30 years, create 20,000 direct Australian jobs, and be overseen by a multi-agency body in a bid to avoid the delivery problems of past Defence mega-projects. Anthony Albanese will warn taxpayers on Tuesday of the massive price tag they will face to ­acquire the “world leading” ­nuclear submarine capability when he unveils the AUKUS plan with Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a US naval base.

>>18497131 PM’s plane calls in on Quad squad, skirts China skies - A special flight to carry Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to a major defence announcement has highlighted Australia’s key partnerships in the region by starting in India, landing in Japan and ending in the United States. The Royal Australian Air Force planned a long route from New Delhi to a refuelling stop in Tokyo so the prime minister and his delegation would remain outside Chinese airspace.

>>18504426 Australia’s Submarine Program with U.S. and Britain Could Could Run Up to $245 Billion - Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program with the United States and Britain will cost up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) over the next three decades, a defense official said on Tuesday, the country’s biggest single defense project in history. U.S. President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday unveiled details of a plan to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines, a major step to counter China’s naval build up in the Indo-Pacific.

>>18504659 China challenge ‘epoch-defining’, Rishi Sunak warns as Xi Jinping vows PLA ‘wall of steel’ - Xi Jinping has declared China will build the People’s Liberation Army into a “great wall of steel” to protect the rising giant’s “national sovereignty” on the eve of Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak unveiling their monumental AUKUS submarine deal. British Prime Minister, Mr Sunak, warned China posed an “epoch-defining systemic challenge” as he headed to San Diego in the US to meet Mr Albanese and Mr Biden to lay out their AUKUS plans to deter an increasingly assertive Beijing.

#28 - Part 16

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 4

>>18504688 Eight nuclear-powered submarines to be built in Adelaide under $368bn AUKUS deal - Australia’s journey to acquiring nuclear submarines will cost $268bn to $368bn out to mid-2050. Under the “optimal pathway” revealed by Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, eight AUKUS-class submarines, based on a British design, will be built in Adelaide, with the first to be completed by 2042. An estimated 20,000 direct jobs will be created in Australia by the AUKUS pathway, with the bulk of the jobs in South Australia and Western Australia, to build the submarines and new infrastructure. In the interim, Australia will buy three US-made Virginia-class subs with an option of two more, with the first arriving in 2033. Up to five nuclear submarines – four US and one British – will begin rotational deployments to operate from Australia from 2027.

>>18504688 Video: AUKUS subs will be nuclear powered not 'nuclear armed' - US President Joe Biden has reassured that the AUKUS submarines will be nuclear powered, not armed, acknowledging that Australia is a “proud non-nuclear weapons state” and is committed to staying that way. President Biden stood alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego, California, to outline details of the AUKUS subs deal. “These boats will not have any nuclear weapons of any kind on them,” President Biden said. “AUKUS has one overriding objective – to enhance the stability of the Indo-Pacific amid rapidly shifting global dynamics.” - Sky News Australia

>>18504733 Video: Australia begins its nuclear age as AUKUS overcomes years of submarine struggles - Australia secures rotations of US and British nuclear subs from 2027, at least three conventionally-armed Virginia class American subs in the early 2030s and in the 2040s an Australian-built nuclear-powered submarine, SSN-AUKUS, based on the British Astute class boat.

>>18504740 Albanese, Biden and Sunak’s AUKUS plan ticks many boxes, but there are plenty of unknowns - "The AUKUS submarine is a strikingly aggressive and optimistic plan which seeks to fast-track Australia’s future submarine capability as quickly as possible in the face of a rising China. The plan is hugely ambitious and commits Australia to acquiring two separate nuclear-powered submarines and creating a next generation defence industrial base in South Australia and Western Australia. However it contains many sweeping assumptions and many unknowns and will cost an eye watering $268 billion to $368 billion out until the mid-2050s." Cameron Stewart - theaustralian.com.au

>>18504744 Both sides of US politics back AUKUS path; former Trump official says submarine deal will last - Democrat and Republican congressmen have hailed Australia’s planned acquisition of nuclear-powered Virginia class US submarines as a critical step to bolstering US and Australian defences against “totalitarian aggression” in the Indo-Pacific. Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, said the AUKUS details were critical to pushing back against “CCP aggression”, describing the announcement as “taking a critical step towards achieving these goals and demonstrates our commitment to defending the free world from totalitarian aggression”. Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney said AUKUS was “an effective, intelligent effort to deter potential conflict in the Indo-Pacific by enhancing Australia’s Navy with nuclear-powered submarines”.

>>18504751 How the subs agreement will work - The multi-stage plan begins this year, with more US nuclear submarine visits to Australia, providing a growing number of training spots for Australian submariners of increasing seniority. Australian tradespeople and professionals will also begin relocating to the US and UK this year to develop their skills and support the AUKUS’ partners’ construction schedules. Then, from 2027, up to four US and one British submarine will begin rotational deployments that will see them temporarily operating from Australia’s submarine base, at HMAS Stirling near Perth.

>>18504753 How the AUKUS submarines will work, armed with Tomahawk missiles and able to evade China - Australia will operate three of the quietest, longest-range submarines available by the late 2030s, armed with Tomahawk missiles that can hit land or maritime targets from at least 1500 km. The Virginia-class subs and subsequent AUKUS-class boats will be able to lurk quietly off China’s main submarine base at Hainan Island, or near key choke points in the East and South China Seas, able to intercept Chinese subs and surface ships or launch strikes on the Chinese mainland. Australia has never before possessed such a capability. As Richard Marles says, it will place an additional “question mark” into the strategic calculations of potential adversaries, by which he means China.

#28 - Part 17

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 5

>>18504761 AUKUS submarine deal could spur Australia to becoming naval power - "These submarine announcements dare Australia to embrace greatness. If we end up with three Virginia-class nuclear submarines and eight AUKUS nuclear submarines we will, in fact, be one of the most powerful navies in the world. In the many decades I’ve been writing about submarines, this is not only the most ambitious, but the most realistic, plan to replace the Collins and upgrade our capabilities. That doesn’t guarantee it will work. But it’s a big step forward." - Greg Sheridan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18504773 China warns AUKUS has made Australia a target for the People’s Liberation Army - Chinese experts have warned that Australia has “officially put itself on Beijing’s defence radar” with its $368bn plan to build nuclear powered submarines with the United States and United Kingdom. Government-linked academics and military officials said Australia’s mammoth defence acquisition was putting the country on the “frontline” of America and China’s strategic competition, which they said would worsen Canberra’s already strained relationship with its biggest trading partner.

>>18504789 In economic recovery era, US is biggest threat by trapping Australia's development interests - "When China sits down with friends, it is for peace. When the US and its partners get together, the agenda is about confrontation. Since the announcement of AUKUS 18 months ago, many observers, including those from Australia, have said the alliance, under the guise of nuclear-powered submarines cooperation, is essentially about US arming Australia and turning it into a US military asset against China, laying a timed bomb for peace and stability in the region." - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>18504803 Australia may 'pay expensive price' as AUKUS nuke sub deal only serves US hegemony: experts - "Australia is "planting a time bomb" for its own peace and that of the region, and it would bear the cost of the "expensive mistake" of following the US, Chinese experts warned, as the AUKUS leaders of the US, UK and Australia are expected to meet in San Diego, California and announce a mega nuclear submarine deal to arm Australia." - Wang Qi - globaltimes.cn

>>18504851 OPINION: Albanese got the subs deal spectacularly right, and can thank Scott Morrison - "AUKUS itself was the brainchild of Scott Morrison. Bold in its conception and historic in its implications, it was the direct product of close collaboration between Morrison, a very small number of his senior advisers and the leaders of Defence. From the start, the former prime minister took the hardball but necessary decision to keep the inner-circle tight, in particular by marginalising the notoriously leaky Department of Foreign Affairs. (Until shortly before the announcement, the only senior DFAT officials in the loop were Arthur Sinodinos in Washington and me in London.) The short-term damage to our relationship with France was a cost that Morrison was willing to pay to secure the much-better protection for Australia’s national security that AUKUS offered. Scott Morrison has had a rough time over the past year. In the longer perspective of history, AUKUS will be judged to be his most important legacy. It is a legacy greater than many other prime ministers have left behind them." - George Brandis, Former high commissioner to the UK and federal attorney-general - March 14, 2023

>>18504867 Morrison’s legacy will turn Australia into a significant power - "AUKUS is not just a transformational security agreement but will significantly change the direction of modern Australia. Strategically, the move to become the seventh country with nuclear-powered submarines helps to elevate Australia from an also-ran middle power, like Argentina and the Philippines, to becoming a really substantial contributor to the regional power balance, and therefore global peace. This AUKUS initiative stands in stark contrast with the opinions of those who over the decades have argued we should downgrade ties with the UK and the US. That AUKUS has been endorsed as enthusiastically by the Labor Party as it was by its founders, the Morrison government, means that the neutralist, non-aligned approach to Australian foreign policy is for all intents and purposes dead in the water. So there we have it, Scott Morrison’s great legacy. Whatever you thought of him, there’s no doubt he will be remembered in the decades ahead for one thing, and that will be AUKUS." - Alexander Downer - afr.com

#28 - Part 18

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 6

>>18510927 Fiji backs AUKUS as Canberra soothes regional tensions - One of the Pacific’s key leaders has told Anthony Albanese he supports the AUKUS agreement during a whistle-stop meeting on Wednesday as the Prime Minister continued diplomatic efforts to reassure regional anxieties over the planned acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. Fijian PM Sitiveni Rabuka congratulated Mr Albanese on the landmark agreement and was comforted by Mr Albanese’s assurances AUKUS would not breach the Rarotonga treaty, a pact among Pacific nations including Australia to keep the South Pacific free of nuclear weapons.

>>18510950 ‘Whatever it takes’: Democrats and Republicans unite for AUKUS - Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress have thrown their weight behind the ambitious plan to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines, vowing to do “what it takes” to make the AUKUS pact a success. Republican Mike Gallagher, who co-chairs Congress’ AUKUS working group alongside Democrat congressman Joe Courtney, threw his weight behind Tuesday’s announcement and plans to use his new role as a head of a special committee on China to tackle the issue of export controls. “Now we must act with urgency to not only fully resource and implement this agreement, but also make the necessary policy choices to make AUKUS as successful as possible,” he said.

>>18510974 AUKUS' final blueprint marks an 'astonishing step forward' for the West that puts our adversaries on notice - "Australian sovereignty was strengthened immeasurably this week, and we have emerged as a different nation: more confident; more determined and far more capable. The signal that it sends to potential adversaries is clear and unmistakable. We are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure our sovereignty, and will do it with close partners and allies using the most advanced technology available anywhere on the globe." - Stephen Loosley, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre - skynews.com.au

>>18511006 AUKUS alliance: Our $368bn, missile-packed freedom fleet of submarines - Australia will start work immediately on a historic $368bn plan to transform the nation’s defence capabilities that will ultimately ­deliver two types of nuclear-­powered submarines packed with long-range strike missiles to help counter China’s growing military expansion.

>>18511054 AUKUS compact shows Labor’s new conviction - "This is a revolutionary moment in the history of the Australian Labor Party. At this point Labor assumes full implementation responsibility at the national level for turning Australia into a nuclear-powered submarine nation irrevocably tied to the US and Britain in a strategy of deterrence against China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific." - Paul Kelly - theaustralian.com.au

>>18511070 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reshaped AUKUS, regional power and Labor - "Anthony Albanese and his Defence Minister, Richard Marles, have delivered a national defence outcome that not so long ago would have been unthinkable for Labor. The fact this has not caused a ripple in the fabric of Labor unity on the issue says two things. China has changed the equation, even for the left." - Simon Benson - theaustralian.com.au

>>18511090 China is determined to thwart AUKUS, driven by distrust and fear of a US nuclear build-up - China has made no secret of its plans to diplomatically thwart Australia's AUKUS submarine plan, which it sees as part of a broader US effort to contain China's future military dominance of Asia. Beijing's mission to the United Nations yesterday slammed the announcement that Australia will obtain several American nuclear-powered submarines as part of the deal, saying it "fuels arms races and hurts peace and stability".

>>18511145 ‘Dangerous path’: China issues chilling AUKUS threat - China issued an ominous warning over the nuclear-powered submarine deal with the United Kingdom and the United States, saying the historic AUKUS pact put Australia on a “path of error and danger”. A day after it was revealed Australia would become a major naval power in the Pacific with nuclear subs bought from the US and built with the UK, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Wenbin lashed out at what he said was the proliferation of highly enriched “weapons-grade” uranium to Australia. “The three countries, for their own geopolitical interests, have totally disregarded the concerns of the international community and gone further down the wrong and dangerous path,” he said.

#28 - Part 19

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 7

>>18511150 Video: China says AUKUS on 'dangerous path' with nuclear subs deal - The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom are traveling “further down the wrong and dangerous path for their own geopolitical self-interest,” China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, responding to an agreement under which Australia will purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the US to modernize its fleet. FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor Angela Diffley tells us more. - FRANCE 24 English

>>18511176 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on March 14, 2023 - "We’ve repeatedly said that the establishment of the so-called AUKUS security partnership between the US, the UK and Australia to promote cooperation on nuclear submarines and other cutting-edge military technologies is a typical Cold War mentality. It will only exacerbate arms race, undermine the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and hurt regional peace and stability."

>>18511193 China expected to prepare for AUKUS nuclear submarine program with underwater buildups - "The AUKUS collaboration will damage the global strategic balance and stability, encourage other countries to join the nuclear arms race, escalate geopolitical tensions and bring the Asia-Pacific region to a wrong path of confrontation and splitting-up, completely opposite to the common appeal for development and prosperity from countries in the region." - Liu Xuanzun - globaltimes.cn

>>18511200 Nuclear submarines will turn Australia into a ‘haunted house’: Global Times editorial - "In the English context, "white elephant" usually refers to a useless but expensive and eccentric object. It could have been better if the nuclear submarines of the US were just white elephants, but they are also a big ill omen. Canberra bought them back with a huge sum of money and will turn Australia into a haunted house, bringing risk to the whole region and making the years of efforts of South Pacific Countries in building a South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone, which is protected by formal treaty, face the most serious impact." Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>18511306 AUKUS the worst international decision by a Labor government since World War I: Paul Keating - "The Albanese Government’s complicity in joining with Britain and the United States in a tripartite build of a nuclear submarine for Australia under the AUKUS arrangements represents the worst international decision by an Australian Labor government since the former Labor leader, Billy Hughes, sought to introduce conscription to augment Australian forces in World War One. Every Labor Party branch member will wince when they realise that the party we all fight for is returning to our former colonial master, Britain, to find our security in Asia – two hundred and thirty-six years after Europeans first grabbed the continent from its Indigenous people…..This week, Anthony Albanese screwed into place the last shackle in the long chain the United States has laid out to contain China. No mealy-mouthed talk of ‘stabilisation’ in our China relationship or resort to softer or polite language will disguise from the Chinese the extent and intent of our commitment to United States’s strategic hegemony in East Asia with all its deadly portents. History will be the judge of this project in the end. But I want my name clearly recorded among those who say it is a mistake. Who believe that, despite its enormous cost, it does not offer a solution to the challenge of great power competition in the region or to the security of the Australian people and its continent." - PAUL KEATING - MARCH 15, 2023

>>18511330 IN FULL: Former PM Paul Keating criticises AUKUS pact and discusses relations with China - Former prime minister Paul Keating examines the merits of the AUKUS submarine deal and its implications for China-Australia relations and regional stability. - ABC News (Australia), Mar 15 2023

>>18511362 Paul Keating calls nuclear submarines deal worst decision by Labor government since WWI conscription - Former prime minister Paul Keating has launched an extraordinary attack on the Albanese government over its adoption of the AUKUS pact, accusing it of making the worst foreign policy decision by a Labor government since the attempted introduction of conscription in World War I. Keating singled out Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minster Richard Marles for strident criticism, accusing them of setting Australia down a “dangerous path” by deepening ties with its closest security allies.

#28 - Part 20

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 8

>>18511405 Former prime minister Paul Keating accused of ‘gaslighting’ CCP victims - Human rights experts have accused Paul Keating of “regurgitating Chinese Communist Party talking points” and “gaslighting” victims after he claimed Beijing’s abhorrent treatment of Uighurs was in “dispute”. The former Labor prime minister launched a fiery tirade against the Albanese Government, the AUKUS pact and journalists who questioned his unwavering defence of China during a National Press Club address on Wednesday. “There’s disputes about what the nature of the Chinese affront to the Uighurs are,” he said when asked if he would condemn the CCP for its treatment of the persecuted minority. Mr Keating then deflected by arguing there should be more criticism of human rights issues in India, and Australia’s record of Indigenous deaths in custody.

>>18516899 Paul Keating AUKUS rhetoric a relic of past bitterness - "On AUKUS, and on China, Paul Keating attacks Anthony Albanese not from the left, nor from the right, but from the past. It’s not even the past of the Hawke/Keating governments of the 1980s and ’90s, which were responsible and proactive on national security. Keating’s rambling critiques today hark back instead to the Labor culture of the 1970s, when ideological anti-Americanism, and chip-on-the-shoulder hostility to Britain, dominated Labor culture. This rhetoric is fossilised, an antique, a survivor on the Noah’s ark of Labor resentments and bitterness long since laid to rest by modern leaders." - Greg Sheridan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18516925 Keating’s views ‘belong to another time’: Albanese, Wong fire back over AUKUS - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has accused Paul Keating of diminishing himself by attacking the federal government’s most senior cabinet ministers, saying he “fundamentally disagreed” with his predecessor’s views on modern China and the AUKUS partnership with the United States and United Kingdom.

>>18516946 Video: Paul Keating's AUKUS criticism will sting for Labor's most senior ministers but it won't stop the submarines deal - The AUKUS submarines are years from hitting the water but have already claimed their first victim. The relationship between the Labor government and the party's elder statesman Paul Keating has been sunk. In truth, it was already listing badly over this issue, but now it's irrevocably ruptured.

>>18516979 Video: Malcolm Turnbull joins Paul Keating in smashing AUKUS nuclear subs deal: Ex-PM doubts 'sick' United Kingdom can hold up its end of the bargain - Malcolm Turnbull has become the second former prime minister in as many days to slam the government's historic AUKUS nuclear submarines deal. Mr Turnbull apologised on ABC Radio for not being able to 'express his concerns as colourfully as Paul's', before going on to also savage the deal. 'The reality is this will take a lot more time, cost a great deal more money - have a lot more risk and cost a lot more money than if we had proceeded with the submarine project we had with France, that Morrison recklessly cancelled,' he said.

>>18517002 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on March 15, 2023 - "China urges the US, the UK and Australia to earnestly fulfill their non-proliferation obligations and refrain from undermining the authority and efficacy of the IAEA’s safeguards system. We also urge the IAEA Secretariat to perform its duties in strict accordance with its mandate and not to endorse the act of nuclear proliferation by the three countries."

>>18517043 Global Times Tweet: Video: @SkyNewsAust at the National Press Club on Wed: "What makes you so sure #China isn't a military threat to Australia? Former #Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating: “Because I've got a brain, principally, and I can think.” #AUKUS #auspol

>>18517076 AUKUS submarine deal: Green light for first nuclear waste storage repository in Sandy Ridge, Western Australia - Australia’s first purpose-built low-level radioactive waste facility has been granted final approval in Western Australia to start dealing with the nation’s massive stockpile of hazardous nuclear medicine, mining and other industrial waste that is spread across the country. With the federal government confirming it would need to establish a future high-level nuclear waste facility to deal with reactor fuel from the AUKUS nuclear submarine program, questions have been raised about the growing stockpiles of lower-level radioactive waste currently stored in more than 100 facilities across the country.

#28 - Part 21

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 9

>>18523487 Vice-Admiral Jonathan Mead, head of the Nuclear Powered Submarine Taskforce, hit back at critics of the AUKUS nuclear submarine plan - The head of the Nuclear Powered Submarine Taskforce has hit back at critics of the AUKUS plan, revealing it was always a bedrock requirement that nuclear submarines be built in Australia, thereby ruling out any option to buy the whole fleet from overseas. Vice-Admiral Jonathan Mead was responding to questions from strategic analysts in the US and Australia about why Australia did not choose to buy a whole fleet of Virginia-class submarines rather than also build a separate AUKUS boat that will create two types of nuclear submarines. Vice-Admiral Mead said the option of building the Virginia-class submarines in Australia was also not feasible because the Virginia production line in the US was scheduled to end in 2043, which would be around the time that Australia would be starting its own construction of nuclear-powered boats.

>>18523508 Nuclear-powered submarines leave diesel craft in their wake - "When we compare nuclear powered and conventional submarines, we tend to focus on speed, endurance, stealth and so-called impactful projection. Over the course of my career I have commanded both a diesel submarine (SSK) and a conventionally armed nuclear submarine (SSN) on Cold War patrols. There has been much commentary from self-proclaimed “experts” on the decision to acquire SSNs through the AUKUS accord, including former prime ministers. Having commanded both types of submarine, I have some reflections that might contribute to the current debate, one is that the SSK and the SSN are like chalk and cheese." - Peter Clarke, retired Rear Admiral from the Royal Australian Navy. He served in Britain’s Royal Navy before migrating to Australia - theaustralian.com.au

>>18523526 AUKUS: The pillars of Hercules - "AUKUS is Herculean in scale, complexity, and concept. But rather than connecting the waters of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, as Hercules did, it unites the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific in one of the most ambitious and demanding endeavours I have seen in my life, for Australia to acquire conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. To deter, Australia must be credible. Credibility rests on coherence, cohesion, commitment, capability, and clear communication. The partnership with the United States and United Kingdom through AUKUS is the hard-headed response of three nations that share heritage, embrace and avow common principles, institutional resilience and rigorous accountability, possess complementary skills and capabilities, and are intent on meeting common challenges. For Australia this is a nation-building task which should excite something we have never really done in my lifetime, namely, engage in serious, thoughtful, dispassionate and self-confident national discourse about what we value and wish to preserve, what must change, and at what cost (not just financial), if we are to become and remain the Australia we wish to be. The world cannot be willed into more benign shape if we just squeeze our eyes shut tightly enough and wish it were so." - Peter Tesch, Deputy Secretary for Strategy, Policy, and Industry in the Department of Defence from 2019 to 2022, Ambassador to the Russian Federation (2016–19), Ambassador to Germany (2009–13), and head of the International Security Division (2014–15). - lowyinstitute.org

>>18523557 ‘Understand me’: Hun Sen links AUKUS to concerns for Cambodia’s Chinese-funded naval base - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has aired concerns about the transparency of Australia’s submarine ambitions during a rambling speech in which he also accepted they would be nuclear-powered and not nuclear armed. The strongman also linked the AUKUS announcement to Australian distrust over a controversial Chinese-funded naval base in his country.

>>18523587 Keating ignores genocide to defend his ‘China fantasy’ - "In an interview at the National Press Club, former prime minister Paul Keating, was asked about the internment of the Uighurs in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Journalist Matthew Knott asked Keating if he could turn his characteristic invective against the CCP for its treatment of the Uighurs, to which Keating replied “there are disputes about what the nature of the Chinese affront to the Uighurs are” and “what if the Chinese said … what about deaths in custody of Aboriginal people in your prison system. Wouldn’t that be a valid point for them?” In reality, there’s a large body of evidence available detailing the Chinese “affront” to the Uighurs in Xinjiang, from aerial photos of detention centres, to witness testimonies of systematic torture and rape, to demographic data showing a sharp population decline in Uighur regions." - Claire Lehmann, founding editor of online magazine Quillette - theaustralian.com.au

#28 - Part 22

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 10

>>18523647 Stephen McDonell Tweet: Video: It wasn’t going to be long before the comments by #Australia’s former Prime Minister were reported on #China’s state media. Paul Keating just popped up on CCTV here.

>>18523724 OPINION: Keating is wrong that Beijing means no harm. Just ask Xi Jinping - "While Keating’s service to the nation should be acknowledged and respected…he’s seriously wrong about the AUKUS submarine project and about the rapidly intensifying strategic competition from the current government in Beijing. When dictators are open about their plans for us, they should be taken seriously. The Chinese embassy was good enough to declare in late 2020, via its 14 demands, that Australia’s role in any region that Beijing dominated would be to accept all Chinese investment, host all Chinese students, never criticise Chinese policy, and become effectively a Chinese economic colony. And in response to our attempt to gain the weapons systems needed to make us less vulnerable, Beijing has already threatened to make us a nuclear target." - Tony Abbott, former Liberal prime minister of Australia - theage.com.au

>>18523818 Albanese, Wong return fire at Keating but Garrett, unions back former PM - A brawl has erupted within Labor over the deal to acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines from the United States and United Kingdom, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior cabinet ministers pushed back on Paul Keating’s strident criticisms of the AUKUS pact. Albanese said his predecessor’s jibes did nothing “other than diminish him, frankly”, while Foreign Minister Penny Wong, whom Keating lambasted in an appearance at the National Press Club, said his views on China and other foreign policy questions “belong to another time”. Rudd and Gillard era government cabinet minister Peter Garrett weighed into the debate to say the AUKUS deal “stinks” and two powerful blue-collar unions, the Maritime Union of Australia and the Electrical Trades Union, condemned the nuclear-powered project as a dangerous waste of money.

>>18523974 Video: Australia to buy more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US in billion-dollar deal - Australia is set to buy 220 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the US in a deal worth more than $1 billion. The US State Department has approved the sale of the arms to Australia, but the deal still needs to be approved by congress. These missiles have an operational range of more than 1600 kilometres - further than driving from Sydney to Adelaide - and has the capacity to "loiter" over a battlefield before choosing a target. "Australia is one of our most important allies in the Western Pacific. The strategic location of this political and economic power contributes significantly to ensuring peace and economic stability in the region," the department said. "It is vital to the U.S. national interest to assist our ally in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense capability."

>>18530408 On AUKUS, is Paul Keating OK with security on China’s terms? - "China has undertaken the largest and most rapid peacetime military build-up in human history. It has been exporting surveillance and censorship technology around the world. It has aligned itself with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s relentless attempts to annex first parts and then the whole of Ukraine. It has militarised the South China Sea, in flat contradiction of undertakings not to do so. It has turned from collegial to dictatorial leadership. It has engaged in ruthless repression of the Uighurs in Xinjiang and of the democracy movement in Hong Kong. It has increased its internal security budget to levels even greater than its ballooning military budget. It has embarked on systematic attempts to achieve nuclear parity with the US and naval supremacy. It is seeking to take the lead in key hi-tech sectors with strategic implications. And its leader, Xi, repeatedly has stated that his military forces must be prepared to fight and win a war. Keating has dismissed the nuclear submarines as being like “toothpicks thrown against a mountain”. Were that so, Beijing presumably would not be protesting so vehemently against its acquisition or against the AUKUS and Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alignments." - Paul Monk, head of the China desk in the Defence Intelligence Organisation when Paul Keating was prime minister - theaustralian.com.au

>>18530501 U.S. Embassy Australia Tweet: USS Asheville welcomed aboard Australian and diplomatic guests in #Perth this week. Guests were given a unique view above deck, and toured below, experiencing diving operations, fire drills, and most importantly meeting our proud @USNavy sailors.

#28 - Part 23

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 11

>>18537852 New submarines will deter blockades that cut us off from the world: Marles - Defence Minister Richard Marles says Australia’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines will help deter a foreign adversary from launching a shipping blockade which could cut off the country’s trading routes from the rest of the world. With 99 per cent of Australia’s trade coming from ships, Marles says the nation is very reliant on trade by sea and that needed to be protected.

>>18537864 No US war pact in return for nuclear subs: Marles - Australia's defence minister insists no pledge has been made to go to war alongside the United States in return for nuclear submarines, which he says will be used to guard vital shipping lanes.

>>18543804 ABC cowers as Keating given free rein on China - "The ABC has won awards for reporting on Chinese interference in domestic Australian affairs and intimidation of Chinese-born Australians living here. Yet the ABC did not raise the issue last week or discuss China-funded Confucius Institutes at Australian universities. China’s Belt and Road Initiatives are probably history’s most aggressive foreign policy manifestation of influence peddling. China has interfered in public events here dating back to the hacking of the Melbourne Film Festival in 2009 for showing a film about Uigher activist Rebiya Kadeer. It has attempted to hack several parliamentary databases. China has attempted to have the Great Barrier Reef placed on the UN’s World Heritage endangered list. It has arrested Australian nationals and Chinese Australians working in China on trumped-up charges and detained them for years. Yet Keating was allowed to claim the Chinese just want Australia as a friend." - Chris Mitchell - theaustralian.com.au

>>18543854 Tomahawk missiles coming before Australia gets AUKUS nuclear submarines - Australia will field long-range Tomahawk strike missiles on submarines years before it takes possession of its first US Virginia-class nuclear-­powered boats in the early 2030s, well informed sources say. As part of the Defence Strategic Review, which will be released in April, the government is likely to announce it will integrate Tomahawk missiles into the nation’s existing six Collins-class submarines.

>>18543899 Canberra warned of being double-dealer in its China policy after aggressive AUKUS deal - Analysts called on Beijing to be alert toward Canberra, which could be a double-dealer over its China policy, after Australia's defense minister claimed that Australia has "absolutely not" given the US a commitment that it would join its top security ally in a potential conflict over the Taiwan question in AUKUS negotiations. - Xu Keyue - globaltimes.cn

>>18543918 Frontlines blurred as rivals redefine weapons of war - "Australia is beset with non-military vulnerabilities. Allowing Chinese state-owned enterprises, mandated to operate under CCP’s civil-military fusion, to own critical assets and resources is just silly. Leasing the Port of Darwin and approving China Baowu Steel Group’s $2bn investment in a Western Australian iron ore project are good examples. It makes even less sense as Newcastle, along with Port Kembla in the Illawarra and Brisbane are short-listed as potential sites for a new submarine base, when, in 2014, China Merchants Port Holdings Company took a 50 per cent stake in the Newcastle Port. No rockets fired, no battleships used, no “little green men” deployed. Instead, we keep selling them the rope." - Jason Thomas - theaustralian.com.au

>>18551004 ‘Away from the prying eyes’: Fight erupts over how to keep tabs on AUKUS subs plan - The federal government has rejected an opposition push to create a high-powered parliamentary committee to scrutinise the implementation of the AUKUS security pact, including the development of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. The Coalition is arguing that a project of such cost and magnitude as AUKUS deserves a standalone statutory oversight committee rather than periodic accountability through the politically charged Senate estimates process.

>>18551011 Video: Labor backbencher Josh Wilson breaks ranks on AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines - Federal Labor is playing down suggestions the party is divided over the government's plans to spend up to $368 billion buying and building a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. Labor backbencher Josh Wilson used a speech in the parliament to speak out against the AUKUS pact with the United Kingdom and the United States, fearing it might undermine Australia's commitment to nuclear non-proliferation.

