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Ice hockey world championships canned in Victoria in fears of anti-Israel protests

MOHAMMAD ALFARES - 6 January 2025

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Ice Hockey Australia has abandoned holding world championship matches in Melbourne over fears Israel’s presence would make it too dangerous for players and fans, sparking accusations the government is destroying the nation’s global reputation.

In a “strictly confidential” email obtained by The Australian, IHA president and director Ryan O’Handley advised the International Ice Hockey Federation’s executive body on December 30 that the World Men’s Division II (Group A) championships would be canned due to safety and security concerns associated with Israel’s participation.

The event, originally scheduled for April-May, was expected to be a landmark occasion for Australian sports, marking the first time since 2011 this country would host the division championships.

At this stage, there has been no official announcement from the IIHF or the Australian federation.

Victoria Police said it had provided feedback about current protest activity in Melbourne, but any decision to cancel the event “was one for Ice Hockey Australia”.

“We understand that people are concerned following the synagogue fire in Ripponlea on 6 December; however, there are currently no known or specific threats to any Victorian organisation, infrastructure or event, and police encourage people to go about their daily business,” a Victoria Police spokesperson said.

But in his email, Mr O’Handley claimed concerns over Israel’s participation were first raised in October when Victoria Police warned IHA of a “high chance of an incident” during the championship.

“By the end of October, the venue and the District Docklands precinct also expressed their concerns to us regarding the safety and security of the event. This prompted us to begin correspondence with the IIHF regarding these concerns and the escalating anti-Israel activities in Melbourne,” Mr O’Handley wrote in the email.

“Then, as you are all likely aware, there was an arson attack on a synagogue in Melbourne on December 6th. Subsequent discussions with the venue and precinct occurred, along with a thorough risk assessment and consideration of all of our options. It was concluded just prior to Christmas that we could not host due to significant safety and security risks associated with Israel’s participation.”

Mr O’Handley said the decision to dump the championships was not politically motivated.

“Our decision is based entirely on the fact that the safety and security of participants, the venue and precinct staff, and the general public cannot be assured to a reasonable level due to the current environment in Melbourne,” he said.

“It is my understanding that they will offer the hosting rights to another country in our division in the first instance and they have not suggested we will be sanctioned in any way.”

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Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said anti-Semitism was left to fester in the streets of Melbourne, accusing both the Albanese Labor government and Premier Jacinta Allan’s leadership of “disastrous” consequences for the nation’s international reputation.

“The Albanese and Allan governments have let anti-Semitism get completely out of control and this is the result,” Senator Paterson said.

“It is absolutely disastrous for our international reputation that we can’t safely host international sporting events due to a failure to tackle rampant extremism since 7 October.

“This is yet another wake-up call that it is past time to enforce the law and take this community safety crisis seriously before it gets even worse.”

In a statement sent to The Australian, a spokesperson for IHA confirmed “significant consultations” were made with important stakeholders.

“Ice Hockey Australia holds the health and safety of participants, spectators and the wider community (as) an absolute priority,” the spokesperson said.

“Significant consultation took place with varied and relevant important stakeholders related to the Men’s Division IIA World Championships, including the International Ice Hockey Federation.”

A Victorian government spokesperson said the event was not funded by the taxpayer, and the decision to cancel it was made by the organisation, and was not made on advice from police.

The nation’s peak Jewish body labelled the cancellation a “dreadful” and “dangerous” capitulation, and called for the state and federal sport ministers to intervene.

“This is a dreadful decision and should be rescinded,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.

“It cannot be that violent extremists dictate which visiting sporting teams come to our country and deprive Australians of the joy of watching live international sports.

“They are playing directly into the hands of thugs and racists who have calculated that their violence and threats will lead to Israelis being abandoned and cut adrift.

“We urge the governing body to reconsider its position and expect that the Minister for Sport will intervene to ensure this dangerous capitulation does not stand.”

Australia last hosted the division championships in 2011 and won gold with a team featuring history-making NHL star Nathan Walker.

Israel’s expected opponents in the games would have included Australia, Belgium, Serbia, the Netherlands and the UAE.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/ice-hockey-world-championships-canned-in-victoria-in-fears-of-antiisrael-protests/news-story/a957d6c5135f7c15808829b5043c855f

>>22225665

‘Don’t point fingers at us’: Israeli ambassador’s message to Australians

Matthew Knott - January 6, 2025

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Israel’s top representative in Australia has declared that mounting pressure from the Albanese government and the international community will not accelerate the creation of a Palestinian state as he insisted antisemitism was the main driving force behind global criticism of Israel.

In a rare interview, Israeli ambassador Amir Maimon said he believed many Australians fail to grasp the seriousness of the security threats his nation faces. He vowed to do a better job telling Israel’s story to the Australian public.

Maimon’s extended interview with this masthead at the Israeli embassy in Canberra came after a turbulent year in the once-close Australia-Israel relationship that culminated in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashing out at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on social media.

Tensions flared between the two nations after the April killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom in Gaza and later when Australia regularly broke with Israel in votes at the United Nations and denied a visa to a former Israeli cabinet minister.

“I am struggling to understand why it is so difficult for the international community as a whole to support the just cause, the just war in which we’re engaging,” Maimon said when asked about the war in Gaza, which has entered its 16th month.

More than 45,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began following Hamas’ shock October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, including more than 130 killed in Israeli air strikes over a 48-hour period last week, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Asked what he would say to ordinary Australians who feel anger at Israel over the high civilian death toll in Gaza, Maimon said: “I will tell the average Australian that he is asking the wrong guy because the war could have been over on October 8 if Hamas had released all the hostages and laid down their arms … I think that to point the fingers towards Israel is simply wrong. You are criticising the ones who were attacked, you are criticising the ones who were butchered.”

Describing Israel as a “peaceful nation”, Maimon continued: “It’s Hamas that is using hospitals and mosques and kindergarten and schools to hide and to store their weapons systems. This is something that should not be accepted, and you cannot criticise the nation that is trying to uproot this cancer.”

A veteran diplomat who served in the Israeli military’s paratrooper unit, Maimon said he believed many Australians did not appreciate that Israel had contended with hostile neighbours since its creation in 1948 and faces threats on multiple fronts ranging from Gaza and the West Bank to Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.

“You feel blessed – you live in your beautiful country isolated from the rest of the world,” Maimon said of Australians.

“I remember when it was revealed in 2022 that China signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, the headlines were, ‘Wow, it is so close to our borders, about 1500 kilometres away’.

“My response was, ‘I wish that all our adversaries were so far away’.”

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Human Rights Watch in December accused Israeli authorities of intentionally depriving Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation, while Medecins Sans Frontières said it was “witnessing clear signs of ethnic cleansing” in northern Gaza.

A New York Times investigation published in December found the Israeli military had “severely weakened its system of safeguards meant to protect civilians” during the war on Gaza, including by occasionally authorising strikes on senior Hamas leaders that could endanger more than 100 non-combatants.

Maimon insisted it was “absurd” that the International Criminal Court had charged Netanyahu with war crimes over Israel’s conduct in the war, condemning the move as “pure antisemitism”.

“As a proud Jew, I’m worried because I think that the root cause of what we see worldwide has nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but with antisemitism,” he said.

Acknowledging he was “disappointed” by Australia changing its voting patterns at the UN, Maimon sought to ease tensions by saying that Israel and Australia continue to have a “good and close relationship” underpinned by shared values.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has angered local pro-Israel advocates by saying Australia wants to help build momentum for a two-state solution and urging the UN to establish a timeline for the declaration of a Palestinian state.

Maimon countered that there was no prospect of a two-state solution until Hamas is removed from power in Gaza and that such an “agreement cannot be imposed on either Israel or the Palestinians”.

He said that international calls for a two-state solution often overlooked fundamental problems – including whether Palestinian refugees should be granted a “right of return” to Israel – and the power struggle between Hamas and Fatah, a rival political party that dominates the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

“So, yes, people can talk about it and people can vote about it, and it won’t change anything on the ground unless the two parties that are involved can reach an agreement,” he said.

He expressed hope that Israel and Hamas would soon strike a ceasefire agreement that would allow for the return of the remaining Israeli hostages from Gaza.

With one year left of his ambassadorial term, Maimon expressed regret that, in his view, many Australians have a one-dimensional view of Israel that is dominated by the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Pointing to Israel’s status as a world leader in technology such as facial recognition software, he said: “I wish I could do better, and I’m taking it upon my responsibility … to bring Australians to a better understanding of what Israel is all about.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/don-t-point-fingers-at-us-israeli-ambassador-s-message-to-australians-20250105-p5l25e.html

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‘How can I do better?’ Israeli ambassador’s candid confession

Matthew Knott - January 6, 2025

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Amir Maimon is no stranger to diplomatic challenges.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia began his foreign service career in Ethiopia in the early 1990s, when the sitting government in Addis Ababa was on the verge of being toppled by a coalition of left-wing rebel groups.

Maimon, a retired lieutenant colonel who served for 14 years in the Israeli military’s paratrooper unit, used his experience to co-ordinate the daring airlift of 14,325 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in less than two days.

The secret mission, known as Operation Solomon, involved cramming more than 1000 people onto a single aeroplane with its seats removed, a world record that remains intact today.

Maimon went on to hold senior diplomatic postings in London, Canada, Turkey and Washington before serving as Israel’s first ambassador to Lithuania.

He arrived in Canberra as Israeli ambassador in January 2022 on a mission to refocus the relationship from the conflict with Palestine towards trade, defence and technological co-operation.

It was not to be.

The following October, Hamas militants stormed across the border from Gaza, killing an estimated 1200 Israelis and taking about 250 people hostage. As Israel launched a ferocious campaign to dismantle Hamas’ military capability – at a devastating cost to civilians in Gaza – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was again dominating global headlines.

Maimon spoke to the National Press Club after the October 7 attacks, but he has maintained a low public profile, granting only occasional interviews and preferring to engage directly through meetings with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other senior government figures.

However, with a year remaining of his posting in Canberra, Maimon knows he must do more to tell Israel’s side of the story to the Australian public and stop a once-close bilateral relationship from spinning out of control. Domestically, the war in Gaza has strained social cohesion, with Jewish Australians startled by a surge of antisemitic attacks, and other Australians aghast at the civilian death toll in Gaza.

“I feel a bit sorry and sad that the discussion about the conflict dominates the discussion,” he said in an extended interview with this masthead at his Canberra residence during Hanukkah, the sacred Jewish holiday that ended on Thursday.

He is on a mission to use the rest of his tenure, he said, “to bring Australians to a better understanding of what Israel is all about”, including its status as a modern technology pioneer.

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While he remains a forthright advocate for his nation, Maimon used the interview to strike a conciliatory tone, expressing disappointment but not anger at the Albanese government’s shift away from Israel at the United Nations. He previously sought to play down tensions between Israel and Australia at a rare December press conference – a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a lacerating social media post to accuse the government of encouraging antisemitism with its “extreme anti-Israel” positions.

Asked whether the government could have done more to crack down on rising antisemitism before the arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne in December, Maimon said: “I always believe that we can do better. I’m always asking, ‘How can I do better?’ And I believe that, yes of course, here in Australia, many things could have been done in a different way. But now it’s not about the past, it’s about the future.”

Maimon spoke in personal terms, not just as a diplomat but as a worried grandfather whose grandson has been called up to serve with the Israeli military.

“I’m worried that I will get the wrong telephone call,” he said. “This is insane, and this is something that I’m not sure that the average Australian understands.”

Maimon says he has struggled to understand Australian alarm at the prospect of a Chinese military base in the Pacific, when Israeli citizens face regular rocket and missile attacks from adversaries such as Iran and proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

“As a parent, I feel a personal failure that I failed to provide my children with a more secure environment,” he said as his media adviser’s phone lit up with another Israeli air raid warning.

He is insistent that Australians should blame listed terror group Hamas – not Israel – for the estimated 45,000 deaths in Gaza.

While clearly unimpressed by Wong’s efforts to create momentum towards a two-state solution before the war is over, Maimon said he accepts that a Labor government will not always vote in line with Israel at the United Nations.

“I’m realistic, I’m an experienced diplomat and I understand that it will not always be possible to get 100 per cent of what I’m wishing for,” he said.

“Sometimes I will have to leave with the 80-85 per cent I know I can get.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/how-can-i-do-better-israeli-ambassador-s-candid-confession-20250105-p5l25h.html

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>>22225665

Anti-Semitic attacks continue as car graffitied in Sydney

SUMMER LIU - 6 January 2025

An anti-Semitic graffiti attack has left the Jewish community in Sydney reeling over a “lack of decisive action” after a car was spray painted with the slogan “F*ck the Jews” in the early hours of Monday morning at Queens Park, near a Jewish school.

The attack is under investigation by Eastern Suburbs Police and is believed to have occurred between 7am on Sunday and 5.45am on Monday, when police were alerted.

The owner of the vandalised car Stuart Veron believes it was a random attack and he “just got unlucky” that his vehicle was the target.

He condemned the perpetrator as a “rat” and said the community “would be disgusted” by the hate crime as “there’s no place for that in this community or anywhere in Australia”.

Mr Veron said the police told him they currently have no leads.

Clinical psychologist Sharon Greenberg, 64, reported the incident to police despite feeling “frozen” but said she is not shocked by the incident as there continues to be a lack of decisive action against perpetrators of anti-Semitic hate crimes.

“I keep saying … to myself, I wish I was shocked but I’m not shocked because this has been the climate for over a year here,” Dr Greenberg told The Australian.

“I’m feeling sad, I’m feeling angry and I’m also feeling anxious from realising that the feeling of safety we have is … really rocked at a time like this.

“The holocaust didn’t start with crematoriums, it started with cartoons, slogans, people shouting out hate statements, and in the end six million people died.”

Dr Greenberg said this was not a vandalism incident but instead “a crime of hate”.

“This is targeted, it’s considered, somebody has come there in the middle of the night with a can of black spray paint, and they’ve done a very good job in very bold letters, very bold acts in the middle of the night in a very quiet suburban little street here,” she said.

Dr Greenberg called for the government to take action.

“This has to be dealt with at a very high level, this isn’t about having security cameras in front of your home, the leaders have to make a stand here.

“We actually came from South Africa several years ago and created a beautiful life. I actually feel very emotional; it’s a beautiful country but there is suddenly a feeling of safety, taken from under your feet.”

Local resident Yvonne Strasser, whose grandmother was killed in the holocaust was visibly emotional when seeing the car and said such hate crimes “is how it starts”.

Ms Strasser said she “heard it was racial slurs, but I thought it would be anti-Israel, not anti-Semitic”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said the perpetrator attacked an area that is “another suburb with a large Jewish community and multiple Jewish communal facilities”.

“No one just vandalises a car with a racist slogan,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.

“It is the product of endless incitement, demonisation and a belief that such attitudes are freely permitted, even celebrated.”

This comes after similar anti-Semitic attacks rocked the community in Woollhara late last year, as the words “F*ck Israel” was graffitied on multiple cars, and a separate incident saw “Kill Israel” painted on a wall and a car torched.

The most extreme incident saw a ute, and nine cars targeted in graffiti attacks on Wellington, Tara, Fullerton and Ocean Streets and three buildings, including the Matt Moran-owned Chiswick restaurant, also graffitied.

In addition to anti-Israel slogans, cars were graffitied with a message reading “PKK coming,” which appeared to be a reference to the Kurdistan Workers Party, which is considered by Australia to be a terrorist organisation.

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip said: “It is unacceptable that Jewish Australians and Australians of all backgrounds have had to wake up yet again and see messages of hate prominently displayed in their neighbourhood.”

“It is intolerable that Australians are having to go to bed fearful that their cars or properties will be defaced overnight with anti-Semitic anti-Semitic hate speech.

“We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitised to acts of Jew-hatred and allow illegal conduct such as this to become normalised.”

Mr Ossip called for laws to be tightened in order to address the rise of hate speech and incitement to violence and said that “individuals who commit crimes must be identified and face the full force of the law”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/antisemitic-attacks-continue-as-car-graffitied-in-sydney/news-story/5d868e5683b396ba90e6f7e9ffd96a04

https://x.com/AlexRyvchin/status/1876010467854016612

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Defence reserves ‘understrength’; to be trained like Ukrainian fighters

JOANNA PANAGOPOULOS - 5 January 2025

A new approach to training Australian Defence Force reservists would be modelled on a five-week program to train Ukrainian nationals to fight Russian forces, allowing the ADF reserves to “rapidly scale” in the event of a “crisis”.

A 78-page strategic review of the ADF reserves – the nation’s part-time soldiers, who represent 33 per cent of the total ADF workforce – found it was “understrength”, with a recruitment shortfall of more than 1070 personnel forecast for 2023-24. It noted that future recruitment targets would not be met “without significant reprioritisation and resource allocation”.

As a result, the government has vowed to improve the recruitment and retention of reservists, while also battling to turnaround a workforce crisis that has left the ADF understrength by 5000 personnel, threatening the rollout of new capabilities including promised nuclear-powered submarines.

As Australia enters the most complex strategic environment since WWII, the review says that, increasingly, ADF capabilities would not be distinguished by full-time (ADF) or part-time forces (ADF reserves) but only by the ability of the reserves to provide “an expansion base for the ADF in times of crisis”.

“While the need to address the shortfall of permanent ADF workforce is understood, there is a need to ensure that the importance of the part-time workforce of the ADF is acknowledged and a contemporary Employee Value Proposition is developed and delivered as a matter of urgency,” the review said. Conducted between December 2023 and April 2024, the review also recommended the ADF Reserves adopt a “minimum essential training approach” for non-technical entrants to speed up their entry, which would be based on an approach taken by the Australian Army’s training of Armed Forces of Ukraine recruits.

In 2023 alone, Australian rotations trained more than 1200 Ukrainian soldiers in the UK under Operation Kudu. Ukrainian recruits graduate following an intensive five-week training course that teaches basic war-fighting skills, first aid, explosive hazard awareness and marksmanship.

The Albanese government has agreed to this “minimum essential training” model as part of the review and, once implemented, Australian reserves would ideally take no more than six weeks for initial training where it has previously taken up to two years.

“Operation Kudu (for Armed Forces of Ukraine recruit) provides a useful reference point in how to streamline and focus training to achieve priority capability effects in the most efficient way possible. It also highlights what critical foundation skills cannot be bypassed,” the review said.

The review also recommended redesigning the reserves workforce to better integrate it with the ADF, including a larger “operational” workforce.

The government has committed to recruiting, by 2030, 1000 more “operational level” personnel who would focus on delivering “short-notice capacity”. The government will also develop a specialised reserves cyber workforce as the skillset will be increasingly needed “in time of crisis”.

The review also found many reservists are employed in essential civilian roles that will exempt them from call-out in the case of an emergency, and the government needed to determine in which cases the reserves’ roles trumped their civilian employment, calling it a “significant and unquantified risk” to the ADF.

The Albanese government agreed to 13 of the 14 recommendations in the review, to be implemented no later than the end of 2025.

In a foreword to the report, Defence Minister Richard Marles said reservists play an important role in addressing Defence’s “workforce crisis”.

He said the “structure, shape and role” of the reserves needed to adapt to “ensure the reserve workforce complements the total Defence workforce and provides the expansion base for the ADF in times of crisis”.

The reservist workforce was more than 41,700 in March, with about 32,300 providing service. Separately, the estimated ADF workforce will be 58,600 by June 30 next year, against a requirement of 63,597.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/defence-reserves-understrength-to-be-trained-like-ukrainian-fighters/news-story/fdf339297d3f418e2bb2291760ab7021

https://www.defence.gov.au/about/reviews-inquiries/strategic-review-of-the-adf-reserves

https://www.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-12/Strategic-Review-of-the-ADF-Reserves-Factsheet.pdf

https://www.defence.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-12/Strategic-Review-of-the-Australian-Defence-Force-Reserves.pdf

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The bromance of two of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters, Elon Musk and Nigel Farage hits a rocky patch

JACQUELIN MAGNAY - 6 January 2025

In an extraordinary intervention, Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men and the confidante of incoming US president Donald Trump, has called for a new political leader of one of Britain’s political parties.

Mr Musk called for Nigel Farage, whose leadership of the British political party Reform UK has elevated it to be a serious rival to the Conservative Party, to stand down insisting he “doesn’t have what it takes”.

Mr Musk has apparently taken umbrage at Mr Farage’s refusal to allow far right protagonist Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, to become involved with Reform UK.

Robinson is serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court after breaching a court order not to defame a Syrian refugee.

He has previously been jailed for assault and contempt of court.

Mr Musk tweeted on Sunday: “The Reform Party needs a new leader. Farage doesn’t have what it takes.”

Mr Farage said Mr Musk was a “remarkable individual”, but reiterated that Robinson, currently in jail for contempt of court, was not a suitable fit for the party.

Mr Farage replied to Mr Musk on X: “Well, this is a surprise! Elon is a remarkable individual but on this I am afraid I disagree.

“My view remains that Tommy Robinson is not right for Reform and I never sell out my principles.”

Mr Farage had met Mr Musk before Christmas at Mr Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. There had been suggestions that Mr Musk may make a substantial donation to the Reform UK party.

In the past few days Mr Musk had been boosting Mr Robinson’s views, which led to Mr Farage insisting the activist was not what the party needed.

In the latest tweet, Mr Musk even suggested another Reform politician, Rupert Lowe, “made a lot of sense” to replace Mr Farage.

Mr Musk’s statements have appeared to cool the bromance between him and Mr Farage, putting Mr Trump in an interesting position as they are both keen supporters of his.

The British politician had also previously described Mr Musk as “cool” and that he would help the Reform UK party resonate with younger voters.

On Sunday he downplayed the differences of opinion.

But in recent weeks Mr Musk, who is tipped to be named in Mr Trump’s administration as co-chairman of the Department of Government Efficiency, has overtly criticised Britain’s domestic politics. He claimed one senior Labour minister, Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, deserves to be in prison for not opening a new inquiry into widespread child sexual exploitation carried out by gangs of men of Pakistani origin in Oldham, Greater Manchester. He smeared her as a “rape genocide apologist”.

Mr Musk also accused the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was the head of the Crown Prosecution Service at the time of the offences, to be complicit “in the rape of Britain”.

On Sunday Mr Farage distanced himself from Mr Musk’s remarks, telling the BBC: “The fact that Musk supports me and supports Reform doesn’t mean, as two grown-ups, we have to agree with everything the other says.

“I believe in free speech even if what people say is offensive – if you find it offensive, if most people find it offensive.

“Would I rather live in a world where we’re free to cause offence rather than a world in which free speech and debate get shut down? I know which of those two I prefer.”

However, he acknowledged that Mr Musk’s remarks about Ms Phillips were “very, very tough”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-bromance-of-two-of-donald-trumps-biggest-supporters-elon-musk-and-nigel-farage-hits-a-rocky-patch/news-story/7edc4568489a6945ec54b5b80a5c6fe5

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1875904634419859928

https://x.com/Nigel_Farage/status/1875918844562473373

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Anthony Albanese shrugs off tariff concerns on pre-election road trip blitz

RHIANNON DOWN and GREG BROWN - 7 January 2025

Anthony Albanese has been urged to meet with Donald Trump imminently after the US president-elect returns to the White House, as the Prime Minister shrugs off suggestions Justin Trudeau’s demise could hold political lessons for him.

After the long-serving Canadian Prime Minister resigned following a caucus revolt in part ignited by the proposed tariffs, Mr Albanese said he had “made the case” to Mr Trump that Australia should not be subjected to trade barriers.

Security experts have urged Mr Albanese to meet with Mr Trump at an early opportunity to cement the close ties between Canberra and Washington, with one warning that recent events in Canada portrayed the “real risk” of failing to establish a working relationship.

On a pre-election road trip through regional Queensland, Mr Albanese declared on Tuesday that his conversation with Mr Trump had been “positive” and sidestepped questions on whether Mr Trudeau’s fate posed a cautionary tale for him.

“I have had a positive discussion with President Trump, the incoming President of the US as well as being the former president,” Mr Albanese said.

“We were very constructive. We spoke about Australia’s relationship with the US, when it comes to defence and national security, but also on the economy.

“The US has had a trade surplus with Australia since the Truman presidency and it is in the US’s interests for us to continue to implement the Free Trade Agreement which has the support on a bipartisan basis in the Australian parliament.”

Former Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said Mr Albanese should meet with Mr Trump shortly after his inauguration.

“It’s early days to be making assumptions about how president Trump would implement his tariff commitments, whether they would be general or more selective and the extent to which they are a negotiating ploy,” he told The Australian.

“I’ve argued in the past it would be desirable for the Prime Minister to meet with the president at an early date because of the close relationship between the two countries.

“It would also give him a perspective on how America’s security is affected by developments in the Indo-Pacific, and the importance of the relationship with allies and partners like Australia in this regard.”

Strategic Analysis Australia director Michael Shoebridge said Mr Trudeau’s demise was a “nasty precedent for Mr Albanese to ponder”.

“It shows the real risk for Anthony Albanese if he can’t establish a working relationship with Donald Trump, because a bad relationship with Donald Trump has proven radioactive to Trudeau’s leadership,” he said.

“The obvious risk for Mr Albanese is that Trump sees him as weak and problematic, just like you did Trudeau, and the result is massive damage to the bilateral relationship and corrosive damage to Mr Albanese as a leader.”

The Australia Institute senior adviser Allan Behm said Australia’s relationship with the US was vitally important but ultimately different to Canada’s, advising Mr Albanese to meet with Mr Trump but not to look like he’s in a “mad rush to be the first person there”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anthony-albanese-shrugs-off-tariff-concerns-on-preelection-road-trip-blitz/news-story/5665341a46e93f4806772f3ce01cb23c

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PM praises ‘good friend of Australia’ Justin Trudeau after resignation

JOSEPH OLBRYCHT-PALMER - 7 January 2025

Anthony Albanese has praised Justin Trudeau after the Canadian Prime Minister announced he is resigning amid haemorrhaging support within his party.

Mr Trudeau’s popularity has plummeted in recent years, with polls painting a grim picture for the governing Liberal Party’s chances at the general election in October.

Mr Albanese on Tuesday called his outgoing Canadian counterpart “a good friend of Australia” who had “worked closely with both Labor and Coalition governments”.

“I will say this as well about Justin Trudeau, every single time that has been a natural disaster in Australia, we have had Canadians on the ground here, whether it be flooding events, bushfires,” he told reporters.

“I wish Justin Trudeau all the very best in whatever he chooses to do next in his life.

“I regard him as a personal friend but he is a great friend of Australia.”

Mr Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday evening (local time) after nearly a decade in the job.

He said he would remain prime minister until his party picked a new leader.

“I’m a fighter. Every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians,” he told a press conference.

“I care deeply about this country, and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians.”

Mr Trudeau has been grappling with many of the same cost of living challenges facing Mr Albanese.

Much like Australians, Canadians have been forking out more on groceries and housing since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/anthony-albanese-praises-friend-hustin-trudeau-after-resignation/news-story/1f370572ea4f199d182b6e872e3fe437

https://x.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1876379407084118469

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>>22301099

Albanese minister to fly to Israel to mend fractured relationship

Matthew Knott - January 7, 2025

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is preparing to travel to Israel within weeks in a bid to help mend the fractured relationship between the Albanese and Netanyahu governments.

Dreyfus, who is Jewish, is one of the strongest supporters of Israel in the Labor caucus and his planned trip would be the first by a government minister since Foreign Minister Penny Wong visited the Middle East almost a year ago.

Tensions between the two nations boiled over last month when Netanyahu accused the Albanese government of fomenting a rise in antisemitism in a fiery intervention just days after Australia’s ambassador to Israel was summoned by the nation’s foreign minister for a rare dressing down.

Dreyfus, one of Labor’s most senior ministers, planned to travel to Israel last year for the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack but had to cancel the trip when Iran launched missile strikes on the nation.

Local pro-Israel groups were angered that Wong did not visit a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7 during her trip, with the Executive Council of Australian Jewry describing the omission as “insulting and deeply concerning”.

Dreyfus is expected to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and other senior officials on the trip, during which he will emphasise the longstanding ties between Australia and Israel.

A spokesman for Dreyfus said the trip had not been finalised.

