Fiji to Sign Ports Deal with Australia in Shipbuilding Boost

Reuters March 21, 2024

SYDNEY, March 21 (Reuters) – Fiji will strike a deal with Australia to upgrade ports and shipbuilding infrastructure, months after its prime minister said it was likely to partner with China on the project, the government of the Pacific Islands nation said on Thursday.

Fiji’s government said its cabinet had agreed to enter into a memorandum of understanding with Australia for the project, after Australia committed to financing.

“The revival of the shipbuilding industry in Fiji has been articulated as a key priority,” Fiji’s government said in a statement.

“It has the potential to increase job opportunities, develop and expand specialised skill-sets amongst Fiji nationals and stimulate investment and economic growth,” it added.

Australia will provide initial grant financing to the Fiji Government and the Fiji Ports Corporation, it said.

Australia, the largest aid donor to the Pacific Islands region, is stepping up its infrastructure support to counter China’s push to expand security and policing ties in the region.

“Countries who want to build their influence in the region look for vacuums to fill and the Australian government is working very hard to be the best development and security partner for the entire region, so there are no vacuums to fill,” Australia’s Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said on ABC television on Thursday.

Conroy will travel to Fiji, the Pacific’s biggest transport hub, on Friday, and is expected to announce the ports deal and Australian financial assistance during his visit.

In November, Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka told parliament he wanted to collaborate with China on a key port modernisation and shipyard project, after discussing it in a meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping.

China is the world’s largest shipbuilder, accounting for half of all ships built this year. The pace of expansion of its navy has concerned Australia, which has donated dozens of patrol boats to its Pacific Islands neighbours to boost surveillance of their territorial waters.

A defence agreement allowing the militaries of Australia and Fiji to work in each other’s country and share intelligence has meanwhile been introduced to Australia’s parliament this week for ratification.

The “status of forces” agreement was signed by Australia and Fiji in 2022 but needs to be approved by both parliaments.

Australia is seeking to discourage its Pacific Islands neighbours from signing security or policing deals with China, after Beijing struck a security pact with Solomon Islands in 2022.

Last week, Fiji told the Guardian it would not scrap a decade-old policing agreement with China after a review by Fiji’s new government, but said Chinese officers would no longer embed in Fiji’s police force.

https://gcaptain.com/fiji-to-sign-ports-deal-with-australia-in-shipbuilding-boost/

Australia To Ban Live Sheep Exports By Sea From May 2028

By Emily Cadman Bloomberg May 11, 2024

May 11, 2024 (Bloomberg) —Australia will ban the live export of sheep by sea from May 2028, and help those impacted by the decision to adjust, Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said.

“Certainty for when the trade will end is critical,” Watt said Saturday in the government’s formal response to an independent report it commissioned on phasing out the controversial practice. “The timeframe balances the transition steps required with our commitment to uphold improved sheep welfare outcomes.”

Read Also: Animal Deaths At Sea Spike Fueling Calls For EU Livestock Carrier Ban

The government said it will provide a A$107 million ($70.7 million) transition package to help impacted business. Trade can continue until the end date without any additional restrictions such as caps or quotas. The prohibition will not apply to other livestock export industries or live sheep exports by air.

The industry has already begun moving away from the trade. Australia exported approximately 652,000 sheep by sea in 2022-23, compared to 5.92 million sheep 20 years ago, government data showed.

Still, the National Farmers’ Federation said the four-year time frame would be devastating for farmers and accused the government of pandering to activists.

“We will not rest until this misguided policy is overturned,” NFF Chief Executive Officer Tony Mahar said. “Today’s announcement just sentences foreign sheep to the practices we banned a decade ago.”

https://gcaptain.com/australia-to-ban-live-sheep-exports-by-sea-from-may-2028/

General Research #25585 >>20860536

Elon Musk wins court battle against Australia

13 May, 2024

The tech billionaire’s X platform has insisted that Canberra’s order to remove a stabbing video was invalid

An Australian Federal Court judge has decided not to extend an order banning Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) platform from displaying a video of a stabbing attack in a church in Sydney.

On Monday, Justice Geoffrey Kennett denied an application by the country’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, to extend restrictions on the clip, which she had deemed to be “class 1” material relating to high-impact violence. The judge hasn’t yet provided explanations for his ruling.

The initial ban on the video, which was imposed by the Federal Court in Melbourne on April 22, expired on Monday.

X had refused to comply with the order, which would have made the clip inaccessible to users worldwide. The platform only agreed to block the content in Australia. Musk insisted back then thatone country should not have the power to censor the whole internet. The eSafety commissioner argued that a blanket ban was needed as Australians could still access the video through a VPN.

The clip in questionshowed a stabbing that took place during a live-streamed sermon at an Assyrian Christian churchin the suburbs of Sydney on April 15. Four people, including Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, were injured in what the Australian authoritiesdescribed as a “terrorist incident.”The footage of the attack was widely shared online and allegedly prompted heated protests near the crime scene.

During the hearing on Friday, lawyer for the eSafety Commissioner, Tim Begbie, argued that the refusal to comply with the order by X amounted to mockery of the Federal Court. “What that says about the authority of the court is pretty striking,” he said.

X’s lawyer Bret Walker argued that the platform did not implement the ban on the stabbing video because the commissioner’s initial take-down notice was invalid and“manifestly inadequate” due to the absence of a detailed description of the reasons for the ban.

The social media company believes that “global removal is reasonable when X does it because X wants to do it,but it becomes unreasonable when it is told to do it by the laws of Australia,” Walker told the judge.

In late April, Bishop Emmanuel supported Musk during a sermon, saying that he wanted thevideo of the attack against him to remain onlinebecause it is “our God-given right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion.”

https://www.rt.com/news/597503-musk-x-australia-stabbing/