#28 - Part 24

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 12

>>18558080 Rogue Labor MP Josh Wilson puts first dent in party’s AUKUS unity - "That Labor MP Josh Wilson shattered the remarkable unity the Albanese government has had up until now by publicly opposing the AUKUS agreement demonstrates the job ahead of the government to socialise its younger members, the ALP activist base and the whole millennial generation on national security. Wilson’s strange public rebellion, before he can possibly be across the detail of everything AUKUS involves, was the government’s first outbreak of disunity. If it’s a one-off, it’s unimportant. If it’s a trend, it’s the worst news Labor could have." - Greg Sheridan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18558093 New Zealand opposition concerned by AUKUS - New Zealand's opposition has flagged concerns with Australia's AUKUS defence agreement, saying it makes New Zealand less safe, while querying whether the deal will even come to pass. New Zealand is Australia's sole military ally, but is not involved with the military tie-up between Australia, the United States and United Kingdom, from which Australia will receive nuclear technology to power submarines. Wellington, like many Pacific capitals, is firmly anti-nuclear.

>>18564845 It’s time to return fire against AUKUS naysayers - "The AUKUS pathway for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarines is barely 10 days old. Already it is clear that the biggest threat to the plan is not the opposition, which is embracing bipartisan support, or China’s absurd attempts to distract from its own military behaviour by saying AUKUS threatens regional security. Labor’s biggest challenge comes from within: it’s the attacks on AUKUS from Paul Keating, Bob Carr, at least one Labor backbencher and former Labor staff." - Peter Jennings - theaustralian.com.au

>>18564862 Australian and Chinese defence talks a sign AUKUS submarines have not hurt ties - Chinese and Australian defence officials have had a first meeting since 2019 in a sign the AUKUS nuclear-powered subs plan has not derailed efforts by both nations to improve relations. The Chinese Defence Ministry said the 8th Sino-Australian Ministry of National Defence Working Meeting had been a productive one. “Negotiations have further enhanced mutual understanding, which is conducive to the healthy and stable development of the relationship between the two militaries,” it said in a statement.

>>18564880 New Zealand better off outside AUKUS: Clark - Key Kiwi foreign policy thinkers believe being left out of AUKUS will bring strategic advantages for New Zealand, including an improved relationship with China. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has voiced her opposition to the deal, questioning the need to align so explicitly with American defence policy. "New Zealand interests do not lie in being associated with AUKUS," she posted on Twitter. "Association would be damaging to independent foreign policy."

>>18564895 AUKUS tech sharing clears first hurdle in US Congress The US House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday (22 March 2023) designed to loosen controls on sharing military technology under the AUKUS agreement with Australia and Britain. The legislation would direct the US State Department to report to Congress on efforts to implement the advanced capabilities pillar of the AUKUS alliance, and to identify key export controls that Congress must ease to make the pact a success.

>>18571849 Risk to fuel supply a reason Australia needs AUKUS subs - The ability of China to cut fuel supplies to Australia by blockading shipping lanes was a key example of why a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines was required, Defence Minister Richard Marles has argued.

>>18571920 This outrageously expensive subs deal simply caters to the US. Again - "In one week the government’s justification for needing outrageously expensive nuclear submarines has shifted from defending the continent to the old 1960s forward defence policy in Asia which lured us into Vietnam – with all its heartbreak." - Paul Keating, prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996 - afr.com

>>18571958 AUKUS opens Australia to giant defence deals with US - Australia is now a core partner in the US-led strategy to boost long-range firepower to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific, according to Kathy Warden, head of global defence giant Northrop Grumman.

#28 - Part 25

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 13

>>18571987 China opposes AUKUS nuclear submarine program and coercion of IAEA Secretariat into endorsing it: FM - China has expressed its grave concern and firm opposition after the US, the UK and Australia pushed forward nuclear-powered submarine cooperation and coerced IAEA Secretariat to endorse the cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday at a routine press conference. - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>18572000 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on March 23, 2023 - "AUKUS is a small bloc composed of Anglo-Saxon nations. It has been pressing ahead with nuclear submarine cooperation and coercing the IAEA into endorsing their plan. China has made clear its severe concern and firm opposition."

>>18572034 Key to China-Australia ties thaw lies in the hands of Canberra - "Australia should keep sober and understand the importance of its relationship with China. As Australia is a sovereign power, China hopes that Australia will not succumb to any country or become a military pawn. It is believed that the Albanese administration has sufficient political wisdom to make decisions in line with its national interests." - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>18577150 Likening American and Chinese approaches to spheres of influence doesn’t make sense - "There is an analytical trick commonly used by the strongest critics of AUKUS. Those arguing that China ought to be afforded its natural sphere of influence in Asia tend to begin with the misleading assumption that the US and China are the only pertinent geo-strategic actors in Asia. Forget the inconvenient reality that almost every Asian nation, with rare exceptions such as North Korea, consider China the major threat even if they disagree as to how the US and its allies ought to respond." - John Lee, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington - theaustralian.com.au

>>18583010 Xinhua Commentary: No good would come out of AUKUS - "Washington, London and Canberra have no right to put their own geopolitical ends above international laws and regulations or the interests of other countries, nor should they, or any other parties, put AUKUS in place before broad consensus is reached." - Xinhua - english.news.cn

>>18594115 ACTU’s nuclear-free defence policy at odds with government’s AUKUS plan - The union movement is at odds with Labor over the government’s nuclear submarine plan, with ACTU president Michele O’Neil declaring today that unions backed a “nuclear free defence policy”. Ms O’Neil said the policy was a longstanding one, and the union movement was seeking more detail from the government on the AUKUS plan so ACTU affiliates could discuss the policy.

>>18600044 ASIO to take over issuing high-level security clearances due to ‘unprecedented’ espionage threat - The spy agency ASIO will take over issuing the highest level security clearances in Australia in response to what the government calls “the unprecedented threat from espionage and foreign interference”. While the Aukus nuclear-powered submarine plans were not specifically mentioned, the government’s notes to parliament said that the measures would help “ensure the ongoing confidence of our most trusted allies”. The legislation will make the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) responsible for issuing, maintaining and revoking Australia’s highest level of security clearance, known as “positive vetting”.

>>18606866 Keating’s blistering attack on AUKUS leaves Australia in damage control in US - Paul Keating’s blistering attack against the $368 billion AUKUS pact is having an ongoing ripple effect in Washington, where members of an Australian parliamentary delegation have been forced to explain the former prime minister’s view that the plan is “the worst deal in all history”. Two weeks after Keating launched his broadside and blasted the “incompetence” of the Albanese government for signing up to the deal with the US and the UK, politicians and policy officials on Capitol Hill have continued to raise concerns about the incendiary remarks, pushing Australia into damage control. The issue came to the fore when a Canberra delegation, led by Liberal senator James Paterson and Labor MP Meryl Swanson, landed in Washington this week to meet members of Congress and the Biden administration to discuss the implementation of AUKUS – only to find themselves fielding questions about Keating’s comments.

#28 - Part 26

AUKUS Security Pact and Nuclear Submarine Program - Part 14

>>18622376 China’s economic boycott of Australia led to AUKUS pact - China’s “undeclared economic boycott” of Australia was one of several provocative actions that spurred new partnerships including AUKUS, according to Joe Biden’s Indo-Pacific tsar, Kurt Campbell, who rubbished the Chinese government’s complaint that the US-led response was a threat.

>>18650729 AUKUS will ‘stop China destroying world order’: US Navy Secretary - Two of the most influential figures in the US Navy have cast the AUKUS security pact as a bulwark against Chinese and Russian attempts to “change the world we live in”, in remarks at a private dinner in Washington that included Ambassador Kevin Rudd and President Biden’s top adviser for the Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell. In an apparent confirmation of Chinese and Russian accusations the three-nation military alliance, which has undertaken to equip Australia with at least eight nuclear powered submarines by the 2040s, was aimed at Beijing and Moscow, US Navy Secretary Carlos del Toro said AUKUS was critical to stopping China from “destroying the world order”. Republican Congressman Rob Wittman, who last year was sceptical the US could accommodate Australia’s requirements given its own needs, told The Australian South Australian shipbuilding yards could one day build submarines for the US navy.

#28 - Part 27

Cardinal George Pell - Sexual Abuse and Vatican Financial Scandal Allegations

>>18491464 Disgraced cardinal ‘detached’ over allegations Vatican funds used to harm Pell - A disgraced Catholic cardinal was “detached” and “unperturbed” when told of allegations that money was sent from Rome to Australia to pursue the late George Pell over sexual abuse claims, a Vatican tribunal has heard. Sacked by the Pope two years ago amid allegations of an array of financial crimes, Angelo Becciu is one of 10 defendants accused of money laundering, embezzlement and fraud in the wake of the acquisition of a $400m building in London’s Sloane Avenue.

#28 - Part 28

Australian Defence Force Afghanistan Inquiry and Ben Roberts-Smith Defamation Trial

>>18544043 SAS veteran Oliver Schulz charged with war crime of murder over killing of Afghan man in field - A decorated former SAS soldier shown in a Four Corners story shooting an Afghan man in a wheat field has become the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with a war crime under Australian law. Former trooper Oliver Schulz, 41, was arrested by the Australian Federal Police at Jindabyne in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains this morning, after a years-long investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

>>18594080 Ex-soldier granted bail over alleged wartime murder of Afghan villager - A former soldier accused of the wartime murder of an Afghan villager has been granted bail after a magistrate ruled he was at risk of being attacked by Taliban sympathisers while in prison. Oliver Schulz, 41, was arrested last week and charged with one count of War Crime - Murder by the Australian Federal Police. The AFP has alleged that Mr Schulz murdered Dad Mohammad in a wheat field while deployed in Afghanistan with the Australian Defence Force. He is alleged to have shot Mr Mohammed, a father and struggling farmer, in the Uruzgan Province in May, 2012.

#28 - Part 29

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 1

>>18444244 Indigenous voice risks perpetuating a long history of failure - "If we want to make a difference in the lives of our most marginalised, we have to begin by putting a stop to treating Aboriginal Australians differently. The structures that have existed and failed, despite the billions of dollars of investment, are systems that have been built on the ideological premise that Aboriginal Australians are to be treated differently and separately and are inherently disadvantaged as a result of racial heritage. Constitutionally enshrining the very voices that exist within the structures that perpetuate the ideological notion that Aboriginal Australians are inherently disadvantaged, is constitutionally enshrining failure." - Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Country Liberal Party senator for the Northern Territory - theaustralian.com.au

>>18444251 Video: The Voice. Who Will Qualify? WARNING:- Do not ask questions about who will qualify for the aboriginal voice to Parliament because those questions might be labeled “borderline racist”. That’s the message from the Albanese Labor government. How can Australians have any confidence in this overtly politicised process? - Senator Alex Antic

>>18460516 Support for Indigenous voice to parliament stalls amid uncertainty: Newspoll, March 7 2023 - Support for an Indigenous voice is slipping, with the near universal backing among younger voters and Labor supporters falling since February, amid debate over whether it should be able to advise the executive government as well as parliament.

>>18460537 Peter Dutton ‘pissing in our pockets’ on voice, member of working group says - A member of the Albanese government’s referendum working group has accused Peter Dutton of “pissing in our pockets” and being “extremely disingenuous” in his dealings on the Indigenous voice to parliament, after the Coalition opposed the referendum machinery provisions. Marcus Stewart, who was also a member of the Indigenous voice co-design groups under the Morrison government and a Nira illim bulluk man, told The Australian: “Australians woke up to the worst kept secret in politics, the opposition will be voting No.”

>>18466623 Ken Wyatt warns Anthony Albanese to change tack on the voice and provide more detail - Ken Wyatt, a key adviser to the government on an Indigenous voice to parliament, has issued a stark warning to Anthony Albanese to change tack and spell out fundamental details on the advisory body as concerns mount the Yes campaign is “losing ground”. The intervention from Mr Wyatt, the first Aboriginal cabinet minister and an Indigenous Australians minister in the Morrison government, follows the latest Newspoll that revealed support for the voice had fallen from 56 per cent at the start of the year to 53 per cent, with more Australians unsure how they would vote at the referendum.

>>18466641 ‘Donate your white corpse to atone for colonial sins’ - Palawa (Tasmanian Indigenous) artist Nathan Maynard is seeking an Australian of British descent to donate their body for an artwork to atone for sins against his people – and challenge “virtue-signalling” whitefellas. “Potential applicants should see this opportunity as an honour. The body and the memory of the successful applicant will be treated with the utmost respect at all stages of the project.” “There’s so much tokenism around at the moment. Virtue-signalling is really a trend. It’s trendy to act like you’re on Aboriginal Australians’ side, you’re friends with First Nations people around the world and you want to fight for their cause. “But I do suspect a lot of that is for people’s own benefit. They might not put their body on the line for an art installation, but what are they physically prepared to do? Are they prepared to come and march on the streets with us for invasion day? Are they prepared to fight alongside us for more land, for a treaty?”

>>18472681 Indigenous voice referendum working group prepare final advice on poll question and proposed constitutional amendment - Indigenous leaders will lock in ­behind a voice with the power to advise both government and parliament as they prepare to hand the Albanese government their final advice for constitutional changes next week. The 21-member referendum working group will on Thursday enter the last stages of its work on the wording of the referendum question and the proposed amendment, ahead of its final meeting in Adelaide before Labor introduces the voice referendum bill at the end of the month.

#28 - Part 30

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 2

>>18472703 Time to dump flawed Indigenous voice model - "The slide in support for the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament has given Anthony Albanese little option but to accept that the plan he unveiled at last July’s Garma festival is a dud. Despite the Prime Minister’s best efforts, the Garma provision has failed to capitalise on goodwill towards Indigenous people and is a force for discord." - Chris Merritt, vice-president of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia.

>>18478798 Mark Dreyfus’s attempts to water down Indigenous voice to parliament’s ‘executive government’ powers rejected - Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who tried to water down the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament’s power to advise the executive government, has been rebuked by Aboriginal leaders in the government’s own referendum working group. Critics of the executive government clause argue it should be removed to limit the scope for legal challenges. Sources told The Australian Mr Dreyfus put a different proposal to the group on Thursday but it was knocked back. “The Attorney-General over-reached and the group rejected his proposal,” one source at the meeting said. “There’s a growing frustration among a significant number of referendum working group members on the presentation of advice (by government) and not being provided timely advice. Information has been continually presented to the group at the last minute without enough time for it to be fully considered.”

>>18478807 Coalition calls for legal advice on Indigenous voice to be make public - The Coalition has called for the public release of the legal advice on the Indigenous voice to parliament that prompted the Albanese government to seek to water down the referendum proposal by removing the need for executive government to advise on new laws.

>>18491371 Top silk Brett Walker rebuked over ‘offensive’ voice defence by barrister Louise Clegg - A prominent Sydney barrister has issued a stinging rebuke to Bret Walker, after the senior silk accused critics of the current voice model of being racists, labelling his comments “grotesque and offensive”. Walker, one of Australia’s most distinguished barristers, said that some lawyers who have raised concerns about the likely power and influence of a constitutionally entrenched indigenous advisory body were “racist”. Barrister Louise Clegg has written to NSW Bar Association president Gabrielle Bashir calling for the professional body to publicly reprimand Mr Walker for his comments.

>>18496959 Wording of Constitutional change to enshrine Indigenous Voice to be revealed - Australians are about to find out how the Constitution would be changed to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to parliament. But Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is remaining tight-lipped on the wording of the draft amendment, refusing to confirm speculation it could be altered to win over the federal Liberal Party and other conservatives.

>>18496978 Indigenous voice to parliament: maybe we need to start debate over - "Is this what the legal profession has sunk to? The Bar, the institution that brought us the cab-rank rule to ensure even unpopular defendants and causes can get the best defence reasonably available – the profession that has championed free speech, rational debate and individual freedom – now sees its leaders use their platforms to demean those with different legal views." - Janet Albrechtsen - theaustralian.com.au

>>18497000 Queensland activist Wayne Wharton targets Albanese in campaign to quash the voice - Anthony Albanese has been targeted by one of Queensland’s veteran Aboriginal activists, Wayne Wharton, who spent the weekend campaigning against the voice across the Prime Minister’s Sydney seat. Mr Wharton, a member of the Sovereign Embassies Working Group, warned the voice in its current form would take away self-determination by giving power to a panel of “cherrypicked black­fellas”. Banners proclaiming “F.ck your voice, it’s not ours” hung behind the group as its members met people at markets and shops.

>>18497034 Michelle Landry on why she will be voting against the Voice - A Central Queensland MP opposing the Indigenous Voice to parliament says there’s already enough representation and the solution lies in giving Indigenous peoples “something to get out of bed for”. Capricorn MP Michelle Landry is holding firm to the Nationals’ party line in saying no to the Voice, but this is the first time she has individually outlined her reasons for doing so.

#28 - Part 31

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 3

>>18497072 Marcia Langton attacks ‘relentless scare campaign’ waged by opponents of Indigenous voice - Prof Marcia Langton, one of the most experienced members of the Indigenous voice to parliament working group, has launched an attack on the “relentless scare campaign” waged by opponents and called on the government to “reassure” voters by endorsing the voice co-design report. Langton has called on the Albanese government to endorse the report as the basis for post-referendum parliamentary processes and public consultations. The report lays out in detail how a national voice model would operate.

>>18504880 History shows No vote on Indigenous voice will win, says referendums expert- A world-leading expert on referendums says that regardless of the wording of the constitutional amendment on the Indigenous voice to parliament, Australians will vote No when the question is put to them later this year. Matt Qvortrup, a constitutional law expert who predicted the outcome of referendums such as Brexit, said he doubted the legal ramifications dominating the debate around the voice would decide people’s vote. Professor Qvortrup, a visiting professor at the Australian National University, said legal questions including the inclusion of executive government in the amendment would largely be seen as “an elite issue” by voters. He raised the fact the referendum would be compulsory as something that would encourage more people to vote No.

>>18517082 Benefits of the voice will far outweigh risks - "The proposed amendment to the Constitution to provide for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to parliament and the executive offers the opportunity for great benefits. The first of these is the recognition of our First Peoples in our national Constitution. Their recognition, which the creation of the voice will establish, is not recognition of a race. It is recognition of their special historical status as the first occupiers of our continent. They are the bearers of its first great history stretching back tens of thousands of years. They are also the bearers of a rich culture expressed in dreaming stories, art, song and ceremony of which all Australians can be proud. The second benefit is the creation of a constitutionally supported means of communicating to parliament and the executive advice based on the experience and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia. The inadequacy of our laws and practices to respond to the immense social justice challenge posed by acute inequity at many levels of a significant number of Indigenous peoples poses a national challenge. The voice is intended to bring together those experiences and perspectives to try to influence change in our laws and practices for the better. That is not just a benefit for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is a benefit to the whole of the Australian people." - Robert French, 12th Chief Justice of Australia from 2008 to 2017 - theaustralian.com.au

>>18524003 Watering down draft demeans spirit of the voice - "The government should not weaken the voice drafting to appease exaggerated concerns. The Attorney-General’s suggested change would short-change Indigenous people and invite future bad faith efforts to undermine the voice." - Shireen Morris, director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie University Law School - theaustralian.com.au

>>18524027 Latest voice tinkering opens door to litigation - "A few short months ago the government unveiled a plan for a race-based institution that would not necessarily be elected and would have a limitless mandate to advise on all laws and policies – not just those that concern Indigenous affairs. And if its advice were not considered, it could litigate. The very real complication of setting up the voice to second guess decisions made by the federal executive – ministers and public servants – has serious consequences for governance and the law itself. The government needs to revisit this mess and make a decision: does it want the voice to be an adviser to parliament, or does it want it to drag ministers and public servants into court?" - Chris Merritt, vice-president of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia - theaustralian.com.au

>>18537964 So, whose voice is it anyway? "There has been a distinct sleight of hand here in the development of the voice model. Originally, it was a conservative product designed precisely to avoid judicial activism. But over the past year, groups of mainly Indigenous activists have worked to transform the model into precisely the opposite. They want a hamstrung executive. They desire High Court challenges." - Greg Craven, constitutional lawyer and a member of the government’s constitutional expert group - theaustralian.com.au

#28 - Part 32

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 4

>>18537994 Quietly and behind closed doors, Labor alters its voice draft - "The Albanese government has changed its position on the Indigenous voice to parliament and executive government – the proposed wording for the referendum to be held this year is now different. This momentous shift on the eve of the parliamentary sittings in which the final preparations and political commitments for the national vote will be decided has occurred based on secret advice, meetings behind closed doors, the extraordinary involvement of the Solicitor-General in private briefings, fears of constitutional overreach, findings of practically unworkable implementation, without any public declaration, certainly no public debate and utterly no public information from the government." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18557993 Jacinta Price, Warren Mundine fire Voice warning shot to Albanese - Nationals senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has warned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese not to expect First Nations people to vote “yes” on the Voice to parliament referendum. Senator Nampijinpa Price and Warren Mundine, both leaders of official “no” campaigns, spent Wednesday morning in Parliament House, speaking to Indigenous community representatives from across the country. They said Aboriginal people did not want to be divided or segregated, as they say the Voice threatened to do.

>>18558012 Dismissing voice sceptics as ‘racist’ demeans debate - "I think there are very good reasons for opposing the constitutional amendment proposal. We have next to no detail. It will constitutionalise this body and thereby bring in the top judges who, in the name of interpreting the Constitution, will have the power to trump the elected parliament. We have seen that our top judges have become more and more inclined towards judicial usurpation or judicial activism, call it what you will." - James Allan, Garrick professor of law at the University of Queensland - theaustralian.com.au

>>18558047 Voters in the dark over shambolic voice referendum - "Australia is embarking on an enormous defence expenditure commitment, which will require clear direction from the cabinet and the government over coming decades on financial and other matters. There is clear risk that the referendum wording will severely disrupt the working of government (no matter which party is in power) and its ability to manage the nation. One interpretation of the current proposed constitutional change wording is that the country will become almost ungovernable, with severe consequences for the standard living of all people. The issue has moved far beyond the question of proper recognition of the role of our First Nations people in our history." - Robert Gottliebsen - theaustralian.com.au

>>18558060 PM risks disaster in sliding doors moment - "The Indigenous voice to parliament demands bipartisan support to pass, but Anthony Albanese has walked into a no-man’s land between voice absolutists and the voting public. This confrontation is just the beginning of his problems, as the PM’s leadership approaches a seminal moment less than a year after his election." - Cameron Milner - theaustralian.com.au

>>18558071 Anthony Albanese and Indigenous voice to parliament enter critical 10 days - "The next 10 days could decide the fate of an Indigenous voice to parliament and government, as well as Anthony Albanese’s credibility and prime ministerial authority. The Prime Minister’s tone and emphasis, if not intent, are ­changing under the pressing reality of conflict and conundrums inherent in the proposal for a voice to parliament and executive government." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18558076 Labor and the Coalition strike deal on management of Voice to Parliament referendum - The federal government has struck a deal with the Coalition on legislation setting out how this year's referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament will be managed. Labor has made a concession in allowing an official pamphlet to be distributed across the country, outlining the respective yes and no cases. But it has not agreed to the Coalition's demands for equal Commonwealth funding for both sides of the debate.

>>18564783 Video: ‘Very long time in the making’: Albanese reveals Voice referendum wording - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered an emotional plea for Australians to support the Voice to parliament, repeatedly fighting back tears as he announced the wording of the historic referendum question that will be put to the public later this year.

>>18564792 Indigenous voice to parliament: how it will work - From its design to its ability to advise executive government, intervention powers and who will be a member, all your questions answered.

#28 - Part 33

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 5

>>18564808 OPINION: The Voice can’t wait: A prime minister wavers between hope and dread - "It was possible to hear in Anthony Albanese’s faltering voice the burden of his mission: a mixture of hope for success and dread of failure. “This is a risk, having a referendum,” he said. “Usually, they don’t succeed.” And there it was. The dread: the knowledge of the 44 referendums proposing constitutional change put to Australian electors since Federation, and only eight of them approved." - Tony Wright, Associate Editor - theage.com.au

>>18564820 Anthony Albanese lights a fire for critics of the voice to parliament - Anthony Albanese has committed his government to going “all in” on the Indigenous voice to parliament and executive government, given the Indigenous working group all it has asked and rejected the Solicitor-General’s advice to limit the power of the voice over commonwealth government and public servants. A tearful Prime Minister has appealed in a choking voice for Australians to “own” the change which he has proposed and declared there are no circumstances in which the referendum will not be put to the people.

>>18564829 ‘Not racist’: Barnaby Joyce erupts over Voice to Parliament after question revealed - A fired up Barnaby Joyce has slammed the Voice to Parliament, urging Australians to vote no in a stunning display. The former Nationals leader issued a dramatic statement in which he accused the government of being “belligerent” by not releasing the further detail about the body. “I say they don‘t trust you. If they don’t trust you to (release the detail), do not trust them with your vote,” he said. “It is not racist to vote no.”

>>18564833 Voice question ‘far worse’ than feared: constitutional law expert Greg Craven - Prominent constitutional law expert Greg Craven has warned that the proposed question on the Indigenous voice to parliament is “far worse than I had contemplated the worst position being”. Professor Craven, a member of the government’s constitutional law working group, said the wording for the referendum released by Anthony Albanese “takes the problems that people have identified with the preceding drafting and multiplies it”. Professor Craven said the problem with including executive government is it captures the “whole of the decision making of the Commonwealth government” and could potentially impact decision-making on national security, defence and foreign affairs.

>>18571385 Emotional Anthony Albanese takes ownership of voice campaign and stakes leadership authority on result - "Anthony Albanese has now staked the authority of his leadership and that of the government on the outcome of the voice referendum. His emotional appeal for people to support the Yes campaign has ­ensured this. Having spent much of his address on Thursday fighting back tears, Albanese signalled to voters that he is now personally and emotionally invested in the ­outcome." - Simon Benson - theaustralian.com.au

>>18571439 Anthony Albanese says Peter Dutton ‘playing games’ over Voice details - Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “playing games” over the Voice. - “We know from a republic playbook that occurred last century that it is nothing more than a tactic, and it lacks genuineness to just continue to say, ‘Oh, we don’t have the detail’,” Mr Albanese said in a press conference on Friday. “No matter how much detail is put out, Peter Dutton will say, ‘Oh, what about more detail?’ That’s the game that’s being played here.”

>>18571458 Indigenous voice to parliament referendum: Sweeping power politics at play - "The Indigenous voice to parliament does not exist and yet it has already had a massive victory in entrenching its ability to intervene in advance, without limit, in any commonwealth decision. Indigenous leaders have trumped the government’s legal advice, steamrolled cabinet and entrenched the voice’s power and scope of intervention with the wording and principles for the referendum." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18571483 PM’s passion lights path towards true change - "For too long government has assumed a deep and entrenched Aboriginal incapacity. We have, as the Prime Minister said, a historic opportunity to change this country and embrace within our nation’s constitutional fabric the oldest continuing culture on earth." - Ben Wyatt, former treasurer and Aboriginal affairs minister in Western Australia - theaustralian.com.au

#28 - Part 34

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 6

>>18571508 Voice ‘radicals’ land fatal blow to referendum hopes - "Anthony Albanese’s much-hyped revelation of his constitutional words for the voice is not a triumph of negotiation and conciliation. It is a ruthless con job. It is aimed at the Australian people as a whole and an adoring media barely literate in constitutional reality. It puts the final bullet through the head of the referendum." - Greg Craven, constitutional lawyer and member of the government’s constitutional expert group - theaustralian.com.au

>>18571535 Wording aside, the voice will end in tears - "With many voters demanding more information about the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament, its supporters have become increasingly irritated. But the proposition that the electorate has a right to know exactly what it is being asked to endorse is utterly unimpeachable. And the Prime Minister’s decision to largely retain the referendum question’s original wording, despite the far-reaching problems it could create, only makes transparency and complete disclosure of the potential implications even more critical." - Henry Ergas - theaustralian.com.au

>>18571624 The tragedy is Indigenous voice plan is wrong in practice and wrong in principle - "What we have just witnessed in Canberra is a masterclass on how to cripple the cause of constitutional recognition of Indigenous people. The government has signed up to a plan that is so extreme and unworkable it will galvanise the No case by ignoring the problems that have come to light since a preliminary version was unveiled last July. Instead of fixing those problems in order to split the No vote, the government of Anthony Albanese has appeased the extremists within its own Indigenous working group on the referendum. Instead of standing up for the egalitarian principles of modern Australian democracy, the government has adopted a proposal that would entrench racial privilege by exposing ministers and public servants to the risk of legal liability." - Chris Merritt, vice-president of the Rule of Law Institute of Australia - theaustralian.com.au

>>18577132 Albanese’s flawed voice fails the test - "The Australian tragedy of 2023 is about to unfold. In the most important decision of his prime ministership and of his career, Anthony Albanese has finalised his proposed constitutional referendum for an Indigenous voice declaring his mission is to change this country. It is a tragedy because the Australian Constitution needs to recognise the Indigenous people and what they rightly call the “torment of our powerlessness”, yet the Albanese cabinet decision is an extraordinary and flawed model devoid of bipartisanship or any effort to achieve it." - Paul Kelly - theaustralian.com.au

>>18582951 Defiant PM’s all-in gamble on voice - "Two days after warning his Labor colleagues in Canberra that no referendum in Australia had been passed without bipartisan support, Anthony Albanese released words and principles for the referendum on the Indigenous voice that virtually ensure there will be no bipartisanship. The Prime Minister’s acceptance of the Indigenous working group’s rejection of the Solicitor-General’s advice aimed at limiting the intervention of the voice on the day-to-day working of government has all but guaranteed Liberal Party opposition to the referendum." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18582967 Former judge fears members of proposed voice beyond watchdog eyes - The Albanese government may need to amend National Anti-Corruption Commission legislation to ensure members of the proposed voice to parliament are captured under the watchdog, former NSW Court of Appeal judge Anthony Whealy has warned. The Centre for Public Integrity chair said he was “puzzled” as to how the voice advisory body would be subject to the existing scope of the NACC working mechanism.

>>18588261 Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott says vote ‘no’ to a voice to parliament that divides us - "Getting Indigenous kids to school, Indigenous adults to work and keeping Indigenous communities safe are more important than a form of recognition that would turn out to be both divisive and counter-productive. I’d prefer to avoid the moral scorn that will be directed at all voice critics. But in the absence of an 11th-hour prime ministerial change of heart, it’s absolutely necessary that Australia vote no." - Tony Abbott, 28th prime minister of Australia (2013-15) - theaustralian.com.au

>>18588282 Voice could make representations to governor-general, says Mark Dreyfus - Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the Indigenous voice will be able to make representations to the governor-general of the day “insofar as it’s ever relevant” but it’ll focus its attention on “things which matter most”, like health and education.

#28 - Part 35

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 7

>>18588288 Anthony Albanese, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus issue contradiction on voice powers - As the government seeks to explain and defend the proposed Indigenous voice to parliament and executive government, confusion over how it works and what powers it will have is growing, as Anthony Albanese and Mark Dreyfus contradict each other. Dreyfus agreed tax, welfare and foreign policy would be included in the remit of the voice, although this may moderate over time. Albanese declared it wasn’t about defence or foreign policy and would be restricted to issues that “directly affect” indigenous Australians.