Dreyfus’ father and grandparents were Holocaust survivors who arrived in Melbourne after fleeing Nazi Germany.

Netanyahu used social media last month to claim that an arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne could not be separated from the “extreme anti-Israeli position of the Labor government in Australia”.

Netanyahu singled out the government for its decision to reverse Australia’s diplomatic position on Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories at the United Nations and to deny ex-Israeli minister Ayelet Shaked a visa on grounds she could threaten social cohesion.

“Anti-Israel sentiment is antisemitism,” he said.

Wong responded in a speech days later by saying: “It is not antisemitic to expect that Israel should comply with the international law that applies to all countries.

“Nor is it antisemitic to call for children and other civilians to be protected, or to call for a two-state solution that enables Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security.”

Netanyahu’s post came after Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called in Australia’s ambassador, Ralph King, for an official reprimand over the decision to deny Shaked a visa.

Sa’ar said the move was “based on baseless blood libels spread by the pro-Palestinian lobby in Australia, and it is a shame that a friendly country like Australia chose to base it on them instead of the long-standing friendship between the countries”.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said at the time that his department refused Shaked’s visa because of fears she would “seriously undermine social cohesion” while in Australia.

“Ms Shaked has said that all the Palestinians should leave Gaza. If somebody wanted to come here and had previously said that they had nominated specific cities in Israel and said they should be completely levelled, I wouldn’t give them a visa to come here and make speeches,” he said.

In a speech to parliament after the October 7 attacks, which killed some 1200 people in 2023, Dreyfus described Australia’s relationship with Israel as “deep and enduring” and defined by “a bond of true friendship”.

Dreyfus has argued that Labor has not committed to recognising a Palestinian state, even though the party’s platform says it is expected to be “an important priority” for the government.

“The only way an enduring and just two-state solution can be achieved is through a negotiated outcome between the two parties and, as Labor has long made clear, that requires recognition by the Palestinians of the rights of the people of Israel to live in peace within secure borders,” he wrote after Labor’s 2021 conference.

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion in Gaza since the October 7 attack has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-minister-to-fly-to-israel-to-mend-fractured-relationship-20250106-p5l2ar.html

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‘Apologist for appalling government’: Mark Dreyfus slammed over planned Israel visit

NOAH YIM - 7 January 2025

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, a prominent Jewish member of cabinet, will visit Israel to help mend frosty relations between the two countries, Anthony Albanese has announced.

Prominent opposition Jewish MP Julian Leeser has slammed the move as a “pre-election gimmick” and said Mr Dreyfus is an “impediment to addressing anti-Semitism in this country”.

“The Prime Minister is not sending a champion of the Jewish community,” Mr Leeser said. “He is simply replacing one apologist for this appalling government with another”.

The Prime Minister said Mr Dreyfus would be there “about a week”.

Mr Dreyfus had a trip scheduled for the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks but it was cancelled when Iran launched missiles against Israel.

The trip would be the first by a cabinet minister since Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong visited Israel last January.

The relationship between Australia and Israel has been frayed since the October 7 attacks, the following conflicts, and the heated domestic debate in Australia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month said the burning of the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne was an “abhorrent act of anti-Semitism” and connected it to the “extreme anti-Israel position of the Labor government in Australia”.

Mr Albanese, when questioned whether or not he and Senator Wong should visit Israel instead to mend the relationship, said “the Attorney-General is the appropriate person to visit Israel”.

The Nine newspapers reported Mr Dreyfus was preparing to visit “within weeks”.

Mr Leeser said the visit announcement came after Mr Albanese “focused for so long on the politics of the inner city left, he now realises he has lost the trust of mainstream Australians when it comes to the proliferation of anti-Semitism in our country and the betrayal of a longstanding Australian ally”.

“Sending Mark Dreyfus to Israel will not change the underlying failure of this government – which is the weak leadership of Anthony Albanese and hard-left policies of Penny Wong,” he said.

“In sending Mark Dreyfus, the Prime Minister thinks he is sending someone respected by the Jewish community to pour oil on troubled waters. He is not.

“Dreyfus’s silence on Israel is deeply felt across the Jewish community. Not only has he remained in Labor’s cabinet and gone along with every anti-Israel policy of the Albanese government, but as the minister responsible for Royal Commissions, the AFP and the Human Rights Commission, he has been an impediment to addressing anti-Semitism in this country.

“He has done nothing to clean up the Jew hatred at the AHRC. He has opposed the judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on campus recommended by his own special envoy on anti-Semitism and, for more than a year, he failed to direct the resources of AFP or the AHRC to deal with the unprecedented anti-Semitism in this country.

“By sending Dreyfus to Israel, the Prime Minister is not sending a champion of the Jewish community. He is simply replacing one apologist for this appalling government with another.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin welcomed the announcement and said he “hope(s) that his visit marks a reset in Australia’s relations with Israel”.

“Every senior member of our government should go there to tour the south, bear witness to the horrors of October 7, and meet with witnesses, survivors and soldiers in order to understand the evil that Israel is facing and why the defeat of Hamas and the rescue of the hostages is the moral cause of our times,” he said.

“We hope that the Attorney-General returns to Australia with a new-found appreciation of why standing with Israel through this time of peril is not only the right thing to do, but in the national interest.

“We expect the Attorney-General will receive some difficult questions both about Australia’s treatment of Israel through this war, and its failures in regards to domestic anti-Semitism. We hope that his visit marks a reset in Australia’s relations with Israel and restores what was once thought to be unshakeable, bipartisan support for the Jewish State.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/apologist-for-appalling-government-mark-dreyfus-slammed-over-planned-israel-visit/news-story/7b5e2f36b375109539037d6a5bba2c75

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‘Very thankful’: Top Palestinian envoy praises Australia for breaking with Israel

Matthew Knott - January 7, 2025

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The departing de facto Palestinian ambassador to Australia has predicted a re-elected Albanese government would recognise a Palestinian state as he praised Labor for daring to repeatedly anger Israel and break with the United States in its stance on the Middle East.

Izzat Abdulhadi will end his term as head of the general delegation of Palestine in Australia next week after more than 18 years in the role.

Abdulhadi forcefully rejected claims by Israel’s ambassador to Australia, made in an interview with this masthead, that Hamas should be held responsible for the death toll in Gaza, arguing Israel had waged the war with reckless disregard for civilian lives.

“This attack by Hamas [on October 7] does not justify this mass killing, the burning of hospitals, the killing of women and children who do not support Hamas,” he said from the West Bank.

“It is beyond imagining what is happening there … even if Hamas uses human shields, this does not justify Israel killing the shields.”

Almost 46,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza since the war began in 2023, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, including 49 people killed in Israeli air strikes on Monday.

Israel, which says it is fighting to ensure its citizens are no longer at risk of Hamas terrorist attacks, began the war after the group’s October 7 incursion, during which about 1200 people were killed and more than 240 taken hostage.

This masthead revealed on Tuesday that Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is planning to travel to Israel in the coming weeks to help stabilise a bilateral relationship that has become increasingly acrimonious.

Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson accused Foreign Minister Penny Wong of antagonising the Netanyahu government, saying it “speaks volumes that the attorney-general is being sent to Israel to try to repair the profound damage to the bilateral relationship”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday that Dreyfus “is an appropriate person to visit Israel”.

“We have people regularly visit our friends, and Mark Dreyfus is visiting,” the prime minister told reporters.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said Dreyfus would face “difficult questions” about Australia’s stance on Israel and the rise of antisemitism in Australia.

“We hope that the attorney-general returns to Australia with a newfound appreciation of why standing with Israel through this time of peril is not only the right thing to do, but in the national interest,” he said.

Abdulhadi, who is not technically an ambassador because Australia does not recognise a Palestinian state, expressed regret that Australia had not recognised Palestinian statehood during his tenure, but said he was “very optimistic” a Labor government would do so if it won the next federal election, which is due by May.

“There are many indications that they will recognise the state of Palestine and I think it will be actually surprising if they don’t after all the positions they have taken,” he said, pointing to strong support for Palestine in the union movement and Labor membership base.

“Recognition of the state of Palestine should not be pending Israel’s approval because self-determination for the Palestinian people is a right under international law.”

Labor’s policy platform “calls on the Australian government to recognise Palestine as a state” and says it “expects that this issue will be an important priority”.

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Abdulhadi, who arrived in Australia in 2006, said he was “very thankful and grateful” to the Albanese government for shifting Australia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“They have had the courage to take difficult positions that have sometimes attracted a lot of criticism,” Abdulhadi said.

“I think there has been a lot of progress under this government for Palestine, and I hope it will continue.”

Abdulhadi credited the government for voting in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza at the United Nations, designating the Palestinian territories “occupied” rather than “disputed” and scrapping the Morrison-era recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

He also praised Wong for restoring funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, and a major speech in which she said recognition of Palestine did not necessarily have to come at the end of a negotiated peace process.

The government has reversed Australia’s long-standing voting record on several UN resolutions, including by supporting a December motion calling for Israel to end its presence in the West Bank and Gaza as soon as possible.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by attacking the government on social media, accusing it of adopting an “extreme anti-Israeli position” that had encouraged a surge of antisemitism in Australia.

Abdulhadi represents the Palestinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah, a more moderate political rival of Hamas, but is not a member of either party.

He said the war in Gaza had been so deadly that the international community should gather to rethink the rules of war, as it did after World War II.

“We Palestinians are all in grief, in tears, watching these images on the TV,” he said.

Abdulhadi labelled Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide, echoing several major human rights organisations and nations such as South Africa, which has filed a genocide claim against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Israel has rejected the genocide charge.

Abdulhadi said he regarded Hamas’s October 7 attacks as “totally wrong” but added: “We can’t just perceive history as beginning on October 7.

“We can’t ignore the root causes of the problem: the siege of Gaza, what happened in 1948 [when Israel was founded] and the continuous systematic oppression of Palestinian people.”

He urged the government to create a settlement pathway for the estimated 1400 Palestinians who had sought refuge in Australia that would allow them to work, access Medicare and study at university.

“These new arrivals can be an asset for Australia, not a liability,” he said. “Many of them are doctors, dentists, engineers. They are very tired and exhausted by what happened in Gaza and they want to start a new life.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/very-thankful-top-palestinian-envoy-praises-australia-for-breaking-with-israel-20250107-p5l2i1.html

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The Israeli ambassador calls him ‘wonderful’. But Palestine’s top envoy is heading home

Matthew Knott - January 8, 2025

When Israel’s ambassador to Australia held a press conference in Canberra last month, he heaped praise upon a surprising recipient: his Palestinian counterpart, Izzat Abdulhadi.

Amir Maimon said he had “lots of respect” for Abdulhadi, adding he was “very sad” that his lengthy tenure as the head of the general delegation of Palestine in Australia was about to end.

“He’s a wonderful man,” Maimon told the reporters gathered at the Israeli embassy on the day the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne was firebombed.

“And I’m not just saying it because I’m a diplomat and you expect diplomats to use nice language. He’s a real fine gentleman.”

Asked about the comments, Abdulhadi appears somewhat bemused, saying he and Maimon had previously held civil discussions at functions in Canberra but had not met since the war in Gaza began 15 months ago.

“Usually, it’s very difficult dynamics between the occupier and the occupied,” Abdulhadi says.

“It’s very difficult to try to separate the policy of government from a person who represents the government that colonised you. For them, it’s easier to do something.”

While most ambassadors hold short postings of three to four years, Abdulhadi, 67, has represented Palestine in Australia since 2006 – a time when John Howard was in power, social media was in its infancy and the militant group Hamas had just claimed a majority of seats in the Palestinian parliament.

“It was a very difficult mission,” he says, adding he did not receive a salary or other financial support to carry out his duties for the first two years because of sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

Originally from Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Abdulhadi spent two decades running a Palestinian non-profit organisation before arriving in Australia. A self-described “technocrat”, he speaks in the analytical manner of a university professor and is not a member of either of the main Palestinian political parties: the Islamist group Hamas (now a designated terrorist organisation in Australia) or Fatah, the more secular party founded by Yasser Arafat.

Although far from a firebrand, he reveals he was rebuked last October by officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). His offence? Being too complimentary of the government in an interview with The Australian Financial Review.

With two new political groups, The Muslim Vote and Muslim Votes Matter, seeking to harness anger over the war in Gaza in safe Labor seats with large Muslim populations, Abdulhadi had warned Arab voters against taking revenge on Labor at the ballot box and said they should not let their interests be hijacked by outside forces.

“DFAT told me they don’t like this kind of interference in domestic issues,” he says. “I told them it’s not interference.”

While the Greens and some pro-Palestinian advocates have accused Labor of being too supportive of Israel and enabling a genocide in Gaza, Abdulhadi has adopted a more conciliatory approach, praising the Albanese government for taking a “balanced position” on the conflict.

“They’ve had the courage to take difficult positions that have sometimes attracted a lot of criticism,” he says.

Australia Palestine Advocacy Network president Nasser Mashni recently argued that the idea of a two-state solution is “absolutely dead”, in part because of the huge growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Abdulhadi disagrees, saying there is still hope for an independent Palestinian state beside Israel despite the formidable obstacles.

“First, the most important thing for us is to have a state,” he says. “People sometimes ignore the importance of a state for self-determination, for organising people, for empowering communities.”

Because Australia does not recognise Palestine as a state, Abdulhadi is not technically an ambassador and has not enjoyed the privileges most other diplomats enjoy. The upside is that rules limiting the amount of time diplomats can spend in the country have not applied to him, allowing him to remain in Australia for almost two decades.

Now, having passed retirement age, his time in Canberra is over (Abdulhadi’s posting officially ends next week but he has returned to the West Bank early because of family issues). His major regret: his tenure ended without Australia recognising Palestinian statehood, despite momentum steadily building for such a move for years within Labor.

“While I was in Australia, my dream all the time was to raise the Palestinian flag when I’m still an ambassador,” he says. “Now that will be up to my successor.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/the-israeli-ambassador-calls-him-wonderful-but-palestine-s-top-envoy-is-heading-home-20250107-p5l2i2.html

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Albanese defends teen social media ban after Zuckerberg's Trump embrace

Tom Crowley - 8 January 2025

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Plans to give Australia's eSafety watchdog new powers are moving ahead even as the federal government braces for hostility from the Trump administration's tech backers over what they regard as "censorship".

Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg declared a "new era" for his company this week, ditching fact checkers and accusing foreign governments of "going after American companies and pushing to censor more" in a bid to ingratiate himself with the incoming president.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose child social media ban and other online safety initiatives have placed him at odds with US tech giants, said on Wednesday platforms had a "social responsibility" and defended his approach.

"I know that our strong action is being watched right around the world because other leaders that I've spoken to have indicated that they applaud [it]," he said.

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland confirmed the government was still progressing ambitious plans to expand Australia's regime for policing online spaces.

The minister is sitting on recommendations from senior public servant Delia Rickard, who has canvassed options for new laws to combat social media "pile-ons", body image harms, self-harm promotion, and tech-based domestic violence, among others.

The government's position on those specific elements is unclear, and a spokesperson for the minister could not say when Ms Rickard's report would be published.

Online safety plans still active

But the minister has said current online safety laws are not "fit for purpose" and confirmed in November she would press ahead with at least one of Ms Rickard's recommendations, to introduce a "duty of care" on platforms to take reasonable steps to shield users from harm.

Ms Rowland said that approach would align with regulatory regimes in the UK and Europe, which Mr Zuckerberg expressly singled out this week as "institutionalising censorship."

"There's been widespread debate about potential harms from online content. Governments and legacy media have pushed to censor more and more. A lot of this is clearly political," he said.

Minister Rowland was forced to shelve a related plan late last year to require platforms to remove online "misinformation and disinformation" after failing to secure Senate support.

Her spokesperson said the government was still considering "other ways to support Australians with trusted and reliable information" after its misinformation and disinformation proposal fell over.

"Access to trusted information has never been more important."

In the mid-year budget update, the government confirmed new funding for the ABC, SBS and the Australian Associated Press.

It also passed a law last year to criminalise the creation and sharing of sexually explicit, AI-generated "deepfakes," another of the topics it had asked Ms Rickard to consider.

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Government at odds with Zuckerberg and Musk

Its social media ban for children under 16 has also been legislated but will not take effect for a year.

Mr Albanese said the purpose of the ban was to "defend Australian families… We know that the rise in mental health issues has been linked to social media. And we make no apologies for standing up for the interests of young Australians."

Meta was critical of the social media ban, which a spokesperson said the company would respect but believed was "rushed" and unsupported by evidence.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant, whose office was established by the previous Coalition government and who is responsible for enforcing existing online safety laws, has repeatedly clashed with another tech tycoon and Trump ally, Elon Musk.

Last year, Mr Musk's platform X threatened legal action against the commissioner over her order to remove footage of the Wakeley church stabbing, which Mr Musk said amounted to an attempt at "global censorship".

Ms Inman-Grant said she received death threats following the highly-publicised incident.

The PM repeated the government's strong support for Ms Inman-Grant on Wednesday.

"We think [she] does a terrific job. She has to put up with a lot of criticisms, all of it unfounded and we will back her," he said.

Peter Dutton has also defended Ms Inman-Grant in the past, calling her "one of the finest public servants in the employment of the Commonwealth of Australia."

But the opposition leader also voiced sympathy for X during its stoush with eSafety, saying it was "silly" to expect posts be deleted worldwide.

The Coalition supports the government's child social media ban, which it had proposed itself. But it was scathing of the misinformation and disinformation proposal, which it derided as "censorship".

The Greens opposed both measures but has also been critical of tech platforms. The party's communications spokesperson Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Zuckerberg's shift away from fact checking was "very dangerous" and would lead to a "free-for-all on misinformation, disinformation and abuse and trolling."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-08/albanese-defends-social-media-ban-zuckerberg-embraces-trump/104795538

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Australia commits $100m to build more army Bushmasters at Thales Bendigo

Shannon Schubert - 8 January 2025

The federal government has announced a new $100 million contract for Bendigo defence manufacturer Thales Australia to build another 40 Bushmaster protected vehicles.

Thales has built 130 Bushmasters for the army over the past two years.

The deal will supply vehicles to the army's Second Long-Range Fires Regiment at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct in South Australia.

The vehicles will support a multi-mission phased array radar battery to provide critical command and control functions.

Defence Industry and Capability Delivery Minister Pat Conroy said the contract responded to a regional arms race and great strategic uncertainty.

"We need to deter anyone who has any thought of threatening Australia. The best way of doing that is to let them know we have the weapons and the range to strike back," he said.

"It's the best armoured truck in the world. We've seen it save lives in the Middle East and it's saving lives in Ukraine right now."

The Bushmasters rose to notoriety in Ukraine's war against Russia after Australia donated more than 100 to Ukraine.

The federal government is currently running a tender to put missiles on army vehicles, with the Bushmaster one option under consideration.

Mr Conroy said that decision would be made at the end of the year.

"We're expanding the Australian Army and equipping it with long-range strike capability. We're moving the army from having a range of 40km to having a range of over 500km," Mr Conroy said.

"We're rapidly building up our missile stockpiles and expanding our Australian Army."

Contract follows scandal, braking issues and uncertainty

The contract gives security for the future of the Bendigo manufacturer after it made staff redundant when government contracts dried up in 2022.

The new deal will provide work at the facility until the end of 2026, supporting 250 local ongoing jobs.

It also comes after its French-owned parent company was linked to an Australian corruption scandal, involving a bottle of champagne.

In October, Thales was referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission following an auditor-general report that uncovered evidence of "unethical conduct" over a $1 billion munitions contract.

The rollout of the army's Hawkei vehicles built by Thales was also plagued by problems and delayed due to braking issues.

The $1.3 billion contract to build 1,100 of the small tactical vehicles and their trailers was plagued with problems, leaving the vehicles sitting idle outside the Central Victorian factory.

In July last year, Mr Conroy said the issue was resolved and the Hawkeis were in the process of being rolled out to the army.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-08/bushmaster-contract-thales-bendigo-australian-government-army/104792788

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Anthony Albanese’s bid to claim Trump card and China ace

GREG BROWN - 8 January 2025

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Anthony Albanese says he is ­better placed than Peter Dutton to forge a productive relationship with Donald Trump, arguing his close ties with Indo-Pacific leaders would be valuable to the US president-elect in an era of competition between major powers.

The Prime Minister signalled he would not change his approach with China if Mr Trump launched a trade war, lauding the reopening of trade with Beijing as an economic win for Australia.

“We are a sovereign nation and we will act in terms of our economic interest,” Mr Albanese told The Australian. “We believe in free trade, not protectionism.”

Mr Albanese on Wednesday visited a massive cattle station in the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, boasting that his government’s success in lifting beef restrictions would lead to exports to China surpassing $2bn this year, higher than when restrictions were implemented in 2020.

“They (beef exports to China) have not only hit back, they have hit back stronger with the lifting,” he said.

The 1.2 million hectare Lake Nash cattle station, owned by prominent graziers Peter and Jane Hughes, is home to up to 60,000 cattle and China is a key market for the beef produced there.

Mr Albanese said the restart of the lobster trade had been “incredible”, with more than 500,000kg of the shellfish being exported to China since Christmas Day.

The Coalition has argued that there is a risk to the US relationship if it is left to the Albanese government to deal with Mr Trump, as Mr Albanese and several cabinet ministers have previously voiced strong criticisms of the president-elect.

Mr Albanese said it was he who was better placed to forge close ties with the incoming administration, arguing the relationships he had forged with regional leaders would carry weight with Mr Trump.

Despite Mr Trump vowing to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord and accelerate fossil-fuel development, Mr Albanese said Mr Dutton’s lack of ambition on climate change would diminish Australia’s standing in the region and reduce Canberra’s geo­strategic relevance. He said Pacific leaders had not forgotten Mr Dutton’s joke in 2015 – caught on a boom mic – making light of rising sea levels in the ­region.

“We have improved our relationship with the Pacific,” the Prime Minister said. “It has been repaired. It was in disarray when we came into office.

“A precondition of credibility is action on climate change and Peter Dutton’s position on the ­Pacific and climate change is one where they all remember him ­joking about the impact of climate change on their countries.”

Mr Albanese said Australia was respected around the world as a middle power under his leadership. “Peter Dutton has not developed relationships with other people around our region and around the world,” he said.

“One of the things that puts Australia at good stead with our ­allies is the role that we play in our region.

“I have an excellent relationship with Japan and India, as well as the United States.

“The relationship that we have built with Indonesia, we have seen the products of our diplomacy and the work we have put in place.”

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Mr Albanese said his positive first phone call with Mr Trump had left him optimistic on the ­relationship and the future of the AUKUS security pact.

The Prime Minister will ­attempt to replicate the actions of the former Coalition government during the first Trump administration and win carve outs from tariffs for Australian products ­exported to the US.

In the wake of comments by Mr Trump pushing for Greenland and Canada to become provinces of the US, Mr Albanese said he would not respond to ­comments from the incoming leader unless they impacted Australia.

When asked if Mr Trump’s comments showed he had ambitions to expand US territory, Mr Albanese said: “I will leave that to commentators about what the ­incoming president has to say”.

With Mr Trump likely to unwind US support for low-emissions technologies and withdraw from the Paris agreement, Mr Albanese said he did not think this would lead to a slowing of ­momentum on global climate change action. Mr Albanese said strong action on climate change would continue to be the overwhelming policy of nations in APEC and the G20.

“Countries aren’t about to change whether they believe climate change action is necessary,” the Prime Minister said. “They will do that because the science, overwhelmingly, is agreed and they will respond accordingly. But secondly as well, the economic opportunity that is there from acting on climate change and the shift to net zero is evident to all as well.”

The interview with The Australian came as Mr Albanese this week hit the ground campaigning for the first time in 2025, pledging infrastructure and housing ­announcements in Queensland and Western Australia.

On Thursday, Mr Albanese will unveil a $200m housing and infrastructure package for WA and allow international shipping to enter three more ports in the state’s north.

First-point-of-entry status will be given to the northern facilities of Wyndham, Ashburton and Dampier, with Mr Albanese to spruik the announcement in the town of Kununurra before campaigning in Perth later in the day. He will be joined by West Australian Premier Roger Cook, who is facing an election in March.

There will also be funding to build 1367 homes in WA and ­community infrastructure projects, such as sporting and childcare facilities.

Mr Albanese said the first-point-of-entry approvals would allow businesses in WA’s north to import and export goods close to their operations, rather than having to send products to ports further away.

“We always look for ways to support businesses and communities – which is why the changes to first port of entry will make a huge difference across the East Kimberley and Pilbara, shoring up local jobs and supply chains,” Mr Albanese said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anthony-albaneses-bid-to-claim-trump-card-and-china-ace/news-story/2a7138f2b7d0f47a47138f6349cf543f

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‘I’m strong, I’m pro-Israel, I can work best with Donald Trump’: Peter Dutton hit backs at Anthony Albanese’s diplomacy claims

RHIANNON DOWN and GREG BROWN - 9 January 2025

Peter Dutton says it is “comical” to think Anthony Albanese can be a better global partner for US president-elect Donald Trump than he would be, pointing to recent Australian votes against Israel in the United Nations and the Prime Minister’s past comments on Mr Trump as marks against Labor in pursuing a relationship with the Republican.

Mr Albanese told The Australian on Wednesday that he is better placed than the Opposition Leader to forge a productive relationship with Mr Trump, arguing his close ties with Indo-Pacific leaders would be valuable to the new administration.

“Peter Dutton has not developed relationships with other people around our region and around the world,” Mr Albanese said.

“One of the things that puts Australia at good stead with our allies is the role that we play in our region … I have an excellent relationship with Japan and India, as well as the United States.”

But Mr Dutton hit back on Thursday, saying he had already worked with Mr Trump’s first administration and accused the government of failing to engage the US president-elect since he secured the White House last November.

The Liberal leader also brought up Mr Albanese’s comments, made at the start of Mr Trump’s first term, that the the billionaire had scared “the shit” out of him.

“President Trump is not somebody to be ‘scared’ of, but somebody that we can work very closely with – and that’s exactly what the Coalition under my leadership will do,” Mr Dutton told The Australian.

“The PM’s past juvenile and undergraduate comments that the President is someone who ‘scares the s..t out of him’ is a reflection of his inability – even as a senior shadow minister at the time – to have the right policy instincts and the right strength of leadership.”

And with the Coalition more aligned to Mr Trump’s strong support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against terror group Hamas in Gaza, Mr Dutton suggested Labor’s support for Palestine in the UN would also count against Mr Albanese’s attempts to forge a relationship with the new administration.

“It’s comical for him to now say ‘trust me with the US relationship’ when his own government has split with the USA on key votes at the UN, and we’ve seen little evidence of him engaging and influencing the incoming Trump administration in the national interest, which is a real concern,” he told The Australian.

“In fact, he bristled at the question he was asked on this matter earlier in the week.”

Mr Albanese has said his positive first phone call with Mr Trump had left him optimistic on the relationship and the future of the AUKUS security pact, and he will attempt to replicate the actions of the former Coalition government during the first Trump administration and win carve outs from tariffs for Australian products exported to the US.

But he has not pursued a pre-inauguration meeting with Mr Trump like UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian leader Georgia Meloni both have, and Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd has spent part of the summer before the Republicans take over the White House holidaying back in Queensland.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/im-strong-im-proisrael-i-can-work-best-with-donald-trump-peter-dutton-hit-backs-at-anthony-albaneses-diplomacy-claims/news-story/e3c9df3f6ce3e81edda26f14759a6c82

>>22320843

WA Premier Roger Cook: we are ‘proudly independent’ from federal Labor

PAUL GARVEY - 9 January 2025

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West Australian Labor Premier Roger Cook has declared his ­government is “proudly independent” and that his focus is on ensuring re-election rather than helping Anthony Albanese shore up crucial WA seats.

In his first sit-down interview of the year, and on the eve of the Prime Minister arriving for the first of many visits to the west ahead of this year’s federal election, Mr Cook noted there were differences of approach between WA Labor and its federal counterparts on a “whole range of issues”.

The WA Premier also flagged his intention to capitalise on his state’s new-found national electoral significance by targeting federal funding for a multibillion-dollar overhaul of port infrastructure. And he stressed that his government did not take anything for granted despite holding a seemingly impregnable position ahead of the March state election.