>>18588296 Dreyfus admits High Court challenges to parliament a possibility - Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has conceded the voice to parliament and the executive will have the power to challenge government decisions in the High Court if it believes it has not been properly advised. The concession came as constitutional expert and voice proponent Frank Brennan prayed for a “Lazarus-style miracle” in his Sunday sermon, decrying the lack of process, transparency and public participation in the development of the proposed constitutional amendment.

>>18588307 Neil Mitchell blasts media, former ABC host Jon Faine over ‘urban white’ voice criticism - Broadcaster Neil Mitchell has lashed out at the Melbourne media after they openly cheered on a speech made by former ABC radio host Jon Faine in which he urged them to support the voice. Mitchell took to the airwaves on Monday morning to voice his concerns about the reaction to the speech after the former Melbourne morning radio presenter – who was once his on-air rival – criticised “urban white” commentators for weighing into the debate on the voice.

>>18594045 Climate policy in Anthony Albanese’s push for Indigenous voice to parliament - The Greens have upheld the need for the voice to provide advice on policies such as the safeguard mechanism in a rebuke to Anthony Albanese, arguing the climate policy, and the coal and gas projects it could affect, directly impacts upon Indigenous Australians. Greens First Nations and resources spokeswoman Dorinda Cox said she was “deeply disappointed” by the Prime Minister’s comments on Monday dismissing the prospect of the voice making representations to the government or the Greens on the safeguard mechanism.

>>18594063 Libs need values not ‘tactics’ for voice clash - "If Australia votes Yes to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the Constitution it will be the most radical, and damaging, change to our Constitution we’ve ever made. It will enshrine one single message, and supporting mechanism, permanently into our national life – that Australians are forever divided by race." - Greg Sheridan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18600106 Noel Pearson’s pain over Liberal strategy on Indigenous voice - Indigenous leader Noel Pearson says he is “heartbroken” by the behaviour of opposition legal ­affairs spokesman Julian Leeser and his criticism of the voice.

>>18600110 Albanese slams voice ‘scare campaign’ - Anthony Albanese has slammed the “noise” and search for “every nuance” in the wording of the Indigenous voice to parliament, which he says is nothing but a “scare campaign”.

>>18600117 Anthony Albanese must cultivate coherence and party cohesion on Indigenous voice - "Labor has got off to a bad and confusing start in the Yes campaign after releasing the words and principles for the referendum in a debate that could stretch for months. Albanese is getting caught between opponents to the referendum fearful of a wide-ranging new layer of bureaucracy reaching into day-to-day government and voice proponents demanding an all-encompassing power to intervene in all policy." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18600124 Anthony Albanese refines his message on the voice, but contradictions remain - "The nub of Albanese’s refined argument is that: the proposal is not radical, “it’s a modest and conservative” plan; parliament will have “primacy” and determine “essentially the operation” of the voice; the media needs to support the referendum; that it’s “pretty close” to what now Shadow Attorney-General, Julian Leeser, proposed seven years ago and; critics of the proposed words are “scare mongering” and playing word games." - Dennis Shanahan - theaustralian.com.au

#28 - Part 36

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 8

>>18600135 Voice activists, not lawyers, behind dishonest debate - "Asked about the voice’s reach over energy projects, Albanese rebuked the reporter, saying it applies only to matters that “directly” affect Indigenous people. That is false. Indigenous activists have ensured the wording does not limit the voice to matters that “directly” affect Indigenous people. The new Indigenous-only bureaucracy will have sweeping constitutional powers to make representations over just about every policy or decision that may affect Indigenous people in any way. The Constitutional Expert Group comprising nine legal experts – and chaired by the A-G – claims the voice will not give Indigenous people special rights. That is wrong. Only the members of the voice and its Indigenous constituency will have a constitutional right to influence parliament, government and the public service." - Janet Albrechtsen - theaustralian.com.au

>>18600210 Collingwood aboard for the Yes campaign on Indigenous voice - The Collingwood Football Club board says enshrining an Indigenous voice in the Constitution is the right thing to do, two years since the release of an ­independent review that ­described the AFL club’s history of racism as “distinct and egregious” and demanded change from its leaders. Collingwood announced the board decision to back the Indigenous advisory body on Wednesday as the boards of other clubs in the AFL and NRL prepare to declare formal positions on the voice referendum in coming days and weeks. The Australian has been told the boards of many clubs in national codes will endorse the Yes campaign.

>>18606770 Anthony Albanese at odds with experts over Indigenous voice to parliament - Anthony Albanese’s public assurance that parliament will control what matters the voice can consider has been challenged by the nation’s top constitutional law ­experts, who say the scope of the advisory body cannot be restricted by politicians. Constitutional law experts Anne Twomey and George Wil­liams said the amendment’s second clause, which gives the voice power to “make representations to the parliament and the executive government of the commonwealth on matters relating to ­Aboriginal and Torres Strait ­Islander peoples”, ensured what it considered and advised on was out of reach of the parliament.

>>18606778 Voting No to Indigenous voice to parliament doesn’t mean you reject human rights - "My message is simple. You can believe passionately in human rights, equality and the importance of reconciliation and decide – based on your belief in the importance of those principles – to vote No. A constitutional referendum is always an occasion of significance. During the coming months I would encourage all Australians to think carefully about this proposal and what it will mean. But, even more important, I would encourage all Australians to ensure that our conversations about the voice are conducted in good faith and that different views are respected. Every Australian must be free to make up their own mind about voting Yes or No." - Lorraine Finlay, Human Rights Commissioner - theaustralian.com.au

>>18606799 Indigenous voice to parliament drafting debate fuelled by ‘shallow tribalism’ and fear - "The government’s recent drafting change has perfected the Indigenous voice to parliament amendment. There is now neat reciprocity in the change to clause three, strengthening parliament’s power and answering concerns about High Court uncertainty. The voice has broad discretion to advise on matters relating to Indigenous people, and parliament has broad discretion to legislate on matters relating to the voice. This is balanced. Such reciprocity can underpin mutual responsibility, creating a new partnership to achieve better practical outcomes." - Shireen Morris, director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie Law School - theaustralian.com.au

>>18606813 Video: Bill to trigger Voice referendum introduced to parliament - A bill that would trigger the referendum on whether to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament has been introduced into the lower house. Introducing the bill, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said it would rectify a fundamental wrong in the constitution. Mr Dreyfus said that until the constitution recognised First Nations people, Australia was a "nation missing its heart".

>>18606824 Voice bill ‘takes Australia one step closer to making history’ - Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney has declared the introduction of the Constitution Alteration Bill takes the country “one step closer to making history”, as she hit out at “doubters” and “wreckers” she said want to hold the country back.

#28 - Part 37

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 9

>>18613099 Indigenous voice to parliament referendum rewrite is a tragedy in the making - "Albanese just cannot get the voice’s scope right. He is forever saying that this or that decision would never be covered and would be up to parliament. So far, he has exempted Reserve Bank decisions on interest rates, decisions on national security, and carbon guarantees. But he is irretrievably wrong. The voice covers all executive action. Each of these is an executive act. Consequently, they would attract voice representations. End of lesson." - Emeritus professor Greg Craven, constitutional lawyer - theaustralian.com.au

>>18613135 Historic Indigenous voice to parliament bill recognises wounds of our past - "A week ago, when Anthony Albanese announced the words that are now written into this bill, I referred to the tyranny of our dispossession, the denial of our existence by those who wanted to assert supremacy and control our lives while ignoring our concerns and pleas for justice. A voice will rectify this denial. At long last the nation will face up to the lie of terra nullius and recognise that past policies have been detrimental to our collective advancement. I have given much of my life to the cause of reconciliation and recognition in the hope of a better Australia than the experience of my grandparents. I have said before, I am an old man in Aboriginal years. I continue to have faith in the good-heartedness of Australians to carry this referendum. Failure is too much to contemplate because another opportunity to recast this nation would disappear, and the great Australian silence would be maintained." - Senator Pat Dodson, Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart - theaustralian.com.au

>>18613154 Who is running the Voice to Parliament No campaigns? With the referendum only months away, campaigning on both sides for an Indigenous Voice to parliament is well underway. The No campaign is being run by multiple groups with different perspectives on why they oppose an Indigenous Voice to parliament, none of which have held formal launches yet. Each of the groups have common ground in the campaign and specific points of difference about why they don't want to enshrine an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the constitution.

>>18625626 For battlers, food prices matter more than voice to parliament - "Amid the toughest cost-of-living squeeze in a generation, the public is being asked to vote for something many of them don’t understand and that they also suspect may be unwieldy and expensive. It is seen as something that has no bearing on their day-to-day lives. Yet it is receiving an inordinate amount of attention from politicians across the divide – politicians who voters believe in the current climate should be wholly focused on tackling day-to-day cost-of-living issues. When we play grabs of Anthony Albanese talking about the voice in question time, listeners want to know how his promise to cut $275 from our power bills is coming along. I wonder also whether the sight of Albanese choking back tears as he announced the voice model helped or hindered the cause. I base that on texts from listeners saying they can’t remember the Prime Minister crying when they got their last power bill from AGL." - David Penberthy, South Australia correspondent and co-host of Adelaide’s FiveAA Breakfast Show - theaustralian.com.au

>>18631292 ‘Rushed’ Voice referendum timetable risks social harmony: Coalition - The Voice to parliament referendum should put off to another year, says the Coalition’s spokesman for Indigenous affairs, as the Liberal party calls a snap meeting this week to discuss their position on the proposed constitutional reform. Julian Leeser told the National Press Club on Monday that the national vote, due to take place in the latter part of 2023, was programmed to an “artificial timetable” created by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the nation should revert to a slower, years-long approach to recognition of indigenous Australians in the constitution.

#28 - Part 38

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 10

>>18637950 Julian Leeser hands Peter Dutton a way forward on Indigenous voice to parliament - Julian Leeser has provided Peter Dutton with a key opportunity to support the principle of the voice and avoid locking the Liberals into a purely negative position on the referendum. It is a potential breakthrough for the Opposition following the devastation of the Aston by-election defeat, and would also give Anthony Albanese the option of forging a stronger consensus on the voice – although he is unlikely to take it. Leeser’s proposal would simplify the Prime Minister’s constitutional amendment, limit the risk of High Court challenges and give the parliament even greater control over the voice.

>>18637967 Symbolic intent not enough to change nation’s rule book - "In the Constitution, every word, comma, and even capitals matter. The beauty and strength of our Constitution is that it is a mechanical, sparse rule book for the nation. And symbolic statements made with the best of intent, leave room for clever lawyers to egg on an activist judiciary to imply all sorts of things that were never intended. To argue for changes to the government’s amendment does not mean you oppose the voice, it means you want to ensure it doesn’t detract from a system of government that is world best. If the parliament has the power to establish the voice, and define its powers, why does the power to make representations need to be in the Constitution? I believe this clause will be at the centre of the No case. The constitutional alteration can work without it." - Julian Leeser, opposition Indigenous Affairs spokesman - theaustralian.com.au

>>18644256 Liberal Party to oppose Voice to parliament - The Liberal Party will formally oppose the government’s model for a Voice to parliament. After a two-hour meeting in Canberra on Wednesday the opposition instead voted to support legislated, rather than constitutionally enshrined, local and regional voices. The party will support constitutional recognition of Indigenous people in the Constitution, but not via the creation of a Voice. “The Liberal Party resolved today to say yes to constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians, yes to a local and regional body, so we can get practical outcomes for Indigenous people on the ground [but] there was a resounding no to the prime minister’s Voice,” Mr Dutton told a press conference in Canberra.

>>18644263 Video: Liberals to oppose Indigenous voice referendum, will 'actively' campaign against it - Peter Dutton says the Liberal party will push for local and regional voices set up by parliamentary legislation but will oppose the Indigenous voice referendum. 'The Liberal party resolved today to say yes to constitutional recognition for Indigenous Australians, yes to a local and regional body, so we can get practical outcomes for Indigenous people on the ground … there was a resounding no to the prime minister’s voice,' Dutton said. Backbenchers will not be compelled to oppose the voice, with Liberal rules allowing backbenchers a conscience vote on all issues – but the frontbench, including the longtime voice supporter Julian Leeser, will be obligated to follow the party line.

>>18650495 Liberal party’s rejection of the Indigenous voice to parliament will force Anthony Albanese to make history - Opposition leader Peter Dutton will actively campaign against the Indigenous voice to parliament ahead of the referendum and has bound his frontbench to reject Anthony Albanese’s proposed model, prompting the Prime Minister to concede a Yes victory has been made more difficult. No referendum has succeeded in Australia without bipartisan support.

>>18650524 Albanese admits Dutton’s ‘resounding no’ a blow to Voice referendum - The campaign for an Indigenous Voice to parliament has suffered a major blow after federal Liberals backed a “resounding no” to the proposal and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton vowed to campaign against the change at a referendum later this year. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese conceded the Liberal Party decision would put the case for the Voice at risk of defeat, as Indigenous leaders warned the outcome would damage the attempt to improve the lives of First Australians.

#28 - Part 39

Indigenous Voice To Parliament Referendum - Part 11

>>18650626 Liberal leaders refuse to join Dutton’s ‘no’ campaign on voice - The highest-ranking Liberal in office, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff, says he will campaign “vigorously” for a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament as state Liberal leaders refuse to join Peter Dutton’s No campaign. Two state Liberal leaders will support the Yes campaign ahead of the national referendum, two say they have an “open mind” about the voice and none has declared support for the federal Opposition Leader’s position.

>>18650639 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should lament bipartisan fail on the Indigenous voice parliament - "Newspoll was sobering reading for hardheads who want to see a voice to parliament, not just bear witness to the Prime Minister’s approach of crash or crash through. It revealed support far below that for marriage equality and nowhere near the level of the 1967 referendum to give First Nations people the vote. The reality is those saying they are undecided are more than likely No voters who prefer not be called racists. Newspoll showed Albanese’s voice is already lost in Queensland and is on life support in Western Australia. Sure, Victoria is holding strong, but the reality is Tasmania is the swing state in this referendum, the only state with a Liberal government." - Cameron Milner - theaustralian.com.au

>>18650675 ‘The decision was tough’: Former Indigenous minister Ken Wyatt quits Liberals in Voice protest - Former Coalition Indigenous affairs minister Ken Wyatt has quit the Liberal Party to protest against its rejection of the Voice to parliament. The resignation of the senior Liberal figure, the first Indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives, has underscored anxieties within the party over the way Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s alternative model, which would to symbolically recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution without a Voice advisory body, was pushed through following Saturday’s Aston byelection defeat.

>>18659974 Indigenous voice to parliament to change democracy, warns Peter Dutton - Peter Dutton says Anthony Albanese’s voice to parliament will change Australian democracy, ­require thousands of public servants to be hired and cost billions to “run a new arm of the government” without improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians. The Opposition Leader has launched his political offensive to sink the voice after formally binding his frontbench to the No case and will make any government ­refusal to answer questions on the operation of the proposed advisory body a key feature of his campaign.

>>18660016 Anthony Albanese’s Indigenous voice to parliament an offensive vanity project - "Australians are being asked to change the Constitution in the most significant way since it was created at the time of Federation. However, unlike any time in our history, the Prime Minister of the day is asking people to vote for the voice on the vibe. There has been no constitutional convention – as has occurred in the past – to thrash out the proposal. In fact, the Prime Minister quite proudly says he is not providing the detail Australians are reasonably asking for. And his approach is dividing the nation." - Peter Dutton, federal Liberal leader - theaustralian.com.au

#28 - Part 40

Julian Assange Indictment and Extradition

>>18478838 'Time is running out': PM urged to stand up for Assange - Julian Assange supporters are urging Anthony Albanese to grasp a crucial opportunity to secure his release in a "litmus test" for democracy. A public artwork of Assange and fellow whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning was unveiled in Sydney on Friday. Speaking at the event, former journalist Dean Yates pleaded with the prime minister to lobby on behalf of the detained Australian during an upcoming meeting with Joe Biden and Britain's Rishi Sunak. "Time is running out," he told AAP, arguing the upcoming US election cycle would shatter any chance of a favourable resolution. "There is a growing sense amongst Australians that enough's enough - Albanese said that himself. It's time for him to use his personal relationship with President Biden and bring Julian home."

>>18491402 'Transcends politics': The unlikely group of Australian politicians rallying behind Julian Assange - A cross-section of Australian politicians are calling for Julian Assange's return to Australia. His father John Shipton says he doesn't have hope, but faith, that it will happen.

>>18537874 MP renews call for Assange release on war anniversary - On the 20th anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War, an independent MP has spotlighted the role Julian Assange played in revealing its horrors. Mr Assange is facing espionage charges in the United States and remains in London's Belmarsh prison, held there since 2019 while fighting extradition proceedings. "It's only because of Mr Assange and WikiLeaks that the world knows of some of the shocking war crimes committed by the United States in Iraq, and for the US to be pursuing him the way they are is simply unconscionable."

>>18622326 Australia's new High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, speaks on Julian Assange, AUKUS and climate change - The new high commissioner said Mr Assange's father, John Shipton, who has been a tireless advocate for his son's release, asked him if he would visit the prison where the 51-year-old has been locked up for nearly four years. "His father approached me as the new high commissioner, asking if I would visit him. Through his lawyers, Mr Assange agreed to that visit," Mr Smith said. "We had previously, before my time, made over 40 requests to see Mr Assange for consular purposes. None of those requests were taken up."

>>18644321 High Commissioner Stephen Smith visits Julian Assange in prison as NGO Reporters Without Borders turned away - Australia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith has visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in prison in London. It's the first time Australia's top diplomat in the UK has visited Mr Assange since he was locked up in Belmarsh Prison nearly four years ago. In a dramatic day outside the prison, press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was denied access to Mr Assange. It would have been the first time an NGO had been granted visitation rights to the WikiLeaks publisher inside Belmarsh Prison, but RSF's representatives were turned away at the last moment.

>>18644328 Albanese Albanese ‘encouraged envoy to visit Julian Assange’ - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had encouraged Australia’s envoy Stephen Smith to visit Julian Assange who is being held on remand in Belmarsh jail in London fighting extradition to the United States. Mr Smith, Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom on Tuesday saw Assange, 51, who is appealing a British High Court-approved extradition to the US to face 17 espionage charges and one of computer hacking in relation to the release of hundreds of thousands of US documents and cables in 2010 and 2011.

#28 - Part 41

Australia / China Tensions - Part 1

>>18422759 White House gives federal agencies 30 days to purge TikTok - The White House has given US federal agencies 30 days to purge Chinese-owned video-snippet sharing app TikTok from all government-issued devices, setting a deadline to comply with a ban ordered by the US congress - Owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, TikTok has become a political target due to concerns the globally popular app can be circumvented for spying or propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party.

>>18422963 ‘Stop rehashing the lab leak narrative’: Beijing responds to Department of Energy’s coronavirus origin claims - Beijing has dismissed recent developments that point to COVID-19 leaking from a laboratory, calling for “certain parties” to stop smearing China - China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said the virus should not be used as a political weapon.

>>18422988 Through the looking-glass of Keating policy - "How often has Keating ever criticised Beijing? Did he lend his grandeur to condemning the rape of Hong Kong, the persecution of Uighur Muslims, the imprisonment of human rights lawyers, the imprisonment of Australians on trumped-up charges, the persecution of Christians or of independent trade unionists? Has he ever expressed opposition to Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea? Is he at all worried about Beijing’s massive military build-up, its program to build nuclear weapons faster than any other nation, the continuous cyber attacks on Australia, the relentless efforts to interfere in Western politics as recently revealed by the security agencies of the government of that well-known right-wing extremist, Justin Trudeau, and so on? If Keating really wants to find someone who routinely argues another nation’s case against the Australian strategic mainstream, he need look no further than the mirror." - Greg Sheridan - theaustralian.com.au

>>18427715 ‘Fearing young person’s app’: US-China TikTok clash escalates - China says the United States is overstretching the concept of national security, abusing state power to suppress foreign companies after the White House gave government agencies 30 days to remove Chinese-owned app TikTok on federal devices - “We firmly oppose those wrong actions,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning - “How unsure of itself can the US, the world’s top superpower, be to fear a young person’s favourite app to such a degree?”

>>18427738 National security chiefs focus on TikTok risks - The Australian government is looking to the nation's top security agencies to determine if any actions should be taken against popular social media app TikTok - Treasurer Jim Chalmers says the government and security agencies are aware of the White House's actions, with a new directive giving all US federal agencies 30 days to wipe the app off government devices.

>>18427751 Japan ups military ties with UK and Australia, worsening Asia-Pacific security - Japan's Cabinet on Tuesday approved the previously signed reciprocal access agreements (RAA) with the UK and Australia, signaling Japan's ambition to diversify its defense partnership and expand militarily. - Zhang Han - globaltimes.cn

>>18427776 Former Top Gun pilot refuses to be sent to infamous prison among paedophiles - Daniel Edmund Duggan has been held at the maximum security Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Sydney’s western suburbs since his arrest in October last year - It is alleged he trained Chinese fighter pilots to land fighter jets on aircraft carriers through a flying academy in South Africa between 2010 and 2012 - NSW Corrective Services this week offered to move Mr Duggan to the infamous bone yard at Silverwater Correctional Centre, which is home to paedophiles and other convicted criminals who need to be “protected” from other inmates.

>>18432782 British Air Force Chief details joint efforts with Australia to stop China poaching retired fighter pilots - The visiting head of Britain's Royal Air Force has detailed how he's worked with Australia to prevent former fighter pilots from taking lucrative training jobs with the Chinese military - "We made the decision to go public on this in a very loud, clear way, that it's unacceptable and it's something that we were prepared to call China out [on] publicly," Air Chief Marshal Wigston told the ABC - Last month, the head of ASIO confirmed Australian veterans had been targeted by other nations and hit out at those personnel who had put "cash before country" by working for authoritarian regimes, describing them as "top tools" more than "top guns".

#28 - Part 42

Australia / China Tensions - Part 2

>>18438361 Quad tells China to follow the rules - China has no reason to fear the Quad, say the top diplomats of Japan, Australia, India and the US, so long as Beijing “abides by” international rules - Speaking on a panel with her Quad counterparts at a geopolitics summit held on the sidelines of the G20 in New Delhi on Friday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Quad was a “lighthouse” that “enables choices” for countries in the Indo-Pacific - Japan’s Foreign Minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said China should not feel threatened by the group - “We don’t try to exclude anybody. This is open architecture. So one thing we would like to say is, just abide by the law of international ruling institutions. And as long as China abides by … the international institutions, standards and rules, then this is not a conflicting issue between China and the Quad.”

>>18449420 Daniel Duggan says he faces ‘gross injustice’ if extradited to US in speech from Sydney prison - In a speech from prison, the Australian pilot Daniel Duggan has said he faces a “gross injustice” if extradited to the US and, potentially, a “cruelly long sentence”, warning Australia against acquiescing to the demands of powerful countries - The address, dictated by Duggan from his prison cell to his legal team, and read on his behalf on Saturday night in Sydney, urged his audience to “say no to Australia being a political lackey to any foreign government, as allies can be dangerous too” - “Stand and say no to politically charged extraditions of Australian citizens, who surely face gross injustice and cruelly long sentences if approved – setting a dangerous precedent for future generations of Australians,” he said - Duggan, a former US marine pilot now naturalised Australian, was arrested last October at the request of the US government, which is seeking his extradition on charges of arms trafficking and money laundering, arising from his alleged training of Chinese fighter pilots, more than a decade ago. The allegations have not been tested in court.

>>18454274 TikTok banned by 25 government departments and agencies - Chinese-owned viral video app TikTok has been banned from work-issued devices by 25 federal agencies and departments, including Foreign Affairs and Trade, Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Finance, as an investigation by Home Affairs into social media and what action the government should take nears completion.

>>18454298 Warning improved Australia-China relations not end to cyber interference - China has used the election of a new government to seek to ­improve the perception of Beijing for ordinary Australians, while continuing steady cyber interference behind the scenes, the former head of the powerful US National Security Agency, Mike Rogers, has warned.

>>18460409 Video - China won't ‘automatically’ change cyber behaviour as dialogue with Australia increases - As the dialogue between Australia and China increases, people should not think Beijing will automatically change its cyber behaviour, former US National Security Agency Chief Admiral Michael Rogers warns. “The challenge is how does a strong China integrate itself into the broader global community in which it respects the rule of law as well as the norms of behaviour that we have developed over the last 70 years.” - Sky News Australia

>>18460443 Billions more in military spending won’t be enough to counter China: Morrison - Former prime minister Scott Morrison has argued Australia’s military spending should increase by billions of dollars a year to counter China. Morrison, whose firm stance towards China’s increasing assertiveness in the region led to retaliatory trade strikes and a diplomatic standoff, stated defence spending should grow from just under 2 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent or more.

>>18460470 Australian universities schooling Chinese students in cyber warfare tactics - As universities cash in on partnerships with Chinese institutions to teach information technology courses, industry specialists fear they are “sabotaging’’ efforts to shield Australian banks and infrastructure from offshore cyber attacks.

>>18466704 China invasion forecasts questionable, says Scott Morrison - Scott Morrison says US military timelines about when China might invade Taiwan should be taken “with a grain of salt” as Xi Jinping increasingly encounters a region that is “resisting” Chinese hegemony.

#28 - Part 43

Australia / China Tensions - Part 3

>>18466727 Australian media wages propaganda war against China; Canberra faces an uphill battle in terms of a reset of ties with China: experts - One has to admire China for its forbearance in seeking to maintain the bilateral relationship when Australia has been behaving like a petulant child, experts agreed at an online forum on China-Australia relations held by Global Times on Monday. Global Times - globaltimes.cn

>>18468947 The Perth Mint responds to an ABC Four Corners program on 6 March 2023 which alleged that The Perth Mint could face a potential recall of $9 billion worth of ‘doped’ one-kilogram gold bars from customers in China.

>>18511456 NSW government considers banning TikTok on all public sector devices - The New South Wales government is considering banning public sector employees from using TikTok on work devices, engaging federal cybersecurity agencies for advice amid concerns over the social video app’s links to China. As the federal government considers the security of the app, the NSW electoral commission has confirmed software – including TikTok – is not permitted to be downloaded on to work mobile phones without prior approval.

>>18511493 Rupert Murdoch, Lachlan Murdoch open Murdoch Centre in New York - Rupert Murdoch has invoked a “belligerent China” as a reason for the US and Australia to grow their close relationship as he spoke at the opening of a special centre dedicated to promoting the relationship between the two allies in New York. Alongside his son Lachlan, US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy and Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, Mr Murdoch launched a centre in New York City to promote relations between Australia and the US, funded by grants from News Corp, Fox Corporation and Australian businessman Anthony Pratt, who was also at the event.

>>18517160 US tells TikTok’s Chinese owners sell up or get banned - The Biden administration has demanded that TikTok’s Chinese owners divest their stakes in the popular video app or face a possible US ban, the company says. The move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is the most dramatic in a series of recent steps by US officials and legislators who have raised fears that TikTok’s US user data could be passed on to China’s government. ByteDance-owned TikTok has more than 100 million US users. It is the first time under the administration of President Joe Biden that a potential ban on TikTok has been threatened. Biden’s predecessor, Republican Donald Trump, had tried to ban TikTok in 2020 but was blocked by the courts.

>>18517169 Albanese government watches as Joe Biden moves on TikTok - The Albanese government is watching closely as the Biden administration takes on TikTok, demanding the Chinese social media company sell the app or face a ban in the US. The move comes as Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil awaits a report from her department on the ubiquitous social media service, which analysts warn collects more personal information on users than any comparable app. Liberal Senator James Paterson, who is chairing a select committee inquiry on foreign interference through social media, said the Albanese government needed to ensure that TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance didn’t come up with a fix to US complaints that left Australian users exposed.

>>18524065 Warrant used in raid of alleged Chinese pilot trainer ‘invalid’, court hears - An Australian Federal Police raid on the home of a former fighter pilot who is being investigated for his involvement in the alleged training of the Chinese military should be declared invalid due to the “debilitating ambiguity” of the warrant used, a court has heard. Keith Hartley has lodged a Federal Court filing to seek an order that the warrant used to search his Adelaide home last year be deemed void and an injunction preventing the AFP from “accessing, reviewing, divulging” the seized material.

>>18538123 Video: Former 'Top Gun' pilot accused of helping China moved to Australian maximum security jail - A former US fighter pilot who became an Australian citizen and is accused of helping train Chinese military pilots has been moved to a maximum security prison in New South Wales ahead of his next court appearance. Daniel Duggan, 54, was arrested in October last year near his family home in Orange, in NSW, and was accused of providing military training to pilots working for China. Duggan was moved from Silverwater jail in Sydney to Lithgow maximum security prison. His family and supporters insist he should be granted bail or released into home detention because he does not represent a flight risk.

#28 - Part 44

Australia / China Tensions - Part 4

>>18543933 TikTok shock: ‘You can cough up your sources to the Chinese government in a heartbeat’ - Journalists risk putting their confidential sources and contacts in jeopardy by using TikTok on their devices and should think twice about using the Chinese-owned video app, experts say. Cyber safety expert Susan McLean told The Australian that TikTok was “one of the worst platforms for harvesting data”, saying it allowed a user’s information to be “sent back to China”.

>>18543953 Clare O’Neil handed security review into whether to ban TikTok on government devices - A security review into social media has been handed to Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and is widely expected to recommend a ban on the TikTok app across government devices in line with the US and UK.

>>18544074 Lawyers investigating if fighter pilot Daniel Duggan was 'lured back' to Australia by US authorities - Lawyers for a former US fighter pilot accused of helping train Chinese military counterparts are investigating whether he was "lured" back to Australia by the United States, with cooperation from Australian security agencies, so he could be extradited.

>>18558189 Wife of former Top Gun pilot accused of training Chinese appeals to NSW political leaders - The family of an Australian father accused of training Chinese military pilots and held in a maximum security prison has appealed to New South Wales political leaders ahead of the state election. Daniel Duggan, 54, a former US Marines Corps pilot, was arrested in October last year near his family home in Orange, in NSW, and accused of providing military training to pilots working for China. His wife, Saffrine, today called on all NSW political parties to commit to placing her husband in home detention while he defends the hotly opposed extradition matter and farewells his dying 95-year-old mother, who suffered a stroke in Boston yesterday.

>>18558206 Pilot's family calls on NSW to back home detention bid - The wife of a former United States pilot incarcerated in NSW wants him moved to home detention while he contests extradition and farewells his dying mother. Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, was last week moved from Sydney's Silverwater remand centre to a maximum security prison in Lithgow, predominantly holding sentenced offenders. "Dan is no danger to anyone nor a flight risk, but he is in potential danger in prison with terrorists and other hardened criminals," his wife Saffrine said

>>18564917 OPINION: Taiwan will be ours, but war with Australia is a fallacy - "Taiwan is part of China’s territory. Taiwan has belonged to China since ancient times. Starting from the Song and Yuan dynasties, the imperial central governments of China all set up administrative bodies to exercise jurisdiction over Penghu and Taiwan. National reunification by peaceful means is the first choice of the Chinese government in resolving the Taiwan question, as it best serves the interests of the Chinese nation as a whole, including our compatriots in Taiwan, and it works best for the long-term stability and development of China. We will work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, and create a broad space for peaceful reunification, but we will not leave any room for any form of “Taiwan independence” separatist activities. To guard against external interference and all separatist activities, we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures." - Xiao Qian, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Australia - smh.com.au

>>18565029 Sophisticated surveillance tool’: US regulator calls for Australian TikTok ban - One of the United States’ top technology regulators has urged Australia to ban TikTok in its current form, arguing the wildly popular Chinese-owned app is a sophisticated surveillance tool that poses a uniquely troubling national security threat. The Albanese government will announce a ban on the use of TikTok on government-provided devices this week, a move US Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr described as the “lowest of the low-hanging fruit” when it comes to regulation of the video-sharing app. Carr, one of four members of the federal agency responsible for implementing and enforcing American communications law, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age: “There are more red flags about TikTok than at a Chinese Communist Party parade.”

#28 - Part 45

Australia / China Tensions - Part 5

>>18565062 Former fighter pilot imprisoned in NSW on US extradition request unable to attend mother’s funeral - Daniel Duggan, the Australian pilot fighting an extradition request from the US from prison, will not be able to attend his mother’s funeral, after she died in the US. Duggan’s 95-year-old mother, Anne, suffered a stroke earlier this week, and died overnight Wednesday in Boston. Duggan, currently held in segregation in Lithgow prison, was only able to speak to his mother once briefly after she fell ill, when a family member held a phone to her ear. “Dan is devastated that he is locked in solitary confinement in Lithgow prison and not with his family when his mother fell ill and died,’’ Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan, said.

>>18577172 OPINION: Beware of dangerous disinformation. Taiwan is not part of China - "Writing for this masthead on Thursday, China’s Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian made a series of misleading claims about Taiwan. By twisting history and ignoring key details, the Ambassador told a deceptive story about the world accepting Beijing’s view that Taiwan rightfully belongs to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). China’s control of Taiwan has been shorter and patchier than the ambassador claims. And although past Chinese dynasties like the Ming and Qing exercised incomplete influence and control over Taiwan, the island has never been ruled by the PRC." - Benjamin Herscovitch, International security researcher - theage.com.au

>>18577208 Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews planning imminent China trade trip - Premier Daniel Andrews is planning an imminent trade mission to China. The visit would make him the first Australian politician to visit the country since the signing of the AUKUS defence agreement. Although the state government has kept DFAT informed of its plans, the trip – which could occur within days – will cause some unease in Canberra considering the history of Victoria’s previous Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreements with China, which the former Coalition government cancelled.

>>18577222 Spy watchdog launches inquiry into former ‘Top Gun’ pilot’s arrest - Former top gun pilot Daniel Duggan’s legal team is calling for his immediate release from a NSW prison after they were informed by the nation’s spy watchdog that it had launched a formal inquiry into the events leading up to his arrest. Duggan’s lawyer, Dennis Miralis, said the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) informed him on March 21 that it had launched a formal inquiry which has the standing powers of a royal commission, including the ability to compel witnesses to give evidence and seizing documents.

>>18577228 Lawyers call for pilot's release citing agency probe - Lawyers representing a former United States pilot incarcerated in NSW has called for his immediate release, saying Australia's intelligence watchdog is investigating his case. The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security informed lawyers for Daniel Edmund Duggan it had launched a formal inquiry into the matter, solicitor Dennis Miralis said. It follows a complaint to the watchdog on Duggan's behalf in which his representatives alleged the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation might have been involved in luring the pilot to the country so he could be arrested and ultimately extradited to the US.

>>18583016 Daniel Andrews bans media on China trip - "Why is Victorian Premier Dan Andrews allowing no Australian media on his hurriedly announced trip to China on Monday night? It seems to be a case of Chairman Dan adopting the Chinese government culture of explaining as little as possible to the public. The trip was revealed with the sort of military precision and secrecy the Chinese Communist Party is famous for. The tour was revealed through the Sunday newspapers – little more than 24 hours before Andrews actually jets out. And it was announced without a list of the Chinese officials Andrews plans to meet." - Nick Tabakoff - theaustralian.com.au

>>18583024 China-bound Andrews told to stay in his lane amid call for trip transparency - Daniel Andrews has defended the nature and timing of his surprise visit to China, just weeks after the federal government signed the AUKUS security pact, and while questions remain about the identities of those the Victorian premier will meet on his seventh official visit to the country. Shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham said while every premier was entitled to undertake trade missions, state leaders should “stay in their lanes”. “Premiers should ensure they are briefed, where appropriate, on national security sensitivities,” Birmingham said.

#28 - Part 46

Australia / China Tensions - Part 6

>>18583041 How TikTok went from a popular video app to a matter of national security - The situation began changing last year when a series of articles in BuzzFeed started appearing, revealing that US user data was accessible, and had been accessed by ByteDance employees in China – contrary to what the company had been insisting for years. A month later, similar revelations started surfacing in Australia. In response to a question from the opposition’s cybersecurity spokesman, James Paterson, TikTok Australia confirmed that Australian user data was also accessible in mainland China.

>>18583052 ‘We are not China’: TikTok boss says the app is not a national security threat - TikTok’s Australian boss says the popular app, which faces growing calls to be banned or restricted, is a victim of “fearmongering” about the rise of China and does not pose a national security risk. TikTok Australian general manager Lee Hunter insisted the app’s parent company, Beijing-based ByteDance, has “no ties” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), even though the firm’s editor-in-chief also reportedly serves as its Communist Party committee secretary.

>>18588383 ‘Secret trip’: Dan Tehan demands Daniel Andrews divulge purpose of China visit - Opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan has called on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to outline the purpose of his trip to China. Mr Tehan questioned why universities and other tertiary education institutions were not accompanying the Premier on his trip if his visit was to appeal to more Chinese students. “He should clearly articulate what the purpose is, why he’s going, what are the outcomes he’s seeking to achieve for Victoria, from this secret, secret trip that he’s taking that he will not take any reporters with him on,” he said.

>>18588392 Why the secrecy on your trip to China, Daniel Andrews? - "Daniel Andrews says the key focus of his ‘‘back-to-back’’ meetings in China will be attracting more Chinese students to Melbourne. Currently, there are 42,000 Chinese students here helping to generate $14 billion in economic activity and the Premier has an ambitious target to increase this number to at least 62,000. Why then aren’t any vice-chancellors of Melbourne’s internationally renowned universities joining the Premier for his four-day mission to Beijing, Jiangsu and Sichuan province?" - Damon Johnston - theaustralian.com.au

>>18588399 Five years after Australia's reckoning with Chinese foreign interference, Canada has its moment - Canada is in the grips of a political storm over alleged foreign interference from China and as it bears down, one government MP has resigned from the caucus and there are renewed calls for Australian-style laws targeting overseas meddling. After anonymous intelligence sources made a series of claims alleging the Chinese government had meddled in two national elections and a mayoral race, a majority of Canada's House of Commons voted for an inquiry into foreign interference.

>>18594130 Premier should raise plight of jailed journalist Cheng Lei on China trip, partner says - Nick Coyle, partner of an Australian journalist detained in China says he is disappointed that Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has said he won’t raise her plight while on a trade mission to the country this week. Chinese-born television anchor Cheng Lei, who moved to Melbourne with her family when she was a child, has been imprisoned in China for more than two years after being charged with “illegally supplying state secrets overseas”. Australian authorities have repeatedly questioned the lack of transparency with the legal process in Cheng’s case.

>>18594141 Video: Daniel Andrews meets Chinese officials to launch controversial trip - Premier Daniel Andrews has met with Australian and Victorian government representatives in China, the Chinese Education Minister and the Mayor of Beijing. In a brief announcement released on Tuesday on the first day of a four-day trip to China, the Premier’s office said the small Victorian delegation also met with Li Xukui, the vice-president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

>>18594180 Video: Schedule for Andrews trip to China released - The schedule for Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews' visit to China has been released. According to the schedule Andrews will meet Brett Stevens, Commissioner for Victoria to Greater China, Graham Fletcher, Australian Ambassador to China, Li Xukui, Vice President, Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Huai Jinpeng, Minister of Education and Dr Yin Yong, Mayor of Beijing. The Andrews government has faced criticism over its decision not to bring Victorian journalists on the trip.

#28 - Part 47

Australia / China Tensions - Part 7

>>18594198 PhoenixTV Tweet: (Google Translation:) The first Australian governor to visit China after the easing of Sino-Australian relations. Governor of Victoria: The Chinese story is definitely the core of the Victorian story.

>>18594202 Belittling China-Australia economic complementarity shows the West’s anxiety - "As long as the Australian side adheres to the pragmatic spirit, we believe China-Australia economic cooperation can achieve healthy development. A sound and steady development of bilateral relationship serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples and contributes to the prosperity of the Australian economy." - Hu Weijia - globaltimes.cn

>>18600013 Comrade Dan sends CCP the wrong message - "His avowed aim is “making sure we have as many students coming to Melbourne as possible”, though he is taking no vice-chancellors with him. What of the abundant evidence that Confucius Institutes on Australian campuses were set up as centres for the propagation of CCP ideology and that Chinese consulates around the country monitor and at times mobilise Chinese students for political purposes? As many as possible? On what terms, precisely?" - Paul Monk, author of Thunder From the Silent Zone: Rethinking China - theaustralian.com.au

>>18600024 Forrest insists China is not a national security threat - Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest claims China does not pose a national security threat and is no more protectionist than Australia or the United States, and that the countries should put aside their political differences to co-ordinate on climate change.

>>18606842 Don’t mention China: Anthony Albanese warned on TikTok - Senior officials in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet had raised potential diplomatic risks over the government’s security review into social media apps including TikTok, warning it could be taken as targeting Chinese companies. An internal departmental “messaging” document provided to the Prime Minister’s office, obtained by The Australian, advised the government to adopt a country “agnostic” approach to the review, with other Western nations moving towards government bans on the Chinese-owned platform.

>>18606851 Beijing lauds Andrews’ ‘determination’ to build China relationship - China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, education minister and one of its top international influence organisations have heaped praise on Premier Daniel Andrews amid warnings that his tightly guarded tour could split Victorian and national interests. After meetings in Beijing on Tuesday and Wednesday, Andrews was lauded for “the firm determination of the premier himself and Victoria to persist in developing relations with China” after years of acrimony between Canberra and Beijing over human rights, national security and $20 billion in trade strikes that still affect some industries.

>>18613039 EU chief warns members not to fall into Australia’s trap with China - The head of the European Commission has used a landmark speech to warn member nations they must alter their relationship with China or risk becoming a victim of the same economic coercion currently imposed on Australia. Ursula von der Leyen said the Chinese Communist Party was seeking to make the world – including Russia – dependent on China.

>>18613051 Another sign Sino-Australian ties reviving: China Daily editorial - "In another sign of improved Sino-Australian relations, Daniel Andrews, premier of Victoria state, is on a six-day visit to China that started on Monday, becoming the first of Australia's state leaders to visit the country since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Hopefully Canberra will strive to maintain the momentum of improved relations with China by working with Beijing to push the two countries' highly complementary trade relations, as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges forward to deliver more significant benefits to both sides." - chinadaily.com.cn

>>18613067 Australia concerned journalist still awaits verdict in China - Australia remains deeply concerned that Australian journalist Cheng Lei has not learned of a verdict a year after standing trial in China on national security charges, the foreign minister said on Friday. Foreign Minister Penny Wong marked the first anniversary of the closed trial in Beijing with a statement that said her government had “advocated at every opportunity for Ms. Cheng to be reunited with her family.”

>>18625649 Daniel Andrews returns from media-free China trip as opposition vows to pursue unanswered questions - The Victorian premier Daniel Andrews says it was his decision not to invite journalists or key stakeholders on his four-day trip to China and has batted off criticism he had failed to be transparent about the visit.

#28 - Part 48

Australia / China Tensions - Part 8

>>18625659 ‘Not a secret visit’: WA premier plans trade trip to ‘reconnect’ with China - West Australian Premier Mark McGowan will lead a five-day trade mission to China to reconnect with the state’s largest trading partner – and unlike his Victorian counterpart, he’s taking the media. Beginning on April 17, the first trade mission since the start of the coronavirus pandemic will include high-level meetings with key central government and industry leaders in energy, resources, science and innovation, international education and aviation.

>>18631247 New frontier for China-Australia relations: ambassador - China’s ambassador to Australia says his country would be interested in investing in landmark events such as the Brisbane 2032 Olympics as part of a “new frontier” in bilateral trade and investment relations that will span renewable energy, manufacturing and green technology. Xiao Qian told The Australian during a visit to Brisbane last week that after five years of “turbulence and zigzags” in bilateral relations the environment was rapidly improving.

>>18631258 ‘Rogue’ climate change agency stands firm over Chinese-made cameras - One of Australia’s climate change and energy agencies ignored the example set by the Department of Defence and has not removed Chinese-made surveillance cameras from its facilities. Despite the majority of federal agencies deciding to purge the cameras, one agency in the Department of Climate Change and Energy stood firm. Twenty-four hours after The Australian contacted Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s office about why the devices had not been removed, the department had a change of heart and issued a follow-up statement. "All agencies within the portfolio have now confirmed they intend to replace or remove the devices by September 2023."

>>18637716 Anthony Albanese signs off on TikTok ban on government devices after top security review - Anthony Albanese has signed off on a government-wide ban on the use of social media app TikTok following a review by the Department of Home Affairs into the security risks of the Chinese-owned platform. The ban will apply to all government and department-issued devices operated by politicians and public servants in the wake of security concerns that it poses an espionage risk. It is understood state and territory governments were briefed on the ban by the Commonwealth on Monday, and are expected to follow suit with similar bans. However, a broader ban on the app in the private domain, as is being considered in the US, would not be applied.

>>18637732 TikTok banned: Chinese video app’s aggressive, invasive data-harvesting would shock most users - On its surface, TikTok might seem like any other social media app. Its wildly entertaining short-form videos are similar to those you‘d find on Instagram, its filters and effects are as zany as those you might find on Snapchat. But underneath the buzzy exterior is an insidious, well-oiled data harvesting machine, designed to hoover up as much personal information as possible – including the facial and voice biometrics of its users – far more data than the app requires, or that any reasonable unassuming user might expect.

>>18637747 Dan Andrews’ gas refusal threatens US-led global order - "Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews went to China for infrastructure capital, tourists and students. But over dinner and in social conversations he almost certainly discovered how Australia and Victoria are becoming part of a Chinese energy strategy that goes way beyond the implications of latest OPEC production cuts into China’s plan to dislodge the US dollar as the world currency and lessen the ties between Japan, US and Australia. China knows that if Daniel Andrews and Canberra’s Chris Bowen hold back gas then Japan could be forced into seeking energy from China, perhaps via the future pipeline from Russia. And that gas will be priced in Chinese currency, not US dollars. The current close links between the US, Australia and Japan might just be fractured. Welcome to China, Mr Andrews." - Robert Gottliebsen - theaustralian.com.au

>>18644280 China ‘lodged stern representations’ with Australia over Anthony Albanese’s TikTok ban - Beijing has made “stern representations” to Australia after Anthony Albanese signed off on a government-wide ban of the social media platform TikTok over concerns of a serious espionage risk. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning urged the “Australian side to earnestly abide by the rules of the market economy and the principles of fair competition,” revealing that Beijing had relayed its concerns to Canberra over the move.

#28 - Part 49

Australia / China Tensions - Part 9

>>18644280 Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning’s Regular Press Conference on April 4, 2023 - "We noted the reports and have made solemn démarches to the Australian side. China always believes that digital security should not be used as a tool to suppress foreign companies in an overstretch of the concept of national security and abuse of state power. We urge Australia to earnestly observe the rules of market economy and the principle of fair competition, and provide a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese companies."

>>18653905 Family pleads with premier to release fighter-pilot dad - The family of former US fighter pilot Dan Duggan have appealed directly to Premier Chris Minns in their efforts to have him released from maximum security prison. The father of six is awaiting possible extradition to the US, accused of breaking the law by training pilots for the Chinese military. Wife Saffrine Duggan urged Mr Minns and Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong to release Mr Duggan into home detention while he fights the charges, which he denies. "The kids miss their dad and it's even worse at these special family times of the year, like Easter and school holidays," she said.

>>18654708 China urges Australia to create favorable atmosphere for further development of bilateral ties following TikTok ban - China's Commerce Ministry urged Australia to provide fair and just environment for all types of firms on Friday, to allow for creating a favorable environment for further development of bilateral trade ties following Canberra's move to ban video-sharing app TikTok on government devices earlier this week. - Global Times - globaltimes.cn

#28 - Part 50

Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

>>18423030 EXCLUSIVE: Ghislaine Maxwell was thrown in SOLITARY confinement - a tiny, grim cell where inmates are fed through a slit in the door - for 48 hours after being accused of profiting off her jailhouse interview last month - Inmates at Federal Correctional Institute Tallahassee are only allowed 'video visits' from a closely-vetted list of friends, family and lawyers - Insiders say bosses at the low-security Florida lockup launched an investigation to determine whether Maxwell had breached the terms of her 20-year federal sex trafficking sentence by selling her story to a journalist.

>>18427839 Ghislaine Maxwell seeks to throw out sex trafficking conviction in Epstein case - Ghislaine Maxwell has asked a U.S. appeals court to throw out her conviction for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls, saying a slew of errors marred her trial and prosecutors made her a scapegoat because the financier was dead - "The government prosecuted Ms. Maxwell as a proxy for Jeffrey Epstein" to satisfy "public outrage" over the case, making the British socialite the target of unprecedented "vilification," Maxwell's lawyers said in a Tuesday night filing with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan.

#28 - Part 51

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Pandemic, Australia and Worldwide - Part 1

>>18427699 FBI Director Says Covid Pandemic Likely Caused by Chinese Lab Leak - FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China, providing the first public confirmation of the bureau’s classified judgment of how the virus that led to the deaths of nearly seven million people worldwide first emerged

>>18438337 Covid-19 origin saga a grim tale of CCP stonewalling - "The US Department of Energy has concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic likely originated from a research accident in a Chinese lab. While the DoE asserts this conclusion with “low confidence”, it now joins the FBI, which has come to the same conclusion with confidence in the “moderate” range - We may never know what real­ly happened in Wuhan. But we do know CCP officials have a pattern of spreading disinformation about Covid and will describe surveillance airships travelling into the territory of other nations as weather balloons, with apparently no shame - To date, more than 19,000 Australians have died from Covid. While official records indicate that at least 6.9 million confirmed deaths have occurred worldwide, The Economist estimates that the real figure is two to four times higher. The US, the richest nation in the world, estimates that 1.1 million of its citizens have died - While the Australian government may have made several mistakes during the pandemic, urging China to be transparent was not one of them." - Claire Lehmann - theaustralian.com.au

>>18438457 In the Philippines, terrible crimes against children are often facilitated by their mothers - In 2020, as COVID-19 spread and millions became confined to their homes, reports of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the Philippines more than doubled. Many of the predators are Australians - In response, the Philippines government last year declared "war" on the crime and vowed to ramp up efforts to arrest perpetrators and rescue child victims - The Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center is made up of experts and police from the Philippines, Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and the US - Its mission is to help local authorities hunt down the facilitators and to locate abused children, often by gathering leads and information from foreign police agencies.

>>18454236 Donald J. Trump Truth: Three years ago, I declared that COVID-19 almost certainly came from the Chinese Wuhan lab. Now, the world is finally admitting the truth. The cover-up of COVID-19's origins is one of the greatest scandals in the history of the world. Millions of people all over the planet have died from the China Virus. Now it's time to hold China—and the corrupt forces who have facilitated this colossal suppression of facts—accountable for the damage they have inflicted upon all of humanity.

>>18454236 Donald J. Trump Truth: “PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP: The world has finally woken to the truth about the Wuhan virus. Now it's time to hold China to account” - dailymail.co.uk

>>18454240 DONALD J TRUMP: The world has finally woken to the truth about the Wuhan virus. Now it’s time to hold China to account - DONALD J. TRUMP, 5 March 2023 - dailymail.co.uk

>>18454256 POMPEO: It Was a Lab Leak - "The Department of Energy this week announced what many of us have known since the earliest days of the pandemic: COVID-19 leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan. This new determination is yet another step toward dispelling the unlikely claim – once treated as the gospel-truth by the mainstream media – that the coronavirus was transmitted from an animal to a human, rather than made in a Chinese Communist Party-run lab. - If this virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, how can we be sure such a calamity will not befall the world again? The American people deserve answers – at the very least, the Biden Administration should declassify any information it can that led the Department of Energy to change its conclusion. Failure to do so will only further confirm this Administration’s shameful reluctance to confront the Chinese Communist Party." - Mike Pompeo - aclj.org

>>18466592 QDOS documents: Victorian Labor’s secret polling for Daniel Andrews during Covid pandemic revealed - Daniel Andrews used a secret ­taxpayer-funded program to monitor Victorians’ views about his personal performance during the state’s 112-day pandemic lockdown, with the Premier’s top ­political strategist briefing cabinet on the results. The Premier’s Private Office largely controlled the operation by QDOS, a firm owned and operated by veteran Labor and Andrews strategist John Armitage.

#28 - Part 52

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Pandemic, Australia and Worldwide - Part 2

>>18466608 QDOS documents: Daniel Andrews defends taxpayer-funded lockdown polling - Daniel Andrews has defended spending taxpayers’ money on secret polling to monitor Victorians’ views on his personal performance during his government’s 112-day Covid lockdown by claiming that it is necessary to “test” public opinion “to make sure that you’ve got your messaging right”.

>>18472576 China COVID testing travel requirements to be scrapped - International arrivals into Australia from China will no longer need to prove a negative COVID-19 test, after the federal government scrapped travel requirements. The COVID-19 testing measures for travellers from China, Hong Kong and Macau were brought in on January 5 following fears of a new variant and a wave of infections in China. Health Minister Mark Butler said the requirements of needing a negative test to enter the country will be scrapped from Saturday March 11, after data showed COVID-19 numbers in China have peaked.

>>18504888 Locked-down Victorians asked to score Dan Andrews’ Covid-19 messages - Daniel Andrews’ political strategist conducted language surveys that tested inspirational messages with Victorians as the state battled the coronavirus pandemic. Department of Premier and Cabinet documents reveal that in December 2020, as Melbourne emerged from the 112-day lockdown, a major community survey asking people to score key messages was ordered. The message testing provides further evidence that while the government always claimed its pandemic response was based on health advice, political and strategic intelligence from the secretive QDOS monitoring program helped inform the decisions.

>>18538018 Dictator Dan turns out to be the puppet all along - "The truly frightening, and profoundly depressing, thing is that even as the evidence accumulates to show the futility of lockdowns, curfews, social distancing, QR codes, contact tracing and other contrived mechanisms to “keep us safe”; even as the cost of shutting so many businesses, paying people to hide at home, building unnecessary quarantine facilities and ramping up brutal police tactics nears half a trillion dollars; even after enforced isolation shattered mental health, particularly among children who lost vital years of schooling and socialisation; yes, even after all this suffering, you know the politicians would do it again in a heartbeat, confident that many of us would vote them back in just as eagerly." - Steve Waterson - theaustralian.com.au

>>18575000 Video: Premiers didn't keep us safe: Highest death rate & the cover-up continues - Senate 23.03.23 - Senator Gerard Rennick

>>18576551 kanekoa.substack.com Tweet: Video: Sen. Malcolm Roberts says that Australia should not cede its sovereignty to the WHO due to the organization's corruption that generates billions for its owner, Bill Gates and because Tedros is an evil "killer" tied to a terrorist organization.

>>18576551 Elon Musk Tweet: Replying to @KanekoaTheGreat - Countries should not cede authority to WHO

>>18576551 Q Post #3963 - https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1085559977597636609 - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shiva - Symbolism. An informed [awake] public holds all the keys. Q

>>18582983 Amy Sedgwick followed the rules on Covid jabs – was that a fatal mistake? - "First came the pain in her feet. In the days after her Covid vaccination, Sydney student Amy Sedgwick thought the discomfort in the arches of her feet warranted a trip to the podiatrist. Sore feet seem so inconsequential compared to what came next. That pain soon turned to mild numbness that significantly ­worsened after Amy’s second Pfizer shot four weeks later. Now she had aching arms and legs, and was losing feeling in her lower limbs. Six days on, the numbness was making it difficult for Amy to stand and walk. Soon she would have to be hoisted from her bed to a wheelchair. Her vision deteriorated, her hands went numb. She was twice admitted to hospital and spent two months in a ­rehabilitation centre. Within nine months, she was dead. “Our beautiful, healthy, happy, 24-year-old daughter fell off a cliff after receiving her Pfizer vaccinations,’’ her staunchly pro-vaccination parents Sophie and Bruce Sedgwick told a federal parliamentary hearing." - Christine Middap - theaustralian.com.au

#28 - Part 53

Coronavirus / COVID-19 Pandemic, Australia and Worldwide - Part 3

>>18583004 Tales of vaccine injury were purged from the internet - "The Australian’s expose of the post-Covid vaccination death of Amy Sedgwick would have been purged from the internet if it had emerged in 2021, under pressure from US-government funded ‘information experts’ working in partnership with Silicon Valley social media giants. A ‘censorship-industrial complex’ of US taxpayer-backed NGOs, Stanford University academics worked in partnership with Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Google (YouTube), and Pinterest to take down or flag as misinformation “stories of true vaccine side effects”, discussion of “natural immunity” and the possibility Sars-Cov2 leaked from a lab." - Adam Creighton - theaustralian.com.au

>>18600092 Queensland Health withdraws QoVAX Covid-19 study funding - Queensland Health is pulling funding from a major study into the long-term effects of Covid-19 and the impact of vaccines, throwing the research trial which already has 10,000 participants into doubt. The QoVAX study, the largest of its type in Australia, is examining how people’s immune systems respond to vaccines and to the virus itself and is seen as important real-world research to help manage future Covid variants.

>>18606760 ‘This is not over’: Vaccine campaign, expanded eligibility for COVID antivirals as cases rise - Around 160,000 extra Australians will be able to access subsidised COVID antiviral treatments from Saturday April 1, as virus cases rise and the federal government launches a new ad campaign encouraging booster doses. Australians in their 60s with one severe illness risk factor will join the eligibility list for Pfizer’s oral antiviral, Paxlovid, from this weekend, when a vaccination drive is also rolled out on television, social media and billboards.

>>18631276 Media to blame for Covid vaccines’ wall of infallibility - "Throughout the pandemic criticism of masks or lockdowns was permissible, if frowned upon, but the vaccines attained an almost exalted status that ensured any critics, no matter the quality of their evidence, were unfairly disparaged as “anti-vaxxers”, “cookers” or simply ignored. Why this was so remains hard to explain, but some fault must lie with a too credulous, incurious mainstream media, naive to the political and financial forces that pushed governments to eschew the more sensible path of voluntary Covid-19 vaccination. At the very outset, compelling entire populations to take a scientifically novel vaccine, produced on a political timetable, against a disease that for the bulk of people was a bad cold, was a highly questionable policy, arguably trashing traditional medical ethics about informed consent. Yet even as it became clear throughout 2021 and 2022 that the experts pushing vaccine mandates had been wrong over and over again, “safe and effective” remained the mantra." - Adam Creighton - theaustralian.com.au

>>18644348 AstraZeneca vaccine discontinued by federal government - A controversial Covid-19 vaccine, linked to a very rare but serious side-effect, has been quietly discontinued in Australia, the federal government has confirmed. The AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, sold under the brand name Vaxzevria, has not been available to the Australian public since March 20. The federal Department of Health and Aged Care confirmed the news in a statement to news.com.au, saying although the vaccine remains provisionally approved in the country, AstraZeneca has decided to “formally discontinue Vaxzevria in Australia”. According to the spokesperson, the last batch of pandemic supply stock expired on March 21, 2023.

#28 - Part 54

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 1

>>18423004 Malka Leifer protested her innocence in tears as she was stood down, County Court trial hears - Malka Leifer was in tears and protesting her innocence after being stood down as school principal amid child sexual abuse allegations in 2008, Victoria's County Court has heard.

>>18427829 Alleged paedophile principal complained of ‘unfair’ sacking after abuse allegations - Alleged paedophile principal Malka Leifer complained to a friend about her “unfair” sacking, telling her “I did nothing wrong”, the Victorian County Court has heard.

>>18432761 Edmund Rice Education Australia issues apology to parents at Victorian school for failing to meet obligations under child safe standards - A multi-billion-dollar body overseeing seven Catholic schools in Victoria, including Melbourne's St Kevin's College, has written to apologise to parents after receiving a notice that it has failed to carry out its obligations under child safe standards or to demonstrate appropriate oversight of child safety - The process began in 2020 after St Kevin's and its governing body, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA), were referred to the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) following a Four Corners investigation, Boys Club, into the school, which alleged a toxic culture that prized reputation over child safety - The notice to EREA means it must now urgently reform its governance structure and ensure its schools undergo a review by the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria.

>>18432770 Catholic church uses paedophile’s death to try to block NSW survivor’s lawsuit - The Catholic church is attempting to use the death of a paedophile, who had been jailed for the abuse of 17 children, to shield itself from further civil claims from his survivors - It has sought to capitalise on a recent decision in New South Wales’s highest court that ruled a priest’s death meant the church could not receive a fair trial in a claim brought by a woman known as GLJ - The alleged perpetrator was sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment for sexually assaulting 17 victims in 2015. Church lawyers attempted to interview him about his conduct but he declined, and told them he did not wish to be contacted by them or the Marist Brothers again - Marist Brothers is arguing its inability to obtain a witness statement from the alleged perpetrator, due to his death, means it cannot receive a fair trial.

>>18438457 In the Philippines, terrible crimes against children are often facilitated by their mothers - In 2020, as COVID-19 spread and millions became confined to their homes, reports of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children in the Philippines more than doubled. Many of the predators are Australians - In response, the Philippines government last year declared "war" on the crime and vowed to ramp up efforts to arrest perpetrators and rescue child victims - The Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center is made up of experts and police from the Philippines, Australia, the UK, the Netherlands and the US - Its mission is to help local authorities hunt down the facilitators and to locate abused children, often by gathering leads and information from foreign police agencies.