In comments that will do little to dispel the impression that WA Labor wants to put distance between itself and a struggling federal government ahead of two elections due in as many months, Mr Cook said he would not be distracted from his own campaign.

“Unlike other premiers around the country, I’ve got an election to win myself, so that’s my focus,” Mr Cook said.

“I’m just going to make sure I focus on the eighth of March, and making sure that we communicate to the West Australian people what our plan for the future is, how we’re going to keep the economy strong, how we’re going to maintain strong growth in jobs.

“While I understand the Prime Minister has his own race to run, we are focused on our election at the moment, and that will obviously be soaking up our entire bandwidth between now and the eighth of March.”

The next federal election must be held by May 17.

Since Mark McGowan’s shock retirement in May 2023, Mr Cook has – to the displeasure of some backbenchers and party members – been a strong advocate for WA’s world-leading mining and oil and gas industries. He successfully lobbied Mr Albanese to pause plans for federal Nature Positive laws that would have increased regulatory uncertainty for those sectors, repealed the contentious Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, and to the frustration of environmental groups watered down the state’s environmental approvals processes.

Multiple decisions by the federal government have caused headaches for Mr Cook’s government and have given ammunition to the bedraggled state opposition. On top of the Nature Positive furore, the federal ban on live sheep exports, industrial relations changes and decisions around Aboriginal heritage have been felt keenly in the west.

While Mr Cook said the Prime Minister’s backdown on Nature Positive showed he understood the significance of WA and its mining sector, he acknowledged there were differences between their governments.

“We are a WA Labor government. We are proudly independent in terms of our perspective, because Western Australia has a unique role to play,” he said.

“And so from that perspective, there will always be not differences of opinion, but differences of approach in terms of a whole range of issues.

“The important thing to do, though, is to make sure that you’ve got a strong relationship with the federal government so you can continue to communicate the priorities for the state and that they can make sure that they’re backing you.

“I’m really pleased with the work that the Albanese government has done to support us in a lot of our economic policies, and obviously we’d like to see that continue.”

(continued)

>>22320949

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Federal Labor’s best result in the west in 2022, when the party picked up four additional seats, effectively delivered Mr Albanese the prime ministership. Labor’s ability to hold on to those gains could determine if it can hold on to power. Since his election, Mr Albanese has made more ­visits to WA than any other prime minister.

Mr Cook has used his state’s increased electoral significance to extract guarantees the continuation of the controversial GST floor arrangements, which have delivered billions of extra federal taxpayer dollars to a state rolling in mining royalties.

Asked what he hoped to attract from federal leaders trying to court the WA vote, Mr Cook said he was looking for support for major port developments planned for Perth and the regions.

The government has unveiled a long-term plan to relocate WA’s main container port from Fremantle to Kwinana in Perth’s south, a project set to cost more than $7bn. There are also plans to upgrade the Geraldton port in WA’s Midwest and progress the long-awaited Oakajee port project, which in its latest iteration is envisaged as a clean energy hub.

“We need significant assistance around transport infrastructure, particularly around ports,” Mr Cook said.

“That’s for the future for the state, and … it’s for the future of the national economy as well.”

The Albanese government’s announcement this week of a further $7.2bn for upgrading Queensland’s Bruce Highway – meaning it will commit 80 per cent of the funding for the project – has encouraged WA.

Mr Cook enters the election campaign in a seemingly ­unbeatable position, given the Liberal Party won just two of 59 lower house seats back in 2021. But he said he had warned his party room not to take anything for granted.

“It’s something that we talk about openly, making sure that people understand that any election is a loseable election,” he said.

“You have to be humble, you have to make sure you go to the people with a plan, with a policy that respects their vote. And that’s what we’ll be doing over the next 60 days.”

State opposition MPs have long been quietly hoping for the state election to be held before the federal poll, in the hope that voter discontent with the Albanese government could translate into a few extra seats at a state level.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/wa-premier-roger-cook-we-are-proudly-independent-from-federal-labor/news-story/ab9f4a8b07920c5b0e91e4344b69d8bc

>>22314374

Michelle Rowland slams Meta over fact check decision and backs news outlets

RHIANNON DOWN and JARED LYNCH - 9 January 2025

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Communications Minister Michelle Rowland says the need for ­access to trusted information has “never been more important” after tech giant Meta abandoned independent fact-checking on its social media platforms in the US.

After tech billionaire and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced he was scrapping third-party fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, Ms Rowland declared the antidote to online misinformation was “quality, fact-checked information” from public broadcasters.

Meta’s shift towards X-style “community notes”, where users comment on the accuracy of posts, comes just weeks ahead of Donald Trump’s returns to the White House. The president-elect – a close ally of tech billionaire and X Corp owner Elon Musk – has previously criticised Meta for hindering free speech and censoring right-wing views.

Meta’s changes to third-party fact-checking are occurring only in the US at this stage, not in other jurisdictions such as Australia.

With the Albanese government increasingly at odds with Mr Trump over a push to place limits on social media access and combat online misinformation, Ms Rowland said Labor was committed to “high quality and diverse public interest journalism”.

“Misinformation can be harmful to people’s health, wellbeing, and to social cohesion,” a spokesman for Ms Rowland said.

“Misinformation … is complex to navigate and hard to recognise.

“Access to trusted information has never been more important.

“That’s why the Albanese government is supporting high quality, fact-checked information for the public through ongoing support to ABC, SBS and AAP.”

Anthony Albanese said tech giants had a “social responsibility” and backed his government’s ban on teenagers under 16 accessing social media, which passed parliament with bipartisan support in the final sitting week of the year.

“We know that the rise in mental health issues for young people is linked with social media,” the Prime Minister said.

“All of the experts tell us that that’s the case. So we’ll continue to act in our national interest.

“And I say to social media – they have a social responsibility and they should fulfil it.”

Labor will also force tech ­giants to pay for Australian journalism under a new scheme that will tax digital platforms, such as Facebook, if they do not negotiate with news providers.

The initiative announced in December was in response to threats from Meta to block news content on its platforms if it’s forced to pay. Meta withdrew from the Morrison-era media bargaining code, which was worth an estimated $1bn to media outlets.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant warned Meta that despite the changes, it “must comply with Australian law” and her organisation would continue to remove harmful content, such as child sex abuse, pro-terror and cyber abuse material.

“eSafety will continue to ensure compliance and we note Meta’s comments in relation to its ongoing focus on this area,” she said. “eSafety will also continue to use its transparency powers to require or request answers from tech companies about what they are and are not doing to tackle a range of online harms and whether they are living up to the government’s Basic Online Safety Expectations.”

(continued)

>>22320983

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Australian National University Tech Policy Design Centre founding director Johanna Weaver said Meta’s move “underscores both the futility and fragility of stand-alone self-regulation”.

“With Trump’s election, it is even more unlikely that this type of tech regulation will come from the US,” Professor Weaver said.

“This creates opportunities for other governments brave enough to step into the breach.”

Monash University associate professor of news and political communication Emma Briant criticised Meta’s move to abandon fact checkers, saying anyone surprised by the decision “learned nothing from Mark Zuckerberg’s role in the Cambridge Analytica affair”.

Cambridge Analytica was a data firm that worked for the Trump’s 2016 campaign and shut down following allegations about its misuse of Facebook data and the tactics it pitched to clients.

“While they may pay lip service to the policy concerns of the moment, tech oligarchs run their companies to maximise profits and minimise costs, not to be society’s protector or mediate a neutral, democratic town hall,” Professor Briant said.

“This applies to all of them, not just Elon Musk. There is nothing to stop tech oligarchs weaponising their platforms to suit political objectives when the moment is right.

“Fact-checking is only one small part of the solution to the problem of contemporary propaganda.”

Cyber safety expert Susan McLean, who has 27 years’ experience in cybercrime with Victoria Police, also criticised the move, saying more education for children and adults was required to improve “digital literacy”.

“It’s just going to allow misinformation to thrive,” she said. “There’ll be limited protections in place for abuse. Again, it puts the onus on the victim of the abuse to report it, rather than the platform proactively removing content.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/michelle-rowland-slams-meta-over-fact-check-decision-and-backs-news-outlets/news-story/62c9b33ce7cf0d8892368efe7a7266bf

>>22128180 (pb)

>>22254943

Telstra and Musk ink deal to bring texting to Australia’s dead zones

Daniel Lo Surdo - January 9, 2025

Major telco Telstra has signed a new deal with Elon Musk’s satellite network Starlink, allowing customers to send a text message from almost anywhere in Australia – including rural and regional dead zones.

Under the deal announced on Thursday, Telstra customers will be able to use Musk’s low-earth orbit satellites to communicate with other users across Australia. It marks a new foray into the direct-to-handset technology for Telstra, whose network covers all but 0.3 per cent of the Australian population.

Telstra’s global network and technology executive, Shailin Sehgal, said the technology would be “particularly relevant” for customers in regional and remote parts of Australia without a reliable mobile connection.

“Technology is always evolving, and we’re committed to staying at the forefront of innovation,” Sehgal said.

“Australia’s landmass is vast and there will always be large areas where mobile and fixed networks do not reach, and this is where satellite technology will play a complementary role to our existing networks.”

Optus announced a similar deal with Starlink in 2023, with a promise to launch text messaging capability from late 2024, with voice and data services said to be available from late 2025. However, Optus’ text messaging offer is yet to launch and the company has not said when these services will come online.

On Thursday an Optus spokesperson said the company is conducting local testing with SpaceX and “re-evaluating our timelines to deliver this product”.

Telstra customers with an iPhone 14 or later model will be able to access the technology, which can be used wherever there is a direct line of sight to the sky. Thick tree canopy or a vehicle cover will block access, though cloud cover shouldn’t pose an issue.

Australians could use Starlink’s low-earth satellite to communicate with emergency services or text those who can assist with a pressing matter. Initially only text messaging will be available, though Telstra hopes to expand to voice messaging and data as the satellite service evolves.

The latest digital inclusion index found that Australians in regional and remote areas are the most digitally excluded in the nation, hampering access to education, healthcare and other essential services. Index authors noted the adoption of low-earth satellites could help to “address” inequalities spurring a persistent digital divide.

Starlink has been available in Australia since 2021 and is now used by more than 200,000 national customers.

Telstra inked its first deal with Starlink in 2023, which allowed its regional and rural customers on the fringes of connectivity access to low-earth satellites for broadband and voice services in their homes.

It signed another deal with satellite provider Lynk Global in February, with which it has already started testing the capacity of text messaging in mobile dead zones.

https://www.smh.com.au/technology/telstra-and-musk-ink-deal-to-bring-texting-to-australia-s-dead-zones-20250109-p5l34c.html

https://www.telstra.com.au/exchange/telstra-to-bring-spacex-s-starlink-satellite-to-mobile-technolog

>>22225665

>>22301124

Allawah synagogue in southern Sydney vandalised with swastikas, Jewish community leaders call for swift action

Danuta Kozaki - 10 January 2025

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A synagogue in southern Sydney has been vandalised with several swastikas spray-painted onto exterior walls in what NSW Police have described as "offensive" graffiti.

Police are investigating the incident at the Allawah synagogue and said it likely happened in the early hours of Friday morning.

Warning: This story contains an image of a Nazi symbol.

In red paint next to one of the swastikas was the message "HITLER ON TOP ALLAH…"

It follows a number of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic graffiti incidents in Sydney's east in recent weeks.

Last week, a car was spray-painted with the phrase "F*ck the Jews" in Sydney's east at Queens Park, and last year a synagogue in Melbourne was the subject of an arson attack.

NSW Police said the latest incident was believed to have happened about 4:10am on Railway Parade in Allawah, with police from St George Area Command investigating the incident.

Police released CCTV footage on Friday which shows two people dressed in black hoodies approaching the building.

In a statement police said they would like to speak to a man who may be able to assist with their investigation.

"He is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance, of medium build, and with a long brown beard," it said.

"The man was last seen wearing a black hooded jumper, black pants with a white stripe on the side, and aviator-style sunglasses."

Premier condemns 'monstrous act'

The Allawah synagogue is in NSW Premier Chris Minns's local electorate of Kogarah.

Mr Minns labelled the vandalism a "monstrous act" and said it was carried out by individuals with "hate in their heart" determined to divide the community.

"I think that the painting of a swastika on a Jewish building shows you everything you need to know about how appalling these particular individuals are and what their ultimate aim when it comes to members of the Jewish community," he said.

"It's around the corner from my house, and I know that the people that I represent and the community that I live in completely repudiate that kind of horrifying vandalism, that horrifying violence in our community."

Mr Minns said he had spoken to the president and vice-president of the synagogue, who were appalled by the incident.

"But they don't believe, and nor should they, that this is representative of the community's acceptance and closeness to the Jewish community in southern Sydney," he said.

"There are, unfortunately, some bastards out there that are determined to rip our community in two."

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said he was confident those responsible would be caught.

Police are investigating under Operation Taskforce Shelter alongside the counter-terrorism team.

"Those people wanting to do this sort of thing we say to you, you will get caught, you will get prosecuted and you will be put before the courts," Commissioner McKenna said.

(continued)

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Jewish leaders call for swift arrests

The President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies David Ossip said "enough is enough".

"It is not normal or acceptable that Australians are having to wake every morning filled with apprehension about whether or not there has been another anti-Semitic hate crime overnight," he said.

Sarah Schwartz, executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, said this wasn't only an attack on Jewish people but one on Australia's values of inclusivity and diversity.

"Now, more than ever, we remain committed to fighting against all forms of racism in Australian society so individuals and communities can live without fear of discrimination or violence."

Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry said the community expected those responsible to be arrested swiftly.

"People who deface houses of worship with the symbol of genocide should face the full force of the law. As long as these people evade justice for trying to terrorise Australian citizens, it will continue," he said.

Mr Ossip noted that Nazi symbols and messages were illegal under Australian law.

"We cannot allow ourselves to become desensitised to acts of Jew-hatred and allow illegal conduct such as this to become normalised," he said.

"This behaviour is reprehensible and undermines the social harmony and cohesion which we all treasure."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-10/southern-sydney-synagogue-allawah-vandalised-swastika/104803138

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1PKERzFgs0

>>22225665

>>22327980

‘Bastards’: Angry premier condemns new graffiti attack on Sydney synagogue

SUMMER LIU - 10 January 2025

A southwest Sydney synagogue has become the latest target of anti-Semitic vandals who spray-painted swastikas and the words “Hitler on top” on the building early on Friday morning.

Red and black swastikas defaced the white walls of the Synagogue on Railway Ave, Allawah, with police at the scene searching for leads to identify the vandals.

Two men in dark clothing and facial coverings were reportedly seen loitering around the synagogue at early hours of the morning.

Police from St George Police Area Command are investigating and believe the incident occurred between 3.55am and 4.30am on Friday morning.

NSW Premier Chris Minns arrived at the synagogue, which is in his electorate, on Friday morning and was seen speaking with leaders of the synagogue and police officers.

Mr Minns called the perpetrators “bastards” and individuals who “have got hate in their hearts, that are determined to divide our community in two” at a press conference.

Mr Minns said the perpetrators “should be ashamed of their actions, not just in southern Sydney but across metropolitan Sydney in the last few months” and vowed to continue strengthening laws and putting resources towards crime prevention.

Southern Sydney Synagogue President George Foster said police informed him of the incident at 4.30am and “apologised that they only just missed the people who did it”.

Dr Foster said the rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes must be addressed by prosecution.

“That’s what we have to do to try and stop it … that might slow them down,” he said.

Dr Foster is also the president of the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants and said the rise of anti-Semitism in Australia mirrored the start of World War Two.

“My parents were Hungarian survivors, and seeing what I’m seeing on the wall, particularly referencing Hitler … just brings back images of way back to 1933, when Jewish businesses and Jewish institutions were graffitied with signs of swastikas”.

“It’s truly distressing”.

Australia used to be an “accepting, happy, joyous place” for Dr Foster, as he said he would “kiss the ground … every time I come back to this country, because I believe it’s the best country on earth”.

Now, Dr Foster laments that his community now have to pray in a building with bars on the windows and CCTV all around.

“The community is feeling vulnerable and distressed,” Dr Foster said, but are “determined to continue to live in the way we have been living”.

This incident is the third just this week, with a car in Sydney’s east being tagged with “F..k the Jews” and the arrest of a 20-year-old man who allegedly made a threatening “gun gesture” at a man outside of a synagogue in St Ives both occurring on Monday.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton called the incident “grotesque act” and said, “it must be condemned”.

“As history shows, these repulsive incidents are a precursor to greater evils, and it’s no wonder our Jewish community in Australia is living in fear. I hope the perpetrators are caught and face the full force of the law,” Mr Dutton said.

“If there’s no repercussions for committing these disgraceful crimes, there will be no deterrence.

“When will this lesson be learned and how many more incidents of antisemitism need to occur in our country before action is taken. Enough is enough.”

“The community expects swift arrests to be made and for those who deface houses of worship with the symbol of genocide to face the full force of the law,” Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said.

“As long as these people evade justice for trying to terrorise Australian citizens, it will continue.

“We’re also calling on our fellow Australians, particularly those in positions of influence across society, to end the silence and publicly denounce this behaviour as repugnant to our national values and a threat to us all.”

President of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip called for action, and said “Enough is Enough”.

“We are outraged by yet another disgraceful attack on a Jewish place of worship overnight,” Mr Ossip added.

“This is unacceptable and undermines the social harmony and cohesion which Australians have long treasured.

“Laws must be tightened to more effectively deal with hate speech and incitement to violence and individuals who commit crimes such as this must receive penalties sufficient to ensure that such conduct is deterred and not normalised.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/bastards-angry-premier-condemns-new-graffiti-attack-on-sydney-synagogue/news-story/a41711f89663b8cd0764a599762d2aa9

>>22225665

>>22327980

AFP reveal More than 100 anti-Semitic attacks on Jews in one month

MOHAMMAD ALFARES - 10 January 2025

The Australian Federal Police have received more than 100 reports of anti-Semitic attacks targeting Australia’s Jewish community in just one month, new figures from Operation Avalite reveal.

Since December 9, 2024 the AFP has received 124 reports of crime for potential offences under the commonwealth legislation.

Of these, 102 reports are under investigation and 22 reports have not been accepted for further investigation.

Anthony Albanese said at the time the taskforce was established in response to three anti-Semitic attacks: the terrorist attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Ripponlea, an attack on Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns’ electorate office, and an incident in Woollahra in Sydney where a car was torched and buildings vandalised with anti-Israel messages.

Under Operation Avalite, investigation teams were placed in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, with authorities able to use legislation to investigate and prosecute offending that criminally targets the Australian Jewish community and federal parliamentarians.

The Prime Minister has faced immense pressure to step up the government’s response from the opposition, who have accused Labor of allowing anti-Semitism to go unchecked.

Despite releasing the latest figures to The Australian on Friday, the AFP did not reveal any new details about their investigation into the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne, which was set alight on December 6, 2024.

The cost of rebuilding the synagogue has soared to tens of millions of dollars, with police yet to make any arrests four weeks after the terror attack.

The figures come after the Southern Sydney Synagogue became the latest target of anti-Semitism, with vandals spray-painting swastikas and the phrase “Hitler on top” on its walls early on Friday morning.

Nazi symbols defaced the white walls of the Synagogue on Railway Ave, Allaway, with police at the scene searching for leads to identify the vandals.

NSW Premier Chris Minns arrived at the synagogue, which is in his electorate, on Friday morning and was seen speaking with leaders of the synagogue and police officers.

Mr Minns called the perpetrators “bastards” and individuals who “have got hate in their hearts, that are determined to divide our community in two” at a press conference.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/afp-reveal-more-than-100-antisemitic-attacks-on-jews-in-one-month/news-story/bf5db6fb477d4d0107901d72894b6aa1

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-centre/media-statement/afp-statement-special-operation-avalite-update

>>22307893

>>22307909

Labor pro-Palestine faction calls for ‘clarity’ on A-G’s Israel trip

RHIANNON DOWN - 10 January 2025

A Labor factional group supporting Palestine has called on the government to “clarify the purpose” of Mark Dreyfus’s trip to Israel, revealing a deepening split over the Middle East conflict within the party.

Labor Friends of Palestine has declared the group holds “deep concerns” about the Attorney-General’s week-long visit, citing Israel’s “ongoing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem”.

The left-wing faction has demanded the only purpose of the relationship-mending visit should be to make clear that Australia “stands unequivocally with international law”, calling on Israel to stop its “genocidal actions or face comprehensive sanctions”.

The strongly worded statement referred to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “fugitive under ICC arrest warrants”, after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest order in November for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Mr Dreyfus, Labor’s most senior Jewish MP, revealed his intention to travel to Israel to repair the fractured relationship between the Albanese government and Israel which has become strained over the Israel-Hamas conflict. Tensions flared last month when Mr Netanyahu accused Labor of overseeing a rise in anti-Semitism and criticised Australia’s support for a UN General Assembly resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Any message delivered by Australia’s first law officer must be consistent with international law and with the positions taken by Australia at the United Nations and in bilateral statements,” Labor Friends of Palestine said.

“Most importantly, Israel must understand that Australians demand an end to the genocide, in line with the January 2024 ICJ ruling and the Australian-supported December 2024 United Nations vote for an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.

“Australia must also insist that Israel comply with measures ordered by the ICJ in January and March 2024 to ensure ‘unhindered provision at scale’ of ‘urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza’.”

Labor Friends of Palestine warned Mr Dreyfus that international law bodies could lay “further grave charges” against Israeli leaders, and “any meeting with war criminals would seriously damage the reputations of Australia and the Attorney-General”.

The group also pressed for the recognition of a Palestinian state “in line with official ALP policy”, and demand an end to “genocide” in line with a UN vote for a ceasefire which Australia supported last month.

“Mark Dreyfus should make clear Australia’s backing for the July 2024 ICJ ruling that Israel’s occupation is illegal and settlements must be dismantled as rapidly as possible,” Labor Friends of Palestine said.

“The Attorney-General needs to emphasise Australia’s unwavering support for the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

“This should include immediate recognition of the state of Palestine in line with official ALP policy.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/labor-propalestine-faction-calls-for-clarity-on-ags-israel-trip/news-story/e91ea88ed63dc14756c73b4bfdc5baaa

https://x.com/labor_palestine/status/1877585534807322692

>>22262558

High commissioner to snub Australia Day for a second time

RHIANNON DOWN - January 09, 2025

Australia’s high commissioner to Britain, Stephen Smith, has signalled to organisers that he will not attend an annual Australia Day gala dinner, a year after he cited sensitivities around celebrating the day.

Mr Smith, hand-picked by Anthony Albanese, has indicated he may not be in London for an annual gala dinner to celebrate Australia Day, sparking criticism from organisers and attendees that he was abandoning the national day.

The then-newly appointed high commissioner ignited uproar last year when he informed organisers he would not be opening the doors to the Exhibition Hall of the Australian high commission in London for the fundraising event.

The black-tie gala, run by the Australia Day Foundation, has been a fixture of the London social calendar for two decades, and has been attended by some of the nation’s most prominent business and industry leaders living in Britain.

The event has also attracted some of Australia’s greatest exports, including Kylie Minogue, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia, Tim Minchin and band Human Nature, and showcased food cooked by celebrity chefs including Maggie Beer and Neil Perry.

The annual celebration of the Australian-Britain relationship will be held at the Peninsula Hotel in London on January 25 and will be attended by 400 ticketholders, with Mr Smith indicating to organisers last week he would not be among them.

Phil Aiken, who chaired the Australia Day Foundation for 13 years, said it was disappointing to hear Mr Smith would not attend the landmark social event.

“It’s great that the Australia Day dinner will happen again this year, albeit not at Australia House,” he said. “And it’s disappointing that I understand the high commissioner is unable to attend.”

Proceeds from the fundraising event go to supporting Australians studying in Britain.

This is the second year the event has been affected by controversy, after Mr Smith told organisers it would not be appropriate to hold the gala around January 26, which marks the First Fleet’s landing in Sydney in 1788.

The event is traditionally hosted on the closest Saturday to Australia Day, which has been dubbed Invasion Day by some Indigenous campaigners and become the subject of protests.

The Australian understands Mr Smith will attend a diplomatic reception marking Australia Day scheduled for January 23.

The high commissioner’s suggestion he will not make an appearance at the dinner two days later has been criticised by those involved in the event as disrespectful, considering the national day has not been officially changed from January 26.

Mr Smith, a former Labor cabinet minister in the Rudd-Gillard governments, has reportedly sought to eradicate pointless parties from the social calendar since assuming the role in January 2023.

The high commissioner cited concerns around cost as the reason he axed the charity dinner last year.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/high-commissioner-to-snub-australia-day-for-a-second-time/news-story/077d5ddb0db2d1ee62e98568f4ec6b92

‘January 26 is still Australia Day’: High commissioner cancels London gala over ‘sensitivities’ - December 11, 2023

https://archive.vn/vL7Ql#20057006

Dutton attacks High Commissioner for Australia Day ‘shame’ - December 12, 2023

https://archive.vn/vL7Ql#20062088

>>22328053

Richard Alston slams UK envoy Stephen Smith over Australia Day ‘activism’

RHIANNON DOWN - 10 January 2025

Former Australian high commissioner to Britain Richard Alston has accused his successor Stephen Smith of “indulging his own prejudices”, “alienating every Australian in London”, and hating socialising after he backtracked on his plan to skip Australia Day celebrations.

After Mr Smith sparked uproar when he informed organisers he would not be attending a gala dinner celebrating the national day because he may not be in London, before reversing his position, Mr Alston declared the high commissioner “clearly doesn’t enjoy the job and hates the socialising”.

Mr Alston – a former Liberal Party president and Howard government minister who served as high commissioner between 2005 and 2008 – said Mr Smith treated the commission’s lavish residence, Stoke Lodge, as his “private home”, and “effectively refuses” to make the manor house available for functions.

The high commissioner said he had been “able to rearrange his official travel plans” following revelations in The Australian that he would snub Australia Day celebrations for a second year in a row, after he signalled to organisers he may not be in London for the event.

Mr Smith ignited controversy last year when he informed organisers he would not be opening the doors to the Exhibition Hall of the Australian high commission in London for the gala. He reportedly cited concerns it would not be appropriate to hold the dinner around January 26, which marks the First Fleet’s landing in Sydney in 1788.

“Stephen Smith’s behaviour has not been in Australia’s best interests, simply indulging his own prejudices and alienating every Australian in London,” Mr Alston said.

“He clearly doesn’t enjoy the job and hates the socialising, effectively refuses to make the High Commission or the residence ­accessible for functions, despite them having been open to visiting Australians since time immemorial. It treats the residence as his private home, which it is not. It is an Australian hosting venue.”

Mr Alston said Mr Smith’s backflip was clearly the result of pressure from the government over his “misguided activism”.

“His refusal to come clean on his real reasons suggest that he is off on a frolic of his own, and that both DFAT and the Prime Minister do not support his misguided activism,” Mr Alston said.

“I knew him quite well in government, and found him both pleasant and sensible. I do not recognise his current incarnation.

“His caving is clearly a result of pressure from the government back home, and is a big slap in the face to him.”

Mr Smith, who was hand-picked by Anthony Albanese for the role, will deliver a “personal message” from the Prime Minister at the fundraiser dinner, which is attended by some of the nation’s most prominent business and industry leaders living in Britain. The event is traditionally held on the closest Saturday to Australia Day, this year falling on January 25.

“The high commission will be hosting a series of Australia Day events in the week leading up to Australia Day given Australia Day falls on a Sunday,” a spokesman for the Australian high commission in London said.

“The high commissioner has now been able to rearrange his official travel plans in order to attend the Australia Day Gala dinner on Saturday 25 January for the purpose of delivering a personal message from the Prime Minister to the dinner.”

Peter Dutton has accused Mr Smith of being “ashamed” of the national day, saying he should be “looking for a new job” if he does not believe in Australia Day.

“We have the institutions here in our country that make us a great democracy, freedom of speech, we have the ability to contribute in an egalitarian way and that is to be celebrated,” Mr Dutton said.