>>18438474 Video: Inside the Global Taskforce Fighting Child Sex Abuse in the Philippines - In the dead of night in Manila, police officers track down criminals responsible for delivering online child abuse to a growing number of Australian customers. This scene has played out dozens of times across the Philippines as cases hit unprecedented levels - The demand for live streaming child sexual abuse is so high in Australia that AFP officers are now based permanently in the Philippines working with an international task force investigating this distressing cyber-crime - On Foreign Correspondent reporter Stephanie March has been given exclusive access to the Filipino police and the international task force as they hunt down the abusers and rescue the children - Parents are often involved in arranging the abuse and in a frank and confronting prison cell exchange Stephanie interviews a mother accused of facilitating the abuse of her own child for money.

>>18438482 Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris sued over alleged sexual abuse of 10-year-old girl - A woman is suing disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris for an alleged molestation in 1982 when she was a 10-year-old foster child - Harris, 92, is one of three defendants being sued by the woman alongside the State of Victoria and foster care provider OzChild.

#28 - Part 55

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 2

>>18438493 Rolf Harris to fight claim he molested a 10-year-old girl - Disgraced paedophile Rolf Harris will “fight with every inch” fresh claims he molested an Australian girl in the 80s - The once-celebrated entertainer, who was jailed for three years in Britain for assaulting four teenage girls between 1968 and 1986, is accused of a sex attack on a 10-year-old ward of the state at a camp in Melbourne where Harris was to perform for two nights.

>>18454163 Malka Leifer: Not guilty verdicts on two charges against principal on technicality, court told - Former Jewish school principal Malka Leifer has been found not guilty on two charges against her due to a technicality in the law - Judge John Gamble told the jury they would no longer have to reach a verdict on two charges of indecent act with a child aged 16 or 17 - “Those charges relate to a particular charge type that only came into effect on December 1, 2006,” he said - “You have heard evidence about the timing that suggest if that offending occurred it likely occurred before that date… So I have directed verdicts of not guilty be entered on the record.”

>>18454343 ‘Parents Need To Wake Up’: Advocates Sound Alarm About Satanist After-School Clubs Sprouting Across The Country - The Satanic Temple (TST) made headlines in 2022 for fighting for the right to create after-school clubs for students and has recently been launching new groups across the country, raising concerns for religious advocates about the potential impact Satanism may have on students’ perception of faith.

>>18466749 Video: Adelaide man Samuel Joe Frost charged with child abuse crimes after after a five-year manhunt by Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol). The AFP said it was first alerted of the material back in 2018. Interpol contacted Australian authorities after it linked child exploitation images posted online to Australia. "The major breakthrough occurred last week when investigators were able to apply a new state-of-the-art technology to pinpoint a location of interest that led to the identification of the alleged offender," the AFP said. "The tenacity and determination of our highly-skilled investigators over a prolonged period of time led to this incredible breakthrough. We are relentless and will never stop our fight to bring offenders to justice and protect children, no matter how much time has passed or where they live."

>>18466778 State’s First Satan Club Opens Up At Colorado Elementary School - The Satanic Temple’s After School Club at Paonia K-8 in Colorado held its first meeting on Monday after a parent requested the club for her son. June Everett, TST campaign director for the After School Satan Club program and ordained minister of The Satanic Temple, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the first meeting was a great success. Many religious groups have denounced the clubs, some arguing that Satanism is the “antithesis of religion” and called on parents to “wake up” to what is going on in their children’s schools. While TST has said that it only wants to be on “equal footing” with religious groups, some religious advocacy organizations claim that interpretation “undermines the credibility of religion.”

>>18472614 Lawyer for Malka Leifer tells jury alleged victim told 'blatant lies' and lacks credibility - Malka Leifer's lawyers say one of the sisters who accused her of sexual assault told "blatant lies", and is a witness who can't be relied upon. During closing arguments in Mrs Leifer's County Court sex abuse trial, defence barrister Ian Hill sought to cast doubt over a host of prosecution witnesses, including complainants Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper. The sisters have accused the former principal of the Adass Israel School, in Melbourne's inner south-east, of sexually assaulting them between 2003 and 2007, when they were teenagers.

>>18472663 Victorian commission investigating Anglican diocese’s handling of child safety complaints - Investigation follows criticism over church’s managements of complaints against Peter Hollingworth but is not specifically examining any individual matter - Victoria’s child safety commission has quietly launched an investigation into the Anglican Melbourne diocese’s handling of child safety complaints in the wake of criticism over the Peter Hollingworth case, documents show. The Anglican church has faced renewed criticism over the protracted, secretive process to potentially defrock Hollingworth, a former Brisbane archbishop and Australia’s 23rd governor general, for failing to act on child abuse allegations.

#28 - Part 56

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 3

>>18472824 Diabolical liberty: after-school Satanists club threatens to sue district over ban - An after-school Satanists club in Pennsylvania is threatening to raise hell after local district leaders denied them the ability to convene on their school grounds. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sent a letter to the Saucon Valley school district demanding that they allow the After School Satan Club, or ASSC, access to school facilities in accordance with the US constitution’s first amendment right to practice religion freely. The ACLU alleges that the Satanist club was initially approved to use district facilities, but that approval was rescinded after district officials received pushback from community members. The ACLU is threatening the school district with a lawsuit on behalf of the club and the Satanic Temple if the alleged discrimination continues.

>>18478850 Alleged victims of Malka Leifer ‘unco-operative’ with court process, jury told - Malka Leifer’s barrister, Ian Hill KC, has told a jury that the three sisters who have alleged they were abused by the former ultra-Orthodox school principal have been unco-operative with the court process and have not answered questions directly or responsibly.

>>18478862 Malka Leifer’s lawyer calls on jury to reject ‘imagined’ narrative, court hears - The jury charged with rendering a verdict in an alleged principal sex abuse case should use their “common sense” to see the holes in the testimony of three sisters, her lawyer has repeatedly said. Giving his final remarks to the County Court trial of Malka Leifer, 56, barrister Ian Hill KC has sought to convince the jury the allegations are an imagined “false narrative”.

>>18478911 Marist Brothers accused of concealing Francis Cable’s crimes for decades but say they cannot receive a fair trial because they are unable obtain a witness statement from him - A Catholic order will argue it should be shielded from abuse claims relating to one of the worst paedophiles in the New South Wales Catholic school system because he is dead, despite allegedly concealing his crimes from authorities for decades. The Marist Brothers allegedly knew of child abuse complaints about Brother Francis “Romuald” Cable from at least 1967, but did nothing to either eject him from the order or inform police, court documents obtained by the Guardian show. Instead, the order is accused of shuffling him between schools under its control.

>>18491521 Former congressional candidate Kevin Dellicker: Satanists weren’t what I expected … but still shouldn’t be in schools - "I attended the Feb. 28 Saucon Valley School District Board meeting about the After School Satan Club. I’d been following the story in the news and wanted to speak out against it…..The Satanic Temple website outlines their beliefs. No, they don’t really believe in the devil, the website says. To them, the devil is just a symbol of rebellion. They are driven by reason and science. But read a little deeper, and the contradictions become apparent. The Satanic Temple’s sole authority for discerning truth is what each individual observes: “Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world.” With this perspective, the ignorant, the misinformed and the misanthropic all are entitled to their own facts. Truth is simply false. Right and wrong are turned upside down…..We are falling for tricks, which is how the Bible says the real Satan operates. In the name of fairness, we accommodate those who mock religion and law while claiming the protections of both. In the name of diversity, equity and inclusion, we tolerate ideas that strike at the heart of moral authority. And, in the name of freedom, we accept all things to the point that nothing has meaning. Our children are paying the price…..Whether you believe the devil is a metaphor for rebellion or the personification of evil, he’s not somebody we want to invite into our schools. Let’s keep him out. A simple no will suffice."

#28 - Part 57

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 4

>>18504894 Defence calls for not guilty in Malka Leifer abuse case - Jurors have been warned about "dangerous" witnesses as they prepare to consider their verdicts in the case of former ultra-Orthodox Jewish teacher Malka Leifer. The 56-year-old is facing 27 charges over the alleged abuse of Melbourne sisters Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper when she was principal of the Adass Israel School in the city's eastern suburbs between 2003 and 2007. Leifer's barrister, Ian Hill KC, criticised the memories and the accounts given by the three sisters during the trial and in statements to police. Mr Hill said Ms Sapper had told a detailed story about one alleged event in Melbourne but later changed the location to Israel. "It's the wrong memory combined with the detail that shows you just how dangerous some witnesses can be when recounting a narrative to you," he said.

>>18504905 ‘Truth, reliability lost’: Leifer evidence does not remove reasonable doubt, court hears - Sex abuse allegations against former ultra-Orthodox Jewish school principal Malka Leifer grew like a wildfire where truth and reliability were lost, her barrister has told a jury. Defence barrister Ian Hill, KC, finished his closing address to the jury in the Melbourne County Court on Tuesday, arguing the case against his client could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt and she should be found not guilty.

>>18511465 Archbishop claims $1.9m abuse payout to altar boy was excessive - Melbourne’s Catholic archbishop has asked a court to reduce a former altar boy’s almost $2 million sexual abuse payout as some injuries were caused outside of a paedophile priest’s horrific assaults. Archbishop Peter Comensoli has launched an appeal of a Supreme Court judge’s decision to award $1.9 million in damages to one of former priest Desmond Gannon’s victims, after he and the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne were found to be vicariously liable for the abuse. Gannon sexually assaulted the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, three times between 1968 and 1970 while the victim was an altar boy and pupil at a Catholic primary school in regional Victoria. The victim said he felt the priest had “murdered” him, and the little boy he used to be was gone forever.

>>18543974 Malka Leifer: Jurors warned not to rely on one thing in school principal sexual abuse case - The judge presiding over the sexual abuse trial of former principal Malka Leifer has warned a jury the emotional testimony of her alleged victims is not a “safe” tool to judge credibility. The jury was told there was no “normal response” to sexual offences, and they should not use the emotional nature of Ms Leifer’s accusers’ testimony as evidence of guilt.

>>18558104 Malka Leifer trial: Jury begins deliberations on allegations principal abused three sisters - Jurors in the Malka Leifer sexual abuse trial have been ordered to retire and reach a verdict following a trial which spanned seven weeks. The move came on Wednesday, March 22 2023, after Judge Mark Gamble of the Victorian County Court spent about three hours summarising submissions made by the prosecution and defence.

>>18558136 ‘It crucifies you every time’: the ‘crushing’ new tactic the church uses to block claims by abuse survivors - "Analysis of court records and in discussions with survivors and their advocates, the Guardian has found that the church is now routinely using the deaths of clergy to either have survivors’ claims thrown out or to force them to accept paltry settlement amounts. The strategy is being used even in cases where the dead priest or brother was a notorious paedophile who had previously abused other children and where the church had failed to act to remove the perpetrator. In one case it has been accused of sitting on its hands for almost two years, deliberately waiting for one of the worst Catholic school offenders in New South Wales to die without seeking any response to a new survivor’s allegations – and then using his death to argue it cannot receive a fair trial." - Christopher Knaus - theguardian.com

#28 - Part 58

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 5

>>18588402 Former Anglican priest Louis Daniels pleads guilty to abuse after extradition back to Tasmania - A man who was sexually abused as a child by a former Anglican priest told his perpetrator in court that he still could not talk to his parents about the abuse and felt ongoing shame. Convicted paedophile priest Louis Victor Daniels, 75, has pleaded guilty to two counts of persistent sexual abuse of a young person. The Supreme Court in Hobart was told Daniels was an Anglican priest and Church of England Boys' Society leader when he abused two boys over nine years between 1978 and 1987.

>>18588438 ‘It’s gutless’: clergy abuse survivors and their families outraged by legal stays that thwart cases - Victims of crimes committed by clergy such as Marist Brother ‘Romuald’ Cable speak out about handling of civil claims - The Marist Brothers Catholic order had a policy of not referring abuse complaints to police between 1962 and 1993, and keeping them out of any written record until 1983. Now the same order is among a slew of church bodies trying to use the deaths of perpetrators like Cable to thwart civil claims filed by abuse survivors.

>>18594212 NSW MP Gareth Ward pleads not guilty to rape and indecent assault with election result in balance - The New South Wales MP and former state Liberal minister Gareth Ward has pleaded not guilty to alleged sexual offences against a teenage boy and a man. Police allege that Ward indecently assaulted a 17-year-old boy at Meroo Meadow on NSW’s south coast in February 2013 and that he raped a 27-year-old man in Sydney in September 2015.

>>18594249 Video: Leifer jury reaches ‘verdict’ on some charges but told to continue deliberating on others - The jury in the high-profile case against Malka Leifer has told a court it has reached a unanimous verdict on some of the charges laid against the former ultra-Orthodox school principal accused of sexually abusing three students, but those findings have not been disclosed.

>>18600143 Leifer jury told to relax before resuming deliberations - Jurors considering verdicts in ultra-Orthodox Jewish principal Malka Leifer's sexual abuse trial have been sent home after another day of deliberations, and urged to relax. The jury of six men and six women have deliberated for just over 21 hours across six days.

>>18606727 Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale charged with historic sex crime against boy - Australia’s most prolific paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, currently jailed for abusing 71 victims, is set to plead guilty to another historical sex crime. The 88-year-old fronted the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court after he was charged with one count of indecent assault in November last year. According to a charge sheet released by the court, the offending occurred between July 1987 and May 1988 at St Brigid’s College, which fell within the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. Police allege the boy, who cannot be named, was indecently assaulted by Ridsdale at the Horsham school when he touched his genitalia with his hand.

>>18613167 Leifer trial jury still out and heading for ninth day - Jurors in the trial of former ultra-Orthodox Jewish principal Malka Leifer will return to court to continue deliberations for a ninth day after being sent home.

>>18630905 Video: Former ultra-Orthodox school principal Malka Leifer found guilty of rape - Malka Leifer, the former principal of a Jewish ultra-Orthodox school in Melbourne, has been found guilty of sexually abusing two former students after a 15-year campaign for her to face justice. After a six-week trial in the County Court of Victoria, a jury on Monday found Leifer, 56, guilty of charges including rape, indecent assault and sexual penetration of a child aged 16 or 17 against two sisters, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper. But they cleared her of all charges relating to a third sister, Nicole Meyer.

#28 - Part 59

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 6

>>18630935 Former school principal Malka Leifer convicted over sex abuse - For more than a decade the three sisters clung to the long-shot dream that the law would finally catch up with their former Melbourne school principal who had sexually molested them and then escaped Australia. Their quest for justice became an international saga that spanned from here to Israel and involved prime ministers, extraditions, appeals and ultimately a six week trial in Melbourne’s County Court. Now a jury has finally delivered the words that sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper waited so long to hear as their former principal Malka Leifer was found guilty of 18 counts of sexual offences against them. The jury acquitted her on nine other charges.

>>18631081 Dassi Erlich Tweet: GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!

>>18631305 Victorian court upholds ruling finding Catholic church liable for sexual abuse by paedophile priest - Victoria’s highest court has ruled that the Catholic church is vicariously liable for sexual abuse by a paedophile priest because he was a “servant of the diocese” whose role gave him the “power and intimacy” to access and abuse children. The decision by the Victorian court of appeal on Monday upholds the original landmark ruling, which, for the first time in Australia, found the church is vicariously liable for the abuse of its priests. The decision is expected to help countless other survivors achieve more significant compensation for the abuse they suffered at the hands of paedophile clergy.

>>18637760 Video: i24 English News - Manny Waks interview with Benita Levin - VoiCSA (Voice Against Child Sex Abuse) CEO, Manny Waks, interviewed regarding today's guilty verdicts in the Malka Leifer case - Apr 4, 2023

>>18637836 With Malka Leifer convicted of abuse, her victims say their lives can finally move forward - For more than a decade, three sisters have fought to have their allegations against their former school principal Malka Leifer tested in court. This week, a case that involved political and legal manoeuvres spanning the globe came to its conclusion in full view of the Australian public. Ultimately, the jury declared Leifer guilty of 18 offences, including six counts of rape, relating to Dassi and Elly. The jury found Leifer was not guilty of the charges relating to Nicole and some of the charges relating to Dassi. Speaking outside court, the sisters were unified once again. "Her abuse has held us hostage for so many years," Dassi said. "Today we can start to take that power back that she stole from us as children." While Nicole expressed disappointment Leifer was found not guilty of abusing her, she said the outcome was "bittersweet". "I believe in myself. My sisters believe in me," she said. The sisters urged all survivors of sexual abuse to "stay strong". "This will and can tear you apart and the process is re-traumatising and awful," Elly said. "But when you know your truth … the truth will prevail."

>>18637893 Malka Leifer’s secret 1.20am flight from justice - Board members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish school, a teacher, a forensic psychologist and a barrister convened an urgent meeting in the home of late businessman and elder Izzy Herzog on March 5, 2008. They were all connected to the Adass Israel School, in Elsternwick in Melbourne’s southeast. Herzog was joined by school board members Yitzhok Benedikt and Mark Ernst, barrister Norman Rosenbaum (now deceased), forensic psychologist Vicki Gordon and teacher Sharon Bromberg. Five days earlier, at least some of them knew Malka Leifer, the school’s principal and respected authority figure, had been accused of sexually abusing at least one of her students. By March 5, they all knew there could be at least nine victims. They had to act, and protect the community. Instead of reporting the information to police, they told Leifer to leave the country and paid for her ticket.

#28 - Part 60

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 6

>>18637906 Malka Leifer guilty: Victoria Police probe of Adass Israel School board ‘a must’ - A child sex abuse survivor and key advocate for three Melbourne sisters who accused Malka Leifer of molesting them is urging Victoria Police to re-open its investigation into members of the Jewish community who helped the ultra-orthodox school principal escape justice for more than a decade, after buying her a ticket overseas instead of reporting the criminal allegations in 2008. Voice Against Child Sex Abuse (VoiCSA) chief Manny Waks, who has supported three of Leifer’s accusers since 2011, including by attending nearly all 74 of her extradition hearings in Israel, said he was “completely surprised” that police were not investigating the actions of the school’s leadership. “We have that civil case ruling, which clearly identifies the Adass school leadership … in being responsible for assisting Malka Leifer and evading justice by purchasing a ticket and sending her overseas,” Mr Waks said. “Based on those very basic facts, it would seem there would be sufficient information … to pursue this matter.”

>>18637931 People who allegedly helped Malka Leifer flee to Israel will not be charged - Police have closed their investigation into members of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox community who allegedly helped their former school principal and convicted sex abuser Malka Leifer to flee Australia and avoid justice for more than a decade. Police confirmed to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that they had looked at a number of people connected to the Adass Israel School in Elsternwick, but that the probe ended in 2018 because there was “insufficient evidence to proceed with any charges at this time”.

>>18644409 Ex-MP Milton Orkopoulos found guilty of sexually abusing boys - Disgraced former MP and twice-convicted pedophile Milton Orkopoulos is facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison after he was found guilty of sexually abusing four boys. Once a powerful member of the Labor Party, Orkopoulos, 65, hung his head and closed his eyes as a jury of seven men and five women on Wednesday took less than a day to deliver an emphatic verdict. Following a District Court trial, the former minister for Aboriginal affairs was found guilty of 26 of 28 charges, including sexually abusing four young boys in the Lake Macquarie region and on NSW’s Mid North Coast from 1993 to 2003.

>>18644436 Melbourne woman placed in abusive foster home receives record $2.6m payout - A Melbourne woman has been awarded $2.6 million in compensation for the abuse and neglect she suffered in Victoria's foster care system. Law graduate Amy* was two-and-a-half months old when she was taken from her mother in an act designed to protect her from harm. Instead, she endured years of mistreatment at the hands of a foster family that eventually adopted her. "There was sexual abuse, violence, neglect, emotional abuse," she said of her time in their Melbourne home. Under a Victorian Supreme Court settlement, the state government and foster care agencies OzChild and Uniting Vic.Tas will pay Amy a combined $2.6 million, plus costs, and apologise for her treatment. "There was very strong evidence the state and the other entities who were involved in her care [had] lots of red flags, lots of complaints, lots of clear evidence of neglect and abuse," Amy's lawyer Angela Sdrinis said.

>>18644484 How three sisters overcame threats and silence to get justice against Malka Leifer - Just a few months before her death, Dalia Stone was approached by two men and instructed to tell her sisters to stop their quest for justice against Malka Leifer. The men were keen to deliver the message that if her younger sisters, Nicole Meyer, Dassi Erlich and Elly Sapper, continued to press the case against their former school principal, it would have an impact on their family. The explicit threat to Dalia was delivered implicitly again and again to the sisters, in the form of silence. For years, they battled the inertia and resistance of a community that prefers to manage allegations of abuse internally. “Sometimes, silence speaks such disapproval that you don’t even need words,” Nicole said. “Silence is difficult. So even if people don’t outright come up and say, don’t do it, silence speaks louder than anything.”

#28 - Part 61

Child Sexual Abuse, Pedophilia, Human Trafficking and Satanism Investigations - Part 8

>>18644495 Malka Leifer: Nicole Meyer ‘hopes’ other victims come forward - Nicole Meyer, one of three Melbourne sisters who accused their former principal of sexual abuse, says she hopes other alleged victims come forward after a jury found Malka Leifer guilty of rape and sexual offences against children. On Monday, the former Adass Israel School teacher was convicted of 18 of 27 charges ­relating to offending against Ms Meyer’s sisters, Elly Sapper and Dassi Erlich, after a six-week trial in Victoria’s County Court. All three sisters agreed the verdict vindicated their 15-year fight to have Leifer extradited from Israel after she fled Australia in 2008, but a civil judgment delivered by former Supreme Court judge Jack Rush in 2015 said there could be other victims. Ms Meyer told The Australian she could understand why they may not want to come forward but hoped they would. “I have hope that other victims will come forward in the ­future. I don’t know if that will happen … I really hope that some will,” she said. “It does completely uproot your life. I understand that side of it to.”

>>18644514 Video: Sisters say ex-principal Malka Leifer's guilty verdict 'means the world' - Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper smile when they look back at family photos. They laugh and point out expressions and hair styles. But they're exhausted. For many years their family fought to bring their former principal, Malka Leifer, to justice. It's a journey that's spanned more than a decade and includes Leifer leaving the country in the middle of the night on tickets paid for by the school. Leifer is now a convicted sex offender, found guilty of abusing youngest sister Elly and middle sister Dassi while she was principal at the Adass Israel School in Melbourne's Elsternwick.

>>18644538 Video: Elly Sapper & Nicole Meyer On The Battle For A Guilty Verdict In Case Against Malka Leifer - Australian sisters, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper, tell us about the battle they have fought for 15 years to bring their former principal, Malka Leifer, to justice. - The Project - Apr 4, 2023

>>18654449 ‘Is all in order there?’: The question Malka Leifer couldn’t overcome - In August 2007, psychologist Ruthie Casen called her friend, Sharon Bromberg, who taught at the Adass Israel School, and posed the question that would shake the tightly knit community: “Is it possible at all that Mrs Leifer has crossed any boundaries with the girls … is all in order there?” Accusations of abuse that began in a tiny religious community would result in three Melbourne sisters meeting the leaders of two nations in their quest for justice. This week they were vindicated.

>>18654602 The team of police officers who chase monsters online - For nearly 20 years Detective Sergeant Simon Fogarty of the Victoria Police has peered into a dark world most of us choose to ignore. Men, who more often than not sit behind what they hope are anonymous keyboards, watching the degradation, humiliation and physical abuse of children. He says the satisfaction comes from rescuing children and catching those behind the rackets: “I enjoy the hunt.” But this work comes at a price. We ask about the cases that stick. He pauses, then talks of the image of a little girl in an animal costume. She is wearing a dog collar. He then bursts into tears. The little girl looked a little like his daughter. “I haven’t thought of that for years,” he says. He apologises. There is no need. It is the look on her face, he says, one of fear and hopelessness. “That is what drives us. To be her voice and to make sure those who commit the abuse face justice.”

>>18665380 Ex-Cats player sues club over alleged gang rape, failing to protect him from sexual abuse - A former Geelong footballer has accused a trio of players of a historic gang rape as he sues the Cats for failing to protect him from sexual abuse. The ex-player claims he was just 15 or 16 when he was cornered in the shower at the club’s Aberdeen House, a residence for country recruits, and sexually assaulted by three older athletes in the early 1980s. The man, a prominent Indigenous Elder now in his late 50s, filed Supreme Court action against the Cats this week for a trial by jury, claiming the club had a “duty to take reasonable care of his welfare, safety and supervision” while he was living at the football house as a minor.

#28 - Part 62

Qanon / Conspiracy Theory Hit Pieces, Australia and Worldwide

>>18551022 Trump to be arrested? US girds for drama - New York police tightened security Monday ahead of a possible historic indictment of Donald Trump over hush money paid to a porn actress, with the ex-president calling for mass demonstrations if he is charged.

>>18551027 Far-right activists wary of 'trap' after Trump calls for protests - Former President Donald Trump's call to supporters to protest what he said was his imminent arrest provoked conspiracy-fueled debate on far-right social media platforms on Monday, with some supporters fearing an elaborate government trap to arrest them. Trump said on his Truth Social platform he expected to be arrested this week for alleged hush money payments to a porn star during the 2016 presidential campaign and urged supporters to "protest, take our nation back!" Critics worried his comments could provoke a repeat of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when his supporters tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.

>>18558243 Law enforcement not expecting possible Trump arraignment until next week - Former President Donald Trump is not expected to be arraigned until next week if he’s indicted over an alleged hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. It is believed that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is looking into charging the 45th president with falsifying business records and conspiracy to violate campaign finance law related to his reimbursement of $US130,000 to his former fixer Michael Cohen for the alleged hush money payment to Ms Daniels in 2016, just before the presidential election.

>>18558251 Donald Trump ‘arrest’ eclipses Biden family payments scandal - "Leaks about the impending arrest of a former president have electrified US media, conveniently overshadowing an extraordinary series of payments which emerged last week from a Chinese company to the Biden family. It turns out less than two months after Joe Biden left office as vice-president in 2017, State Energy HK Limited, a Chinese company, sent $US3m to a company associated with John Walker, a Clinton administration official and friend of the Bidens, whose bank records have been obtained under the committee’s subpoena power. Then, over the next three months, $US1.065m was distributed in a series of small individual payments to the personal accounts of Joe Biden’s son Hunter, James Biden (the President’s brother), Hallie Biden (his daughter-in-law), and an unknown “Biden”. “It is unclear what services were provided to obtain this exorbitant amount of money,” committee chairman and Kentucky congressman James Comer, one of the most powerful men in Washington, said last week." - Adam Creighton - theaustralian.com.au

>>18565050 Lights, cameras, barricades: World awaits action on Donald Trump - Americans are bracing for a hotly anticipated grand jury decision on whether to indict the former president over alleged hush money payments. Four days after Trump issued an incendiary social media post claiming he would be arrested on Tuesday and urging his supporters to take to the streets on his behalf, very little has shifted and Americans continue to wonder what happens next.

>>18613217 Trump’s hope for a political comeback in 2024 just got significantly harder - The 2024 US presidential race has been turned on its head with the indictment of Donald Trump for his role in paying hush money to a porn-star on the eve of the 2016 election.

>>18638001 Video: ‘You’ll all get locked up’: Trump fan blasts Nine reporter during live cross about indictment - Australian news reporter Alison Piotrowski has copped a spray from an aggressive Donald Trump supporter, who interrupted live TV to declare: “You’ll all get locked up.” The woman could be heard repeatedly screaming that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the man bringing charges against Mr Trump, was a “criminal” and declaring the reporting crew was “fake news”. “Bragg is a criminal, Bragg is a criminal, okay?” she says, before Piotrowski pulls her microphone away. “And you guys are fake news.”

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Donald Trump winning 2024 US election will not change Aukus plans, Australia’s Albanese says

Bloomberg - 9 Apr, 2023

Australia is confident its agreement with the US to purchase a fleet of nuclear submarines for delivery in the early 2030s will go ahead no matter who wins the 2024 election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

In an interview broadcast on Sky News on Sunday, Albanese was asked about growing political division in the US following the indictment of former President Donald Trump, who is currently campaigning for another shot at the country’s top job.

The relationship between Australia and the US was between nations, “not just between leaders,” Albanese said, adding he wasn’t concerned about any impact on the Aukus agreement should Trump return to the presidency.

“Australia and the US share common values,” Albanese said. US President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Australia for the first time in May for a meeting of the Quad strategic partnership, alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Under the Aukus security agreement signed in 2021, the US and the UK will assist Australia in obtaining a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, with the first US Virginia-class vessels expected to arrive by the early 2030s.

However the deal has been criticised in Australia for tying it more closely to the US. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating described the Aukus agreement as the “worst deal in history” in a speech in March, saying Australia would be tied to the “whim and caprice” of Washington.

China has also voiced opposition to the Aukus deal, with Beijing claiming that the military alliance weakens nuclear non-proliferation efforts, as well as jeopardising peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Washington insists the submarines are nuclear-powered, not nuclear-armed.

Canberra has said that it does not intend to use the US technology to develop its own nuclear weapons.

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3216453/donald-trump-winning-2024-us-election-will-not-change-aukus-plans-australias-albanese-says

>>18670474

Anthony Albanese dismisses fears Australia-US ties will suffer if Trump reclaims White House

AAP - Apr 9, 2023

The AUKUS security pact will remain strong regardless of who ends up in the White House after the 2024 US election, the Prime Minister says.

Anthony Albanese said he isn’t concerned for the future of the alliance with the US and the UK, despite the possibility of Donald Trump returning as president following next year’s election.

Mr Trump, who is the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, pleaded not guilty last week to 34 counts of falsifying business records, following an investigation into hush money payments.

Mr Trump, the first current or former US president to face criminal charges, says the allegations are politically motivated.

Mr Albanese said AUKUS would remain strong regardless of who was leading nations involved in the security pact.

“Our relationship with the United States is a relationship between nations, between peoples, not just between leaders,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“Australia and the United States share common values, I work very closely with President (Joe) Biden.”

Mr Biden is set to travel to Australia next month for the Quad Leaders’ Summit, where he will also address federal parliament.

“He will be an honoured guest in our country,” Mr Albanese said.

The AUKUS pact will see Australia acquire eight nuclear-powered submarines by the 2050s, with the vessels set to cost up to $368 billion.

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/trump-news/2023/04/09/albanese-trump-aukus-alliance/

>>18670474

>>18670521

Anthony Albanese Tweet

Democracy is precious and cannot be taken for granted - the violent insurrection in Washington is an assault on the rule of law and democracy. Donald Trump has encouraged this response and must now call on his supporters to stand down.

https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1346929529198055424

—

Joe Biden Tweet

Let me be very clear: the scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not represent who we are. What we are seeing is a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent, it's disorder. It borders on sedition, and it must end. Now.

https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1346928275470299142

—

Anthony Albanese blames Donald Trump for US Capitol violence

sbs.com.au - 7 January 2021

https://www.sbs.com.au/programs/video/1841137219993/Anthony-Albanese-blames-Donald-Trump-for-US-Capito

NATO calls Albanese to Lithuania summit

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 9, 2023

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Anthony Albanese has been invited to attend NATO’s upcoming summit in Lithuania amid fears over China’s growing alignment with Russia and the authoritarian powers’ systemic threat to the international order.

The invitation to the Prime Minister and his Japanese, South Korean and New Zealand counterparts comes as the world’s most powerful military alliance – bolstered by the admission of Finland – works to strengthen ties with its Asia-Pacific partners.

Lithuania’s top national security adviser, Kestutis Budrys, revealed the invitation to The Australian just days after talks in Brussels between NATO officials and representatives of the four Asia-Pacific countries, dubbed by the alliance as the AP4.

It’s unclear whether Mr ­Albanese will attend the July 11-12 summit but Australia’s status as a major donor to Ukraine’s war ­effort and a staunch defender of global rules suggest he is likely to make the trip. “We still don’t have the answer yet but yes, that's what we expect,” Mr Budrys said.

The senior adviser to Lithu­anian President Gitanas Nauseda met officials from the Prime Minister’s office and the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence during a visit to Australia last week.

The invitation, which is informal until the AP4 leaders confirm their attendance, comes as the US scrambles to investigate a devastating intelligence leak detailing Russian and Ukrainian war plans, and sensitive assessments of Chinese threats in the Indo-­Pacific.

A senior US national security official told The New York Times the leak was “a nightmare for the Five Eyes” – the Anglophone ­intelligence-sharing network that includes Australia.

Tensions were also high in the Pacific at the weekend as China deployed dozens of fighter jets and warships around Taiwan following a meeting between the island’s president and US house Speaker Kevin McCarthy in California.

Mr Albanese and other AP4 leaders attended last year’s NATO summit in Madrid, where the alliance declared for the first time that China’s “ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values”.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said after meeting AP4 officials last week that any decision by China to provide ­lethal aid for Russia in its war against Ukraine would be “a ­historic mistake with profound implications”.

Mr Stoltenberg said as Beijing and Moscow pushed back against the rules-based international order, it was vital for NATO allies and its ­like-minded partners to stand together.

Like Australia, Lithuania has been subjected by Beijing to a campaign of economic coercion that saw its exports blocked and pressure piled on countries to strip Lithuanian inputs from their supply chains. The Baltic state of just 2.7 million people sparked Chinese fury in 2021 when it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius named the “Taiwanese Representative Office”.

Lithuania is also leading a push to admit Ukraine to NATO, with its parliament unanimously passing a resolution last week to ­officially invite Kyiv to join the ­alliance at the upcoming summit in Vilnius.

The proposal is considered a radical one by many NATO allies, which fear the move would dangerously escalate the conflict.

(continued)

>>18670782

2/2

Mr Budrys said Europe had learned its lesson after becoming overly reliant on Russian energy, and it was important for like-minded nations to avoid a similar dependence on China.

He said the “possible harmful consequences” of dependency on China and Russia required new levels of solidarity between ­nations that respected global rules. “In relation to China, economic dependency can be turned into a tool of coercion, but also a political tool if there is a crisis or military conflict,” Mr Budrys said.

“For that reason, we have to think about risk mitigation measures and be very realistic about what level of interdependence can be harmful.”

He called for “economic war-gaming” by like-minded nations to assess the risks of coercion and supply chain interruptions, “and to see what would limit that”.

The director of foreign policy and defence at the United States Studies Centre, Peter Dean, said the NATO invitation was an important one, reflecting the interconnectedness of Europe and the Indo-Pacific in an era of intense strategic competition.

“It’s an acknowledgment of the need to stand together in the face of revisionist powers in both regions, and endeavours to strengthen the international order that favours rules and dip­lomacy over coercion and force,” he told The Australian. “We are seeing the need to engage not just on diplomacy and the international order but on defence ­industrial collaboration and broad­er economic engagement.”

Accepting the NATO invitation will add to Mr Albanese’s already hectic travel schedule amid a cost-of-living crisis at home and the government’s high-stakes advocacy for a Yes vote in the voice referendum.

He will attend King Charles’s coronation in London days before the May budget, and the G7-plus summit in Hiroshima that month as a guest of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

In another major commitment, Mr Albanese will host US President Joe Biden, Mr Kishida and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Sydney for the Quad Leaders’ summit, which is also likely to be held in May.

He is also set to address the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore in early June, and attend the Pacific Island Forum in the Cook Islands in the middle of the year.

In a visit to Moscow in March, presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin called each other “dear friend” and revelled in their challenge to international norms. As he departed the Kremlin, Mr Xi told his counterpart: “Right now there are changes the likes of which we have not seen for 100 years. And we are the ones driving these changes together.”

French President Emmanuel Macron urged Mr Xi last week during a visit to Beijing to “bring Russia to its senses” over its war in Ukraine. Mr Macron was ­accompanied by a delegation of 50 business leaders, despite EU calls to “de-risk” Europe’s ties with China.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/nato-calls-pm-to-summit/news-story/8c52f790ab68252cf03ad87a29938b27

China health officials lash out at WHO, defend search for source of COVID-19 virus

AP / abc.net.au - 9 April 2023

Chinese health officials have defended their search for the source of the COVID-19 virus and lashed out at the World Health Organization after its leader said Beijing should have shared genetic information earlier.

The director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention's, Shen Hongbing, said the WHO comments were "offensive and disrespectful."

He accused the WHO of "attempting to smear China" and said it should avoid helping others "politicise COVID-19".

The global health body's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in March that newly disclosed genetic material gathered in Wuhan in central China, where the first cases were detected in late 2019, "should have been shared three years ago".

"As a responsible country and as scientists, we have always actively shared research results with scientists from around the world," Mr Shen said.

The origins of COVID-19 are still debated and the focus of political dispute.

Many scientists believe it jumped from animals to humans at a market in Wuhan, but the city is also home to laboratories including China's top facility for collecting viruses.

That prompted suggestions COVID-19 might have leaked from one.

The ruling Communist Party has tried to deflect criticism of its handling of the outbreak by spreading uncertainty about its origins.

Officials have repeated anti-US conspiracy theories that the virus was created by Washington and smuggled into China.

The government also says the virus might have entered China on mail or food shipments, though scientists abroad see no evidence to support that.

Chinese officials suppressed information about the Wuhan outbreak in 2019 and punished a doctor who warned others about the new disease.

The ruling party reversed course in early 2020 and shut down access to major cities and most international travel to contain the disease.

The genetic material cited by the WHO's Dr Tedros was uploaded recently to a global database but collected in 2020 at a Wuhan market where wildlife was sold.

The samples show DNA from raccoon dogs mingled with the virus, scientists say. They say that adds evidence to the hypothesis COVID-19 came from animals, not a lab, but doesn't resolve the question of where it started. They say the virus also might have spread to raccoon dogs from humans.

The information was removed by Chinese officials from the database after foreign scientists asked the CDC about it, but it had been copied by a French expert and shared with researchers outside China.

A CDC researcher, Zhou Lei, who worked in Wuhan, said Chinese scientists "shared all the data we had" and "adhered to principles of openness, objectivity and transparency".

Mr Shen said scientists investigated the possibility of a laboratory leak and "fully shared our research and data without any concealment or reservation."

He said the source of COVID-19 was yet to be found, but he noted it took years to identify the AIDS virus and its origin is still unclear.

"Some forces and figures who instigate and participate in politicising the traceability issue and attempting to smear China should not assume that the vision of the scientific community around the world will be blinded by their clumsy manipulation," Mr Shen said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-09/china-lashes-out-at-who-defend-covid-virus-search/102202900

US government facing compensation claim over Navy officer’s $150 sex with Melbourne teen

Cameron Houston - April 10, 2023

A former Melbourne sex worker has launched legal action against the US government over allegations a senior officer in the US Navy had sex with her in the 1990s - when she was just 15 and addicted to heroin.

Lisa Harris, 39, will pursue compensation under an agreement between the US and Australia, which provides recourse for local victims of alleged misconduct by American military personnel.

Harris, who now lives in Darwin, said she met the lieutenant commander, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in St Kilda in 1996 or 1997, before having sex at a CBD hotel and receiving about $150.

“He was wearing a dark green uniform. It identified to me straight away that he was in the military, and he was American. He handed me a business card at the end of our time together,” Harris told The Age.

She insists that officer was aware of her age when he solicited her on Fitzroy Street.

“He absolutely knew how old I was. Because he was in a uniform, I told him. I said: ‘you know I’m only 15, right?’ And he said it didn’t bother him,” Harris said.

Correspondence obtained by The Age reveals Victoria Police and the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigated the incident in 1999, but the probe was stymied by Harris’ refusal to implicate the American officer.

The lieutenant commander has never denied the encounter. However, his lawyers told the US District Court of Columbia in 2006 that he thought Harris was 19.

“Plaintiff provided a statement that detailed how he met her during a trip to Australia, that she told him she was 19 years old, that they engaged in a consensual sexual encounter, and thus… Plaintiff did not engage in a sexual relationship with a known, teenage prostitute,” according to US court documents.

The officer made the statement as part of a legal bid to overturn a decision by the US Navy in 1999 that ended his 17-year career.

The appeal was successful, with the District Court of Columbia ruling in 2008 that his records would be changed to show that he was not discharged, but continued to serve until eligible for retirement.

Harris found the judgement during an online search, and said she was disgusted by the court’s decision.

“The thing that really annoys me is finding out that his government allowed his testimony to go through court without any challenge. This guy has lied and lied and claimed he didn’t know how old I was. And now he gets his record changed,” Harris said.

Lawyer Cameron Doig from Arnold Thomas & Becker accused the officer of preying on a vulnerable young woman.

“By demanding that the United States government compensate her for the devastating impact on her life, Ms Harris has shown exceptional bravery,” he said.

“Our client is one of many women in countries including Australia, Japan and Korea who have been subjected to sexual violence by visiting US military personnel.”

On February 6, Doig sent correspondence to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, KC, alleging that: “a US Navy officer, committed the tort of battery by sexually abusing our client.”

“In or around 1996 or 1997 [He] solicited our client for sex in St Kilda before sexually abusing her in a Melbourne hotel room. [He] exploited our client’s youth, homelessness and heroin addiction in order to sexually abuse her,” according to the letter sent to Dreyfus in February.

Under the agreement with the US, the Australian government is required to assess the claim for compensation and prepare a report on the case.

The report would then be delivered to the US government, which would decide whether an ex gratia payment was warranted.

Harris’ lawyers have asked for Dreyfus to consider the claim pursuant to the “Agreement Concerning the Status of United States Forces in Australia.”

Under a similar agreement with South Korea, the US government made ex gratia payments of almost $US300,000 in 2002 to the families of two teenaged girls killed by a US army vehicle.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/us-government-facing-compensation-claim-over-navy-officer-s-150-sex-with-melbourne-teen-20230404-p5cy4i.html

https://www.info.dfat.gov.au/Info/Treaties/Treaties.nsf/AllDocIDs/005D3E39D4BF9757CA256B59000DD46F

Julian Leeser quits over Liberals’ stance on Indigenous voice to parliament

ROSIE LEWIS and RHIANNON DOWN - APRIL 11, 2023

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Julian Leeser has resigned from shadow cabinet and has vowed to campaign Yes ahead of the Indigenous voice referendum, after the Liberal Party opposed a national voice enshrined in the Constitution.

In a press conference to announce his resignation, Mr Leeser said he had resigned on a “point of principle” and that he wanted to tell his children he stood up for something he “believed in”.

“No-one else in our party room has this experience,” he said. “I think I’m in a unique situation.

“I’m resigning without rancour but on a point of principle and I think what I want to be able to say to my children in the future is that your father stood up for something he believes in and that’s really important and something all of us should do”.

Mr Leeser, who has been involved in working on the voice for a decade, said it was a topic that people have “reasonable disagreements”, when asked why he had not been able to bring the Liberal Party round to his side.

“I respect the experiences they bring to the parliament, the communities they represent and the like and they have a different history on these issues to the history I have,” he said.

“I have ultimately come to the position I have because I’ve been here from day one as a supporter of the idea of this.”

Mr Leeser called for both sides in the voice debate to listen to each other and refrain from calling the other side “racist” or accuse them of wanting “special privileges”.

“If you’re a leader or advocate for the “no” case, then you have a responsibility to listen to the aspirations of Indigenous Australians who see value in a Voice,” he said.

“No matter where we are in this debate, we all must find a way to walk a mile in another’s shoes.

“There’s always been a place in this country, in our heart and soul, for civil debate, for discussion that helps us find common ground and in this debate, that means not calling those who disagree with you racist or inferring they come to the table in bad faith.

“And it means not inferring that those who disagree with you want special privileges.”

However he criticised the Albanese government’s handling of the voice referendum, while expressing his support for Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

“In Peter Dutton we have the most experienced and tested Opposition Leader in our history,” he said.

“Peter Dutton is a man who kept our country safe for nine years and I look forward to working for his election.”

Mr Leeser also criticised the way Anthony Albanese had run the process to enshrine the voice, saying that it lacked “bipartisanship”.

“I don’t believe the government has handled this process particularly well and I’ve been very critical of the Prime Minister and of the government,” he said.

“We had a proper bipartisan process up until the 2022 election.

“Some of the previous reports even were given both to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

“We worked through things together, but that changed in 2022.

“And you had a situation over the summer where the Prime Minister had said look at the Calma-Langton report but couldn’t deal with the detail himself of some of the issues raised there.”

(continued)

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Earlier, in a statement posted on Facebook, Mr Leeser said he remained a proud Liberal committed to his party, his constituents in the Sydney electorate of Berowra and the leadership of Peter Dutton but, on the voice, he disagreed with his party’s position.

“Unlike almost any other party in the parliament, the Liberal Party gives backbenchers the freedom to champion the ideas they believe in. Because I intend to campaign for a Yes vote I have resigned from the shadow ministry,” Mr Leeser said.

“I want to assure you that I remain a proud Liberal committed to my party, the people of Berowra, and the leadership of Peter Dutton. My resignation as a frontbencher is not about personality, it’s about keeping faith with an issue that I have been working on for almost a decade.

“I’ve also tried to keep faith with my Liberal values. My desire to conserve our institutions like the Australian Constitution with my desire to seek better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.”

Mr Leeser has been the opposition’s Indigenous Australians and legal affairs spokesman and has worked on various models for an Indigenous voice to parliament and the executive government for nearly a decade.

A week ago, Mr Leeser presented a blueprint for the voice that would let parliament legislate who in the executive government the advisory body could talk to and what it could talk about.

In his proposal, a voice would still be enshrined in the Constitution but parliament would be given ultimate power to decide how it works.

Two days later, the Opposition Leader and the Liberal Party announced it would oppose a national voice in the Constitution and instead advocate for legislated regional and local advisory bodies. The Liberal Party supports constitutional recognition.

“I will in the weeks ahead be arguing for the changes to the referendum wording that I detailed in my National Press Club address last Monday,” Mr Leeser said.

“The Press Club model for the voice – is constitutionally sound, gives Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians a place in our founding document, and recognises the supremacy of Parliament in our constitutional system. It improves the model put forward by the government and its referendum working group. This will also improve its chances for success at the ballot box.

“I acknowledge the support and good grace of Peter Dutton throughout the process and the faith he has shown in me. As shadow minister I have travelled with Peter and seen him listen to and engage with Indigenous leaders and Indigenous people in the community. I know he has a genuine desire to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

“However, on the voice Referendum we find ourselves in different places. People of goodwill can disagree.”

The country’s first Indigenous cabinet minister and former West Australian MP Ken Wyatt last week quit the party over its stance.

Mr Leeser said he had “many respectful discussions” with his colleagues about the voice, but ultimately had not been able to persuade them.

Liberal shadow cabinet members will be bound by the party’s voice position, which is why Mr Leeser has resigned and moved to the back bench.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/julian-leeser-to-quit-over-liberals-voice-position/news-story/634b34e7bf1110ea0c8e1c78f231779a

https://www.facebook.com/JulianLeeserMP/posts/660291732571094

>>18676743

We must find common ground on the voice

JULIAN LEESER - APRIL 11, 2023

Almost ten years ago, I sat down with a small group of constitutional conservatives and Indigenous leaders and worked on a proposal for constitutional recognition.

The idea we developed was different, it was organic, and it was an uniquely Australian idea designed for Australian conditions.

The proposal was called the voice. Though, to be entirely frank it was voice 1.0.

It was a way of achieving constitutional recognition as well as creating a new structure to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

As a non-Indigenous Australian, I have been on a journey seeking to understand the perspective of Indigenous Australians on the issue of constitutional recognition.

Before I entered parliament, I started an organisation called Uphold and Recognise, which sought to engage constitutional conservatives on the issue.

In parliament, along with Pat Dodson I co-chaired the parliamentary Joint Committee inquiry into Constitutional Recognition. Pat and I sweated every word. We laughed, we argued, we tried to push each other towards our own positions, but we sought to find common ground. That report is the thing I am most proud of in my time as a parliamentarian.

As the debate over the voice has taken hold over recent months, I have sought to keep faith with the very chords of belief and belonging that are part of who I am.

I have tried to keep faith with the first peoples of this land who want to have a stake in their own futures as well as keep faith with the Constitution, that invisible pillar that holds our nation together. But above all, it’s been about keeping faith with my values – Liberal values based on a fair-minded, conservative temperament.

Over recent months, I have spoken with Peter Dutton on a number of occasions about my desire to champion changes to the amendment. I respect Peter greatly.

I have also had many respectful discussions with colleagues about the voice. I have listened to their views and they have heard mine but ultimately I have not been able to persuade them, and it’s clear the Shadow Cabinet and the Party Room and I have landed in different places on this issue.

One of the great strengths of the Liberal Party is that, unlike almost any other party in the parliament, we give backbenchers the freedom to champion the ideas they believe in. I go to the backbench without bitterness or rancour, because I want to exercise that freedom because I intend to campaign for a yes vote.

I believe the time for the voice has come. I believe that better policy is made when the very people affected by it are consulted.

It is through empowering people and by building institutions that shift responsibility and decision making closer to people, we are more likely to shift the dial on Indigenous health, education, housing, safety and economic opportunity.

The time has come for the government to seriously engage with Coalition voters. It hasn’t done so to date. The government’s failures in this regard could ultimately put the referendum at risk.

When it comes to the voice, I know there are many Australians who remain to be convinced by the Yes case. They have legitimate questions and concerns.

I understand those concerns because I too have wrestled with them.

Last Monday, I put forward a new amended model for a voice at the National Press Club. The Press Club model achieves three things

First, it affirms the importance of local and regional bodies across our country as was proposed by the Calma-Langton report and supported by the Coalition.

Second, it achieves constitutional recognition without using symbolic language which is out of keeping with the rest of the Constitution – removing questions and doubts about activist judges.

Third, it leaves the scope and powers of the voice completely to parliament rather than turbocharging objections to disputed words in the Constitution. In other words, removing clause two of the proposed constitutional amendment.

In the months ahead, I will champion these changes.

I believe these changes will move the referendum to surer ground because we have taken off the barnacles. These changes will recognise Indigenous Australians in our founding document, while guaranteeing the supremacy of parliament.

The truth is the referendum is not tracking well, and if the government is serious about succeeding it must be prepared to compromise to bring more Australians into the tent.

We must all understand the risk to our country, and the risk to our shared national reconciliation project, if the referendum fails.

An all or nothing approach could deliver nothing.

That’s why we must find common ground.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/about-keeping-faith-why-im-resigning-the-liberal-front-bench/news-story/f8de467671b92a8c7fd7bf9bacb54c6b

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The risk for Peter Dutton: will Julian Leeser’s departure have a domino effect?

SIMON BENSON - APRIL 11, 2023

Julian Leeser’s resignation from the Coalition frontbench has dealt a damaging blow to Peter Dutton and his ability to maintain a unified party position in opposing the Indigenous voice to parliament and executive government.

The risk for Dutton is whether Leeser’s protest triggers a falling of the dominoes.

In the wake of former Coalition cabinet minister Ken Wyatt’s decision to resign from the Liberal Party last week, the optics have just become very messy for the Opposition leader.

Leeser was, until this morning, the Opposition’s shadow indigenous affairs minister and shadow attorney general.

His own proposal – backing constitutional change but legislating the voice’s remit – was comprehensively rejected by Dutton and the Liberal party room.

On this basis, his decision to resign from the frontbench wasn’t entirely unexpected and was warranted.

As a constitutional lawyer having worked on a voice to parliament for more than a decade, Leeser says he wants to campaign for the Yes case, consistent with his values.

This rules him out of serving in the shadow ministry which is now locked into Dutton’s opposition to a national voice in any form.

As a backbencher he is now free to do as he pleases. Unlike the Labor Party.

Leeser stresses that his decision is not about Dutton.

“I want to assure you that I remain a proud Liberal committed to my party, the people of Berowra, and the leadership of Peter Dutton,” he says.

“…it’s about keeping faith with an issue that I have been working on for almost a decade.”

This will come as little comfort to the Liberal leader who now has a serious task ahead to keep the party room fracturing further over this issue.

Leeser has the comfort of marking his protest by resigning from the frontbench rather than resigning from the party.

Representing a very safe Liberal seat in the leafy outer suburbs of Sydney’s north shore, he is under no threat of losing it.

But, as he alluded to, he is clearly concerned about the mood of his electorate which delivered an eight per cent swing against him at the last election.

The risk for Dutton is that Leeser’s stance on a matter of principle may encourage others in the party room to examine their own positions.

Losing someone from the frontbench of Leeser’s standing is damaging enough. But losing a backbencher whose only recourse would be to resign the party would be a devastating blow.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-risk-for-dutton-will-leesers-departure-have-a-domino-effect/news-story/b1596bc49a2c149e9cec959c5d9b9e2f

Federal government says agreement reached with China to resolve barley dispute

Stephen Dziedzic - 11 April 2023

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The federal government has agreed to suspend its appeal to the World Trade Organization over Chinese government tariffs on Australian barley just before the international body was due to hand down a finding over the dispute.

In May 2020, China imposed tariffs of 80 per cent on Australian barley for five years, crippling a trade worth up to $1.5 billion a year.

The former Coalition government appealed that decision to the WTO, rejecting China's claims that Australia had used subsidies to distort the market.

Industry sources said the WTO was due to hand down a finding on the tariffs within days, with most observers predicting the panel would firmly back Australia in the dispute.

However, on Tuesday afternoon, the Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that China had promised to conduct an "expedited review" of the tariffs over the next three months and that, in return, Australia would "temporarily suspend" its WTO action over the same period.

"The government is seeking to expedite the resolution of this matter. Obviously, we retain our rights in the WTO if we're not able to get agreement," she told journalists in Adelaide.

She said that bilateral negotiations might help Australian barley producers get back into the Chinese market much faster.

"This would potentially deliver a result in a shorter timeframe than if we simply proceeded through the WTO," she said.

She also said if the agreement provided a successful pathway to lift barley tariffs, then Australia hoped to follow a "similar process" to reverse tariffs on Australian wine.

"Obviously, stabilisation and the resolution of trade issues will take time, but we are pleased that constructive dialogue has resumed," Senator Wong said, adding that Australia would continue to work within the WTO "to protect and preserve the rights of Australian exporters.

Negotiation is Australia's 'preferred method', trade minister says

Trade Minister Don Farrell said Australia's "preferred method" of resolving trade disputes was "to discuss and negotiate with our trading partners".

"And, on this occasion, we have sought dialogue with our Chinese counterparts to see if there's any possibility of resolving these impediments through sensible dialogue," he said.

One Australian government source stressed that the suspension was temporary and that Australia could resume its WTO action after the review.

They said they were "confident" that China would reverse the tariffs during the three-month review, but would not say if Beijing had given any concrete commitments.

The announcement “warrants cautious optimism", said Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Birmingham and Shadow Trade Minister Kevin Hogan in a joint statement.

They stressed that Australia should “expect nothing less” than “full removal of the tariffs that China imposed on Australian barley”.

“As with recent engagements between Australia and China, the ultimate value of this process will be judged on the outcomes achieved,” they said.

“In this instance, that outcome should be the complete and unconditional removal of tariffs on Australian barley and wine tariffs, which should never have been imposed in the first place.”

(continued)

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Grain producers welcome move

The Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) Professor James Laurenceson said the Albanese government was "bending over backwards to provide Beijing with a face-saving off-ramp in the barley dispute case at the WTO".

"Whether Beijing comes to the party is up to it. But there can be no suggestion of anything other than Canberra being driven by diplomacy," he said.

Grain Producers Australia Chair, Barry Large, backed the government's strategy and said the organisation "looked forward to a positive outcome" from China's review of the tariff.

"Barley is an important rotation crop for Australian growers and any optimism on the future outlook is good," he said.

"This process to reach a resolution would be significantly shorter than if the WTO process continued."

The issue arose after the Chinese claimed Australia had been dumping barley below the cost of production, which the industry has always strongly denied.

It led to a shutdown of trade, which had a huge impact on grain farmers, with 2021 estimates that Australian grain growers lost $30 to $40 a tonne for feed barley when China imposed the tariffs.

Victorian grain grower and Grains Producer Australia spokesman Andrew Weidemann welcomed the decision, saying his organisation always opposed the WTO action.

Mr Weidemann said his group had been lobbying for a negotiated outcome with the Chinese, which "looks likely to be on the table".

He said it was "the first positive step" in four years, since the tariff was suddenly imposed on Australian barley, which effectively ended the trade between the two countries.

“The Chinese culture means that we have to save face somehow, and this is the first positive step towards it,” Mr Weidemann said.

Despite his optimism, Mr Weidemann was also cautious about the deal, which includes Chinese authorities reviewing the tariffs over the next three months, and Australia reserving the right to resume its WTO action if they're not lifted.

“It's still no guarantee that this will get across the line [and] the duties will be removed,” he said.

“Our contacts in China have been voicing their hope we would eventually [be] able to trade barley with them again.

“To have China back in the barley market, along with all the other new markets we've developed, it only bodes well for the barley industry in Australia.”

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-11/agreement-reached-with-china-for-resolution-of-barley-dispute/102208192

Chinese Vice FM to visit Australia, Fiji amid signs of warming ties

Zhang Changyue - Apr 10, 2023

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu will visit Australia and Fiji this week at their invitation, the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed at a regular press briefing on Monday, saying Ma will hold the new round of political consultation between the officials of the foreign ministries of China and Australia.

Experts said Ma's visit to Australia, following talks between the two countries' foreign, defense and commerce ministries, showed that China and Australia are resuming communication channels in different areas and levels.

Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday that Ma will negotiate some specific issues with the Australian side in response to the consensus reached by the two countries' leaders last year on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, including paving the way and preparing for the future mutual visit of higher-level officials from China and Australia.

China has issued an invitation "in principle" for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to visit Beijing, and the trip could take place around September and October to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister, South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. According to Reuters, Albanese said on Wednesday he would accept the invitation to visit China once he receives it.

At the same time, however, Albanese told media on Sunday that its AUKUS agreement with the US to purchase a fleet of nuclear submarines for delivery in early 2030 would go ahead and will not be affected by who wins the US 2024 election.

Australia's attitude is very clear: it will improve ties with Beijing while keeping its cooperation going with Washington, in the hope that such cooperation will not affect China-Australia relations, especially in the economic and trade sectors, Zhou Fangyin, a professor at the Guangdong Research Institute for International Strategies, told the Global Times on Monday.

"As an independent country, Australia has the right and freedom to form an alliance. But China will never allow such an alliance to treat it as an ultimate enemy, or to harm China's interests. Albanese should have the wisdom to find the 'balance' between taking care of his Western alliances and stabilizing ties with Beijing," said Chen.

On Ma's trip to Fiji, Chen explained that Fiji's new government, influenced by the West, has made some policy shifts to cater to the West's narrative at the cost of its ties with China, including the suspension of China-Fiji police cooperation and changing the name of Taipei Trade Office in Fiji.

In late March, Fiji has renamed Taiwan region's representative office as the "Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan)", changing it from the previous name of Taipei Trade Office, which was set by the then ruling Fiji administration in 2018. Chinese foreign ministry said it opposed any attempt to create "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan".

As the US continued to exert its influence in the South Pacific region, Chen said Ma's visit to Fiji showed that China will always develop relations with countries in the South Pacific region with an attitude of frankness, equality and assistance for mutual benefit and that the countries concerned should not be provoked or deluded by certain countries.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202304/1288828.shtml

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202304/t20230410_11057056.html

China’s military strategy in the Pacific and how Australia can avoid being beaten

Charles Miranda - April 11, 2023

China is playing a 2500-year-old strategy board game to win over the region and Australia needs more than just submarines and missiles to play, one of our top security analysts has warned.

Australian National University professor of international security and intelligence and defence studies Professor John Blaxland said Australia’s secret weapon was in greater regional engagement as much as new military hardware.

His comments come on the eve of the public release of the Defence Strategic Review, labelled by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as the most important document for 35 years to spell out threats and what we need to combat them.

It also comes ahead of moves by the ADF to boost the use of Pacific nations as a “force multiplier” to its own ranks, training regional militaries with the same weapons, tactics and discipline.

Prof Blaxland said new acquisitions including nuclear-powered submarines, drones and missiles were important but more needed to be done on engagement with regional allies.

He described the situation like the ancient 2500-year-old Chinese board game Go, the oldest board game in the world, with how China was playing us.

“The idea is you don’t wipe pieces off the board, you win them over and so when you think about unrestricted competition that we face for influence, for favours for positioning and potentially for conflict, but hopefully not. It means we can’t just be thinking about military power, we have got to be thinking about other dimensions of national power.

“We are in a very serious competition for influence … we have to think more broadly.”

He said at all government, foreign affairs and trade and military levels, Australia needed to think about engaging more with Indonesia, Timor, Papua New Guinea, the Pacific and the ASEAN countries. This would be through economic partnerships and greater investment in the New Colombo Plan of scholarships and learning.

“These regional relationships are fundamentally important to our security and to our prosperity and stability and these relationships are under cooked,” he said. “There is still remarkable residual goodwill but you can’t take it for granted, you can’t think technology is the key to everything.”

He added hardware was important because the Chinese were building their arsenal considerably but it could not be the only dimension to the competition.

Meanwhile this July Australia will host one of the biggest military exercises it has ever run from multiple bases in which Pacific nations will drill alongside the ADF.

The biennial Talisman Sabre exercise will involve almost 20,000 personnel largely from the ADF and US forces but also India, the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces and His Majesty’s Armed Forces of Tonga.

Defence has announced critical to Talisman Sabre 2023 was to further enhance the interoperability of the ADF with allies specifically from the Pacific, in combined task force operations. In the event of conflict, regional allies could act as force multipliers to core ADF operations with the same weapons use, tactics and thinking.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/chinas-miitary-strategy-in-the-pacific-and-how-australia-can-avoid-being-beaten/news-story/b15a0e75281d99a741723a5c277b7966

Latitude refuses to pay hackers’ ransom demand

Colin Kruger - April 11, 2023

Consumer lender Latitude Financial Group has refused to pay a ransom demand from hackers who stole the details of 14 million consumers last month, but would not say if the criminals have threatened to release the data, which includes driver’s licence details.