Mr Smith, a former Labor cabinet minister, has reportedly sought to eradicate parties from the social calendar since assuming the role in January 2023.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/top-diplomats-backflip-on-australia-day-absence/news-story/1ff718a2889e0a43b10d5c6cb2d981b0

Anti-Voice band back together as Price, Abbott back Warren Mundine for key seat

Paul Sakkal - January 9, 2025

Australia’s conservative establishment has mobilised in a bid to secure Nyunggai Warren Mundine, one of the key Indigenous advocates against the Voice to parliament, the prized Sydney seat of Bradfield that the teal movement is hoping to win.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott, former deputy prime minister John Anderson and senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price are lobbying local branch members to back Mundine, who is in a tight contest to be the Liberal candidate for the wealthy northern Sydney seat.

Mundine, a former federal Labor president who switched parties and ran unsuccessfully for the Liberals in 2019 on the NSW South Coast, helped deliver the party a major political win as a director of the main group opposing the Voice.

Price said she travelled across Australia with Mundine leading the anti-Voice movement that generated big momentum in Liberal branches in 2023, helping to grow the profile of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

“I truly believe with him [Mundine] as one of our candidates, we have a better shot at winning this next federal election,” Price said in a video sent to party members and obtained by this masthead.

But Mundine’s opponents on the left of the party argue the 68-year-old conservative is not the right person to take on a well-funded campaign from teal candidate Nicolette Boele, whose years-long run for the seat received a boost from incumbent Liberal MP Paul Fletcher’s December decision to quit politics.

Fletcher said late last year that the choice of candidate was up to the party. But, he added, “I will say just one thing: I think it would be a smart move to choose one of our outstanding Liberal women to carry the Liberal banner in Bradfield”.

Mundine is in a field of four for a vote to be held on an unconfirmed date in the middle of the month: moderate faction candidate and technology executive Gisele Kapterian, local councillor Barbara Ward and cardiologist Michael Feneley.

Abbott praised Mundine, who lives locally, as a person of moral and intellectual strength who would be an “adornment to the parliament”.

“The fact that Warren was once the national president of the ALP, I see as an asset for us Libs, not a problem to be explained away,” the former prime minister said in a statement to this masthead.

“Warren has always been about doing the right thing by the battler … [and] is living proof that it’s the Liberal Party, and not Labor, that’s best for the people on struggle street.”

Mundine, who could not comment due to party rules about speaking to the media, was the national president of the Labor Party between 2006-07, but quit the organisation in 2012, saying it was “not the party I joined”.

He had been in line for a Labor Senate spot that did not eventuate. Mundine then unsuccessfully ran as the Liberal candidate for the federal seat of Gilmore in 2019. In September 2023, he pulled out of a hotly contested race for a NSW Liberal Senate position.

Holding Bradfield will be crucial to Dutton’s chances of winning the election due by May.

Bradfield was the only Liberal-held seat in which more people voted for the Voice (52 per cent) than against. All former Liberal seats held by teal independents voted “Yes”.

If Mundine were to win preselection, the Coalition would have at least three Indigenous candidates alongside incumbent senators Price and Kerrynne Liddle. Labor will likely have four Indigenous MPs in the next parliament.

Mundine, backed by the right faction, and Kapterian, supported by the moderates, are considered frontrunners, with Kapterian seen by most as the favourite. Mundine’s chances are boosted by right-wing branches moving into Bradfield in a redistribution of electoral boundaries of the seat that takes in suburbs such as Chatswood, Lindfield and St Ives.

Due to low population growth, teal MP Kylea Tink’s neighbouring seat of North Sydney will be abolished at the next election, shifting Bradfield southwards and cutting its margin from 4.2 per cent to about 2.5 per cent for the Liberals. Tink weighed a tilt for Bradfield, but decided against it.

Ahead of announcing his resignation last year, Fletcher lashed the teal movement, drawing a rebuke from teal MPs.

Fletcher gave a speech at the Sydney Institute in December arguing candidates such as Tink represented a “giant green con job”, with campaigns “carefully designed to dupe traditional Liberal voters”.

Boele did not comment on Mundine’s candidacy, but said, “the people of Bradfield want a representative who works for us, not a political party”.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/anti-voice-band-back-together-as-price-abbott-back-warren-mundine-for-key-seat-20250108-p5l2qy.html

https://qresear.ch/?q=Warren+Mundine

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>>22080779 (pb)

Bipartisan support for AUKUS leading into new Donald Trump era

JOE KELLY - 9 January 2025

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Leading Democratic and Republican congressmen say the AUKUS security pact is a model for how the US should engage with allies and that its domestic political support is growing, as Donald Trump entertains using military and economic force against friendly nations to expand America’s global footprint.

The bipartisan endorsement of the landmark trilateral security agreement from the Democratic co-chair of the Congressional AUKUS Working Group, Joe Courtney, and the Republican chairman emeritus of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, Michael McCaul, comes less than two weeks before the inauguration of Donald Trump ushers in a new-era for America in world affairs.

Mr Courtney and Mr McCaul framed the AUKUS agreement as an instrument to rally democracies in the Indo-Pacific while ­deterring Chinese aggression.

Anthony Albanese this week declared he was better placed than Peter Dutton to manage ties with the incoming administration. Mr Albanese played down differences between his government and Mr Trump on issues such as climate change, arguing instead that his close relationships in the region with Asian leaders would carry weight with the incoming president.

The US president-elect on Wednesday (AEDT) signalled he was serious about breaking his own path in foreign policy by doubling down on audacious plans to acquire Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.

He talked up ambitions to make Canada the 51st state – including through the use of economic force – and refused to rule out the use of the US military to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, a Danish territory. In addition, Mr Trump flagged plans to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

These aspirations were swiftly rejected as unrealistic by Canada, Panama, Greenland and Denmark – a founding member of NATO along with the US – as well as the current Biden administration and other European leaders.

Speaking in Paris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said US ­acquisition of Greenland was “not going to happen” while French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said there would be “no invasion”. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz responded to Mr Trump’s comments by saying that “a certain lack of understanding has emerged with regard to recent statements from the US”.

“Borders must not be moved by force,” Mr Scholz said.

Amid lingering uncertainty over Mr Trump’s approach to the Indo-Pacific and handling of AUKUS, Mr Courtney said the $US895bn ($1.44 trillion) National Defence Authorisation Act, which passed congress in December, “strengthened the Pillar One submarine program” and revealed the “strong bipartisan support” for the trilateral security partnership between the US, Australia and the UK.

Under Pillar One, the US has agreed to sell Australia at least three Virginia class submarines to help Canberra develop its own fleet of nuclear-powered submarines; Pillar Two is aimed at enhancing advanced technology co-operation - including in cyber, undersea, quantum science and hypersonic capabilities.

Writing in The Australian, Mr Courtney, who was last year appointed into the Order of Australia, said “one of the clear indicators” of AUKUS’s success was the high interest of US allies – New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan – in becoming partners in the security agreement.

Mr McCaul said the AUKUS agreement “keeps Chairman Xi (Jinping) up at night” and was confident it would continue to enjoy bipartisan support “as we work to deter CCP aggression in the Indo-Pacific”.

(continued)

>>22328149

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Former prime minister Scott Morrison, who spent New Year’s Eve with Mr Trump at Mar-a-Lago, said in December that the Albanese government needed to champion AUKUS as an agreement aimed at deterring Chinese military aggression, to maximise its potential under a Trump administration. “In promoting AUKUS here in the US we need to appreciate that its primary reason for being is to provide a deterrent against adversarial threats,” Mr Morrison said. “The primary one of those is China. And to pretend it’s not does not aid the argument well here”.

Mr Albanese has overseen a normalisation of relations with Beijing since taking office and told The Australian this week he would not change his approach if Mr Trump launched a trade war, declaring that “we are a sovereign nation and we will act in terms of our economic interest”.

Mr Courtney said the recent National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) continued to build momentum for AUKUS in three important ways, including by “legalising Navy ship repairs to any yard overseas operated by a close ally”.

This would help “skill up and acquaint Australian naval personnel and shipyard workers with the repair and maintenance of Virginia-class submarines” while ensuring there was an “increased submarine presence in the Indo-Pacific” by reducing gaps caused by long transit times back and forth to US repair yards.

“Having US subs now permitted to undergo repair and maintenance overseas … recognises Australia’s progress toward gaining proficiency,” he said.

Second, the NDAA provided the US Department of Defence with a mandate to analyse potential benefits of including Japan in the Pillar Two program. “Congress has heard loud and clear this interest from democratic allies in the Indo-Pacific, and the NDAA formally asked the Pentagon to seriously examine the benefits and challenges of Japan as a potential participant,” Mr Courtney said.

Third, he said the NDAA was a case of the US congress acting forcefully to support submarine production essential to meeting the AUKUS schedule for the sale of Virginia-class submarines to Australia.

“In the national defence bill, we successfully reversed the Navy’s woefully inadequate request to cut procurement of a Virginia-class submarine and provided the Navy the authority to purchase a second Virginia-class submarine in 2025,” he said.

Mr McCaul said Mr Xi and the Chinese Communist Party were “not slowing down in their malign agenda — and the US and its allies must rise quickly to face that challenge”.

He said AUKUS was a “prime example of how we should be partnering with and trusting our allies”. “This crucial defence partnership keeps Chairman Xi up at night, and I am confident it will continue to enjoy bipartisan support as we work to deter CCP aggression in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr McCaul said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/bipartisan-support-for-aukus-leading-into-new-donald-trump-era/news-story/c774522f5276b020fbe8a2542a1797a0

>>22328149

Bipartisan support in US helping fuel AUKUS impetus

JOE COURTNEY - 9 January 2025

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In the closing days of the 118th US congress, passage of the National Defence Authorisation Act revealed once again that the three-year-old trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States has strong bipartisan support.

Each NDAA enacted since the rollout of AUKUS in September 2021 has steadily and surely authorised and implemented the building blocks to make the vision of this unique enterprise a reality.

After the initial announcement in September 2021, it was clear there were significant legal barriers in US law that, if left untended, would prevent the three nations from reaching AUKUS’s ambitious goals.

Only the US congress and the Australian and UK parliaments could enact the necessary reforms to share the jealously guarded “Crown Jewels” of each nation’s national security apparatus.

Beginning in 2022, all three nations moved quickly to start joint training of Australian naval officers and sailors who needed to upskill in the operation of nuclear-powered naval vessels.

The US congress authorised such training for Aussie personnel through a provision proposed by former congressman Michael Gallagher (R-WI) and I. The UK began a similar program as well.

Today more than a hundred Australian sailors and officers have graduated from the US nuclear submarine schools in South Carolina and Connecticut, and this past summer, the Virginia-class submarine USS Hawaii (SSN 776) had, for the first time, an Australian officer at the helm as it arrived in Perth to receive maintenance.

In 2023, after the release of the AUKUS “Optimal Pathway” plan jointly designed by the navy leadership of all three nations, congress’s “to-do list” grew significantly. The Pathway called for the US to authorise the sale of Virginia-class submarines to Australia, accept Australia’s $3bn investment into the US submarine industrial base, train Australians in submarine maintenance, streamline technology and information sharing, and make the UK and Australia eligible for accelerated investment by the US Department of Defence in Pillar Two projects.

Remarkably, despite the sprawling size of this legislative agenda spread across multiple committee jurisdictions, the House and Senate found a way to bundle this package in just six months within the NDAA signed into law on December 22, 2023.

After that heavy lift and all of the interagency follow-on work the bill required, the 2024 legislative session of the 118th congress was not expected to see much AUKUS action. With the dust now settled after the passage of the annual defence bill and submarine-related appropriations, it is clear the momentum behind AUKUS still positively flexed its muscles.

(continued)

>>22328181

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First, the NDAA significantly strengthened the Pillar One submarine program by legalising navy ship repairs to any yard overseas operated by a close ally. One of the key components of the Optimal Pathway was to skill up and acquaint Australian naval personnel and shipyard workers with the repair and maintenance of Virginia-class submarines.

The Australian government is committed to building out its submarine industrial base workforce and infrastructure, and having US subs now permitted to undergo repair and maintenance overseas boosts that effort and recognises Australia’s progress toward gaining proficiency.

Notably, the reform will also meet the Optimal Pathway’s calls for increased submarine presence in the Indo-Pacific by reducing gaps in US naval presence caused by long transit times back and forth to US repair yards.

The second AUKUS amendment was a mandate to the US Department of Defence to analyse the potential benefits of including Japan in the Pillar Two program.

One of the clear indicators of AUKUS’s success is the high interest of US allies – New Zealand, South Korea and Japan – in becoming partners in the security agreement.

Congress has heard loud and clear this interest from democratic allies in the Indo-Pacific, and the NDAA formally asked the Pentagon to seriously examine the benefits and challenges of Japan as a potential participant.

Lastly, congress acted forcefully through both the NDAA and the short-term spending package to support submarine production, which is essential to meeting the AUKUS schedule for the sale of Virginia-class submarines to Australia.

In the national defence bill, we successfully reversed the navy’s woefully inadequate request to cut procurement of a Virginia-class submarine and provided the navy the authority to purchase a second Virginia-class submarine in 2025.

And through the Continuing Resolution, passed just before the new year, congress delivered $5.7bn to the Virginia-class submarine program – a significant infusion of funding to keep the construction tempo rising and invest in our frontline shipyard workers.

In the same year congress was marred with record low productivity and high levels of division, the AUKUS mission still saw real momentum among politicians in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle.

That level of bipartisan, bicameral support in a challenging political environment sends a powerful signal to naysayers and sceptics that the AUKUS mission has a strong foundation of support ready to withstand the political winds the new year will bring.

Joe Courtney is a US congressman for Connecticut’s Second District.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/bipartisan-support-in-us-helping-fuel-aukus-impetus/news-story/319b2de5d7c160f99cbac8ac4b07b901

>>22225665

Josh Frydenberg: Anti-Semitism being unchecked in Australia is an election issue, Anthony Albanese

JOSH FRYDENBERG - 10 January 2025

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A few weeks back I found myself walking with some friends into a local watering hole in the Victorian country town of Nagambie, population 2300.

A local woman stopped me. “Mate,” she said. “I watched your documentary on anti-Semitism and I want you to know you’re not alone. I stand with you.”

They were warm and genuine words, the type I am hearing increasingly from everyday Australians. Sentiment is shifting as Australians are alert to the fact that what has been happening in our country across the past 15 months is just not on.

Attacks on Jewish places of worship, Jewish schools, Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish artists, among many others, are not isolated incidents but, sadly, daily occurrences. Holocaust survivors are seeing alarming parallels with the Europe they witnessed in the 1930s, as events here at home have led to unprecedented international travel warnings being issued, calling for Jewish people to reconsider visiting Australia.

Tragically, anti-Semitism is becoming normalised for the first time in our history, compelling one of the nation’s most distinguished citizens, former governor-general Sir Peter Cosgrove, to say: “Hitler would be proud.”

But there are signs the silent majority are starting to find their voice, with more people recognising that rising anti-Semitism threatens not only the relatively small Australian Jewish community but the safety, security and values of our entire community.

Sporting champions, business leaders, media figures and religious leaders are publicly calling out anti-Semitism as not just un-Australian but anti-Australian for the division and violence it is now creating. Just days ago in these pages the president of the Hindu Council of Australia called for “firm action” and “decisive leadership” to “stamp out anti-Semitism”, saying the rise in Jew hate was “not just a problem for Jews but for people of all faiths and for Australia”.

It was an important intervention from a national leader of Australia’s fastest growing religion that the government chooses to ignore at its peril.

Ever since the barbaric Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, our governments, federal and state, have done too little, too late, to protect the community from the rising tide of hate, preferring to turn the other cheek, avoiding the hard decisions and hoping the problem will just go away. But it hasn’t. It has become only worse as those who hate and those who harm have been emboldened by the inaction.

But now, with the new year upon us and a federal election soon to be called, we the voters have an opportunity to hear from our leaders what they will do differently to take back the streets and protect the public from the mob.

While cost of living as an election issue is paramount, domestic safety and security are too.

Unlike previous electoral cycles, this time social cohesion is on the ballot paper – and the party that promises real action will be rewarded. More of the same will not cut it. Neither will more empty words. What is required is the law to be enforced and, where necessary, the law to be strengthened.

(continued)

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We need a government that is proactive, not reactive. A government that anticipates, not prevaricates. A government that is strong, not weak. A government that takes responsibility to restore Australia to what it was and what we should all want it to be.

No more tolerance for people who openly call Jews “Nazis”, celebrate the atrocities of October 7, wave terrorist flags, chant “globalise the intifada” and call for the abolition of the state of Israel.

These people are not Israel’s problem, they are Australia’s problem. They have no impact on the Middle East, contribute nothing to a balanced legitimate debate and sow only domestic division and hate.

If the federal government thinks it can sidestep this issue it is wrong. Every week there are numerous examples of how the government’s failure to take decisive action is infecting our daily lives. People are taking notice. People are fed up.

There have been disruptive demonstrators at everything from the Myer Christmas windows to performances by American comedian Jerry Seinfeld, from the local university campus to the main shopping strip of our local CBD. And now we learn this week that Ice Hockey Australia is no longer hosting the Men’s World Championships in Melbourne because of the violent protests Israel’s participation is expected to attract.

In the leaked email, Ice Hockey Australia’s president is reported as saying: “It was concluded just prior to Christmas that we could not host due to significant safety and security risks associated with Israel’s participation.”

It’s unbelievable that here in Australia, a country known as the sporting capital of the world, authorities could not stand up for what is right and deliver for the athletes and spectators a safe event.

All Anthony Albanese could say in response was how “unfortunate” it was the championships were cancelled, when in reality it is a disgrace. Another shameful episode on the government’s watch, projecting our weakness abroad and confirming our lack of security here at home.

Australia has a proud history as a tolerant, harmonious, multicultural nation. But across the past 15 months our reputation has been tarnished as our leaders have failed to act.

Now, as we start a new year and approach the federal election, politicians and the public alike have an opportunity to turn a new page and reclaim what has been lost.

Josh Frydenberg is the former federal treasurer and host of the Sky News documentary Never Again: The Fight Against Antisemitism.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/josh-frydenberg-antisemitism-being-unchecked-in-australia-is-an-election-issue-anthony-albanese/news-story/17fe3ab0043f82deeff91c59b6cb5449

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ngva62KPv4

>>22225665

>>22327980

‘Monstrous:’ Sydney synagogue, home hit with anti-Semitic graffiti a day after another was vandalised

Another Sydney synagogue and a home have been vandalised with anti-Semitic graffiti, only a day after another place of worship in the city was targeted.

Emma Kirk - January 11, 2025

Vandals have graffitied a synagogue in Sydney’s inner west overnight, a day after swastikas were sprayed on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in Allawah.

Police were called to a home that was covered with graffiti on Henry St in Queens Park about 6.30am on Saturday.

It was only an hour later they were notified the Newtown Synagogue on Georgina St had also been vandalised.

Offensive comments were also written on a poster at Marrickville Rd in Marrickville, which police allege is a separate incident.

A NSW Police spokesman said an investigation into the incidents has commenced.

“The NSW Police Force takes hate crimes seriously and encourages anyone who is the victim of a hate crime or witnesses a hate crime to report the matter to police,” a spokesman said.

“It is important that the community and police continue to work together to make NSW a safer place for everyone.”

Heading up the Anti-Defamation Commission - a civil rights organisation against anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred - Dr Dvir Abramovich described the act as an unforgivable outrage and said immediate action should be taken.

“To defile a synagogue - a place of worship, hope, and sanctuary - with the ultimate emblem of genocide and evil is nothing short of an attack on the very heart of our nation,” he said.

“It’s an assault on every value we hold dear, and it screams that anti-Semitism is no longer hiding in the shadows - it’s out in the open, brazen and unashamed.

“These swastikas, painted in malice, are not just symbols - they are bullets aimed at the soul of the Jewish community.”

Dr Dvir said Holocaust survivors who rebuilt their lives in Australia now had to witness the symbols of their tormentors defacing their places of worship.

“This isn’t just graffiti - it’s a gut-wrenching reminder that the same hatred that fuelled the extermination camps is still alive and kicking.

“And make no mistake: this isn’t just a Jewish issue. This is an Australian issue. Because an attack on one community is an attack on all of us.”

In the early hours of Friday, police discovered swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs had been sprayed on a synagogue in Sydney’s south while they were patrolling the area.

Police released images of the people they allege spray-painted swastikas on the Southern Sydney Synagogue, which was described as a “monstrous act” by Premier Chris Minns.

Southern Sydney Synagogue president George Foster told NewsWire it was distressing, upsetting and created uncertainty in the Jewish community.

“The theory is it may not stop with just graffiti, it could move to violence, which has happened in other countries,” Mr Foster said.

Premier Chris Minns has extended a $340,000 grant from the Premier’s Discretionary Fund to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies to contribute towards enhanced security measures for their community.

“I am aware that police are currently investigating offensive, antisemitic graffiti that was located on a home in Sydney’s east and on a synagogue in Newtown overnight,” he said.

“Police have also released CCTV vision of the person alleged to have graffitied the Southern Sydney Synagogue yesterday.

The premier labelled the acts “monstrous and appalling”.

“Our message is clear - these acts designed to intimidate and divide will not work,” he said.

“These people are determined to divide our community in two.

“The Minns Labor government will continue to strengthen the laws protecting people’s right to worship safely as well as ensuring NSW Police have the resources they need to catch the people who commit these bastardly acts.

“When parliament resumes this year, we’ll be introducing legislation that protects religious institutions and places of worship to prevents attempts to intimidate or stop religious people from practicing their faith.”

Any witnesses are urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/sydney-synagogue-home-hit-with-antisemitic-graffiti-a-day-after-another-was-vandalised/news-story/9a6114842eff7ead86130113ce5e355f

>>22225665

>>22327980

>>22333651

Sydney synagogue and house targeted with swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti

David Hirst - 11 January 2025

Police are investigating after offensive graffiti was found spray-painted on a synagogue and a house in Sydney.

About 7:30am on Saturday morning, police were notified after graffiti was spray-painted on a synagogue on Georgina Street, Newtown in Sydney's inner west.

Warning: This story contains an image of a Nazi symbol.

Several red swastikas were painted along the front fence of the place of worship.

On Friday morning, the Allawah synagogue in southern Sydney was vandalised with several swastikas spray-painted onto exterior walls in what NSW Police have described as "offensive" graffiti.

Also on Saturday morning, officers attended a house on Henry Street, Queens Park in Sydney's east, after being notified about 6:30am that an anti-Semitic slur had been spray-painted on the front of the property.

The words "F*ck Jews" were sprayed on the outside of the home.

Police have launched investigations into each of the incidents.

It follows a number of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic graffiti incidents in Sydney's east in recent weeks.

A police investigation has also commenced into offensive comments written on a poster on Marrickville Road in Marrickville.

Funding boost for security after vandalism

David Ossip, president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said the targeting of synagogues should "sicken us all".

"No-one should think that these are just acts of vandalism," he said.

"This is a concerted campaign to intimidate, harass and menace the Jewish community.

"These hate-filled cretins need to know that they will not succeed."

NSW Premier Chris Minns on Saturday announced a $340,000 grant to the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies to contribute towards enhanced temporary security measures.

On the graffiti, Mr Minns said that "these acts designed to intimidate and divide will not work".

"These people are determined to divide our community in two. We will always call out these acts for what they are — monstrous and appalling."

Dvir Abramovich, Chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, described the incidents as "terrorism against our Jewish community".

"When Nazi symbols appear once, it's horrifying. When they appear twice in rapid succession, it's a crisis demanding immediate action," he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-11/offensive-graffiti-sprayed-on-synagogue-and-house-sydney/104806956

>>22262558

Official Australia Day website wipes January 26 ‘history’ section, references to British colonisation

Frank Chung - January 11, 2025

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January 26 represents a painful day in history for many First Nations people — but for the official Australia Day organising body, it seems the solution is to literally erase that history altogether.

A new arrival to Australia, wanting to know more about the national holiday, may learn from the official Australia Day website that January 26 “is an important date” in the country’s history “that has evolved over time”.

But why is it important? And how has it evolved over time?

Anyone hoping that these vague allusions will be expanded upon will, it seems, have to search elsewhere for answers.

The National Australia Day Council (NADC), the government-owned not-for-profit which coordinates Australia Day events and the Australian of the Year Awards, has quietly stripped all mention of British colonisation and the history of the holiday itself from its website.

“The marking of January 26 is an important date in Australia’s history and has changed over time — starting as a celebration for emancipated convicts and evolving into what is now a celebration of Australia that reflects the nation’s diverse people,” the page previously read.

Today, the reference to “a celebration for emancipated convicts” no longer appears.

“Australia Day is about so much more than the events of one day — it is about where we have come from, who we are as a nation and what we aspire to be,” it now reads.

“January 26 is an important date in Australia’s history that has evolved over time. On our national day we can reflect on our complete and complex history and understand that acknowledging and reconciling our past helps lay a path to a stronger future. We respect and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ survival, resilience and over 65,000 years of continuous culture.”

But nowhere to be found on the website is any detail of that “complete and complex history”.

Internet archives show that in March 2022, the Australia Day website was updated to entirely remove the “history” section from the “about” page, which previously offered a timeline of January 26 compiled by Darwin-based historian Dr Elizabeth Kwan.

The since-deleted timeline began by acknowledging January 26 “has long been a difficult symbol for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who see it as a day of sorrow and mourning”, noting that before 1770 “Aboriginal peoples had been living for more than 60,000 years on the continent we now know as Australia”.

It then laid out the key events, starting with Captain James Cook raising the Union Jack on Possession Island on August 22, 1770 and Captain Arthur Phillip arriving with the First Fleet at Port Jackson on January 26, 1788.

In the 1800s, “early almanacs and calendars and the Sydney Gazette began referring to January 26 as First Landing Day or Foundation Day” and in Sydney, “celebratory drinking, and later anniversary dinners became customary, especially among emancipists”, it read.

In 1818, NSW Governor Lachlan Macquarie officially acknowledged the day as a public holiday on the 30th anniversary, and by the late 1800s most of the colonies were celebrating the occasion.

Aboriginal leaders met in Sydney on Australia Day in 1938 for a “Day of Mourning” on the 150th anniversary, and in 1988, as the nation marked its bicentenary, 40,000 marchers protested at the first “Invasion Day” at Bondi.

It wasn’t until 1994 that Australia Day was consistently recognised as a public holiday on January 26 itself, rather than a long weekend.

The timeline drew from a lengthy 2007 essay by Dr Kwan, commissioned by the NADC, titled Celebrating Australia: A History of Australia Day, which also used to appear in full on the Australia Day website before at some point being replaced with the abridged summary.

A spokesperson for the NADC confirmed that “significant updates to the website took place in 2022”.

“The website is regularly updated and refreshed with new program resources and to reflect current key messaging or campaigns in place,” they said.

“The NADC website itself does not seek to provide definitive historical resources or to provide an authoritative history of Australia Day, but instead seeks to actively promote our national day by providing information and resources that help inspire national pride and unity through our core programs — the celebration of Australia Day and encouraging all Australians to ‘Reflect. Respect. Celebrate’, the Australian of the Year Awards, Australian citizenship and civic values programs.”

The NADC said Dr Kwan’s essay was still “regularly quoted and referenced by the NADC in response to enquiries from the media or others with questions about the history of Australia Day”.

(continued)

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Debate over changing the date of Australia Day has escalated in recent years, with multiple councils opting to hold citizenship ceremonies outside of January 26 in 2025, while others vote to restore key ceremonies to the national holiday.

“There won’t ultimately be any resolution between people who have fundamentally different concepts of January 26,” CQUniversity historian Dr Benjamin Jones told NCA NewsWire last week.

“There is a greater sense of awareness that there are at least conflicted views.”

Speaking to SBS in 2017, Dr Kwan said there had been a growing realisation by the federal government after the post-World War II migration from Europe that it had to make the day more inclusive.

“There still had to be an acknowledgment that [Australia] had begun as a British settlement but there was a greater urgency to acknowledge the contributions that were coming from all over the world as well as from Indigenous Aboriginal Australians,” she said.

“So you find this growing attempt to balance celebration on Australia Day with reflection and education, so it saw quite a different side of Australia Day coming through.”

Today, the Australia Day website emphasises the occasion as one where Australians “come together to reflect, respect and celebrate with their communities”.

“It is a day that will mean different things to each of us,” it reads.

“We are all shaped by our own experiences, and we celebrate living in a dynamic, multicultural nation where everyone’s views, beliefs and contributions are valued.”

This year the federal government has provided more than $10 million in grants, administered by the NADC, for more than 750 “inclusive” Australia Day community events across the country.

“Australia Day gives us time to connect with family, friends and community — a day to celebrate the freedoms we share and the values and beliefs we hold,” Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and for the Public Service, said in a statement last month.

“It is a day to reflect on our complete and complex history, to acknowledge the past, and respect and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ history and continuing culture.”

Under the Community Events Grant Program, “eligible applicants were able to apply for a fixed grant of $10,000 to deliver inclusive events on our national day”.

“To encourage more inclusive and respectful engagement, an additional $5000 was made available for events that include significant Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander elements,” Mr Gorman said.

“Grant-funded events by local councils and community groups are vital to representing the true diversity of Australia and to providing communities the opportunity to reflect, respect and celebrate their way.”

https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/internet/official-australia-day-website-wipes-january-26-history-section-references-to-british-colonisation/news-story/a1319e741b69b40e037a3571d1a783b1

https://web.archive.org/web/20220301021811/https:/australiaday.org.au/about/

https://web.archive.org/web/20220301022317/https:/australiaday.org.au/about/history/

>>22276588

Federal Election 2025: Coalition targeting Teal seats nationwide

Jade Gailberger - January 11, 2025

The Coalition is ramping up a major attack on Teal MPs, including Dr Monique Ryan, in a bid to claw back vital seats at the upcoming federal election.

New campaign material obtained by the Herald Sun seeks to lift the lid on the independent, exposing her voting records, “hypocrisy” and weaknesses.

The assault comes as Liberal leader Peter Dutton will on Sunday kick-start the election year with a rally in Melbourne, where he will outline his priorities and plan for the nation.

A scathing pamphlet being released this week in Kooyong, as part of the Coalition’s “Teals Revealed” campaign, highlights that Dr Ryan has voted with the Greens the most often.

It reminds voters about her workplace drama, pointing out that she was “sued by a female staffer, after Ryan allegedly tried to sack her because she refused to work unreasonable hours”, and that Dr Ryan has refused to say who she would back in a hung parliament.

It also accuses her of supporting higher taxes, being “weak” on crime and union corruption.

Dr Ryan, who was backed by Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200, ousted Liberal treasurer Josh Frydenberg from the blue-ribbon seat at the 2022 election.

She is facing a challenge from Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer, with the seat now held on a 2.5 per cent margin.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley said the Teal independents had said they would change Canberra, but three years on it was clear Canberra had changed them.

“They said they would hold the government accountable: instead they spend most of their time opposing the opposition,” Ms Ley said.

“The Teals claim to be a community movement but are bought and paid for by vested interests, and they have brought big money into Australian politics.

“Australians have been left poorer, less safe and worse off since the Albanese government was elected and that has largely been enabled by the Teal ‘independents’.

“The only way to change the government is to vote for a Liberal candidate in these seats.”

Dr Ryan accused the Liberals of spending the summer “plotting inaccurate and misleading advertising, rather than coming up with evidence-based policy to help Australians with the cost-of-living crisis, housing shortages and climate emergency”.

“Our campaign won’t be stooping to that sort of behaviour. When they go low, we’ll go high,” she said, referencing former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama’s motto.

“This sort of negativity turns young people away from politics — it’s one of the reasons so many people turned away from the Liberal Party in 2022.”

Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel’s record is also under the microscope, with community safety expected to play a role in the upcoming campaign.

Ms Daniel and Dr Ryan will also be targeted over their support to “scrap the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which had protected small business and workers from CFMEU thuggery”, a Liberal spokesman said.

The Bayside electorate is a key target for the Liberals, with former member Tim Wilson contesting the seat following a bruising defeat to Ms Daniel at the 2022 poll.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/federal-election-2025-coalition-targeting-teal-seats-nationwide/news-story/bd8156429b1cf0a559493cdbc5a50359

https://www.tealsrevealed.com/

https://x.com/pauliec80859931/status/1876489746375205202

>>21943412 (pb)

>>22163076 (pb)

>>22225621

Family Court allows cross-sex hormones for teen despite ‘real risks’

ELLIE DUDLEY - January 10, 2025

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A teenager has been granted permission to access cross-sex hormones despite a Family Court judge conceding there are risks associated with the treatment, and that he cannot be certain the hormones will benefit the teenager in the long term.

Judge Peter Tree, in delivering judgment in the highly contentious legal case, afforded the teenager – known pseudonymously as Ash – the “dignity of risk” to take testosterone and continue transitioning from female to male.

In concluding his decision, Justice Tree said he expected Australian courts in the future to see “regret” cases in relation to cross-sex hormone administration to children. “Nonetheless, I have earnestly tried to ascertain what is best for Ash,” he said.

The case, which The Australian has extensively covered over the past year, was brought by one of Ash’s parents who wished to obtain sole parental responsibility to approve the administration of hormones.

The other parent opposed the treatment.

Justice Tree gave “great weight” to the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines, which were developed by the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne and endorse a gender-affirming model of care.

However, he said the UK Cass Review – a landmark report that recommended limitations on medication for gender-dysphoric children – may have been driven by an “overt political imperative” and he gave it “little weight” in reaching his decision.

The Family Court continues to grapple with the complexities of gender identity, especially in the context of children, medication and surgery.

In a separate matter, a judge determined a father’s refusal to conform with traditional gender norms left his three children “confused” and encouraged them to “question their gender identity” after they all began identifying as non-binary, ruling the two youngest children would not be permitted to see their ­father for an extended period.

In another case, the mother of a 13-year-old with gender dysphoria abruptly withdrew an application seeking a Family Court order to allow the child to take ­puberty blockers after trying to have the independent children’s lawyer assigned to the matter thrown off the case.

In handing down his judgment, Justice Tree conceded there was a “real risk” the testosterone treatment “may not achieve all that Ash wants it to” and that “he may still be unhappy with having a body … which he would prefer were different”.

“He may therefore still be to some degree dysphoric,” the judgment reads.

“But overall, the evidence persuades me that there will be some masculinisation, and thus some alleviation of his dysphoria if testosterone were to be administered to Ash, although when, for how long, and to what extent, remains unknown.”

Justice Tree outlined various considerations in favour of Ash accessing treatment, including that he had consistently lived as a male, been exposed to “serious transphobic bullying”, and has worn a chest binder and layered clothing “so as to conceal the female aspects of his appearance”.

He also said Ash had lived “stealth” as a male, meaning he had not disclosed to his classmates that he is biologically female. “(This) has exacted an emotional, social and educational cost on him, including recently having returned to distance education,” the judgment reads.

However, Justice Tree also acknowledged considerations against the treatment, including that the hormones “may not alleviate his dysphoria, either materially or even at all”, and that Ash’s cognitive development is ongoing, meaning he may not understand “all the risks”.

He paid consideration to concerns the treatment may not alleviate Ash’s gender dysphoria, that it may impair his fertility, and that irreversible changes may start about three months after testosterone commences.

Justice Tree found that while the possible risks associated with taking testosterone, including infertility or blood disorders, are “real”, they are “not unacceptable”.

(continued)

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During the hearing, the court was told Ash and his 10-year-old sister, known as Lee, made a pact that Lee would harvest her eggs to ensure Ash could have children if the transition affected his fertility in the long term.

Justice Tree in his judgment said the parent who opposed treatment “unduly emphasised” the risks in order to further their case, and said while Ash may become infertile it didn’t necessarily preclude him from having children.

“Even if he does become incapable of conceiving a child, if it transpires he forms a relationship with a natal female who is not transgender, or if is, is not infertile, having children is not precluded, although they may not have a genetic connection with Ash,” he wrote.

“It is likely that most Australians would now think the lack of direct genetic connection between a child and their parent is irrelevant. Likewise there remains the prospect of adoption and surrogacy.”

Justice Tree said that in less than two years Ash will turn 18 and therefore “be able to medically do whatever he wants”.

“It would obviously be farcical to reject what a 17-year and 11-month-old young person wants to do as being undeserving of weight, when a month later they can do it anyway,” he said. “Similar considerations apply – albeit with lesser force – to someone Ash’s age.”

Justice Tree relied heavily on the evidence of a gender clinician who was a witness for the Independent Children’s Lawyer, known to the court as Dr O.

Dr O favoured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health guidelines as “by far the best available guidance at this time, and … informed by decades of expert clinician experience”.

Justice Tree agreed, giving the guidelines – as well as the Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines and state government policy – “great weight, because they are models of care arrived at by consensus of the relevant professional bodies”.

He said the Cass Review, a landmark probe that recommended “extreme caution” be taken when prescribing hormones to children, was undertaken “in a vexed environment”.

“I do not overlook that there may have been an overt political imperative behind the Cass Review – which was, after all, initiated by the UK executive government,” he said.

“Particularly the then UK prime minister is on record of having publicly said on 5 October 2023 – whilst the Cass Review was being finalised: ‘And we shouldn’t be bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be. They can’t. A man is a man and a woman is a woman’.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/family-court-allows-crosssex-hormones-for-teen-despite-real-risks/news-story/84f9df1edc30316ab2bb4209737b2f7a

>>22320883

Dutton makes case to become PM, rallying Liberal faithful at launch

Jake Evans - 12 January 2025

Liberal leader Peter Dutton has made his case to become prime minister, rallying the party faithful at an event in Melbourne, where the Coalition must make in-roads to win back government at the federal election.

The Coalition hopes to make the Albanese government the first one-term government in almost a century, and has eaten away at Labor's popularity over the past 12 months, according to polling trends.

In his first speech of the year at a Liberal event in Mount Waverley, in Melbourne's east, Mr Dutton laid out his party's priorities if it can win this year's election: fighting cost of living pressures, supporting small business, establishing nuclear power, improving housing supply, "rebalancing" migration levels, lifting general practitioner numbers, a tougher approach to crime and a closer relationship with Israel.

And in an attempt to cut the head off any prospective "Medi-scare" campaign, Mr Dutton also committed to strengthening Medicare under his leadership.

In an homage to president-elect Donald Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again", Mr Dutton stood in front of a podium stamped with "Get Australia Back on Track" - directly lifted from his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon's campaign.

Borrowing from Trump's successful campaign playbook, Mr Dutton asked voters to consider the past three years, and whether they could "afford" another term of Labor government.

"I think the past three years are a good indication of what the future will look like under a returned Labor government," Mr Dutton said.

"A returned Labor government - in majority or minority - will see setbacks set in stone.

"A newly elected Coalition government is a last chance to reverse the decline."

Mr Dutton told supporters he had seen the mood of Australians change under the current government to become more pessimistic and anxious, and the nation less safe and less cohesive.

He said a Coalition government would turn that around by re-energising the economy.

Labor raises 'Medi-scare' spectre

Last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese began visiting seats in northern Australia in an early campaign blitz, where he sought to paint Mr Dutton as a leader who was pessimistic and sought to divide Australians.

Mr Albanese repeatedly raised instances of commitments Mr Dutton had made and later walked back, including a commitment to hold a second referendum on Indigenous recognition in the constitution.

Speaking after the Liberal rally, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones warned Medicare was not safe under a Coalition government, despite Mr Dutton's commitment to it in his speech.

"Believe me, if Peter Dutton becomes the prime minister of Australia after this election, he will repeat what he did in government and destroy Medicare," Mr Jones said.

"This election will be a referendum on Medicare."

Outside the rally, a small crowd of protesters voiced their disapproval of Mr Dutton's plan to establish nuclear power in Australia through seven plants to be built over several decades.

Brutal fight for key seats to determine next parliament

The Liberal campaign launch sets the scene for a contest this year that will focus on inflation and the deterioration in affordability and living standards for Australians over recent years.

The pathway for each party to govern in their own right with a majority looks incredibly narrow, setting up a fierce fight over key seats mostly in NSW and Victoria.

Labor could be forced into minority government if it loses just three seats, while the Coalition must pick up 21 if it wants to govern with a majority.

For the Coalition to reclaim government after just a single term in opposition, it will also have to make inroads in Victoria, where it holds only nine of the 39 seats in the second-largest state.

The Coalition is eyeing seats in Aston and Chisholm, where the rally was held, as two seats it hopes to win after losing Chisholm in 2022 and Aston in a by-election in 2023.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-12/dutton-liberal-campaign-launch-federal-election/104808428

>>22225665

>>22339443

Dutton pledges to repair Australia’s ties with Israel

GREG BROWN - 12 January 2025

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Peter Dutton will make calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu one of his first priorities if he wins this year’s federal election, as he launched his broad pre-poll vision for the nation on Sunday.

Flanked by his senior team in the target Melbourne seat of Chisholm, the Opposition Leader declared the Albanese government was “worse than Whitlam” and warned the nation will never recover if Anthony Albanese is re-elected.

And as he set out priorities on tax, migration and education, Mr Dutton said he would move personally to repair the nation’s relationship with Israel.

“Every incident of anti-Semitism can be traced back to the Prime Minister’s dereliction of leadership in response to the sordid events on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. Anti-Semitism should have been stopped there and then,” Mr Dutton said in Glen Waverley

“This government is so morally confused it treats our ally, Israel, like an adversary.

“And in the first days of a Coalition government, I will call the Prime Minister of Israel to mend the relationship that Labor has trashed.”

The Albanese government is currently planning to send Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to Israel soon to mend relations, after Mr Netanyahu attacked Labor’s handling of the domestic anti-Semitism crisis and blasted the government’s recent pro-Palestine votes at the United Nations.

Activists crash Dutton rally

Union officials were among anti-nuclear activists who have turned up to Mr Dutton’s rally.

Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari confirmed unions were partly behind the protest, which included an inflatable three-eyed fish in a warning against nuclear.

There was also a separate anti-nuclear campaign out the front of the community centre in Mt Waverley, with members saying they are a grassroots group from the electorate of Chisholm opposing the Coalition’s energy plans.

Inside the town hall were Liberal Party members who heard speeches from Mr Dutton, Nationals leader David Littleproud and deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley.

Election ‘a sliding doors moment’

Mr Dutton said the election of a Coalition government this year would be the “last chance” to reverse the economic and social decline of Australia, as he began his campaigning in 2025.

Mr Dutton called the upcoming election “a sliding doors moment for our nation”, as he attempted to cut through to apathetic voters who are considering giving the Prime Minister one more chance to govern.

He vowed to govern with the “views, values and vision of everyday Australians”, preparing to frame Mr Albanese as being more interested in delivering for a progressive base that is out of touch with the concerns of most voters.

Declaring a Coalition government is the “only chance to get our country back on track”, Mr Dutton claimed the character of Australia was changing under Labor.

“Weak leaders create hard times, but strong leaders create better times,” Mr Dutton said on Sunday.

“And the next federal election is a sliding doors moment for our nation.

“A returned Labor government – in majority or minority – will see setbacks set in stone.

“A newly elected Coalition government is a last chance to reverse the decline.”

He said Australia had become less safe and cohesive since Mr Albanese became prime minister.

“We’re a remarkable people – compassionate, stoic, fair and quietly patriotic,” Mr Dutton said.

“But under this Albanese Labor government, I’ve seen the mood of Australians change.

“Australians have endured one of the most incompetent governments in our nation’s history.

“They’ve suffered under one of our country’s weakest ever prime ministers.

“For so many Australians, aspiration has been replaced by anxiety. Optimism has turned to pessimism.

“And national confidence changed to dispiritedness.”

(continued)

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Mr Dutton’s pitch has similarities with Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, which was aimed at voters who believed their nation fared better in previous eras and that mainstream values were not being prioritised.

While Mr Albanese opened up his 2025 campaigning in regional Queensland seats he won’t win with a whole-of-nation message, Mr Dutton is launching straight into marginal seats in Victoria, a state where the Coalition is aiming to make inroads.

As well as Chisholm, the Liberals are optimistic of winning Aston and McEwen from Labor.

Party figures are also confident of winning the seat of Goldstein from teal independent Zoe Daniel, while strategists believe they are an outside chance of picking up Dunkley, Corangamite and Kooyong.

The Coalition won just 11 out of 39 seats in Victoria at the last election, which has favoured Labor over the past decade.

But the Liberals argue the Labor brand in the state is on the nose due to the cost-of-living crisis and the growing anger towards the state government.

Newspoll last month showed the two-party preferred vote in Victoria was 50-50, representing a nearly 5 per cent swing towards the Coalition since the 2022 election.

In his speech, Mr Dutton argued Mr Albanese was more focused on a “political victory” than good outcomes for Australians.

“Whereas I want our country to be victorious. I want Australia to emerge out of Labor’s cost-of-living crisis,” he said.

“I want future generations of Australians to not be denied the prosperity that previous generations of Australians knew.

“The path to better times and a better country starts with having the right priorities.

“With the right priorities, you create the right policies. And with the right policies, things go right for the Australian people.

“I hope Australians will recognise that a Coalition government is the only chance to get our country back on track.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/im-the-last-chance-to-reverse-australias-decline-dutton/news-story/7720b2fd34011d09d4f974ac0a38048e

>>22225525

>>22320883

Penny Wong to represent Australia at Donald Trump’s second inauguration alongside Kevin Rudd

RICHARD FERGUSON - 12 January 2025

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will represent the nation at US president-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration in Washington, with Anthony Albanese’s closest confidant to use the visit to expand co-operation with Mr Trump’s second administration on economics and security.

After concerns the Albanese government has not moved as fast as other allied countries like Britain, France and Italy to forge a relationship with Mr Trump, Senator Wong will go to the president-elect’s swearing in on January 21 with Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd.

Senator Wong on Sunday said she was honoured to be invited by Mr Trump’s inauguration committee to the event, and that she would use it to meet with senior members of the incoming Trump cabinet.

The Foreign Minister has previously told ABC radio in 2021 - before Labor returned to power - that Mr Trump had been prepared to trash alliances for “personal political interest.”

She will also meet with senior congressmen, after a bipartisan alliance in the US House of Representatives declared the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal would only get stronger over the next four years.

The Australian also understands there are discussions about setting up a Quad foreign ministers meeting in the same week as the inauguration, allowing incoming US secretary of state Marco Rubio a chance to discuss China and security with Senator Wong and the Indian and Japanese foreign ministers.

“(The invitation) is a demonstration of the steadfast alliance between Australia and the United States,” Senator Wong said in a statement.

“I am also looking forward to meeting with members of the Trump Administration and Congress during my visit to Washington.

“The United States is Australia’s vital ally, closest global partner, and most important strategic relationship.

“This early visit will be an important opportunity to discuss how we can advance the benefits of our strong economic and security partnership and expand our co-operation.”

The Washington trip comes after the Prime Minister this week told The Australian he would be the best Australian leader with Mr Trump given his extensive contacts through the Asia-Pacific.

Peter Dutton hit back at Mr Albanese’s claim, saying his 2017 comments that Mr Trump at the start of his first term scared “the shit out of” him and the lack of a pre-inauguration meeting would count against Labor’s attempt to bond with the incoming Republican.

French President Emmanuel Macron invited Mr Trump last month to the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian leader Georgia Meloni have both had one-on-one sit downs with the president-elect.

Mr Albanese has dismissed the need to meet with Mr Trump before his swearing in, and last week said his phone conversation with Mr Trump after his election victory left him optimistic about the future of the US-Australia relationship.

Mr Rudd’s attendance at the inauguration comes after criticism that he took a holiday in Queensland over Christmas, as Trump officials back in Washington start preparing for power.

The ambassador and former prime minister has met in recent months with a slew of incoming GOP officials including Mr Rubio, Mr Trump’s new national security adviser Mike Waltz and incoming CIA director John Ratcliffe.

But it was former prime minister Scott Morrison – who served as Australia’s leader at the time of Mr Trump’s first term – who attended the president-elect’s New Years party at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/penny-wong-to-represent-australia-at-donald-trumps-second-inauguration-alongside-kevin-rudd/news-story/9e0ccb86c883250ef194cd8bf4131791

>>22339443

Dutton pitches suburban battler roots, calls for ‘education not indoctrination’

Paul Sakkal - January 12, 2025

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Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has highlighted his suburban battler upbringing during his unofficial election campaign launch in the Melbourne seat of Chisholm, where he nominated public safety, lower inflation, cheaper energy and affordable housing as policy priorities for the Coalition.

Speaking to supporters in an electorate his party lost to Labor in 2022, Dutton was eager to talk up his working-class background before outlining how he intended to get Australia “back on track”, in line with the Coalition’s election slogan.

He told the crowd about his plans to ease inflation by lowering government spending; he outlined changes to immigration and foreign ownership in a bid to improve housing affordability; he expressed his desire to address community safety; and he committed to “push back on identity politics”.

“The expensive Panadol policies must stop,” he told the supportive crowd consisting largely of volunteers, candidates and sitting MPs. “The necessary economic surgery to stop wasteful spending must start.”

Dutton opened his speech with a reflection on his working-class upbringing and his work as a Queensland police officer, saying his hard-working nature had allowed him to prosper, in comments reminiscent of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s oft-repeated story of growing up in public housing with his single mum.

“I was born into an outer suburbs working-class family. Mum and Dad – a secretary and bricklayer – didn’t have much money, but they worked hard every day, and raised their five children with love, support and a strong work ethic,” he said.

“From grade 7 through to university, I threw newspapers, had a lawn mowing run, and worked in a butcher’s shop after school and on Saturdays.

“I saved diligently to afford a house deposit. Buying my first home aged 19 was one of my proudest achievements.”

Dutton previously sold a beachfront home on the Gold Coast for $6 million and was a beneficiary of a family trust, alongside his wife, that owned her company, RHT Investments, which ran two childcare centres. Albanese has repeatedly hinted at Dutton’s use of a trust to cast doubt on the opposition leader’s asset holdings.

Labor was quick to rubbish Dutton’s “policy-free” speech, which came days after the prime minister finished a rapid tour of northern states that he said had helped get him match fit for an election due by May but likely to be held in April.

Labor says Dutton’s policies will lead to lower wages growth and less job security, and Albanese, in an interview with this masthead last week, derided Dutton’s small vision and his relentless negativity.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King said Dutton had “more front than Myer” and that he had come back from summer leave “with no solutions, no plan” and trying to “present himself as somehow the saviour of everybody”.

(continued)

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In his speech to supporters, Dutton said the Liberals were “back in town” in the Labor-dominated state of Victoria, where his state colleagues recently voted to oust John Pesutto and appoint Brad Battin as leader. Battin was present at the launch along with his deputy, Sam Groth.

Victoria has taken on new-found significance in Coalition calculations. The party is confident of winning Labor and teal seats in Aston, Chisholm, McEwen and Goldstein. It is also targeting Kooyong, Dunkley, Hawke and Bruce.

Dutton is expected to travel to the Melbourne seat of Aston on Monday with a focus on crime prevention.

Federal frontbenchers Sussan Ley, Angus Taylor, Michael Sukkar, Michaelia Cash, James Paterson and National Party leader David Littleproud were also among the attendees.

In his speech, the Liberal leader weaved his personal story and economic agenda with occasional thrusts into cultural issues, demanding “education not indoctrination” in schools and drawing arguably his biggest round of applause when he repeated his preference for one national flag rather than three with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags.

Citing the reintroduction of the cashless debit card and an audit of Indigenous spending, Dutton claimed the Coalition would focus on real solutions to fix Indigenous disadvantage rather than what he called symbolic “gestures”.

“As Jacinta Price said, it’s time to dispense with the racial stereotyping which treats all Aboriginal people the same,” he said.

He also used his speech to defend his record as health minister, in response to Labor attacks, when he attempted to institute a $7 payment to see a doctor and the Health Department sought to privatise the backroom payments system of Medicare.

He committed to strengthening Medicare in his speech and trumpeted his creation as health minister of a Medicare research fund.

Of Labor’s attacks, he said: “They need a new playsheet, honestly.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-pitches-suburban-battler-roots-calls-for-education-not-indoctrination-in-campaign-launch-20250112-p5l3ni.html

>>22339443

Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton trade personal attacks as gloves come off

ROSIE LEWIS - 13 January 2025

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have escalated personal attacks against each other, with the Prime Minister declaring the Opposition Leader “represents a cold-hearted, mean-spirited, sometimes just plain nasty response” to governing.

Mr Dutton hit back by saying Mr Albanese had been the “weakest prime minister since Federation”, as he dismissed the Labor leader’s negative campaign against his personality while conceding it would continue as the federal election gets closer.

Attempting to convince voters of the benefits of Labor’s first term in power, Mr Albanese said Australia needed “leadership with a heart”.

“Peter Dutton represents a cold-hearted, mean-spirited, sometimes just plain nasty response and that’s not going to help people. We’ve provided that immediate cost-of-living relief, plus setting Australia up by producing two budget surpluses, putting that downward pressure on inflation that is so important,” Mr Albanese told ABC radio.

“We want to make sure that we deal with those immediate pressures, but provide for building Australia’s future by doing things like strengthening Medicare, by doing things like making sure we take advantage of the opportunities which are there from the shift to net zero.”

Pressed on whether politics needed to be “that personal”, the Prime Minister responded: “Peter Dutton has built a career on dividing people. He’s built a career on targeting people, particularly people who are vulnerable.

“He’s never sought to bring people together, which is why his own party rejected him and elected Scott Morrison as leader, even though Scott Morrison had a very small base of support because they understood that he represented a shift to a hard right version of the Liberal Party.”

Mr Dutton said the last 2½ years had been “lost years” under Labor but acknowledged Australians would hear more personal attacks from Mr Albanese and Jim Chalmers in the days and weeks ahead.

“The Prime Minister is embarking on the personal attacks because he does not have a positive story to tell about himself. If he had a successful period as Prime Minister, if he had a period of achievement over the last two-and-a-half years, he wouldn’t need to continue to make up these lies and throw this mud,” the Liberal leader said.

“People want more from their Prime Minister and unfortunately, this Prime Minister, who’s the weakest that we’ve seen since federation, is leading in a way that makes Gough Whitlam look like a competent leader of our nation.

“If they had a two-and-a-half year period of achievement and of success for our country, they’d be talking about that. But of course they can’t. They’d be talking about what they have achieved this term before they start talking about what will happen next term.”

Mr Dutton said there was a “better way” under the Coalition, with no higher priority for Australians than cost-of-living.

Mr Albanese said reducing inflation to a number with a two in front of it, rather than a six when Labor was elected, helped Australians because it measured costs across the board and took pressure off families, though he understood people had been doing it tough.

The leaders have already launched their election slogans, with the Prime Minister opting for “building Australia’s future” and the Opposition Leader choosing “get Australia back on track”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-trade-personal-attacks-as-gloves-come-off/news-story/22d185a494dc39594a243144f103c6e9

>>22339443

>>22339463

PM dodges Australia Day stoush with Dutton, calls him ‘nasty’

Natassia Chrysanthos - January 13, 2025

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has sharpened his character assault on Peter Dutton, branding him a mean and nasty opposition leader, as the Coalition ignites new culture wars by attacking Labor’s record on antisemitism and Australia Day in an increasingly personal election campaign.

Dutton revived a political clash over Australia Day on Monday when he vowed to reinstate a rule, scrapped by Labor, forcing councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26, following his claim on Sunday that “every incident of antisemitism” in Australia since late 2023 could be traced to Albanese’s weak leadership.

Albanese, who has promised to “do politics better”, sought to sidestep the vexed debates but escalated a personal attack on Dutton by labelling him “cold-hearted, mean-spirited [and] sometimes just plain nasty” in an ABC Melbourne radio interview on Monday morning.

The exchange prompted the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to call on leaders to put politics aside and collaborate on solutions as police investigated antisemitic incidents in Sydney this week.

“There is too much at stake for Australia’s future for anyone to be playing politics with this issue,” council co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said. “Some bipartisan co-operation would be welcome.”

But the character attacks in early January suggest negative personal politics will feature heavily in this year’s election campaign, despite polls showing the economy will be voters’ top priority, as Dutton tries to force Albanese onto his turf by pursuing culture war topics under the banner of uniting the country.