Latitude new chief executive Bob Belan yesterday declined to specify how much was demanded.

“Latitude will not pay a ransom to criminals,” he said.

“Based on the evidence and advice, there is simply no guarantee that doing so would result in any customer data being destroyed, and it would only encourage further extortion attempts on Australian and New Zealand businesses in the future.

“Our priority remains on contacting every customer whose personal information was compromised and to support them through this process.”

Belan took over as CEO this month from Ahmed Fahour, who took the company public less than two years ago at $2.60 a share. The stock was closed the trading day flat at $1.26 a share.

The stolen information includes the driver’s licence numbers of 7.9 million Australian and New Zealand customers and covers most current and former Latitude customers.

Latitude provides consumer finance services to Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Apple, and recently signed up David Jones. The victims include current and former Latitude customers stretching back more than 10 years as well as applicants for its consumer credit services that include Harvey Norman’s interest-free loans.

Latitude’s latest announcement came the same day that Cybersecurity Minister Clare O’Neil said the government has begun a series of cybersecurity exercises with the banking and finance sector because of its importance to the functioning of the economy.

“The groups that are conducting cyberattacks are becoming more professionalised, industrialised, powerful and effective,” she said.

“We’re conducting exercises where we play through what it would look like to have a major bank, for example, come down in a cyberattack.”

Latitude said it has not detected any hacker activity on its systems since March 16. It is still in the process of restoring some of its operating systems following the attack but said its primary customer contact centre was back online and operating at full capacity. The company can also sign up new customers again.

The group is working with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the incident is being investigated by the Australian Federal Police.

Elliot Dellys, founder and chief executive of Phronesis Security, said the rejection of ransom payments, and government support, were welcome developments.

“Historically, the trend has been for businesses to try and make the problem go away as quickly as possible, regardless of the long-term consequences,” he said.

He cited research by McGrathNicol last year which found that around 80 per cent of Australian businesses hit by a cyber-attack pay the ransom, with an average payment of just over $1 million.

The Latitude hack follows a number of recent major incidents. Optus was the victim of a major cyber breach in September, with hackers obtaining the data of 10 million of its customers.

But Latitude’s attack is starting to resemble Medibank’s incident in October, which was more serious.

In Medibank’s case, criminals were accessing basic account details of 9.7 million current and former customers, as well as health claims data for about 160,000 Medibank customers, 300,000 customers of its budget arm ahm and 20,000 international customers.

The hackers leaked all stolen data onto the dark web after Medibank refused to pay a $15 million ransom.

https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/latitude-refuses-to-pay-hackers-ransom-demand-20230411-p5czhi.html?btis=

Hiding in the Russian consulate for months, ‘Aussie Cossack’ demands a prisoner swap

Perry Duffin - April 11, 2023

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Vladimir Putin’s man in Australia gunned his 4WD through the tunnels under Sydney, determined to reach the Russian consulate in Woollahra where he could remain out of prison and continue broadcasting pro-Moscow propaganda.

“The Aussie Cossack”, Simeon Boikov, was on parole for breaching a suppression order when he was told by police he was wanted after the alleged assault of a pro-Ukrainian protester. Rather than face arrest on the eve of a planned trip to Moscow in December, he drove straight to the Russian consulate.

Now Boikov has had his main channel silenced and has urged the fearsome Wagner Group to capture Australians fighting for Ukraine so he can be traded in a prisoner swap.

“The Russians don’t plan to surrender me, to give me up, this is not the Ecuadorians,” Boikov told the Herald from the consulate, referring to the years-long extradition fight of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

“I’m not living out of a suitcase.”

The 33-year-old Australian has been holed up since December in a modest apartment in the blonde-bricked Russian consulate overlooking the finessed lawns of wealthy Woollahra.

The anti-vaccination Boikov leant out of the window to update the Herald last week after YouTube permanently terminated his channel. He claims it was because he shared comments by South Australian senator Alex Antic about COVID-19 vaccines and excess deaths.

“Well there’s good news,” Boikov said.

“I was in shackles. I couldn’t say vaccine, Pfizer, Moderna whatever, I had to go soft on Russia-Ukraine.”

Boikov said being banned from YouTube was not a disaster, but three months ago he fled his comfortable life in Breakfast Point hoping to keep his broadcast alive.

“I was driving on the Anzac Bridge, I rang Day Street [police], they connected me to the inspector he said ‘come in, hand yourself in, you’re going back inside, parole wants ya’,” Boikov said.

“I said ‘yeah nah’. I gunned it to the consulate hoping I wouldn’t get picked up.”

Boikov had been given 10 months in prison for breaching a suppression order and naming an alleged paedophile at an anti-lockdown rally in May 2022. He was paroled and booked a ticket to Russia.

Then he spotted a pro-Ukraine protest at Town Hall and decided to start filming.

An older man confronted Australia’s most vocal pro-Putinist, and Boikov pushed him away. The older man was injured tumbling down the steps.

Police charged Boikov with assault and causing actual bodily harm. His passport and parole were revoked on the eve of the flight to Moscow.

“The government want me, want me badly. I can be of no use if I’m in prison bail denied or parole or whatever. I can’t broadcast,” he said.

“They call me Putin’s patriot, Putin’s main man in Australia, do we trust the Australian police to give me a fair go after what they did to me last time?”

A magistrate convicted Boikov in absentia in February and issued a second arrest warrant.

(continued)

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Boikov became notorious for visiting Russia, where he posed with guns, and for celebrating Putin’s growing authoritarianism while dressed in military fatigues.

Born in Sydney but of Russian heritage, Boikov visited his ancestral homeland in 2014 and met one of the three Russian nationalists later convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment for downing the passenger airliner MH17 over Ukraine.

Boikov refuses to accept a European court’s ruling that pro-Russian forces committed the mass murder of 298 people including 38 Australians. He called it a “tragedy” but believes it was an accident.

On return to Sydney, he was questioned by multiple security agencies before being released.

But his following grew dramatically during the pandemic as he railed against vaccines and lockdowns.

“I think he was hitting the prominent core themes of the freedom rallies: the government as the problem, ‘they’re trying to control you’, the anti-vaccine mandates,” said Dr Josh Roose, a researcher of right-wing extremism.

“He certainly exploited the lockdown to increase his profile.”

Boikov would drive around Sydney with the Eureka flag flapping behind his car, filming confrontations with police as they pulled him over and debated public health orders.

Police took a special interest in Boikov as he whipped up an audience online and crowds during anti-lockdown rallies.

“They were handing out infringements like confetti, load him up, get him off the road’,” Boikov said.

“The police turned me into what I am.”

Roose said Boikov had come full circle since the Ukraine invasion, pivoting once more to become Australia’s number one Putin propagandist.

“He’s no Julian Assange … He’s a cheerleader for Russian fascism and anti-democratic forces in Australia,” Roose said.

“The Russians may well have chosen a more articulate figurehead, I think he’s an accidental one, I think they don’t know what to do with him.”

YouTube’s ban has relegated Boikov to obscure corners of the internet where his remaining tens of thousands of followers laud Putin’s bloody invasion and spread unhinged conspiracy theories.

If Boikov reaches Russia he said he would avoid the conflict zone because it would be a “waste of talent” to hand him a Kalashnikov.

“The fighting for me is all on the political front and informational front, that’s my interest,” he said.

The Herald understands diplomatic discussions are under way about how to get Boikov out of Australia, but he said his links to the Kremlin were overblown.

“It demoralises me sometimes, I just wish someone [from Russian officialdom] would say ‘well done for f-ck sake’,” he laughed. “What saves me is there is no formal link to the Russian government.”

If Boikov is not a useful trade, he may be forced to leave the consulate and finish his time in prison in Australia. Only then will he be able to get on a plane to Moscow.

Inside the consulate hallways, diplomatic staff keep a distance. His wife visits him each day to cook.

Boikov said that “distance” is probably for everyone’s benefit.

“The Russian government … see me as unpredictable, unhinged, uncontrolled. That’s why I have gotten away with it,” he said.

“Am I an agent of influence? Yes. But am I an agent of foreign influence? No.”

The Russian consulate was approached for comment.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/hiding-in-the-russian-consulate-for-months-aussie-cossack-demands-a-prisoner-swap-20230405-p5cyb5.html

‘Our soldiers’ new crush’: Ukraine enlists AC/DC in plea for Australian Hawkei military vehicles

Matthew Knott - April 11, 2023

The Ukrainian government has taken to social media to plead with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to donate protected mobility vehicles to help beat back invading Russian forces, describing the Australian-made four-wheel drives as its new military “crush”.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age revealed in September that Ukraine was lobbying for Australia to send a fleet of Hawkei vehicles to test them in a war zone, but the government has declined to provide any despite repeated requests.

The patrol vehicles, which have never been used on a battlefield, were specially designed and manufactured for the Australian Defence Force at defence contractor Thales’ facility in Bendigo, Victoria.

In a Twitter message posted on Tuesday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said: “Our soldiers absolutely love Australian Bushmasters. But now they have a new crush: the Hawkei. These two would be a perfect match on the battlefield.

“We would truly appreciate their reunion in Ukraine, @AlboMP!”

The post was accompanied by a minute-long video, set to a soundtrack of AC/DC’s Back in Black, showing Hawkeis in action and describing them as a “perfect reconnaissance vehicle”.

Hawkeis, which can carry up to six soldiers, have removable armour and optional mounts for weapons including automatic grenade launchers.

Importantly, they are light enough to be transported by helicopter, allowing them to be airlifted directly onto the battlefield.

The vehicles are named after Acanthophis hawkei, a species of the death adder snake named in honour of former prime minister Bob Hawke.

During a visit to Australia last month, Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister, urged Australia to use Ukraine as a testing lab for the Hawkei vehicles, which were plagued by braking problems during the construction phase.

Sak said the vehicles would help Ukraine in a planned counter-offensive over the European summer.

He said Australia would send an important message to the world by providing brand new, rather than second-hand, equipment to Ukraine and could spur similar pledges from other nations.

“This will send a signal across the international community that the Ukrainian army will be supported with the best weaponry that the civilised world has at the moment,” he said.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said his nation was deeply grateful for the support from Canberra, but that Australia was beginning to fall behind other nations in terms of military aid.

Japan and Sweden had overtaken Australia as the largest non-NATO providers of military aid to Ukraine, he said.

“Everywhere I go, Australians tell me Australia can and should do more to help Ukraine,” he said.

Australia has provided an estimated $510 million in military assistance to Ukraine since the Russian invasion last February, including 90 Bushmaster protected mobility vehicles plus armoured vehicles and ammunition.

A spokeswoman for Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government was committed to delivering on its current contribution to Ukraine.

“As the deputy prime minister has said, Australia will stand with Ukraine for the duration of this conflict so that Ukraine is in a position to determine the outcome of this conflict on its terms,” she said.

“The government will continue to review its response options in relation to the evolving situation in Ukraine.”

Speaking at a Lowy Institute event on Tuesday, Australian Defence Force Chief General Angus Campbell said: “Our government has made it clear that we continue and we will continue to support Ukraine. The form of that support is a matter for government.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/our-soldiers-new-crush-ukraine-enlists-acdc-in-plea-for-australian-hawkei-military-vehicles-20230411-p5czkt.html

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1645547205158408193

Dozens of Australian politicians urge US to abandon Julian Assange extradition

Daniel Hurst - 11 Apr 2023

Australian federal politicians from across the political spectrum have jointly asked the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, to abandon attempts to extradite Julian Assange from the UK.

The 48 MPs and senators – including 13 from the governing Labor party – warned that the pursuit of the WikiLeaks founder “set a dangerous precedent” for press freedom and would damage the reputation of the US.

Assange, an Australian citizen, remains in Belmarsh prison in London as he fights a US attempt to extradite him to face charges in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars as well as diplomatic cables.

In an open letter published on Tuesday, the Labor, Coalition, Greens and crossbench politicians implored Garland to “drop the extradition proceedings and allow Mr Assange to return home”.

“If the extradition request is approved, Australians will witness the deportation of one of our citizens from one Aukus partner to another – our closest strategic ally – with Mr Assange facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison,” the letter said.

“This would set a dangerous precedent for all global citizens, journalists, publishers, media organizations and the freedom of the press. It would also be needlessly damaging for the US as a world leader on freedom of expression and the rule of law.”

The letter said the charges – which include 17 counts under the Espionage Act and one count under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act – pertained to Assange’s actions “as a journalist and publisher” in publishing information “with evidence of war crimes, corruption and human rights abuses”.

The MPs and senators contrasted the ongoing pursuit of Assange with the case of the former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who was released in 2017 when Barack Obama commuted her 35-year military prison sentence for leaking the information.

The letter said Assange – who initially took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London – “has been effectively incarcerated for well over a decade in one form or another, yet the person who leaked classified information had their sentence commuted and has been able to participate in American society since 2017”.

The independent MP Andrew Wilkie, who co-chairs the Parliamentary Friends of Julian Assange Group, initiated the letter. It coincides with the fourth anniversary of Assange being detained in Belmarsh prison.

Wilkie said the 48 Australian federal parliamentarians were acting “in concert with similar letters from parliamentarians from around the world” and together they represented millions of constituents.

“This is no small matter and must not be dismissed,” Wilkie said. “Nor should it be ignored that the outpouring of political concern spans the political spectrum and is based on a diverse range of reasons.”

Assange’s father, John Shipton, said his son had been living under “a pall of shame and disgrace”.

Shipton said the decision by the new Australian high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, to visit Belmarsh prison last week marked “the beginning of the end of this bleak, severe frost on truth and destruction of Julian Assange”.

Greg Barns SC, a legal adviser to the Assange campaign, said the US attempt to prosecute Assange was “dangerous” because it meant “any journalist or publisher anywhere in the world could face extradition to the US for exposing material Washington doesn’t want you to know about”.

The Australian foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, warned late last month that there were limits to what diplomacy could achieve.

But she said Australia would continue to express the view to both the US and UK governments that the case against Assange “has dragged on long enough and should be brought to a close”.

The 13 Labor MPs to sign Tuesday’s letter were Michelle Ananda-Rajah, Mike Freelander, Julian Hill, Peter Khalil, Tania Lawrence, Zaneta Mascarenhas, Brian Mitchell, Alicia Payne, Graham Perrett, Susan Templeman, Maria Vamvakinou, Josh Wilson and Tony Zappia.

The highest profile Coalition signatories were the former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce and the MP for Bass, Bridget Archer.

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, was joined by many of his party colleagues in signing it, while independent MPs and senators were also well represented.

Comment was sought from the US embassy in Canberra, but the White House has previously said Joe Biden was “committed to an independent Department of Justice” when asked about the Assange case.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/11/julian-assange-australian-politicians-urge-merrick-garland-united-states-us-attorney-general-to-abandon-extradition

https://twitter.com/AssangeCampaign/status/1645683151614640128

>>18676828

UK MPs implore US A-G to drop Assange extradition

Ben Mitchell - April 11 2023

A letter to the US attorney-general has been signed by 35 British parliamentarians calling for extradition proceedings to be dropped against Julian Assange, on the fourth anniversary of his detention at Belmarsh prison.

Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East, organised the letter, which has been given the support of MPs and members of the House of Lords from six parties.

They call on Merrick Garland to drop the proceedings, which date back to former US president Donald Trump's administration and, it is claimed, relate to Assange's "role as a journalist and publisher in publishing evidence of war crimes, corruption and human rights abuses".

Assange is being held on remand as he challenges the High Court's ruling that he should be extradited to the United States to face trial after leaking military documents.

Mr Burgon said: "British parliamentarians are increasingly alarmed by the potential extradition of Julian Assange to the United States.

"Any extradition would, in effect, be putting press freedom on trial. It would set a dangerous precedent for journalists and publishers around the world.

"Four years on since Julian Assange was first detained in Belmarsh high-security prison, now is the right moment to draw a line under this outrageous prosecution initiated by the Trump administration, drop the charges against Julian Assange and allow him to return home to Australia."

Signatories include Conservative MP David Davis, Caroline Lucas of the Green Party, Jeremy Corbyn, Angus MacNeil of the Scottish National Party and Liz Saville-Roberts of Plaid Cymru.

The letter says: "If Mr Assange were to be extradited to the United States, he faces a prison sentence of up to 175 years for his publishing work which was carried out in the United Kingdom and in partnership with globally leading news outlets.

"This would clearly have a chilling impact on journalism and would set a dangerous precedent for other journalists and media organisations. It would also undermine the US's reputation on freedom of expression and the rule of law."

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8154043/uk-mps-implore-us-a-g-to-drop-assange-extradition/

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1645567033860558850

Marine Rotational Force - Darwin Facebook Post

10 April 2023

Leaders of Marine Rotational Force Darwin meet with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy at the U.S. Embassy Australia. The annual rotation of Marines underpins the illustrious history shared between the United States and Australia.

#AlliesandPartners #marines

(courtesy photo by U.S. Embassy Australia)

https://www.facebook.com/MRFDarwin/posts/593606036135217

>>18676743

Anthony Albanese runs serious risk of dividing instead of uniting the nation, warns former Liberal frontbencher Julian Leeser

ROSIE LEWIS - APRIL 12, 2023

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Julian Leeser has issued a stark warning to Anthony Albanese that his government risks dividing the country by failing to ­“seriously engage” with Coalition voters who want to support an ­Indigenous voice but have ­concerns over the model, after he quit the opposition frontbench and vowed to back the Yes campaign during the referendum.

Mr Leeser resigned as opposition legal affairs and Indigenous Australians spokesman on Tuesday and promised to do everything he could to put the Albanese government’s proposed constitutional amendment on a “surer footing” before ultimately campaigning in support of the Yes side.

He declared “the time for the voice has come”.

Mr Leeser’s decision to quit the frontbench means Peter Dutton faces a mini-reshuffle within days and growing divisions in his party despite Mr Leeser’s stressing that he had resigned without bitterness and remained loyal to his party and “fully committed to the leadership of Peter Dutton”.

His departure from the frontbench comes just days after former cabinet minister Ken Wyatt quit the party altogether over its stance on the voice and Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer warned the party was at a crossroads.

“I’m resigning without rancour but on a point of principle,” Mr Leeser said. “What I want to be able to say to my children in the ­future is that ‘your father stood up for something he believes in’ and that’s really important and that’s what all of us as parliamentarians should do.

“My resignation as a frontbencher is not about personality, it’s about keeping faith with an issue that I have been working on for almost a decade.

“I’ve also tried to keep faith with my Liberal values: my desire to conserve our institutions like the Australian Constitution with my desire to seek better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.”

But Mr Leeser warned the Prime Minster: “The risk to our country and the risk to our shared national reconciliation project of failure needs to be recognised by the government. An all-or-nothing approach could deliver nothing. That’s why we must find common ground.”

Indigenous leaders and supporters of the voice hailed Mr Leeser’s decision to resign, saying it showed he put principle ahead of politics, while NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg – who backs the idea of the voice – believed a Yes vote was now more likely.

Liberal MPs were dismissive of the prospect of Mr Leeser’s resignation harming Mr Dutton’s leadership, noting an overwhelming majority of the party room backed the position endorsed by the Opposition Leader last Wednesday.

With two senior portfolios needing to be filled, Mr Dutton said he would give “some consideration” to who could replace Mr Leeser over the next few days or week. Northern Territory Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and South Australian Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle were flagged by colleagues as two possible contenders to take on the Indigenous Australians portfolio. There was speculation frontbenchers with a legal background – such as Michaelia Cash and Paul Fletcher – could take on legal affairs.

(continued)

>>18682130

2/2

Mr Dutton is due visit Alice Springs on Wednesday after ­repeatedly calling for a royal commission into the crime wave and “unconscionable” sexual abuse of Indigenous youth in the town. The Opposition Leader said he was “very happy” with his party’s position on the voice and his overarching test was whether a decision or policy was in the country’s best interest.

“After having studied this issue for months and months, after having spoken to literally hundreds of people around the country, after visiting very desperate situations in some regional communities, I do not believe that the Canberra voice is in our country’s best interests,” Mr Dutton said.

“You change the Constitution and you change the country. We live in one of the most stable democracies in the world and the underpinning of that is the Constitution.” ”

Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney acknowledged Mr Leeser’s decision to resign would not have been easy but praised him for showing “strength today in putting his principles ahead of politics”. “(Mr Leeser’s) decision reflects his long-held commitment to constitutional recognition through a voice, and an understanding that this year’s referendum is a once-in-a-generation chance to make a real difference in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and help close the gap,” Ms Burney said.

“He knows how much work has gone in to getting Australia this far on the journey to reconciliation.”

Indigenous leader Marcia Langton praised Mr Leeser’s integrity for supporting the voice but said his push to alter the referendum question showed he “remains confused”.

The Liberal Party has rejected a national voice enshrined in the Constitution and instead will advocate for legislated regional and local advisory bodies. The party supports constitutional recognition.

The position was reached two days after Mr Leeser put his own model forward, in which a voice would be established in the Constitution but the parliament would have complete say over its scope and functions.

The Australian understands Mr Leeser urged shadow cabinet to put his model to the parliamentary committee scrutinising the government’s referendum question and constitutional amendment, in the hope the process could help move Labor.

He also appealed to senior colleagues not to make a final decision on the voice until after the committee had completed its work and argued everyone in the party – including shadow cabinet ministers – should get a free vote, but was rebuffed.

His model was never taken to the Liberal partyroom, though a commitment to local and regional legislated voices – which formed part of Mr Leeser’s proposal – was adopted.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/albanese-risks-divided-nation-warns-libs-yes-guy/news-story/5760bb78044a6a07e712eba01f566dc6

>>18676743

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sacrificed nothing in debate of principles

GREG CRAVEN - APRIL 12, 2023

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The commonly accepted virtues of politics are ruthlessness, guile and self-belief. Moral conviction, decency and the ability to see past the next week are dispensable.

These realities starkly underline the resignation from the frontbench of Julian Leeser.

Leeser walked rather than be muzzled in his support of the Indigenous voice to parliament. He was there when the voice was designed. He advocated strongly for its creation.

When the Albanese government failed on process and substance, he belled the cat but never wavered on the principle. Now, as usual in politics, the price of honesty is death. Or, at least in the case of the talented Leeser, a period of suspended animation.

Leeser was forced to resign by the Coalition’s decision to actively oppose the voice. Backbenchers still could speak freely but members of the shadow ministry were gagged, conscience or otherwise.

This is in stark contrast to the republican referendum in 1999, when Liberal cabinet titans such as Peter Costello and John Fahey publicly fought for the republic. Some conservatives argue the voice is not a true issue of conscience. They are glibly wrong. For many conservatives – such as Leeser – the voice is a fundamentally moral issue. Looking at the past and present treatment of Indigenous people, they are morally impelled to act.

This does not mean other people with different perceptions are immoral. Everyone is entitled to their own moral precepts, but that means everyone, including Leeser and fellow thinkers.

Writing as a Catholic, it is no surprise to me that this stand by Leeser comes from a Jew. Mosaic Law always impels conscience over expedience. The tragedy of centuries of Jewish persecution sharpens the imperative for fair treatment of disdained people within our own commonwealth.

Conservative political theory follows the Judaeo-Christian lead. Before and after Edmund Burke, it has held rigorously that conscience coerced is no real conscience. In hindsight, the free vote for frontbenchers on the republic but not for the voice is truly remarkable. The republic was not a moral issue. It involved no element of conscience or ethics. It was a mere judgment on constitutional structure.

The precedent now set for conservatives by the voice is chilling. The more something matters, the less you can act according to basic precepts. There are other frontbenchers who also dissent from the opposition’s stand on the voice. But do they have the moral guts to join Leeser? Perhaps not.

(continued)

>>18682138

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Leeser has worn much conservative criticism over the voice. He has been accused of being soft, wet, incapable and a closet leftie. But the nastiest barbs were delivered by Anthony Albanese during the past fortnight as the Coalition was limped towards its position.

Leeser was necessarily silent but the Prime Minister ridiculed him as an original architect of the voice who was now a backslider and a moral coward. Yet Albanese has not shed one drop of blood for the voice. He has not been abused by political allies. He certainly has not sacrificed any advancement. Rather, he has bathed in worship as a future Labor hero. It is Leeser, not Albanese, who has suffered for the courage of his convictions. The Prime Minister might privately admit to shame.

One of Leeser’s problems has been the utter inability of the Australian news cycle to understand any sophisticated political position. It cannot cope with anything beyond Yes or No. But Leeser has the basic intellectual capacity to support the voice while critiquing its form. Such weakness.

Leeser tried for sensible compromise to the end. He proposed in a recent speech at the National Press Club that if only Albanese were open to amending his draft, there was a plausible road forward for the Voice. But government and opposition ignored him. Which leaves Leeser and the entire nation trapped between a government resolutely refusing to follow proper process or negotiate, and an opposition driven by short term politics and demagoguery.

The last chance now is the Parliamentary Committee considering the Albanese amendment. Sadly, its work has been greatly compromised by the Opposition’s rejection of the Voice in advance of its hearings.

It is desperately important that the Committee – if only its Coalition members – identify the best possible compromise, even if they themselves remain opposed to the Voice. This is the only wafer-thin chance of avoiding a fully partisan referendum.

One further issue is Leeser’s own future. In a miasma of self-serving politics, his position reflects genuinely liberal principle. As the Coalition struggles out of electoral defeat and philosophical confusion, it is a fair bet he will emerge only the stronger. The other question concerns the position of principled conservatives who – like Leeser – support the voice but strain at its constitutional implementation. Until now, constitutional scruples have interrupted moral support. But with Leeser’s bruising experience, all bets are off.

Emeritus professor Greg Craven is a constitutional lawyer.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/pm-has-sacrificed-nothing-in-debate-of-principles/news-story/80b10a1260a2ccfbe07e13a1b2be0fb2

>>18676743

Voice to parliament report exposes plenty of flaws, but no real solutions

WARREN MUNDINE - APRIL 12, 2023

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This year Australians will be asked to vote on the most significant change to our system of government since Federation – a constitutionally enshrined Indigenous voice to parliament.

It’s the voice to everyone on everything that will expose every government decision and policy to delay and/or judicial challenge and influence the lives of not just Aboriginal people, but all Australians. Before Australians vote whether to up-end our democratic system, we should understand the nature of the beast. Although he won’t discuss the details, Anthony Albanese intends to implement the 2021 Indigenous Voice Co-design Process Report to the Australian government by Tom Calma and Marcia Langton.

The report is 270 pages long and stands almost 3cm high on my desk. Because the concept is so complicated it takes many, many words to explain it. It’s so impenetrable, I know highly educated people who’ve struggled to get through it.

Yet it’s this document Albanese has told people to read if they want to know how the voice will work. He seems to have stopped this lately – perhaps he finally looked at it himself and thought twice about encouraging anyone else near it. It’s dense, complex, padded with bureaucratese and hard to decipher. An abomination is a better word.

It’s entirely unsuitable to inform ordinary Australians about such a fundamental change to our democracy and system of government. The report introduces the voice concept as “an urgent solution to the ongoing predicament of Indigenous Australians” with “a robust and feasible means of producing outcomes”. Nowhere in this report are these desirable outcomes described, in any detail or by reference whatsoever.

The report assumes Indigenous people want “a greater say on the laws, policies and programs that affect our lives” and that “non-Indigenous Australians support that call”. What laws? What policies and programs? I can’t think of any that treat Aboriginal people unfairly or were designed without extensive consultation with Indigenous people. The opposite. And there’s no indication of how this will alleviate Aboriginal disadvantage.

The report claims Indigenous people have been calling for a national-level mechanism to have a greater say in Australian government laws, policies and decisions. Really? I think this call comes from a small minority of Aboriginal people from community organisations and academia who already advise government and have been amply funded over years to deliver improvements with little to show for it. Those groups will become the iceberg to the voice’s tip in a complex local, regional and national apparatus.

It’s the responsibility of the Australian parliament to legislate and of public servants to develop and implement policy at relevant ministers’ direction. And within that existing framework, we’ve had a huge increase in Indigenous participation over recent decades. Indigenous Australians are now a significant minority in the federal parliament, above parity.

Indigenous communities, organisations and individuals enjoy a close relationship with local members and a formal, integrated role in advising relevant ministers. Importantly, governments remain the largest employers of Indigenous people and these Indigenous public servants are right now administering the very policies and programs that impact Indigenous communities.

Indigenous people already have a voice, many voices. The report ignores the real gains made in incorporating Indigenous people into the democratic political process that serves all Australians well. The report has so many assumptions, but so little real data.

(continued)

>>18682146

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Firstly, it’s built on the assumption that having Aboriginal people speaking to parliament and government and having their say on legislation and policy will somehow address the “ongoing predicament” of Indigenous Australians. I can’t see this happening at all.

There’s also an assumption that this ongoing predicament will somehow be solved by the workings of government, when it is government policy and programs that figure most prominently in Aboriginal peoples’ lives already. The report never considers that may, in fact, be the root of the problem.

It’s evident, in these pages, that the voice process will create chaos and is likely to be unmanageable. How many different Indigenous voices will be heard on any particular legislation, decision or policy? There will be conflicting voices within “the voice” and competing agendas. Will Bills have to be drafted and re-drafted in response to the concerns of the voice? Will Ministerial decisions and policies need a voice sign off. And what if there is a dissenting or minority position within the voice?

Blackfellas aren’t all the same. We can’t speak for each other’s countries. And even within our own country, we don’t always see eye-to-eye. No one expects this of non-Aboriginal people. Australia’s system of government has a process for reaching decisions in a large, diverse society, built on nearly a thousand years of precedent and tradition in the Westminster system. There’s no proposed process for decision-making in the report.

The voice is predicated on an assumption of wholesale failure and crisis in Aboriginal communities. It’s true some communities are in crisis, but the suggestion a voice could have prevented problems like those we’ve seen recently in Alice Springs is just plain wrong.

A national voice couldn’t respond adequately even in a preventive manner. And, fundamentally, those problems stem from too many Aboriginal people not participating in the real economy. Being so tied to the public purse, the voice won’t have the first clue how to tackle that.

The voice as articulated by the Calma-Langton report is fatally flawed: flawed in its claim this is what Aboriginal people want, flawed in its proposed structure and flawed in its approach to representation.

Warren Mundine is a businessman and advocate for Indigenous economic participation. Research by Vicki Grieves Williams, academic, historian and Warraimaay woman, also contributed to this article.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/voice-report-shows-plenty-of-flaws-but-no-real-solutions/news-story/c740b04af68cf96252680dae44951180

>>18670474

Go inside one of the most powerful warships in the world

CNN

Apr 6, 2023

CNN's Will Ripley reports exclusively from one of the most powerful warships on the planet, the USS Mississippi, a U.S. nuclear submarine that's on high alert for threats from China.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he_szwyEpFk

Defence chief Angus Campbell warns of 'uncomfortable days' ahead on Afghanistan war crimes action

Andrew Greene - 11 April 2023

Australia's Defence chief has declined to say how many senior officers have faced punishment over the damning findings of the Afghanistan war crimes inquiry, but has warned of "uncomfortable days" ahead as more disciplinary action is taken.

In a rare public speaking engagement in Sydney, General Angus Campbell also praised the Ukrainian armed forces, described an apparent intelligence leak from the Pentagon as "serious", and was quizzed on military tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

Addressing the Lowy Institute, General Campbell hailed the "extraordinarily impressive" work of Ukraine's military in fighting Russia's invasion, but warned the war was likely to be prolonged as long as both sides had the "will" to maintain the fight.

"What we see from the President [Zelenskyy], all the way through the Ukrainian people, is utter commitment to fight to recover Ukraine. Sovereign, territorially, whole, and free," he said.

The general said the material support being provided by Western allies including Australia, as well as the "extraordinary skill and rapidity of learning" shown by Ukrainian forces was the factor most likely to shift the war in favour of the besieged nation.

He noted Russia lacked the same level of "tactical" skill and innovation while adding he was "hopeful of what Ukraine may be able to achieve".

General quizzed on Brereton Inquiry action two years on from findings

Following his prepared remarks, the Defence chief was asked about whether the ADF was bracing for more war crime charges and reputational damage from the Afghanistan war, a month after the arrest of a veteran from the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR).

"The Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), which is working independent of Defence, has seen a first arrest and charging of a former soldier," General Campbell noted.

"There may be others and that is a matter for the OSI and ultimately then a matter for the Commonwealth's Director of Public Prosecutions.

"I don't look to the question of how do I protect my reputation or the reputation of the Australian Defence Force, instead I ask the question; what is the correct values and behaviours and purpose to which we should be applying our effort — and reputation emerges.

"It's really important to support the people who are involved but to recognise that if we have failed as an organisation then we need to face that; and this is part of that story, and we are individually and collectively better for it if we do so.

"You won't see me trying to gloss over these things, and I think that there could be some very uncomfortable days coming forward, a matter for the OSI, a matter for the courts. What matters to me; values, behaviours and mission of the Australian Defence Force – that's what builds reputation."

Pressed further on his own view of command responsibility and how many senior officers had faced internal disciplinary action since the handing down of the Brereton report in November 2020, General Campbell declined to give details.

"That work continues, and I am not at liberty to speak to it until it has been completed. But we have undertaken the work as recommended by Justice Brereton under accountability."

Last year Veterans' groups demanded the Albanese government pull rank on the Defence chief to prevent him revoking medals over command failures in Afghanistan, before any alleged war crimes were proven in court.

Special forces insiders claim morale at the Perth-based SASR remains at "rock bottom" with many soldiers deciding to voluntarily discharge.

'Serious' Pentagon leaks and growing Taiwan tensions

General Campbell said reports of a likely large intelligence leak in the United States was a "serious" incident, noting that American authorities were now engaging with partners to understand the consequences.

"The issue of maintaining the security of information is critical to the development of national capability and to the trust and confidence across allies and partners. I appreciate this, by reports, it is a serious leak," he said.

"I am not, obviously as a military officer, someone who believes all information should be free and I do believe that there is a national interest in the protection of some information."

General Campbell was also circumspect when asked about growing tensions between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan, and whether Australia could be dragged into a future conflict.

"Anything that undermines the security stability and the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region in which we live is of interest to Australia."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-11/uncomfotable-days-ahead-defence-chief-campbell-says/102210800

Quarter of Tasmania’s population hacked by Russians, says Premier Jeremy Rockliff

MATTHEW DENHOLM - APRIL 11, 2023

Up to a quarter of Tasmanians may have had personal data stolen by Russian-linked hackers, the Premier has suggested.

Jeremy Rockliff on Tuesday said the scale of the hack of Education Department data handled by third-party transfer system GoAnywhere MFT had emerged after a “very complex analysis”.

Asked how many Tasmanians were affected by the data breach – which includes names and addresses, including of schoolchildren, as well as some bank details – Mr Rockliff said this was being “worked through”.

“My information is 145,683 emails have been sent to people that have had a potential breach (of their data),” Mr Rockliff said.

An additional 2500 people had been informed via mail of the ­potential theft of data, and a further 377 told by telephone.

Mr Rockliff said about 16,000 documents had been released ­online by the hackers.

Cybersecurity expert CyberCX has been hired to assist the government in understanding and responding to the attack.

The data was collected by various agencies controlled by the Department of Education, Children and Young People and was stolen in March by Russian-linked cyber criminals.

Agencies affected include the Teachers Registration Board, ­Office of the Education Registrar, Office of Tasmanian Assessment, Standards and Certification, Commissioner for Children and Young People, Government Education and Training International and Libraries Tasmania.

The department has said the data could include bank accounts, and children’s names, addresses, school name, reference numbers, homeroom and year group, and TAFE students’ dates of birth. Mr Rockliff said “no stone would be left unturned” in investigating and responding to the breach.

While no further data had been released in recent days, Tasmanians potentially affected “need to be vigilant”.

“I am not aware of any demand for a ransom,” Mr Rockliff said, adding that he was also unaware of anyone having money taken from bank accounts.

He promised a “very thorough review” of the government’s cyber security protections.

The government is also under fire over a letter sent by Police Commissioner Donna Adams and chief bureaucrat Jenny Gale to news organisations and MPs urging them to curtail coverage of the massive data breach.

Labor has accused the government of “serious mismanagement” of the data breach. Opposition technology spokeswoman Jen Butler questioned why the information was not encrypted or password-protected.

“Labor has asked on numerous occasions how widespread the government’s use of Go­Anywhere MFT was, but all we’ve received is radio silence,” Ms ­Butler said.

“Why wasn’t this information end-to-end encrypted and where is the Education Minister Roger Jaensch to provide guidance and leadership to those families impacted?” she said.

“Every day the Liberals seem to find a new way to mismanage this crisis. Premier Rockliff is responsible for his ministers and right now they’re failing Tasmanians,” she said.

Those affected have been advised to be watchful for any “suspicious financial activity or attempted scams”.

Mr Rockliff said anyone who believed they might have been ­affected by the cyber attack should call 1800 567 567.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/quarter-of-tasmanias-population-hacked-by-russians-says-premier-jeremy-rockliff/news-story/7b4287609e7045e2931efcb261a958b5

Crikey alleges Lachlan Murdoch morally culpable for Capitol riots

Zoe Samios and Michaela Whitbourn - April 12, 2023

Online news outlet Crikey has alleged Lachlan Murdoch was “morally and ethically” culpable for the deadly 2021 US Capitol riots in its amended defence to the defamation suit filed by the elder son of Rupert Murdoch, in an escalation of the dispute between the parties.

Crikey’s publisher Private Media will also attempt to use testimony by Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch in a US lawsuit about Fox News’ coverage of the 2020 presidential election as part of its amended defence, which adds a new defence known as contextual truth.

The contextual truth defence requires Crikey to prove that the article at the centre of the lawsuit conveys additional defamatory meanings to those alleged by Lachlan Murdoch, and that those meanings are both true and of sufficient seriousness that no further harm was caused to his reputation by any other meanings.

Murdoch junior, chief executive of Fox Corporation and co-chairman of News Corp, filed Federal Court defamation proceedings in August against Crikey over a June 29, 2022 article naming his family as “unindicted co-conspirators” of Trump following the US Capitol riots in 2021.

Lachlan Murdoch claims the article conveys up to 14 false and defamatory meanings including that he “illegally conspired with Donald Trump to incite an armed mob to march on the Capitol” following the 2020 presidential election.

Crikey denies that those meanings were conveyed. However, if the court finds any of the meanings are conveyed and a serious harm test is satisfied, the news outlet will seek to rely on a new public interest defence.

The Crikey article was deleted on June 30, 2022, a day after it was published, before being reposted on August 15 that year. The amended defence, released publicly by the court on Wednesday, adds a contextual truth defence for the reposted article.

Crikey argues that – in addition to any of the meanings alleged by Murdoch junior – the reposted article says he is “morally and ethically culpable for the illegal January 6 attack because Fox News, under his control and management, promoted and peddled Trump’s lie of the stolen election despite Lachlan Murdoch knowing it was false”.

Crikey argues the reposted article also says that “Lachlan Murdoch’s unethical and reprehensible conduct in allowing Fox News to promote and peddle Trump’s lie of the stolen election, despite Lachlan Murdoch knowing it was false, makes him morally and ethically culpable for the illegal January 6 attack”.

Crikey says it can prove both of those meanings are true, and that no further harm was caused to Lachlan Murdoch’s reputation by publishing any of the meanings alleged by him that the court finds were conveyed by the article.

For this defence to succeed, the court would need to be satisfied that a finding of moral or ethical culpability for the riots was as damaging to Murdoch’s reputation as any of the other meanings it found the article conveyed, such as alleged criminality.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, who is acting for Lachlan Murdoch, foreshadowed earlier this month that there would be an application to strike out the contextual truth defence.

Barrister Michael Hodge, KC, acting for Crikey, said in court earlier this month that the news outlet would seek to rely in part on material that has emerged in voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems’ US defamation suit against Fox News.

Dominion is suing Fox for $US1.6 billion ($2.3 billion) for allegedly knowingly airing false allegations that Dominion was involved in rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. The US trial is expected to proceed in April.

Private Media’s amended defence extensively references the Dominion proceedings and a deposition given by Rupert Murdoch before the US trial.

It alleges Lachlan Murdoch knew the claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from Trump was being promoted by presenters and guests of Fox News because he was watching the coverage, was directly involved in the news programming and was providing feedback on tone to Fox News chief executive Suzanne Scott.

“Between on or about 5 November 2020 and 6 January 2021, [Murdoch junior] … chose not to stop Fox News Channel from promoting the claim that the 2020 US Presidential Election was fraudulently stolen from Donald Trump because he considered it to be for the financial and commercial benefit of Fox Corporation, for Fox News Channel to promote the lie,” the defence alleges.

Murdoch is expected to argue Fox News also broadcast commentary rejecting claims the election had been stolen.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/crikey-alleges-lachlan-murdoch-morally-culpable-for-us-capitol-riot-20230411-p5czol.html

Cardinal George Pell: A Reminiscence

Very Rev Peter G. Williams AM - 12 April 2023

Since his unexpected death on 10 January 2023 in Rome, there have been many words written about Cardinal George Pell.

Some of those assessments have been very positive and attested to his extraordinary input into the Church in Australia and internationally, and others have been highly critical and, in some instances, quite derogatory. There is little doubt that Cardinal Pell could be a polarising figure and anecdotally you either fell in the camp of being “for” or “against.”

My intention here is not to add to the body of opinion, which is now accumulating at a prodigious rate, but rather to reflect on my own encounters with Cardinal Pell given that I worked closely with him during the preparations and the execution of World Youth Day in Sydney in 2008.

Firstly, I remember clearly being asked to come to the Bishops’ Conference during one of their sessions by Bishop Kevin Manning, because, as he said: “The Cardinal would like to meet with you.” At our meeting, he told me of his intention to have me appointed as Director of Liturgy for World Youth Day and that he had already consulted Bishop Kevin who had agreed to release me. One thing that struck me was that he had a clear mind about what he wanted and he had thought carefully about the scope of the role and the sort of person he wanted to fill it.

Secondly, just before the Opening Mass at Barangaroo as the crowd had gathered and we were ten minutes from commencement, I received a message in the director’s tent that he wanted to see me. I thought that something must have gone wrong or there was a serious issue requiring resolution. I made my way through the crowds (estimated at between 125 and 150 thousand people) to under the liturgical platform. He was lined up in the procession with the other cardinals and bishops for the opening hymn and when I approached him I remarked: “You wanted to see me.” “Yes,” he beamed, “I just wanted to wish you good luck!” Clearly, he wanted to ease my anxiety and inject a small piece of humour into the occasion at a critical moment.

Thirdly, I had responsibility for preparing the liturgy booklet for the Dedication of the new altar in St Mary’s Cathedral by Pope Benedict XVI. In doing so, I had written a small piece to explain the significance of the relics that were to be placed in the altar as part of the liturgy. He told me in his study at St Mary’s Cathedral House how impressed he was with the booklet, and then enquired about the authorship of the paragraph on the relics. I told him, “I wrote it”, to which he replied, “It is very beautiful.” He was quite moved and I could sense his appreciation for not only what meagre contribution I might have made, but also that of my whole team.

Whilst I appreciate that there would be some people whose encounters with Cardinal Pell might have left them with a contrary view, my memories were positive.

That does not mean to say that you could not engage in combative discourse, and we certainly crossed swords on a number of occasions and over a number of issues, but he was always respectful, and I think he preferred the robust discussion rather than a disposition of obsequiousness. He was above all, as others have said, a man of his generation. There is no doubt that he was devoted to the Catholic Church, to the Church remaining strong and vibrant and remaining a significant voice in the marketplace. In that way, he was a dominating figure, not only because of his physical stature, but because he was unequivocating about his views on doctrine, morals and ecclesiology.

With the effluxion of time, others will evaluate his legacy, which I think was substantial in a number of positive ways. Perhaps we are still too close to his life and death to be completely objective, but the beauty of the passing of time is that it provides that space to revisit people’s lives with a different lens.

Very Rev Peter G. Williams AM is Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia in the Diocese of Parramatta and was Director of Liturgy for World Youth Day Sydney 2008.

https://catholicoutlook.org/cardinal-george-pell-a-reminiscence/

>>18682194

Q Post #2590

Dec 12 2018 11:00:11 (EST)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6487315/High-profile-figure-convicted-suppression-orders-prevent-publication-persons-identity.html

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/why-the-media-is-unable-to-report-on-a-case-that-has-generated-huge-interest-online-20181212-p50lta.html

https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/nsw/an-awful-crime-the-person-is-guilty-but-we-cant-publish-the-story-ng-4be7ee27075d4fb302aae9989c40ad34

[Cardinal Pell]

Dark to LIGHT.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#2590

https://archive.ph/20181212163320/https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6487315/High-profile-figure-convicted-suppression-orders-prevent-publication-persons-identity.html

https://archive.ph/20181212122705/https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/why-the-media-is-unable-to-report-on-a-case-that-has-generated-huge-interest-online-20181212-p50lta.html

https://archive.ph/20181212193749/https://www.perthnow.com.au/news/nsw/an-awful-crime-the-person-is-guilty-but-we-cant-publish-the-story-ng-4be7ee27075d4fb302aae9989c40ad34

—

Q Post #2594

Dec 12 2018 11:29:43 (EST)

>He was the vatican treasurer I'm sure that carries some weight

#3 in the pecking order.

Define 'pecking' [animals].

Q

https://qanon.pub/#2594

—

Q Post #2894

Feb 25 2019 20:08:29 (EST)

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/25/australia/cardinal-george-pell-vatican-conviction-intl/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47366113

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-abuse-pell/vatican-treasurer-pell-found-guilty-of-abusing-two-choir-boys-22-years-ago-idUSKCN1QF009

Many more to come?

Dark to LIGHT.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#2894

https://archive.ph/20190301020521/https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/25/australia/cardinal-george-pell-vatican-conviction-intl/index.html

https://archive.ph/20190301014904/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47366113

https://archive.ph/20190301014445/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-abuse-pell/vatican-treasurer-pell-found-guilty-of-abusing-two-choir-boys-22-years-ago-idUSKCN1QF009

>>18676743

Leeser v Dutton v Albanese: the rival voice models explained

Julian Leeser quit the Liberal front bench over the voice, despite his reservations about the PM’s model. Here we explain the alternative proposals put forward.

ROSIE LEWIS - April 13, 2023

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A referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament will be held by the end of this year. So far, three models been put forward in a bid to achieve Constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We explain them here:

1. The Albanese model

The Albanese government’s and First Nations referendum working group’s model is the one Australians will most likely be voting on between October and December this year.

There may be some changes following a parliamentary committee process, but at the moment it would:

– Enshrine the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the Constitution.

– Give the voice power to make representations to the parliament and executive government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Indigenous Australians.

– Give the parliament power to make laws about how the voice would work – including its composition, functions, powers and procedures.

– Parliament would not be able to limit the broad scope of the voice, as that is also enshrined in the Constitution.

The voice question, announced by the government on March 23 reads:

“A proposed law: to alter the constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

Mr Albanese says the Labor government’s voice model will “strengthen parliament’s understanding not supplant its authority” and improve outcomes for Indigenous peoples. “This is not about symbolism, this is about recognition,” Mr Albanese said. “This is about making a practical difference, which we have a responsibility to do.”

2. The Dutton model

Peter Dutton and the Liberal Party have put forward an alternative proposal, with little meat put on the bones at this stage. It would:

– Recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution, but not through a voice

– Regional and local voices would instead be legislated by parliament

Under the Dutton model, local and regional voices would have their remit narrowly targeted via legislation to focus solely on practical, community-based measures to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians rather than giving a national body free rein to make representations on any issue ­affecting Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. The local bodies would report federally rather than to state governments, but the model could be adjusted as needed over time by the federal parliament. It would sit outside the Constitution.

The local bodies would report federally rather than to state governments, but the model could be adjusted as needed over time by the federal parliament. It would sit outside the Constitution.

“The Liberal Party model will limit the local and regional bodies to issues specific to improving lives and outcomes locally. It has no business in defence, RBA ­deliberations, energy and environment policy,” Mr Dutton told The Weekend Australian. “It will be in legislation so it can be improved over time.

(continued)

>>18687363

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3. The Leeser model

There is a third model the Liberal Party’s highest-profile Yes campaigner, Julian Leeser, is prosecuting. Mr Leeser outlined a blueprint that would let parliament legislate who in the executive government the advisory body could talk to and what it could talk about, in a proposal ­radically different to that put by Anthony Albanese.

It would:

– Enshrine the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice in the Constitution.

– But remove the second clause of the government’s proposed constitutional amendment, meaning parliament would be given the power to legislate everything about the voice – including its scope.

– Mr Leeser refers to this proposal as the “minimalist constitutional model”, which he says removes the risk of High Court challenges relating to the voice.

Mr Leeser, the Opposition’s shadow Indigenous Affairs spokesman, this week quit the front bench over the Liberal Party’s stance on the voice.

He has been involved in working on the voice for a decade but resigned from shadow cabinet after being able to bring the Liberal Party round to his side.

“I respect the experiences they bring to the parliament, the communities they represent and the like and they have a different history on these issues to the history I have,” Mr Leeser said.

“No-one else in our party room has this experience,” he said. “I think I’m in a unique situation.

“I’ve also tried to keep faith with my Liberal values. My desire to conserve our institutions like the Australian Constitution with my desire to seek better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.”

Liberal moderate Simon Birmingham has urged Anthony Albanese to embrace Mr Leeser’s model, rejected by shadow cabinet, saying it could be a “game-changer for many Australians”.

But University of NSW constitutional law expert George Wil­liams said Mr Leeser’s proposal “gutted” the government’s model and “left us with a voice that may have no voice”.

STATE-BASED MODEL

South Australia

On March 26, the South Australian parliament witnessed the historic passage of the first state-based Indigenous voice to parliament. The First Nations Voice Bill 2023 passed through both the lower and upper house unopposed.

SA’s First Nations Voice will consist of representatives from Local First Nations Voices, and will have the ability to address either house of parliament on any specific Bill that is of concern to South Australia’s First Nations People.

The SA Voice will comprise 42 elected delegates drawn from seven regions who will have a legally-enshrined right to meet with State Cabinet twice a year and have two meetings a year with the chief executive or commissioner of every government department.

It’s adoption followed two rounds of extensive consultation with Aboriginal communities, organisations, and people.

“This is an advisory body,” South Australian Attorney-General Kyam Maher said.

“It will have a right to address parliament on legislation as it goes through as it concerns Aboriginal people. But it won’t have any right to stop, any right to amend, any right to veto. It will simply have the right to have voices heard so that when governments make these decisions they are taking into account the views of Aboriginal people.

“What it doesn’t mean is that there is a new third chamber of parliament that’s going to be able to veto or change what the parliament does. That’s not what it is at all.”

The prospect for legal wrangling with Indigenous groups who feel their advice has been ignored is also reduced by the SA legislation explicitly acknowledging the non-binding nature of the feedback from Voice delegates.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/from-mini-to-maxi-the-rival-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-models-explained/news-story/ba74b4607caf0aa598b4818dc1c170bf

Peter Dutton clashes with reporter after grim Alice Springs warning

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has unleashed on a reporter after offering a grim warning on the ongoing issues plaguing Alice Springs.

Samantha Maiden - April 13, 2023

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Warning: Disturbing content

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has warned “somebody is going to get killed” in Alice Springs and unleashed on an ABC reporter during a shocking account of the violence and sexual abuse in the town.

Urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to “step up and step in”, the Liberal leader has warned it was time for action to protect children from endemic sexual abuse by restoring law and order.

“You’ve got kids here tonight, who are going to be sexually abused or families where domestic violence has now become a current occurrence and we are told nothing can be done about it,’’ he said.

“I just find it completely and utterly deplorable.”

Speaking in Alice Springs, CLP Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price delivered a shocking account of sexual abuse in the Northern Territory.

She said surgeons were being left to operate on children who were raped.

“They’re experiencing seeing the damage that’s been done to those children,’’ she said.

She claimed she had heard from surgeons who had spoken about operating on “babies” after being sexually abused.

“That’s what I am concerned with and I’m not concerned with ideology,” she said.

Mr Dutton is considering appointing Senator Price to the vacancy sparked by Liberal MP Julian Leeser’s resignation from the frontbench over the Voice.

Senator Price is one of the Indigenous leaders campaigning for the No vote. Mr Dutton said the time for action was now.

The Liberal leader said the community was at breaking point and there was a real risk that someone would die.

“The video of kids running rampant in, you know, the local CBD, somebody’s going to be killed here,’’ he said.

“And somebody was killed here in 2021. Somebody obviously has lost their life, tragically, equally tragic in Darwin. But we’re going to see further tragedy here.”

Dutton clashes with ABC reporter

Mr Dutton unleashed on one reporter after he asked about a local Indigenous group that questioned whether or not sex abuse was rampant.

“I mean with respect, that is such an ABC question. Do you live locally?,’’ Mr Dutton said.

“I mean, do you speak to people on the street? Do you hear what it is they’re saying to you?”

The reporter said he did live locally, with Mr Dutton responding: “You live locally and you don’t believe there’s any problem here?”.

ABC then ended the press conference.

“OK, we’ve got to leave that there because we’re going to our break,’’ the ABC host told viewers.

(continued)

>>18687374

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Earlier, Mr Dutton said people were barricading themselves in their homes at night.

“You can’t have a situation where people have fear and a lot of people have spoken to us about this sort of self imposed curfew where they get home and lock themselves in their homes,’’ he said.

“And that is a terrible situation and it wouldn’t be tolerated in any other part of the country. Certainly not in any capital city.

“We’re speaking to a business owner this morning who gave the unbelievable account of the fact that in his block in the building where his businesses were in January of this year, they were broken into on 18 separate occasions.

“I mean, think about that, where in Brisbane or Sydney or Hobart or Perth would that be tolerated? There would be public outrage and somehow we’re treating Territorians as second class citizens. Under this government, it has to stop. You need to restore law and order, that’s the first thing.”

Alice Springs mayor Matt Paterson has told Sky News that the violence was back.

“On the weekend we’ve seen cars again driving erratically, stolen vehicles with kids in the back, kids hanging out windows,” he said.

“Police again told people to avoid our CBD early in the morning because they couldn’t control the kids.

“The old timer’s village got broken into twice in two days. It’s just the same old stuff. These kids are stealing cars and then ram-raiding other cars on the road.”

Mr Paterson echoed Mr Dutton’s call yesterday for AFP assistance in the region.

“I put out the call for the AFP in January … we need more boots on the ground here,” he said.

“There was a police operation in November where there was a visual presence of police and there was an automatic feeling of safety, of perception of safety.”

Mr Paterson also pointed out the “irony” that territory votes do not count to the second hurdle of a referendum – that at least four of six states must vote in favour as well as a majority of the whole country’s population.

“The irony for me around the voice … is we are a territory. So effectively we get one vote in a referendum where states get two votes. To me, we still only half count in a referendum.”

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/peter-dutton-clashes-with-reporter-after-grim-alice-springs-warning/news-story/2a38f0db33b5fc3a991732b1955433a2

>>18670782

Pressure on Anthony Albanese to attend NATO summit

BEN PACKHAM - APRIL 12, 2023

Anthony Albanese is under pressure to attend the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania amid signs of European reluctance to take a firm stand against China’s growing assertiveness and disregard for international norms.

The government is hedging on whether the Prime Minister will be present at the alliance’s July 11-12 summit in Vilnius, which he has been invited to attend along with his Japanese, South ­Korean and New Zealand counterparts.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong equivocated on Wednesday when asked whether Mr Albanese, who is on leave, would attend the summit. “Obviously, it will be a matter for the Prime Minister whether … he can attend,” she said.

Her comments came as French President Emmanuel Macron returned from a trip to China, saying Europe should not follow the US into a conflict with Beijing over Taiwan. “The question we need to answer, as Europeans, is the following: is it in our interest to accelerate (a crisis) on Taiwan? No,” he told French newspaper Les Echos and Politico Europe.

“The worst thing would be to think we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a ­Chinese over-reaction.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Mr Albanese should be at the summit “to demonstrate Australia’s 100 per cent commitment to the rules-based order, our democratic partners, and the defence of Ukraine”.

He said NATO had shown it wanted to strengthen ties with the “Asia-Pacific Four”, and it was “unquestionably in Australia’s interests” to reciprocate the alliance’s outreach. The passing of the 12-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ensured it was “no time to be a no-show”.

Australia has fallen from its past position as the largest non-NATO donor to Ukraine’s war effort, with the under-siege country now pleading for the Albanese government to provide advanced Hawkei protected vehicles to the country’s defending forces.

Senator Wong said great powers should not be allowed to dominate smaller ones, and the government would consider all Ukrainian requests for support but she cautioned: “The point about Ukraine … is it is a long way away.”

The Prime Minister’s office did not respond when asked whether Mr Albanese planned to travel to Vilnius for the summit.

Lithuania’s top national security adviser, Kestutis Budrys, revealed the NATO invitation to The Australian days after talks in Brussels between NATO officials and AP4 representatives.

NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that any decision by China to provide ­lethal aid for Russia in its war against Ukraine would be “a ­historic mistake with profound implications”.

There are fears, compounded by the Macron visit to Beijing, that the EU underestimates the threat posed by Beijing to the global rules-based order.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said Mr Macron’s visit demonstrated the need for a “coalition” approach to standing up to authoritarian ­regimes.

“When Macron goes to China and says, ‘Oh, well, we don't have to follow the Americans’,” he said. “I think there’s a weakness there; that there’s a temptation for countries to … split apart and do their own thing,” he said.

“(We need to) stay strong and stick together. Security is indivisible. That’s true in Europe but it’s also true in the Indo Pacific.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/pressure-on-anthony-albanese-to-attend-nato-summit/news-story/9ff0cdb925e7dfcc90f27aa3eeabef2f

‘The worst of American politics’: Premier backs drag performers after cafe threats

Rachael Dexter - April 13, 2023

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The Victorian premier says the targeting of drag events is the worst of American politics creeping into the state after a Melbourne cafe cancelled a children’s craft and games event hosted by drag queens.

It comes as the founder of the community group where threats of “staking out” the cafe and tracking down performers distanced himself from the comments, labelling them “a major concern”.

Police visited Alice Rebel’s Cafe and Bar in Chelsea in Melbourne’s south-east on Thursday morning after messages emerged on encrypted chat app Telegram.

The Age obtained screenshots of messages between those who objected to the event suggesting they could track down the drag performers at their homes by using their licence plate numbers and paying a contact inside VicRoads for home addresses. The Age is unable to verify the legitimacy of the poster’s claims.

Cafe owner Meg Anderson cancelled the “Colour me Egg-cited” Easter event where parents could have brought their children to a craft and games workshop led by two drag queen performers.

After the event was advertised, she received a deluge of messages and calls she described as bigoted.

On Wednesday, the day the event had originally been scheduled, she contacted police fearing for her staff and patrons’ safety after being alerted to the threatening messages from individuals who mistakenly believed the event was still going ahead.

The messages appeared on Tuesday night in a chat forum for ‘My Place Australia’, which is a growing network of fringe social media groups that have protested against local councils over 5G and 15-minute city conspiracy theories. The groups aim to set up “parallel communities” – shadow local governments and alternative institutions to avoid mainstream society.

My Place founder Darren Bergwerf said he had “major concerns” about the messages and described the incident as “infiltration of our communities”.

“I’ve just blocked that person this morning and blocked and removed two people yesterday when I was made aware of who they were,” he said.

Premier Daniel Andrews offered support to the cafe and the drag performers, saying “equality is not negotiable in this state”.

“I think it’s pretty sad day when the worst of American politics is creeping into our state. And there’s no place for that,” he said.

“Trying to disrupt events that are peaceful, lawful. They’re not compulsory, if you don’t want to go don’t go.

“We see this sort of stuff in Florida and all sorts of other places. We don’t need that here, we just don’t. We are a harmonious, respectful, inclusive place where being different [is] not a bad thing.

“It’s what makes us such a vibrant, interesting, thoughtful place, and it shouldn’t be too much to ask to simply expect that you’d be treated fairly and equally. That’s the way it should be.”

(continued)

>>18687407

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Andrews defended the integrity of VicRoads’ database after the agency committed to investigate the matter via the Department of Transport and Planning integrity unit.

“I’d be very concerned to think that anybody could pay for the personal information of anyone, anyone else, that’s simply wrong,” Andrews said.

“My advice is that there are very robust systems and regular audits … that would find any such breach within the VicRoads system.

“It is appropriate that VicRoads have a closer look at this and make sure that the highest standards are being observed.”

The premier lambasted the opposition, accusing the Victorian Liberals of contributing to a climate of “nastiness” around LGBTQI issues, pointing directly to Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s appearance at an anti-trans rally at Parliament last month which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said he wasn’t going to dignify the premier’s remarks with a response.

However, he did say it was disturbing that the cafe owner felt unsafe enough to cancel the event.

“This cafe should have been able to conduct its activities,” Pesutto said. “I hope that in due course it’s able to proceed. We live in a democracy and people should be free … to engage in the activities they wish to.”

Phillip Pease, the Liberal candidate for Mordialloc (which takes in the suburb of Chelsea) at the November state election, also publicly backed Alice Rebel cafe on Thursday and urged its owner to hold a similar event in the future.

“I just wanted to jump on and offer my support for Megan and her drag queens at Alice’s bar,” Pease said, calling into the talkback line on ABC Radio’s Melbourne Mornings program.

“I just wanted to say thank you for all the work they do and for actually standing up for minorities.

“I would just implore her to go and reconsider running that event again because I’m sure the community would back them 100 per cent”.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said they were aware of the cancelled event at the cafe and that the decision was made by the owner. “Police regularly run proactive patrols to deter any anti-social behaviour,” she said.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-worst-of-american-politics-premier-backs-drag-performers-after-cafe-threats-20230413-p5d03x.html