The Albanese government in 2022 allowed councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on any date from January 23 to 29, overturning a requirement by former prime minister Scott Morrison that they must do so on Australia Day.

Dutton, who last month vowed not to hold press conferences in front of the Indigenous flag, said a Coalition government would reinstate the citizenship ceremony edict within its first 100 days of office.

“It will be a sign of pride and nationalism in our country,” he said. “The prime minister sent a signal to those councils that Australia Day didn’t matter and that it was something to be ashamed of. The prime minister doesn’t talk publicly about that, but that’s exactly what he did.”

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, whose council has moved its citizenship ceremony to January 29 this year, said it did so because January 26 was “not a day of unity but of mourning, or survival”.

“Advocating for a change of date won’t resolve the devastating and far-reaching impacts of colonisation, but it does provide a platform for an ongoing and honest conversation,” she said.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said his council held citizenship ceremonies on January 26 but supported “advocating to the federal government to change the date of Australia Day”.

Albanese avoided the debate on Monday.

“My council holds [citizenship ceremonies] on Australia Day,” he said, at a press conference to announce a $3 billion government investment to upgrade the national broadband network.

Dutton said he wanted the country “to be united, not to be divided” – a counter to Labor’s continued efforts to paint him as too divisive to lead the country.

Asked about Albanese’s characterisation of him on Monday, Dutton said: “I think you will hear this every day from the prime minister and from [Treasurer] Jim Chalmers and others because they don’t have anything positive to say.”

(continued)

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The opposition leader has also escalated his attack on Albanese’s leadership.

“Every incident of antisemitism can be traced back to the prime minister’s dereliction of leadership in response to the sordid events on the steps of the Sydney Opera House,” Dutton said at an unofficial campaign launch in Melbourne on Sunday.

His comments reference pro-Palestinian protests in 2023 following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel at which several demonstrators chanted antisemitic slogans. Dutton’s allegation, which was not included in an early distribution of the text of his planned speech, is the opposition’s strongest claim yet about Albanese and antisemitism in Australia.

In response, Albanese said antisemitism should not be an issue “where Peter Dutton seeks to divide politically”.

“I said … earlier on in the interview that Peter Dutton could be just plain nasty. And that’s an example,” Albanese said on ABC Melbourne Mornings on Monday.

“It should be [an issue] where he acknowledges that anyone of any decency opposes antisemitism … Everything is a political opportunity for Peter Dutton rather than an attempt to bring the country together on something that surely we all agree.”

Albanese said he had condemned Hamas’ attack and the Opera House protests in October 2023. He said Labor had introduced new laws to ban Nazi salutes, hate symbols and doxxing; appointed a special envoy for antisemitism; and increased funding for security at schools and synagogues.

“We’ll continue of course to work with the Australian Federal Police and security agencies … to investigate acts of antisemitism. We call it out. We call it out each and every time,” he said.

Australia’s Director-General of Security Mike Burgess warned politicians last year to “be careful about their robust political debate” as conflict in the Middle East contributed to an elevated terrorism threat level.

Dutton on Monday declared Australia was facing “one of the most shameful periods in our history” as a surge of antisemitism risked spilling over into hate crimes against other minority groups.

Murray Norman, the head of multi-faith organisation Faith NSW, said all religious groups were aware of an unprecedented rise in antisemitism in a “supercharged environment”.

“Antisemitism needs to be called out at the highest levels,” he said.

“We also need to be aware the Muslim community is hurting, the Hindu community is asking ‘what about us’ and the Christian community standing there, trying to see how they can [offer] support.

“We are coming up to an election, and I think both sides need to be engaging with faith communities and remembering that their words resonate … Politicians need to call out these things, but do some heavy lifting and engage with all the communities.”

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/federal/nasty-albanese-rejects-dutton-s-claim-he-is-at-fault-for-all-antisemitism-20250113-p5l3ry.html

>>22328053

>>22339443

>>22345238

Mayors back Peter Dutton’s citizenship vow

MOHAMMAD ALFARES and BRENDAN KEARNS - 13 January 2025

Mayors across the nation are rally­ing around Peter Dutton’s plan to reinstate the requirement for local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, hailing it as a courageous step to bring the country together.

In Melbourne on Monday, the Opposition Leader vowed to make the changes in his first 100 days in office, as he blasted the ­Albanese government’s approach to the celebrations and accused Anthony Albanese of flagging to councils that the date “didn’t matter” and was “something to be ashamed of”.

The Australian Local Government Association, representing 537 councils nationwide, said it was important to be pragmatic and welcome the flexibility to hold these ceremonies.

“As the closest level of government to our communities, and most trusted, it’s important we reflect and respond to the needs of our local areas,” ALGA president mayor Matt Burnett said.

Mr Barnett said there was a range of reasons why some councils did not hold events on January 26, including extreme heat, staff numbers and costs.

Last year, 81 local councils moved their annual citizenship ceremonies because of feedback from Indigenous communities.

Brisbane lord mayor Adrian Schrinner said it was “right” for Australians to celebrate on the country’s national day. “Australia is the best country in the world to live in, which is why so many ­people want to call it home,” he said. “I think it’s right that Australians continue to celebrate the freedom and opportunities they enjoy on our country’s national day.

“Welcoming new citizens on Australia Day is a tradition we’ve long held in Brisbane and it’s something our council intends to continue.”

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate also agreed, saying the Glitter Strip had always held citizenship ceremonies on January 26 and would continue to do so, regardless of federal politics.

The City of Melbourne will host nine citizenship ceremonies in 2025, including some on January 26.

Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the council “continues to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26 January”.

“In September 2022, council endorsed its position on 26 January, which includes advocating to the federal government to change the date of Australia Day.”

Adelaide lord mayor Jane Lomax-Smith said council would comply if parliament mandated ceremonies to be held on Australia Day, but flagged the government should be able to compen­sate council for additional costs.

Dr Lomax-Smith said the long-established practice was to hold citizenship ceremonies as close to Australia Day as possible, which ultimately minimised any financial impacts.

“The practice of holding the ceremony on a normal working day allows our civic leaders, new citizens and community to attend all Australia Day events,” she said.

“Of course, if it is mandated by the commonwealth parliament that a ceremony is held on Australia Day then we will comply. However, we may ask the government of the day to compensate council for the additional cost incurred because of their policy.”

The mayor of Mansfield Shire in Melbourne’s outer north, Steve Rabie, praised Mr Dutton. “Good on Peter Dutton for bloody having the balls to stand up and celebrate Australians,” he said.

Under the previous Coalition government, councils that re­scheduled their ceremonies away from January 26 were stripped of the right to host such events.

“I believe we live in the greatest country in the world,” Mr Dutton said.

“I’m incredibly proud of Australians and who we are.

“I’m proud of our Indigenous heritage. I’m very proud of our ­migrant story, and I’m very proud of the fact that we are a country that should stand up and protect and defend its values.

He said the Coalition would act quickly to reintroduce the ­requirement.

“Would we reinstate the requirement for councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day? You bet it’ll be done in the first 100 days, and it will be a sign of pride and nationalism in our country,” he said.

“So the Prime Minister sent a signal to those councils that Australia Day didn’t matter, but that’s exactly what it did,” Mr Dutton said.

He also accused Australia’s high commissioner to Britain, ­Stephen Smith, of being “ashamed” of his country after he signalled he would not attend an annual Australia Day gala dinner, a year after he cited sensitivities around celebrating the day.

“Why government appointments like Stephen Smith would be ashamed of our country is beyond my comprehension,” Mr Dutton said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dutton-vows-to-reinstate-australia-day-ceremonies-in-first-100-days/news-story/c292d2b8d0c26acddc0ec9e16f35bae7

https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/peter-dutton-says-he-will-force-councils-to-hold-australia-day-citizenship-ceremonies/news-story/f7777997c7bcd3d3dfa784478456e2b3

>>22345238

>>22345254

COMMENTARY: No value to nation in deconstructing Australia Day

ALEXANDER DOWNER - 13 January 2025

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As we approach Australia Day, we know the country will be engulfed in controversy about whether we should use January 26 to celebrate our country’s achievements.

It’s unfortunate this debate cannot be put to bed.

There’s a tendency for political debates to descend into those who think that justice can be achieved by deconstructing parts, if not all, of society, and those who want to build on our foundations. These are two very different approaches to objectives that are often shared across the political spectrum. Just about everyone wants a society they perceive to be fair; everyone wants equal rights for all people regardless of their gender, race or religion; and everybody wants Australia’s Indigenous cultures to be admired and respected as the oldest living cultures on Earth.

So how do we achieve those things in the most harmonious way possible?

For the deconstructionists, society needs to become financially more equal and that will happen if some of the wealth of high-income earners is destroyed.

The idea is simple. By imposing confiscatory levels of taxation on high-income earners, the wealthy will be levelled down and some of their prosperity redistributed to others. The idea is that no one will become really wealthy, no matter how hard they work or how inspirationally entrepreneurial they may be.

Experience shows this deconstructionist plan has two downsides. One is it discourages entrepreneurship and wealth creation, encouraging those people to seek greener pastures in other countries. As a result, some of the wealth-creating drivers of the economy are simply taken away, leaving the rest with less ability to support people in need.

What is more, there isn’t a finite quantity of wealth in society. If somebody is entrepreneurial and creative, they have the capacity to create wealth not just for themselves but for the whole community. The point is they create wealth rather than have wealth redistributed to themselves. So the deconstructionist approach will ultimately fail because it will destroy the wealth-creating capacity of society.

Then there are the gender issues. The rights of women can be advanced by destroying some of the rights of men and by discriminating against them in the workplace. That too has a downside. It doesn’t meet the traditional liberal virtue of judging all people on the basis of their merits, not their innate and unchangeable characteristics.

What is more, those who are discriminated against – males – will gradually grow to resent the discrimination. In the end, the deconstructionist approach will fail because there will be a revolt against it. So that brings us to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The deconstructionists argue that can be achieved by destroying some of the symbols and conventions of the nation. They assume the nation is inherently racist and much of it needs to be torn down. In particular, they regard the celebration of European settlement in Australia as immoral and inappropriate.

That point of view makes several assumptions. First, that Australia as a continent would have made a greater contribution to human welfare if no one other than the original human settlers had ever come to live. Secondly, it assumes European and subsequent development of Australia has been at best unsuccessful. That assumption is deeply flawed.

I have visited more than 100 countries around the world and I know of none that combines as well as Australia does a high standard of living for most people, extensive individual freedom of choice and expression, and almost unequalled multiracial harmony. To suggest this isn’t something to celebrate is just ignorance.

(continued)

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Thirdly, it assumes that Indigenous societies structured as they were in 1788 would have been sustainable until 2025. That was never going to happen. One of the nations with advanced technology – be it European or Asian – would eventually have taken control of the Australian continent.

Indeed, in all probability more than one nation would have done so, and that could have led to very real tensions between different parts of Australia.

The fact that the British settled Australia with their emerging commitments to human rights and economic progress, as well as democratic institutions accountable to the public and a rule of law under which all citizens would be equal, was, to say the least, a blessing for this continent.

But trying to destroy our national symbols and institutions has another downside. It is deeply offensive to the vast majority of Australians. To achieve what is called reconciliation may require tolerance, patience and the creation of new mechanisms. It might even require the creation of some new institutions, particularly educational institutions. But it won’t be achieved by destroying what is important to many people.

Mocking Australia Day, calling it invasion day and demonstrating only offends people. Councils that have cancelled Australia Day ceremonies irritate the majority of people.

Sure, these demonstrations please some Indigenous activists, particularly the more radical ones, as well as others in society who want to deconstruct our whole way of life. That isn’t most people.

Trying to cancel our national day of celebration is not a contribution to reconciliation. It’s one of many divisive symbolic mistakes made by Indigenous activists. The other is using excessively the imported practice of acknowledging traditional owners. There’s a time and a place to do something like that, and all Australians certainly agree the whole nation, including Indigenous Australians, deserves respect. But inserting an acknowledgment at the beginning of every speech, every public event and even at private events is pretentious, patronising and insincere. More importantly, it is starting to irritate people, thereby becoming counter-productive.

The hard-left political activists who have campaigned for Indigenous rights over the past two or three decades have often embraced the deconstructionist political philosophy. It has achieved nothing. And it’s legacy is one of polite irritation throughout the mainstream of Australian society. They’re quiet about it but look how they voted on the voice.

So as we approach Australia Day, it would make more sense if we found ways of building on our strengths as a society rather than looking for ways to deconstruct. Building is likely to win the support of the public whereas deconstruction is only going to alienate vast swathes of our society.

'Alexander Downer is a former foreign minister and high commissioner.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/no-value-to-nation-in-deconstructing-australia-day/news-story/04b114b26a22e1f65631010fe3e8e42d

>>22345238

>>22345254

Australia Day poll conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs reveals support for celebration

James Morrow - January 13, 2025

A “vibe shift” against corporate activism has led to a surge in support for celebrating Australia Day on January 26, a new analysis has found, with increasing numbers of younger Australians saying the nation should keep the date.

The latest results of the Institute of Public Affairs’ annual poll of attitudes about the holiday reveal that 69 per cent of Australians agreed with the statement, “Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26”.

This figure was up six points from last year, when 63 per cent of Australians said they supported celebrating the holiday on January 26, marking the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788.

Among Australians aged 18-24 the swing was even larger.

In 2024 just 42 per cent of Australians in that age group polled by the IPA said they supported celebrating on the 26th.

This year, that figure shot up to 52 per cent, meaning that every age bracket polled now supports Australia Day staying where it is on the calendar.

The poll also found that a whopping 86 per cent of respondents that they were “proud to be Australian”, while 68 per cent agreed that Australia has “a history to be proud of”.

“The vibe and energy around Australia Day have shifted,” said Daniel Wild, the IPA’s deputy executive director.

“It should give the entire community great hope that despite relentless indoctrination taking place at schools and universities, young Australians are growing in civic pride.”

“In the recent past, every January Australians have needed to endure the hand-wringing and navel gazing of the self-appointed thought leaders and elites demanding the country to think of the reasons to be ashamed of Australia. No more,” he said.

Mr Wild also said that the failed Voice referendum, as well as retreats by companies like supermarket chain Woolworth’s and hospitality group Australian Venue Co. in the face of backlashes over their decisions not to stock merchandise or celebrate the holiday, had sent a message.

“It is clear that mainstream Australians have had a gutful of this attitude and being put upon by the elites,” Mr Wild said, adding that the arrival of the First Fleet brought with it values of parliamentary democracy, liberty, fairness and tolerance.

“The 26th of January is more than just a date, it represents the establishment of modern Australia as a free and fair country.”

However, Mr Wild said that despite the results, a “continued campaign” to abolish the commemoration meant “if we do not continue to fight for Australia Day, we will lose it.”

The poll of 1,002 Australians was conducted by Dynata over 14-15 December.

TO CHANGE OR NOT TO CHANGE?

The debate around Australia Day has also seen politicians weigh into the matter, with Employment Minister Murray Watt sparking a debate after an awkward slip of the tongue during a Sunrise interview.

“The date should change, that’s exactly the position of the Government,” Mr Watt initially said, before correcting himself.

“We’ve said repeatedly that we don’t want to change the Australia Day date. I’m not surprised to see that percentage of people in Australia say we should keep the date in place. To be honest, I think most Australians are sick of this debate that we have every single year.

“The opposition is not talking about changing the date. The government is not talking about changing the date. It’s a non-issue really. I’m not sure why we have this debate every year.”

His sparring partner on the breakfast news segment, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce, took the opportunity to have a quick jab at the slip-up.

“I know, it’s a slip of the tongue. If you play the tape, we started the interview with Mr Watt saying we should change the date,” Mr Joyce said on Sunrise.

“Look, I think people are over having elites tell them how to run the country, deciding to make changes from an executive level.”

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/australia-day-poll-conducted-by-the-institute-of-public-affairs-reveals-support-for-celebration/news-story/6a97492769ab8d157d21ba13eb2a279f

—

''Surge In Support For Australia Day As Mainstream Australians Find Their Voice''

Daniel Wild - 13 January 2025

https://ipa.org.au/publications-ipa/media-releases/surge-in-support-for-australia-day-as-mainstream-australians-find-their-voice

>>22225525

>>22339502

Crucial face-to-face with Donald Trump? It’ll be a journey to the Quad summit

ROSIE LEWIS and BRAD THOMPSON - 14 January 2025

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Anthony Albanese has pointed to a Quad leaders meeting that could be months away for his possible first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump, as former foreign minister Julie Bishop cast doubt on how long Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd will last.

As concerns grow that the Prime Minister has not moved fast enough to develop a connection with the incoming US president, former ambassador Joe Hockey said Mr Albanese and Peter Dutton should consider offering Mr Trump a state visit to Australia.

While Mr Trump prefers bilateral meetings over multilateral forums, Mr Albanese referred to the Quad leaders summit this year between Australia, the US, India and Japan when asked when he anticipated his first face-to-face meeting with the president-elect and whether there was an upcoming summit he might attend.

No date has been locked in for this year’s Quad summit, after US President Joe Biden hosted the leaders in Delaware in September.

“There is a summit this year, which will be the Quad summit. I note that all the Quad foreign ministers will be visiting President Trump’s inauguration on January 20, including Penny Wong representing Australia,” the Prime Minister said.

“When I had the discussion with the incoming president, we discussed the Quad. We’ve discussed as well with the Indian authorities, with Prime Minister Modi last year when we met. He’ll be hosting the Quad and indeed I had a discussion with the (Indian) high commissioner on January 1 when he visited Kirribilli House with the Indian cricket team. We had a discussion there about those details. But they occur diplomatically and we will get that organised appropriately.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will fly out within days to join Mr Rudd at Mr Trump’s second inauguration, and will lead the nation’s efforts to build a new relationship with the new Republican White House.

But Mr Rudd’s position as ambassador has been in question over his past virulent criticisms of Mr Trump and his recent decision to holiday in Queensland over Christmas, just weeks out from the president’s swearing-in.

Asked about Mr Rudd’s future as ambassador, and if she would replace him if still foreign minister, Ms Bishop initially said the question was unfair, before adding: “We haven’t seen what occurs post-transition. It is still president-elect Trump. The inauguration is on the 20th of January so watch this space.”

In November, Trump aide Dan Scavino suggested Mr Rudd might be on borrowed time when he shared a GIF of sand running through an hourglass in response to a social media post in which Mr Rudd congratulated Mr Trump on his election win.

Mr Trump last year described Mr Rudd as “nasty” and said he “won’t be there long” when asked about the former prime minister’s highly critical comments from 2022.

In one now deleted post, Mr Rudd said: “He drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and Bible to justify violence.”

Mr Rudd also referred to Mr Trump as the “village idiot” in comments captured on video.

(continued)

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Mr Hockey, who was ambassador in Washington DC during Mr Trump’s first three years as president and who will attend his inauguration next week, noted Australia was one of just two countries to be given a state visit during Mr Trump’s first term.

“It was an incredible accolade for Australia. It costs nothing to make an offer and he is the most powerful person in the world as of next Monday,” the Bondi Partners founder told The Australian.

“Both candidates (for prime minister) should be thinking about offering Trump a state visit to Australia later this year. He was close to visiting Australia prior to his 2020 election and time beat us but it’s something that both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition will need to think about.”

Michael Shoebridge, founder of Strategic Analysis Australia, said a prime minister who was “in charge and on top of a policy agenda” would want to meet with Mr Trump before the election, due by May, to demonstrate his policy agenda was powerful and something the president-elect would work with.

As Australia seeks protection from tariffs and a guarantee AUKUS will proceed, senior government sources said Mr Albanese wanted to meet with Mr Trump at the earliest opportunity.

They said Senator Wong’s invitation as Foreign Minister to his inauguration was unprecedented. She will hold meetings with members of the Trump administration, members of congress and other inauguration attendees while in the US to build on Mr Albanese’s “early engagement” with the new administration.

Mr Shoebridge said Mr Albanese should have expressed an interest in attending the inauguration.

“Precedent doesn’t really matter when it comes to Donald Trump. Donald Trump will see people wanting to come to his inauguration as a good thing and people staying away as a bad thing,” he said.

“He’s a guy who looks at the size of crowds at his rallies. This idea you can defend decisions not to go by a longstanding diplomatic protocol is a failure to understand the Trump administration. My view is he (Mr Albanese) doesn’t want to meet Trump before the election because he thinks the risks of going badly are too high.”

Mr Dutton said it would be important for Senator Wong to make contact with Mr Trump’s incoming secretaries while she was in Washington, insisting there was “a lot of repair work” to be done.

“Penny Wong has made some pretty derogatory remarks in the past about President Trump. As we know, Ambassador (Kevin) Rudd has, as well. So presumably that will form part of the discussions that they have in Washington to explain whether or not that view has changed,” the Liberal leader told ABC radio.

“Penny Wong has been completely at odds with the US over a number of issues in recent months with regard to the Middle East as well … The damage that Penny Wong has done to a number of relationships should be the focus of repair work over the balance of this term.”

Government sources said Mr Rudd had met regularly with congressional leaders and individuals in Mr Trump’s circles over the past year and was widely regarded as one of the most active and effective ambassadors in the US in developing critical networks among Republicans and Democrats.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/crucial-facetoface-with-conald-trump-itll-be-a-journey-to-the-quad-summit/news-story/e0a7461ad7ad91efb8b54d37965b255f

>>21947984 (pb)

>>22254943

>>22288283

Albanese warns Musk: Stay away, we’ve got foreign interference laws

Paul Sakkal - January 14, 2025

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pre-emptively warned the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, not to get involved in the upcoming federal election, noting that Australia has anti-foreign interference laws.

Musk backed President-elect Donald Trump with $US277 million ($447 million) during the US election and is supporting far-right parties in the United Kingdom and Germany, where the billionaire’s posts on his X platform have generated debate about mass migration, crime and identity politics.

Asked in an interview about Musk’s interventions, Albanese said his job was to focus on Australia’s national interest.

“We have foreign interference laws in this country and Australian elections are a matter for Australians,” Albanese said. “I have no intention of being a … commentator on what people overseas want to engage in. People will make their own judgments and have their own views about that.”

The prime minister did not specify which of Australia’s laws protecting from foreign interference would apply to Musk. The laws – passed by the Turnbull government in 2018 largely in response to allegations of Chinese Communist Party involvement in Australian politics – were mostly targeted at foreign governments.

They include a transparency scheme that requires people lobbying Australian politicians on behalf of foreign interests to register, and laws that make it a crime to influence a political or government process at the behest of another country’s government.

One section of the laws would apply to Musk: a ban on donations from non-Australians to political parties. His company, X, has a local Australian subsidiary.

The Tesla boss’s donations and public support for Trump’s campaign have secured him a place in Trump’s inner circle, but Musk has also involved himself in overseas elections.

Musk has reportedly promised the UK minor conservative Reform party $157 million, despite later clashing with its leader, Nigel Farage. And Musk has pushed discussion about a decades-long grooming gang scandal in northern England – that was exposed in newspaper reports, official inquiries and the courts from 2013 – to the top of national attention.

In Germany, Musk has endorsed the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), a far-right party that has experienced a rapid rise in popularity but includes figures accused of using Nazi-linked phrases and gestures.

Musk has not endorsed any parties or political figures in Australia.

But he has been critical of the bipartisan push, floated by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton months before Labor adopted it last year, to restrict Australians under 16 from using social media.

Musk has also been highly critical of Australia’s eSafety Commission after it unsuccessfully attempted to force X to remove all videos of a church stabbing in the western Sydney suburb of Wakeley last year.

“Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians,” he wrote in November of the under-16 ban.

Coalition senators Matt Canavan and Alex Antic led the argument against the under-16 policy, which was also opposed by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

Canavan and opposition communications spokesman David Coleman have both praised Musk’s Starlink internet service, while the government this week announced it would put $3 billion towards an upgrade of the NBN.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-warns-musk-stay-away-we-ve-got-foreign-interference-laws-20250114-p5l42a.html

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1859479797329535168

>>22328149

Joe Biden lauds AUKUS as key achievement

In his final foreign policy speech, Joe Biden declared the US is ‘winning the worldwide competition’, citing the AUKUS defence pact as a pivotal achievement in countering China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific.

JOE KELLY - 14 January 2025

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Joe Biden has claimed AUKUS as one of his key achievements in a speech defending his international record and conduct of foreign policy, arguing that America had created new partnerships in the Indo-Pacific to “challenge China’s aggressive behaviour”.

Mr Biden declared that the United States was now “winning the worldwide competition” and, in a swipe at Donald Trump, argued that America and its alliance relationships were “stronger” than when he took office.

At an address at the State Department, the US President gave a report on the progress he believed his administration had achieved in the past four years – arguing that the world was “at an inflection point” and that the post-Cold War period was over.

“A new era has begun,” he said. “In these four years we’ve faced crises. We’ve been tested. We’ve come through those tests stronger in my view than we entered those tests.”

Mr Biden said his administration had made the most significant investment in America and its working people since the New Deal and that his investments in climate and clean energy had spurred nearly $500bn worth of private sector investment.

He said that nearly $1.3 trillion had been invested in defence procurement as well as in research and development to fight and win wars, which he argued was the best way for the US to deter adversaries.

“NATO is more capable than it’s ever been and many more of our allies are paying their fair share. Before I took office nine NATO allies were spending two per cent of GDP on defence. Now, 23 are spending 2 per cent (of GDP on defence),” he said.

“We made partnerships stronger and created new partnerships to challenge China’s aggressive behaviour and to rebalance power in the (Indo-Pacific) region,” he said. “We brokered a defence pact known as AUKUS among the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom – connecting the Atlantic and Pacific allies as only America is able to do.”

Mr Biden said he had taken the quadrilateral security dialogue to the next level and tightened co-operation between democracies to ensure more secure supply chains and greater collaboration on advanced technologies.

The outgoing US President said that there was a fierce economic and technological competition under way – including competition over human values – but argued the United States was in a better position under his leadership than when he took over the presidency four years ago from Mr Trump.

“Our adversaries and competitors are weaker,” he said. “During my presidency I have increased America’s power in every direction.”

“America is more capable and I would argue better prepared than we’ve been in a long, long time. While our competitors and adversaries are facing stiff headwinds, we have the wind at our back,” Mr Biden said.

“Our sources of national power are far stronger than they were when we took office. Our economy is booming, although there is more work to do … We are the envy of the world,” he said.

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He argued that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had failed to achieve any of his strategic objectives in Eastern Europe, subjugate Ukraine or break the unity of NATO.

“Today Ukraine is still (a) free, independent country with the potential for a bright future,” he said. “We laid the foundation for the next administration so that they can protect the bright future of the Ukrainian people.”

He also said that, in the Middle East, Iran was weaker than it had been in decades.

“Did you ever think that we’d be where we are with Iran at this moment?” he asked. “After those despicable attacks by Hamas (on Israel) on October 7?

“Now Iran’s air defences are in shambles and their main proxy Hezbollah is badly wounded.”

Mr Biden said the evidence of a seriously weakened Iran and Russia lay in Syria.

“President Assad is both countries’ closest ally in the Middle East. Neither could keep him in power,” Mr Biden said.

The US President said that Israel had contributed to the global outlook by inflicting damage on Iran and its proxies.

While major authoritarian states including Iran, Russian, China and North Korea were aligning more closely with one another, this was “more out of weakness than out of strength”.

Mr Biden said that, with respect to the strength of authoritarian nations, the incoming Trump administration had been left in a better position because of his administration’s management of foreign policy.

“We are in a better strategic position (in) the long-term competition with China than we were when I took office,” Mr Biden said.

He argued that, on its current trajectory, the Chinese economy would never surpass that of the US and made clear he had told Xi Jinping that America’s expectation was for Beijing to play by the international rules.

His administration had taken action against unfair trade practices and had also imposed targeted tariffs on Chinese steel, cars and semiconductors instead of across-the-board tariffs.

Mr Biden said his administration had enlisted US partners in responding to China, arguing he was successful in “building more convergence among our allies on a shared approach to China than ever existed.”

Yet he argued his administration had continued to manage the relationship with China responsibly, created new lines of communication at the highest level and at the military to military level in actions which had prevented the likelihood of conflict.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/biden-lauds-aukus-as-key-achievement/news-story/791779b6ac1bbcddc1d921acb6e7521a

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>>22214384 (pb)

>>22214410 (pb)

Australian pilot Daniel Duggan to fight US extradition order

Joanna Woodburn and Maddison Connaughton - 14 January 2025

The family of Australian pilot Daniel Duggan is set to challenge his upcoming extradition to the United States in the Federal Court.

The legal proceedings are being launched after the Commonwealth government agreed on December 19 to surrender the 56-year-old to the US.

The former US Marines pilot, who moved to Australia in the early 2000s and later became a citizen, is accused of breaching arms trafficking laws by training Chinese pilots in 2012.

US prosecutors claim at a South African flying school called the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), Mr Duggan was involved in illegally training Chinese military pilots in how to land on and take off from an aircraft carrier.

If found guilty, he could face up to 65 years in a US prison.

In a video statement, Mr Duggan's wife Saffrine said his family had no choice but to pursue legal action.

"We have been forced to resort to court action today because the government has not been transparent about this case, despite Dan being locked up in maximum-security prison for the past 26 months with no Australian charges," Ms Duggan said in the recording.

"Dan is exercising his rights as an Australian citizen to due process under Australian law.

"We are an Australian family and we deserve a fair go."

Mr Duggan, who is currently being held in jail at Wellington in central western NSW, has denied the allegations.

He was arrested in December 2022 at nearby Orange, where he lived with his wife and six children.

Mr Duggan had been due to be extradited to the US within two months of the request being granted.

Under the Federal Extradition Act, this time frame will now be paused until the judicial review is finalised.

Mr Duggan's legal team has argued he is not eligible for extradition because it didn't become explicitly illegal for Australians to train foreign militaries until 2018.

Mr Duggan's lawyer, Bernard Collaery, told the ABC his client had been indicted in the US under the first Trump administration, "before Australia had comparable laws to the United States" regarding training foreign militaries.

"This is a significant case in terms of the treaty law between the United States and Australia," Mr Collaery said.

In an interview last year with the ABC's Background Briefing program, Mr Duggan said that he "took the word of TFASA [the flying school] that these pilots were Chinese test pilots, student Chinese test pilots. They weren't military".

He said he believed his prosecution was due to rising tensions between the US and China.

"It's solely because this is a political thing — anything to do with China is considered bad now," he said.

A spokesperson for the attorney-general said as the matter was before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment beyond confirming Mr Duggan would not be surrendered until the court process was complete.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-14/federal-court-challenge-launched-to-block-pilots-extradition/104815936

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/courts-law/top-gun-pilot-challenges-attorneygenerals-approval-of-extradition-to-us/news-story/d877d172d9d585c91cc16dd33ddc2dce

>>22225525

Everything to know about Donald Trump's inauguration

Nick Pearson - Jan 14, 2025

Next Tuesday morning, Donald Trump will take his second oath of office to become president again.

Trump is only the second president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms.

So what is there to know about his second inauguration.

What time is the inauguration?

The swearing-in ceremony begins at midday Washington time on Monday, January 20.

It starts at 4am AEDT on Tuesday, January 21.

It's on at 3am Queensland time, 3.30am in South Australia, and 1am in Western Australia.

What will happen at the inauguration ceremony?

The first official proceeding of the event is the swearing-in of Vice President-elect JD Vance.

Country singer Carrie Underwood will sing the song "America the Beautiful".

Then Trump will be sworn in, followed by his inaugural address.

Faith leaders will end the ceremony with a benediction, followed by a performance of the national anthem by Christopher Macchio.

The inauguration is not a particularly lengthy event, and how long it takes will largely be dependent on how long Trump speaks for.

How will Donald Trump be sworn in?

The swearing-in of Donald Trump will be administered by Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Roberts.

Roberts has presided over every swearing-in since Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009.

The oath of office has been the same since 1884, and is constitutionally mandated.

The oath reads:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

How long will Trump speak?

The shortest address was George Washington's second inauguration, which was just 135 words.

The longest was William Henry Harrison, who, anxious to prove he was still vigorous and energetic despite his age, spoke for 8445 words without an overcoat or gloves.

He died 31 days later.

Trump's first inauguration speech was 1433 words, which is historically on the shorter side.

Will Trump swear the oath on the Bible?

While it is not constitutionally required, Trump will likely swear the oath on a Bible held by his wife Melania.

Last time he was sworn-in, Trump used the same Bible Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration in 1861.

But the president-elect has just endorsed a new version of his own Bible, billed as the "Inauguration Day Bible".

This edition costs A$113 and features Trump's name embossed on the cover.

The Trump Bible also includes the text of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the lyrics to country song "God Bless the USA".

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Where does the inauguration take place?

The inauguration ceremony is held at the United States Capitol in Washington DC.

The dignitaries are seated on a platform constructed specifically for the event.

The ceremony is held facing the National Mall, a long strip of turf that runs between the Washington Monument.

Who will be at the inauguration?

Every living former president is expected to be at the inauguration, including Joe Biden.

It was highly unusual for Donald Trump to snub the inauguration ceremony of Biden in 2021 - the first sitting president to do so in a century.

As Trump takes the oath of office, he will be metres away from politicians he has repeatedly attacked in the past, Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush.

Kamala Harris is also expected to be there, as is Hillary Clinton, in her capacity as a former First Lady.

Representing Australia at the inauguration is Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd.

Most world leaders will not attend the event, represented instead by ambassadors or foreign ministers.

A series of right-wing firebrand leaders from around the world have been invited: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Argentinian President Javier Milei, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele and Hungarian President Viktor Orban.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has also been invited, but will need to ask permission to leave his home country.

Bolsonaro had his passport seized in connection with his alleged role in an attempted coup.

Also invited is Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, who will not attend.

The rest of the day

Trump will also be attending a series of events held throughout the day.

At one of the balls held on the day, The Village People have confirmed they will perform.

Trump has been raising a massive sum of money for his inauguration events, with big technology companies like Amazon and Apple writing big cheques.

The total sum is estimated to be A$274 million.

Despite the record haul, Trump's inauguration schedule is dramatically lighter than his predecessors.

Three balls will be held at a golf club Trump owns in northern Virginia.

By contrast, Bill Clinton raised A$39 milllion in 1997 and attended 14 balls.

https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-inauguration-2025-date-time-what-to-expect-everything-to-know-explained/cf75c1d2-1937-47d4-9599-3d6982b4f28e

>>22225435

Fears captured Australian soldier Oscar Jenkins has been executed by Russian forces

Melbourne private school teacher Oscar Jenkins went to fight for Ukraine last year before being snatched by Russian soldiers.

Chris Reason - 14 January 2025

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An Australian volunteer soldier in Ukraine is believed to have been killed after being captured by Russian forces on the frontline — the first Australian Prisoner of War to be put to death in more than 70 years.

Sources in Ukraine have told 7NEWS that the body of 32-year-old Melbourne teacher Oscar Jenkins has been found.

The Australian Government says it is making urgent enquiries, even confirming on Monday the Russian Ambassador was called in to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “to seek information and reiterate Australia’s expectations that Russia will comply with its obligations under international law”.

If confirmed, it’s expected Canberra will react with fury over the incident.

Ukrainian authorities have been contacted and Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence is understood to be working to confirm the truth of the reports.

There is speculation that a body has been recovered but it is yet to be officially identified.

At least six Australians who’ve volunteered for the Ukraine cause have been killed since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

But Jenkins would be the first to be captured and executed by the Russians.

He’d been serving with Ukraine’s 66th Mechanised Unit in Kramatorsk, Donetsk, when he was taken prisoner by Russian forces in December.

A week later, a video emerged of Jenkins being interrogated and repeatedly slapped in the face by a Russian captor.

“Where are you from?” the soldier asked him in Russian. “Nationality?”

When Mr Jenkins appeared unable to understand, his interrogator slapped his face, shouting: “Speak faster!”

“I’m Australian,” said Mr Jenkins.

“What are you doing here?”

When Jenkins answered that he was a soldier, he was slapped again.

“Are you f*cked in the head? You are a teacher!”

Jenkins is believed to be the first Australian Prisoner of War to die since the Korean War more than 70 years ago.

Australian War Memorial historian Michael Kelly says WWII veteran Horace “Slim” Madden returned to service in Korea and was captured at the Battle of Kapyong in April 1951.

He died of malnutrition and mistreatment in captivity seven months later in November 1951.

Private Madden was posthumously awarded a George Cross.

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Jenkins had no military background and volunteered for war despite the Australian Government’s plea for citizens not to join Ukraine’s military efforts.

He was a graduate of the prestigious Melbourne Grammar School in 2010, before studying at Monash University where he studied biomedical sciences.

A talented cricket and football player, Jenkins played for the Toorak Prahran Cricket Club in Melbourne.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he played in the premiership winning team in 2013-14 and served as a junior coach for three seasons.

Club President Neil Gumley said Jenkins was a typical cricket-loving Australian who’d be valuable in any team.

The star payer had actually returned to Australia in February for a club reunion.

“He was in good spirits,” said Gumley.

“Oscar is a loved and talented member of the Club.”

In 2015 he moved to China and in 2017 got a job as a lecturer at Tianjin College.

It’s believed he travelled to Ukraine to volunteer last year.

Jenkins was the first known Australian soldier captured by Russian forces.

News of his arrest went viral on Russian websites, where he was paraded as a Western mercenary.

Jenkins was dressed in military gear with his hands bound and dirt smeared on his face.

He was repeatedly asked about why he was in Kramatorsk, almost 700km east of Kyiv.

“I want to help Ukraine,” he said.

The interrogation video was first shared by Alexander Sladkov, a Russian propagandist and military correspondent for Russia 1 and Russia 24 TV channels.

The Federal Government had reacted with anger over the capture, summonsing Russia’s ambassador to Australia Alexey Pavlovsky to DFAT headquarters in Canberra.

In a statement at the time, Acting Foreign Minister Mark Dreyfus said the federal government was “making representations to the Russian government” about the case.

“We urge the Russian government to fully adhere to its obligations under international humanitarian law, including with respect to prisoners of war,” Dreyfus said.

There had been hopes of a possible prisoner swap deal.

Jenkins’ mental health was said to be fragile. In one bizarre video on his personal social media pages, he raved wildly about veganism saving the world.

Military sources in Ukraine told 7NEWS that his behaviour on the frontline in his final weeks had been “erratic” — and that he’d been complaining the war had been moving too slowly for him.

Ukraine’s Ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko has praised the lost Australians as “Ukraine’s ANZACS”.

The list includes Michael O’Neill, 47, Jed Danahay, 27, Trevor Kjeldal, 40, Sage O’Donnell, 24, Digby Goldthorpe, 26, Matthew Jepson, aged in his 20s, and Joel Stremski, 21.

https://7news.com.au/news/fears-captured-australian-soldier-oscar-jenkins-has-been-executed-by-russian-forces-c-17385010

>>22225435

>>22357731

‘All options on the table’ after reports of Australian’s death at Russia’s hands

Matthew Knott and Nick Bonyhady - January 14, 2025

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says all options will be on the table, including expelling Russia’s ambassador to Australia, if it is confirmed that Russian soldiers killed Oscar Jenkins, a Melbourne man who was captured while fighting for Ukraine.

Wong said that the government held “grave concerns for Mr Jenkins’ welfare” and was “making urgent inquiries following the reports of his death”.

7News cited Ukrainian sources in a report on Tuesday who said Jenkins’ body had been found. Jenkins, a former teacher, had been fighting with Ukraine against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of the democratic country.

Wong said she was thinking of Jenkins’ family in Australia, telling ABC radio on Wednesday morning: “They’ve lived with the fear and uncertainty of a loved one in the middle of a foreign war for many months. I know these reports will be devastating to them, and they are in my thoughts and, I’m sure, the thoughts of many Australians.”

Asked whether Australia could expel Russia’s ambassador to Australia, Alexey Pavlovsky, Wong said that “all options are on the table”.

“Russia is obliged to treat all prisoners of war in accordance with international humanitarian law,” she said. “This includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said the department was providing consular support to Jenkins’ family.

“His family has requested privacy, and we ask that media respect their wishes,” the spokesperson said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told the ABC that Moscow’s forces do “not adhere to any conventions, including those regarding the treatment of prisoners of war”.

“Russia has a deep-seated hatred of these foreigners, like Mr Jenkins; people who have made the responsible choice to stand up for the rule of law and freedom by supporting Ukraine,” he said.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said the federal government should recall Australia’s ambassador to Russia and expel Russia’s ambassador to Australia if Russian forces had killed Jenkins.

“If reports are true that Russia undertook an extrajudicial execution of a captured Australian citizen, then the Albanese government should respond in the strongest possible terms,” Birmingham said.

“Three years ago, the then-Labor opposition urged Russian diplomatic expulsions, yet in government, Labor have undertaken no such action. If Russia has engaged in such an egregious and illegal action, then it must now be a catalyst for action.

“Nothing less than the recalling of Australia’s ambassador to Russia and expulsion of Russia’s ambassador to Australia would be sufficient in such circumstances.”

Jenkins’ plight first came to light when footage began circulating online on December 22, showing him with his hands tied being paraded before a camera by Russian soldiers.

He was seen being slapped across the face and questioned.

In the video, Jenkins, speaking in English and broken Ukrainian, explained he had been fighting in the Donbas region to help Ukraine.

It was unclear how long Jenkins, who left Australia to teach and travel in China in 2015, had been fighting with Ukrainian forces. He was the first Australian known to have been captured by Russia.

Jenkins attended Melbourne Grammar School, studied biomedical sciences at Monash University, and had been working as a lecturer at a Tianjin college in China.

Friends with whom he played cricket at the Toorak Prahran Cricket Club described him as having “a heart of gold”, saying he was well-liked, kind, generous, academic and a deep thinker. “He’s your typical Aussie cricket boy – he helped us win that premiership. He’s maybe a bit smarter than average, more deep-thinking. Thoughtful.”

Jenkins’ late father, Scott, was a dentist and also a member of the club, with which the Jenkins family maintained a close association.

At least eight Australians have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, including Victorian man Joel Benjamin Stremski, and Queenslanders Brock Greenwood and Matthew Jepson, who died while holding off Russian troops in the country’s east in October. Dozens of Australians are believed to still be fighting, often paid as part of the foreign legion.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/europe/australian-man-fighting-for-ukraine-feared-dead-20250114-p5l4cc.html

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Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton warn Russia of strongest action possible if Oscar Jenkins has been executed

JAMES DOWLING - 15 January 2025

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Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese have presented a bipartisan threat of the “strongest possible action” against the Kremlin if Australian foreign fighter Oscar Jenkins is confirmed to have been executed by Russian forces, following his capture in eastern Ukraine.

Speaking at a press conference in Tasmania on Wednesday, the Prime Minister upped the ante after Foreign Minister Penny Wong asserted that “all options are on the table”, including the potential expulsion of Russian ambassador to Australia Aleksey Pavlovsky, should Mr Jenkins be dead.

“If there has been any harm caused that is absolutely reprehensible and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible,” Mr Albanese said.

“I spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador on Monday in my office. We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins’ status, we remain gravely concerned. We will await the facts to come out.”

The opposition leader, speaking at a press conference in Halls Gap, Victoria, urged Mr Albanese to send Mr Pavlovsky packing should diplomats prove Mr Jenkins was executed.

“We should send a clear message to Russia and to other similar minded regimes that Australians are sacrosanct, they deserve to be protected by their government and if they are harmed in this way and brutally executed as seems to be the suggestion in this case … There should be a strong reaction,” Mr Dutton said.

“I would encourage the Prime Minister to be open and honest and transparent in relation to this matter. If it is the case that this Australian has been killed then Australia should respond in the strongest possible terms and that is our bipartisan position I’m sure.”

The capture of Mr Jenkins during his service to the Ukrainian Foreign Legion has threatened to further strain Russo-Australian relations during an enduring ebb, prompting insults of “obedience” to the “collective West” from Russian diplomats and fighting language from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Penny Wong says grave concerns for welfare of Oscar Jenkins

Senator Wong earlier on Wednesday said the Australian government held “grave concerns for Mr Jenkins’ welfare” and was “making urgent inquiries following the reports of his death”.

“We do need to ascertain the facts, and we’re working very hard to do that,” she told the ABC.

Senator Wong said Mr Pavlovsky “has been called in” and that “Russia is obliged to treat all prisoners of war in accordance with international humanitarian law, this includes humane treatment and the right to a fair trial”.

“We will look at the facts when they have been ascertained,” she said.

“But I want to be clear, all options are on the table.”

Ukrainian and Australian diplomats on Tuesday were making urgent inquiries after reports that the 32-year-old former Melbourne Grammar boy had died, just weeks after he was captured by Russian forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

Mr Jenkins had been classified as a prisoner of war in diplomatic negotiations with his Russian captors, but Ukrainian ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko said he was now focused on finding out if the captured soldier was alive.

“We are now verifying this information to see if it is true … For now we cannot verify whether this has happened,” Mr Myroshnychenko said.

The Australian understands the Department of Foreign ­Affairs and Trade had not received any word of Mr Jenkins’ condition from Russian counterparts since his capture.

Government sources also said there were added complexities surrounding Mr Jenkins’ whereabouts due to the fact he was enlisted and serving with the Ukrainian armed forces.

“The Australian government is making urgent inquiries following reports of Oscar Jenkins’ death,” a DFAT spokesman said. “These reports have not been verified, but we continue to have grave concerns for Mr Jenkins’ welfare. At the Foreign Minister’s direction, the Russian ambassador was called into DFAT on 13 January to seek information and reiterate Australia’s expectations that Russia will comply with its obligations under international law. The Russian Federation is obligated to treat all prisoners of war in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

It was the second time Russian ambassador has been hauled before DFAT over the capture of Mr Jenkins, with hostage negotiations raising the temperature of rhetoric between either side.

Mr Jenkins is the first Australian combatant reportedly captured by Russian forces in Ukraine. If confirmed dead, he would also be the first Australian killed in Russian captivity since the conflict began. Six other Australians have died on the front lines.

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Russian forces reported to have tortured captured soldiers

UN rapporteurs have repeatedly described “widespread and systematic” torture in Russian prisons housing PoWs.

Australia has not had consular access to Mr Jenkins, meaning it could not communicate with him during his imprisonment, and has instead tried to use the Ukrainian government as a go-between.

Channel 7 has reported Mr Jenkins was allegedly killed by execution, and that a body had been recovered but not identified, while ABC News previously reported DFAT had heard concerns for Mr Jenkins as early as November.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesperson Simon Birmingham called for the diplomatic expulsion of Mr Pavlovsky should reports be confirmed.

“If reports are true that Russia undertook an extrajudicial execution of a captured Australian citizen then the Albanese government should respond in the strongest possible terms,” Senator Birmingham said.

“Three years ago the then Labor opposition urged Russian diplomatic expulsions, yet in government Labor have undertaken no such action. If Russia has engaged in such an egregious and illegal action then it must now be a catalyst for action.

“Nothing less than the recalling of Australia’s ambassador to Russia and expulsion of Russia’s ambassador to Australia would be sufficient in such circumstances.”

Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova last month said the Kremlin was “investigating” Mr Jenkins’ capture as she accused the Albanese government of being “Russophobic”.

“Efforts are currently under way to verify reports of the captured Australian citizen,” she said on December 26. “We are monitoring the situation alongside the relevant agencies. The Australian political establishment (has a) hostile stance towards Russia.

“Canberra obediently follows in the footsteps of the collective West, which pursues a Russophobic policy.”

Responding to the far more direct and derisive rhetoric deployed by the Kremlin, DFAT said Australia was simply acting on its national interests.

“We reject the mischaracterisation of Australia as ‘Russophobic’,” a DFAT spokesman said at the time. “As the Prime Minister has said, we will always look after Australians.”

According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Jenkins graduated from Melbourne Grammar School in 2010, before studying at Monash University and then moving to China in 2015.

Having fallen out of contact with many of his friends and loved ones in Australia, he was seen in a social media video being taken prisoner by Russian troops.

Video circulated by pro-Putin accounts on Telegram showed the Australian being aggressively interrogated as he tried to communicate in English, broken Ukrainian and French.

At one point, he was asked in Russian: “Do you want to live?” The Australian misunderstood the question, replying: “Live? I am in Kramatorsk, not far.” Mr Jenkins, looking shocked, was hit on the side of the head twice in the footage, with his interrogator telling him in ­Russian: “Don’t blame me for slapping you. Where are you from? Where are you from? Nationality? F*ck, talk faster.”

Late last month Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus appealed to the Kremlin to treat Mr Jenkins humanely after the Russian video footage of him being beaten and abused. “The Australian government is making representations to the Russian government,” Mr Dreyfus said. “We urge the Russian government to fully adhere to its obligations under inter­national humanitarian law, including with respect to prisoners of war.”

Co-chair Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations Kateryna Argyrou expressed her fear for Mr Jenkins on behalf of Australia’s Ukrainian community.

“If it’s true, it’s absolutely horrific. Every single member of our community feels sick to the stomach at the possibility,” she said. “We are waiting with the rest of Australia for more information and expect Russian authorities to immediately respond to the government’s inquiries.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/defence/captured-australian-oscar-jenkins-reportedly-executed/news-story/33abd9978fce0c8b97bb146bd07bd6d0

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>>22357731

Friends serving with Oscar Jenkins in Ukraine believe Australian killed shortly after capture

Andrew Greene and David Estcourt - 15 January 2025

Soldiers who served alongside Oscar Jenkins in the Ukrainian armed forces say they are convinced their Australian comrade was killed by Russia's military shortly after being captured last year.

Numerous foreign fighters and Ukraine supporters have told the ABC they believe the 32-year-old is dead.

But while authorities say they hold "grave fears" for the prisoner of war, they stress they have had no formal confirmation of his fate.

In December, a hostage video emerged of the captured Melbourne man being interrogated by Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine, weeks after Australian authorities were alerted to his "disappearance".

An American soldier who previously served alongside Mr Jenkins in Ukraine's armed forces said he was notified of his Australian friend's death last week.

The foreign fighter, who asked to be identified by his call sign "Forrest", said he believed his Australian comrade had been killed, and described his grief at losing his "best mate".

"During the identification process they used the tattoo he had, and it was shown it was him … he had the word 'vegan' tattooed on his hand," he told the ABC.

Another Australian with links to Ukraine's armed forces said he had been provided "unnerving information" that pointed to Oscar Jenkins being killed soon after being captured.

"Oscar's body was discovered by my friend's sister squad. It appears that they were executed," said the military figure who is currently based in Ukraine.

"Oscar's body was with three or four others who were from the same squad. [They were] all found in the same area where the video was taken," the Australian figure told the ABC, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade first learned of concerns for the welfare of Mr Jenkins in November.

At least seven Australians are believed to have died fighting in Ukraine since the invasion began in 2022. But Mr Jenkins is believed to be the first to have been captured and held as a prisoner of war.

PM threatens 'strongest action possible' if reports of death confirmed

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it would be "absolutely reprehensible" if any harm had been caused to Mr Jenkins, but stressed Australia was yet to confirm what had happened to the prisoner of war.

"I spoke with the Ukrainian ambassador on Monday in my office," Mr Albanese told reporters in Tasmania.

"We call upon Russia to immediately confirm Oscar Jenkins's status. We remain gravely concerned.

"We will await the facts to come out but if there has been any harm caused to Oscar Jenkins, that's absolutely reprehensible and the Australian government will take the strongest action possible."

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said if Mr Jenkins had been executed, then Russia's ambassador to Australia should be expelled.

"If there is confirmation that Oscar Jenkins has been killed the government should take the strongest possible action, and that is that the ambassador should be withdrawn and the ambassador here in Australia should be sent packing," Mr Dutton said.

On Wednesday Foreign Minister Penny Wong also stressed that authorities were still working hard to verify Mr Jenkins's fate, but insisted the expulsion of Russia's ambassador to Canberra was a possibility.

"All options are on the table," Senator Wong told the ABC's AM program.

"I need to, as the foreign minister, identify and ascertain the facts beforehand.

"Obviously this does not occur in the context of a relationship that has been an easy relationship. This has been a very difficult relationship for many years."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-15/oscar-jenkins-friends-believe-russia-killed-soon-after-capture/104819238

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>>22351441

Anthony Albanese invited Donald Trump to visit Australia in first phone call

ROSIE LEWIS - 15 January 2025

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Anthony Albanese invited ­Donald Trump to Australia in their first phone call a day after the incoming US president won the November 5 election. The invitation emerged amid warnings the Prime Minister will find it difficult to fit in a face-to-face meeting with the president-elect before the federal election.

As the Coalition accuses Mr Albanese of being missing in action in dealing with Mr Trump, The Australian has confirmed the Prime Minister told the president-elect he looked forward to welcoming him to Australia at the first available opportunity that was convenient for him.

Mr Albanese spoke to Mr Trump the morning after he was re-elected, but it wasn’t known until now that an invitation had been made.

The Prime Minister on Monday pointed to a Quad leaders summit, which could be months away, for a possible face-to-face meeting with the incoming president, with doubts he will be able to see Mr Trump before calling an election unless the government can organise a quick bilateral meeting.

Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s ambassador in Washington DC from 2020-23, overlapping with Mr Trump’s first presidency, said face-to-face meetings between leaders were always important, particularly early on, to establish a personal relationship.

Given the upcoming federal election is due by May, “it’d be difficult to have a face-to-face sooner rather than later”, he said.

“Perhaps in the margins of a G7 meeting, depending on when that is, that’d be good,” Mr Sinodinos said. “These days most international diplomacy is at that personal level, particularly between leaders. There will be many leaders seeking the president’s ear but Australia does have an important relationship with the US.

“We’ve been strategic with the US in this part of the world so it is important to take the opportunity not just to talk about bilateral issues but also the importance of the US role in the region and why that is important to their security, and how they need us for their security.”

Ensuring AUKUS continued and, if possible, accelerated would be a priority for the meeting, Mr Sinodinos said, as well as the economic and security relationships, what form of engagement the administration wants to have, and what policies it will roll out.

Mr Albanese, who government sources say looks forward to meeting with Mr Trump at the first available opportunity, has spoken about the “very constructive beginning” to the two leaders’ relationship and the efforts he made to connect to more than 100 Democrats and Republicans. He did not seek a meeting with Mr Trump on his way back from the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro in November, when federal parliament was wrapping up for the year.

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham demanded the Prime Minister “explain why he has passed up multiple opportunities for early engagement with President Trump”.

“At every turn he has failed to reach out to President Trump prior and post his election, unlike the UK’s Keir Starmer, who met with President Trump prior to his election, or Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, who visited him after his win,” Senator Birmingham said. “Now Anthony Albanese is passing up on the opportunity to attend the inauguration. Through inaction Mr Albanese risks missing the opportunity to maximise his influence and engagement with Australia’s most important ally.”

(continued)

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Finance Minister Katy Gallagher pointed out Mr Albanese was one of the first foreign leaders to speak with Mr Trump after his election and she was “very confident” those discussions would continue.

An invitation to Mr Trump’s inauguration went to Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other Quad foreign ministers, which the government says is unprecedented, and she was “absolutely thrilled” to be going.

After former Australian ambassador to the US Joe Hockey told The Australian Mr Albanese and Peter Dutton should be considering offering Mr Trump a state visit later this year, Senator Gallagher was asked if there’d be an appetite from taxpayers to foot the bill.

“In general, we don’t look at state visits – wherever those … visiting dignitaries come from – as a cost. We don’t weigh it up from that point of view because face-to-face relationships are important,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“We’ve had many state visits. They’re an important part of our relationships with other countries. With the incoming President Trump, I have no doubt there will be very close engagement between both administrations, as you would expect.”

Liberal MP Aaron Violi, who co-chairs the Parliamentary Friends of AUKUS group with Labor MP Luke Gosling, said given the importance of the US-Australia alliance and the nuclear-powered submarine pact, Mr Albanese should meet with Mr Trump “as soon as possible”, and before the election if there was a window to do so.

“Everything looks positive (for AUKUS) but obviously that confirmation is crucial and that’s why it’s important the Prime Minister and Ambassador (Kevin) Rudd and all senior ministers are continuing to engage with the new administration given how important AUKUS is to our short-term and long-term national security needs,” Mr Violi said. “Given the talk of tariffs … we should seek exemptions as we have previously under the Trump administration. That’s the real test for Ambassador Rudd.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anthony-albanese-invited-donald-trump-to-visit-australia-in-first-phone-call/news-story/5edbcf25f7e58b9326ccaaf4bcd0a92b

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>>22345254

Dutton set to legislate January 26 Australia Day as more councils back plan for citizenship ceremonies

BRENDAN KEARNS - 15 January 2025

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Peter Dutton will look at legislating January 26 as the nation’s holiday, as mayors in Labor and independent-held federal electorates back his proposed Australia Day citizenship ceremony crackdown on progressive councils.

The Opposition Leader had called on Anthony Albanese to “stand up to mayors” in local councils that were no longer holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day after Labor loosened the rule in 2022 to allow ceremonies three days before or after January 26. Last year 81 councils changed that date of their citizenship ceremonies.

Mr Dutton was asked on Tuesday if he would legislate to permanently recognise January 26 as Australia Day to protect it from changes.

“I’m happy to look at the suggestion and we have to make sure we continue to be proud of who we are as a country,” he said in Ipswich, Queensland, on Tuesday morning in the “must-win” seat of Blair.

Mr Dutton escalated his war of the words with Anthony Albanese, saying he did not want to be told “by woke CEOs and a weak Prime Minister” that he cannot celebrate Australia Day.

“I want to celebrate Australia Day and I want to stand there with those new citizens who have come from a country that they are trying to escape either persecution or poverty, and they want a future for themselves for their children, their grandchildren,” he said.

Mr Dutton’s announcement comes as support from mayors across the country continues to grow.

In Sydney’s Fairfield City Council, which sits in the federal electorates of McMahon and Fowler, Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone hit out at “woke” councils. McMahon is held by Labor Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen on a 9.5 per cent margin and Fowler by independent Dai Le – aligned with Mr Carbone – on a 1.6 per cent margin.

“I think that many councils take advantage of the current system. They use it, they’re a little bit woke, in my view, compared to our council, and they sort of try and find an excuse to not hold it,” he said.

In the federal electorate of Gellibrand, held by Labor on an 11.5 per cent margin, Hobsons Bay City Council Mayor Daria Kellander said the council has always hosted citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, and will continue to do so.

“Australia Day has proved a popular choice for residents to celebrate and become citizens. I’m looking forward to hosting my first citizenship ceremony this upcoming 26 January,” she said.

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Steve Rabie, Mayor of Mansfield Shire Council in Melbourne’s outer north, in the federal electorate of Indi – held by independent Helen Haines on an 8.9 per cent margin – said “I support the plan. And our council, Mansfield Shire, always has an Australia Day, and on that day we celebrate all Australians”.

Other mayors in Liberal- and National-held seats have also supported Mr Dutton’s call. Anthony Marsh, Mayor of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, which holds an Australia Day citizenship ceremony, said “we’re not talking about Mornington Peninsula citizenship or Victorian citizenship, it is a federal thing. It’s highly governed by federal regulation so I think it’s appropriate that they determine when that is”.

Bundaberg Mayor Helen Blackburn said “Australia Day is a day for all Australians”, and that she had heard “loud and clear” from her community in Queensland that they want citizenship ceremonies held on Australia Day.

“We need to stand together and we need to enjoy a day that represents us as a community, us as a country,” Ms Blackburn said.

Loddon Shire Council Mayor Dan Straub said he supports Mr Dutton’s commitment “in principle” but being in a more regional council means that flexibility is sometimes needed.

Meanwhile, Labor mayors have come out swinging against Mr Dutton’s proposal. Darcy Byrne, Mayor of Sydney’s Inner West Council, said “like clockwork, after New Year’s and before Australia Day, Peter Dutton tries to start a petty culture wars fight”.

“I remember when he tried to enforce an absurd federal government dress code at citizenship ceremonies, forgetting that, overwhelmingly, proud new citizens dress beautifully and certainly don’t need a fashion diktat from plain old Peter.”

The Inner West Council does hold ceremonies on Australia Day, and Mr Byrne said it “will continue to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, with an emphasis on the proud Aboriginal history of this continent”.

Anthony Albanese was asked on Tuesday if he would reinstate the mandate but did not answer. He went on to say that he would attend the National Australia Day commemorations.

“I hope that Peter Dutton this year makes the choice to join the National Australia Day celebrations in Canberra. That’s what I did as the opposition leader,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Dutton responded by rejecting the invitation to attend the event in Canberra because “it is not the tradition”.

“Frankly, I think the Prime Minister is pretty unhinged in some of his comments at the moment,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/dutton-set-to-legislate-january-26-australia-day-as-more-councils-back-plan-for-citizenship-ceremonies/news-story/00d2c71ed30df4380fc9dc275f8d7fd1

>>22225665

>>22307893

‘Long-overdue’: World leaders react to Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal

Anthony Albanese has joined British PM Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in calling for a ‘permanent, political solution’ in Gaza, and an influx of aid.

GEORDIE GRAY - 16 January 2025

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined British PM Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in calling for a ‘permanent, political solution’ in Gaza, and an influx of aid after Israel and Hamas agreed on a 42-day ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza .

The deal, set to begin on Sunday, has raised cautious hopes for an end to 15 months of devastating conflict that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, left much of Gaza in ruins, and seen more than 250 Israeli hostages taken, with 33 set to be released in the first stage of the deal.

Mr Albanese on Thursday welcomed the ceasefire, calling it a “constructive step towards peace and stability in the region.”

“Today must mark the beginning of a new chapter for the Israeli and Palestinian ,” Mr Albanese told reporters.

“We hope it will allow the Palestinian people the opportunity to rebuild, reform their governance which is most necessary to pursue self-determination.”

In an earlier joint statement, Mr Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong described the deal as “a constructive step towards peace and stability in the region”.

In their statement, they urged all parties to “respect its terms and safeguard a lasting peace”, stressing the importance of ensuring “the immediate release of all hostages and unimpeded and sustained increases in humanitarian assistance to all parts of Gaza”.

They also reiterated Australia’s commitment to a two-state solution, highlighting the need for Palestinian self-determination while condemning Hamas’ atrocities.

“Our thoughts are with all the civilians killed, displaced and taken hostage in this conflict, and the many humanitarian workers who lost their lives in the service of others.”

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, who is in Israel this week in a high-stakes bid to repair Canberra’s relationship with its closest Middle East ally, posted a photo on social media of himself meeting families of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.

“Today I met with Ella and Daniel in Tel Aviv. Both had family members taken as hostages by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023. 467 days later they speak for all of us when they demand the return of all hostages to their families. The ceasefire must make that a reality,” he wrote on X.

At a news conference, US President Joe Biden explained that the deal incorporated elements of the three-phase framework he outlined in May 2024.

He stated that the first phase, set to last six weeks, includes a “full and complete ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza, and the release of a number of hostages held by Hamas”.

In exchange, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

“I’m proud to say Americans will be part of that hostage release on phase one,” Biden said. “Fighting in Gaza will stop, and soon the hostages return home to their families.”

The ceasefire – which still requires formal ratification by the Israeli cabinet – is expected to involve the IDF withdrawing from populated areas in Gaza’s east during the first phase, according to Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, one of the mediators.

Al Thani noted that 33 hostages would be released over the 42 days, although the exact number of Palestinian prisoners to be freed remains unclear.

Reaction to the announcement was swift and varied across the international community.

President-elect Donald Trump announced the deal on his Truth Social platform before it was made official: “We have a deal for the hostages in the Middle East. They will be released shortly. Thank you!”

In a subsequent post, he added, “With this deal in place, my National Security team, through the efforts of Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will continue to work closely with Israel and our Allies to make sure Gaza NEVER again becomes a terrorist safe haven.”

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In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer reflected on the toll of the conflict. “After months of devastating bloodshed and countless lives lost, this is the long-overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for,” he said.

“For the innocent Palestinians whose homes turned into a warzone overnight and the many who have lost their lives, this ceasefire must allow for a huge surge in humanitarian aid, which is so desperately needed to end the suffering in Gaza. And then our attention must turn to how we secure a permanently better future for the Israeli and Palestinian people – grounded in a two-state solution that will guarantee security and stability for Israel, alongside a sovereign and viable Palestine state.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said that a ceasefire deal must be followed by a “political solution” to end the conflict in Gaza.

“The agreement must be respected. The hostages freed. Gazans aided. A political solution must happen,” Macron posted on X.

In Europe, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo expressed relief, stating, “after too many months of conflict, we feel tremendous relief for the hostages, for their families and for the people of Gaza. Let’s hope this ceasefire will put an end to the fighting and mark the beginning of a sustained peace. Belgium stands ready to help.”

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre emphasised the importance of strengthening Palestinian institutions as a step toward peace.

“The Palestinian institutions must be strengthened and prepared to assume full control and responsibility, including in Gaza. Both Israel and Palestine must receive credible security guarantees, and the solution must be anchored regionally,” he said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed a ceasefire deal, stressing that the “priority now must be to ease the tremendous suffering caused by this conflict”.

“The United Nations stands ready to support the implementation of this deal and scale up the delivery of sustained humanitarian relief to the countless Palestinians who continue to suffer,” he told reporters.

The European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the deal as a turning point.

“I warmly welcome the ceasefire and hostage release agreement in Gaza. Hostages will be reunited with their loved ones and humanitarian aid can reach civilians in Gaza. This brings hope to an entire region, where people have endured immense suffering for far too long. Both parties must fully implement this agreement, as a stepping stone toward lasting stability in the region and a diplomatic resolution of the conflict.”

In a statement, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office wrote: “The ceasefire provides an important opportunity to substantially increase humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of Gaza.

“Italy is ready to play its part, together with its European and international partners, for the stabilisation and reconstruction of Gaza and to permanently consolidate the cessation of hostilities, also with a view to relaunching a political process towards a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution, with Israel and a State of Palestine living side by side in peace and security, within mutually recognised borders.”

Leaders in the Middle East also voiced their support. Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, writing on X, stressed the urgency of delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Egypt will always remain true to its commitments, a supporter of just peace, a loyal partner in achieving it, and a defender of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” he wrote.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, meanwhile, underscored the deal’s significance for regional stability and reiterated Turkey’s commitment to a two-state solution.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/longoverdue-world-leaders-react-to-gaza-ceasefire-and-hostage-deal/news-story/4118156ed2cff1c8893f9cbd448dff98

https://x.com/MarkDreyfusKCMP/status/1879636778602402169

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113833442957238587

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/113833531533520804

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>>22363017

‘Acknowledge Palestine now’: Labor activists’ post-ceasefire call as Anthony Albanese rules out recognition

RHIANNON DOWN - 16 January 2025

Labor activists have demanded Anthony Albanese immediately recognise Palestine and impose sanctions on Israel until it withdraws completely from the Palestinian territories, despite the Prime Minister’s attempt to neutralise the conflict as an election issue post-ceasefire.

Mr Albanese on Thursday ruled out formally recognising a Palestinian state before the next election, signalling he will only back such a move if terror group Hamas plays no future role in the Middle East.

But Labor Friends of Palestine spokesman Peter Moss said hours later that the Albanese government must follow the ALP constitution and fast track formal recognition regardless.

“Labor Friends of Palestine calls on the Australian government to implement official platform policy and immediately and unconditionally recognise the State of Palestine, joining 146 UN member states, including Ireland, Norway and Spain,” Mr Moss told The Australian

“Australia and the international community should apply comprehensive sanctions under international law, in line with the (International Court of Justice) July 2024 ruling, until Israel ends its illegal occupation.”

The Labor activist group late last week blasted Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s trip to Israel to repair relations with the Netanyahu government.

Mr Albanese on Thursday morning welcomed the ceasefire, and paid tribute to both US President-elect Donald Trump and outgoing Biden administration secretary of state Antony Blinken for their role in securing a deal.

While he would not commit to personally reaching out to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to renew Israeli-Australian relations after a difficult 18 months, Mr Albanese said Hamas was the enemy of both Palestinians and Israelis.

When asked if he would recognise Palestine before the next Australian election, due in May, Mr Albanese said that would not be possible.

“I can’t see any circumstance where that can happen before the election,” Mr Albanese said in Canberra.

“There hasn’t been an election in Gaza or West Bank for almost two decades, and, quite clearly, the Palestinians need to have reform as well. Hamas can play no role in a future Palestinian state.

“Hamas is the enemy of the Palestinian people, not just the enemy of the state of Israel.”

The comments came despite Labor having been at odds with the Netanyahu government for months over its support for an increased Palestinian presence at the United Nations.

Mr Netanyahu late last year attacked the Albanese government’s position on Palestine and accused it of fuelling anti-Semitism back in Australia as result.

When asked if he would personally reach out to his Israeli counterpart, Mr Albanese said he saw no issue with Israeli-Australian relations.

“I have no issue with Australia-Israel relations. They remain, in my view, strong.”

Mr Albanese also said he hoped the ceasefire would calm tensions domestically, amid calls from his own envoy on anti-Semitism, Jillian Segal, for an urgent national cabinet meeting to deal with an explosion in anti-Jewish hate crimes.

“I certainly hope, and have consistently called for, the lowering of temperature here,” he said on Thursday.

“Australians, I believe, wanted to see the hostages released. They want to see an end to conflict.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/anthony-albanese-wont-back-palestinian-statehood-before-the-election/news-story/2a07d41021a7e815f3a768c04667602d

>>22225665

>>22307893

>>22363017

Mark Dreyfus plans to visit southern Israel amid fence-mending trip

GABRIELLE BRINER - 16 January 2025

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus plans to visit southern Israeli communities devastated by the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants, unlike Foreign Minister Penny Wong who avoided the area during her trip to Israel a year ago.

The Attorney-General spent his first day in Israel as part of the Albanese government’s attempt to improve the fractured relationship with the Netanyahu government in Jerusalem meeting his counterpart Justice Minister Yariv Levin.

Mr Dreyfus also met two relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, saying in a social media post that they “speak for all of us when they demand the return of all hostages to their families. The ceasefire must make that a reality.”

But Mr Dreyfus’s visit has been overshadowed by the announcement of the long awaited ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel during one of the most strained periods in the 65-year history of Australia-Israel relations.

On Wednesday, hours before the highly-anticipated hostage release deal was finalised, Mr Dreyfus met with Mr Levin – who is also Deputy Prime Minister – where a spokesperson said the pair discussed the “long and enduring relationship between Australia and Israel, state of the war including progress in current ceasefire/hostage negotiations and humanitarian conditions in Gaza.”

In a statement before the meeting, Mr Dreyfus underscored Australia’s enduring friendship with Israel, while advocating for the immediate release of hostages, a ceasefire, increased humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a two-state solution. “I will reiterate Australia’s demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, our support for a ceasefire, and increased humanitarian access to Gaza,” he said.

His trip marks exactly one year since Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s controversial visit to Israel, a diplomatic encounter that left many in Israel questioning Australia’s commitment to its longstanding ally. “Australia-Israel relations are at the lowest point I have seen them,” said Senator Dave Sharma, a former Australian Ambassador to Israel.

Australia’s historically close ties with Israel have deteriorated significantly since October 7, exacerbated by the Albanese government’s attitude towards Israel’s actions in their war against Hamas in Gaza, including the civilian death toll and for their humanitarian response.

Under Senator Wong, Australia has supported UN resolutions condemning Israeli settlements, reinstated the term “Occupied Palestinian Territories” and called for Israel to cease its “unlawful presence” in those territories.

These moves have sparked backlash from Israeli leaders, who view them as a significant policy shift and led to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last year attacking the Albanese government’s position on Palestine that he warned was fuelling anti-Semitism back in Australia.

On Thursday, Mr Albanese refused to say if he would be personally reaching out to Mr Netanyahu to help repair relations between the two countries, Mr Albanese said: “I have no issue with Australia-Israel relations. They remain, in my view, strong.”

Senator Sharma criticised the Albanese government’s response to the October 7 Hamas attacks as “shameful,” accusing it of failing to adequately support Israel’s efforts to defend itself and secure the release of hostages.

Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, emphasised the importance of combating anti-Semitism to restore Israel’s trust. “It is crucial for Australia to take decisive action against antisemitism for Israelis to view us as allies once again,” he said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/mark-dreyfus-to-visit-southern-israel-amid-fencemending-trip/news-story/3432b776eb15295631a14681d16e2db4

>>22328149

AUKUS agreement to get ‘strong support’ in Trump administration, Marco Rubio says

JOE KELLY - 16 January 2025

Incoming Secretary of State for Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, Marco Rubio, says that the AUKUS agreement is “something that you’re going to find very strong support for in this administration”.

Speaking at his confirmation hearing, the Florida Senator said he wanted to remove impediments to the trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States and use it to achieve a better and more balanced strategic outlook in the Pacific region.

He argued that AUKUS was the model for US engagement with its allies. He said it was “almost a blueprint in many ways of consortium-like partnership with nation states that are allied to us to confront some of these global challenges”.

Senator Rubio noted that the agreement relied heavily on the Department of Defence, but clarified that AUKUS could help America and its partners in the realms of defence, critical minerals as well as sensitive technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Republican Senator Jim Risch – chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee – said that there “hasn’t been much discussion about AUKUS really since the thing started”.

“A lot of us have been pressing the administration to gear that up. It has not been forthcoming,” he said.

He asked Senator Rubio for his thoughts on the trilateral security partnership, its importance and the need for “getting this thing moving”.

Senator Rubio said that it was “one example of how we can leverage the power of these partnerships with allies … to reach outcomes and objectives such as creating a geopolitical and strategic balance in the Pacific region and beyond,” he said.

“So we’ll have to look at that and see what components of whatever impediments exist can be removed by the actions of the Department of State.”

Senator Rubio also made clear that, to maximise the potential of partnerships like AUKUS, it would require a whole of government effort from the United States.

“Very few of these global issues are entirely reliant on the Department of State,” he said. “The Department of Energy, the Department of Defence. We have a host of other government agencies – Commerce in many cases – who also play a critical role in expediting and going through for example some of the lists of technologies that perhaps are not being transferred because they’ve been deemed sensitive.”

But Senator Rubio endorsed providing access to these technologies. He said that, “in the case of our strong close allies – that’s the point”.

“You want to be able to find yourself in a situation where you can accelerate partnership by making available to key allies these sensitive technologies that we wouldn’t want to see in the hands or developed by an adversary.”

Senator Rubio also fired a warning to China, saying it had cheated its way to superpower status as it tried to undermine the “liberal world order” long cherished by the US elite.

“We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order. And they took advantage of all its benefits but they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities.

“Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense.”

Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd responded to the comments on AUKUS made by Senator Rubio by posting on the X social media platform: “Thank you for your great support for AUKUS, @marcorubio.”

“Looking forward to working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the incoming Trump Administration across the full range of our foreign policy and national security challenges,” Mr Rudd said.

The Democratic co-chair of the Congressional AUKUS Working Group, Joe Courtney, also said that Senator Rubio had been a “strong supporter of AUKUS, helping to enact the landmark AUKUS authorities in 2023”.

“Great to hear that he is committed to continuing advancing the mission when he takes the helm at the State Department,” Mr Courtney said.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/aukus-agreement-to-get-strong-support-in-trump-administration-marco-rubio-says/news-story/35316727499cf4e1ebc6c4b554fa508f

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Corporate Australia downplays Australia Day for greater flexibility around public holidays

MATT BELL - 15 January 2025

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Big business will shun Australia Day and allow staff to work on January 26, placing some of the country’s largest employees at odds with opposition leader Peter Dutton, who has vowed to protect the national day should the ­Coalition be elected.

Corporations including Telstra, Commonwealth Bank and AustralianSuper allow staff to work Australia Day and other public holidays for another day off – perhaps one culturally important to them – championing the move as a win for employees after flexibility around their time off, despite few taking up the offer.

Other businesses including Woodside and EY, which also offer flexibility around Australia Day, will avoid holding any major celebrations and have instead put an onus on employees.

International tourists will also be shielded from Australia’s nat­ional day, with one of the country’s largest travel groups, Intrepid Travel, opting to focus on the Indigenous side of January 26 on tours held on that day.

Intrepid Travel Australia and New Zealand managing director Brett Mitchell told The Australian that about 50 per cent of staff opt to work Australia Day, which was the catalyst for its flexible public holiday policy, adding it was the right decision to not celebrate.

“As part of our reconciliation journey, we’ve listened a lot to what our First Nation partners think about this particular date and also our staff,” he said.

“The more businesses can provide that flexibility and show empathy, it adds up. Allowing staff to not partake in days like Australia Day is one way that ­allows us to foster an inclusive environment, and for us to show solidarity with the community and our partners.”

Mr Mitchell said Intrepid guides have been educated to talk about the Indigenous culture and will be encouraged to talk to tourists and celebrate Indigenous ­people.

“Depending on what country we’re in, we will use January 26 as a great opportunity to talk about First Nations culture and celebrate and even look to bring in an elder or someone connected to that land,” he said.

It comes as a poll published this week by the Institute of Public Affairs showed that 69 per cent of Australians say Australia Day should be celebrated on January 26, up from 63 per cent 12 months ago, while a majority of all age groups now back the day.

The Finance Sector Union has been key to the big four banks and super funds allowing employees to work on Australia Day in exchange for another day off.

National assistant secretary Jason Hall said workers valued flexibility and choice to take a day off when it suited them. “For others, it’s about living their values and not celebrating a holiday on a day that doesn’t resonate, or causes concern, for them,” he said.

“The FSU First Nations Workers Committee acknowledges that many Australians wish to celebrate the success and achievements of the nation that they contribute to every day, but also that Australia Day is a day of mourning, sorrow and invasion for many.”

(continued)

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This year, Australia Day falls on a Sunday, which will see the holiday observed on January 27 in what will mean a long weekend. Few workers take up the opportunity to work Australia Day, with the operator of the Australian Securities Exchange, ASX, yet to receive any request from staff wanting to work on January 27, despite provisions in its EBA.

About 10 per cent of employees at Woodside elect each year to substitute at least one public holiday for an alternate date.

Law firm King & Wood Mallesons, which has more than 1600 employees in Australia, had 78 staff members use its flexible public holiday policy to take 127 days that worked for them in 2024.

Since January 2022, 1648 people out of PwC Australia’s near 9000-strong work force have taken the opportunity to float one or more public holidays.

The Opposition Leader this week said Australians should not be “ashamed of” Australia Day, doubling down on a Coalition election vow to overturn a Labor-era rule and force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 – a move he would make within the first 100 days if elected to power.

Woolworths, which resumed selling Australian-themed products to coincide with the national day, mandates all office-based staff have the day off, while retail members continue to have the choice to work the public holiday if rostered on under a longstanding policy.

AustralianSuper allows staff to work on the “January 26 public holiday” for another day, while those of a different background can switch another two state-based public holidays.

Non-rostered employees in all Woodside locations are entitled to take leave in exchange for working on a public holiday, up to a maximum of five days a year under its public holiday policy.

The big four banks, ANZ, CBA, NAB and Westpac, all allow staff to swap Australia Day or another public holiday for a substitute day if approved by their manager.

The major accounting firms of Deloitte, EY and KPMG all offer flexible public holidays, which allows staff to swap two existing public holidays with a different day culturally significant to them.

“Our people appreciate the ability to structure their public holiday leave entitlements according to their preferences. For instance, some have chosen to use this policy for Australia Day,” EY Oceania talent leader Lauren Stanton said.

Since 2015, PwC Australia staff have had the choice to work public holidays and take a different day in lieu that suits their cultural, individual and/or religious preference.

PwC Australia chief people officer Karen Lonergan said a floating public holiday policy allowed staff the choice to work nationally recognised public holidays and take a different day in lieu, to suit cultural or religious preferences.

“We’ve found this approach supports productivity and is an example of how we think about flexibility at PwC. It’s just one way the firm demonstrates its commitment to creating a culture of greater inclusion,” she said.

Federal public service workers including those at the Australian Securities & Investments Commission are entitled to public holidays including Australia Day, but can swap any holiday for another day pending manager approval.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/corporate-australia-downplays-australia-day-for-greater-flexibility-around-public-holidays/news-story/9ca67670c517d45c45bec18fd046fe02

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COMMENTARY: Look out, there’s a new vibe about our national day

ZOE BOOTH - January 15, 2025

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Let’s face it – over the past few years, celebrating Australia Day has become a bit on the nose, especially among university-educated types.

Head to more working-class areas, like my home town of Newcastle, and you’ll still see plenty of people celebrating. But in the city, it’s almost taboo.

This is a far cry from what I – and probably many of you – experienced growing up. Clearly, something has changed.

For me, the biggest milestone was in 2017, when my (then) beloved Triple J stopped hosting the Hottest 100 on January 26. That was the nail in the coffin. From then on, celebrating Australia Day became entirely outside the Overton window.

Last Australia Day, down at Bondi Beach, I noticed something weird: not a single Australian flag in sight. Sure, a helicopter flew one over the beach a few times (God knows who paid for that), but no flags on towels, bikinis, or even the backs of sunburnt blokes.

Australia Day isn’t seen as a day of celebration anymore. For many, it’s morphed into a public exercise in self-flagellation.

Even my father, proudly displaying an Australian flag in our front yard, was asked by a friend’s wife: “Why do you have that swastika in your yard?”

After October 7, I attended a rally for Israel where I saw a man wearing an iconic red cap. I initially assumed it was a MAGA hat, but it actually said “Make Australia Great Again”.

I complimented him on it, but moments later he was questioned by police. I can only assume it was because he was a white male, alone, in a Trump-style hat.

A few years back, Cricket Australia announced it would avoid referencing Australia Day during its matches, only to backtrack after a public outcry. Meanwhile, in 2017, councils in Fremantle, Yarra and Darebin stopped holding citizenship ceremonies on January 26, prompting backlash from then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Retailers have also waded in – last year Woolworths said it would no longer stock Australia Day merchandise, only to reverse that decision recently, announcing Australia Day products will return in 2025.

Woolworths clearly feels the vibe shift of 2025. And it’s not just Woolworths. I’ve spoken to people around the world who sense it too. Commentator and historian Niall Ferguson senses it. Without us even realising it, it feels like celebrating Australia Day is becoming acceptable again. It’s not just the holiday itself – it’s what it represents.

Increasingly, not only Australians but many in the West are refusing to feign guilt for who we are. The years of shaming “white colonists” have lost their grip. I’m not saying the shaming will stop, but it no longer wields the power it once did.

Ferguson argues that this shift is thanks to Donald Trump’s re-election, and I agree. His victory signalled that ordinary Americans want to prioritise their country and are tired of woke ideology and its shame-driven identity politics.

No doubt, Australia Day will still see protests.

Your social media will be full of keffiyeh-clad arts students calling it Invasion Day. But I’d bet good money that Bondi Beach will have more people decked out in Aussie gear than last year.

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As Pascal Bruckner wrote in perhaps my favourite Quillette essay, Europe (and I’d argue Australia too) is consumed by guilt. Unlike the US, which severed its ties with Europe, Australia remains tethered to the monarchy and its perceived ills.

Some Australian republicans think cutting ties with the monarchy will cure us of this guilt, but anyone familiar with the far left (I was once part of it) knows that nothing will ever be enough.

Even if we became a republic, created Sorry Day, changed the date of Australia Day, voted yes to an Indigenous voice, and renamed every town and river with Aboriginal names, it still wouldn’t satisfy the insatiable demands of woke ideologues.

Like dealing with an abusive partner, the only solution is to refuse to be denigrated.

There are malevolent actors out there who would like to see the West and its values destroyed. We know that you can’t placate them or politely request respect. The only option is to stop playing their game.

It’s the same for those who want us to feel ashamed for celebrating the national day on January 26: stop trying to placate them by removing Australia Day products from shelves or changing the date.

As Bruckner said of Europe: “Either it becomes a convincing world player … or it will be dismembered by hungry predators waiting to devour it piece by piece … It is therefore imperative that we retain our self-confidence as combative occidentals, convinced of the uniqueness of our contributions to civilisation, and who make no excuses for our existence.”

The same applies to Australia. We’re still a young country and, while our national identity may not be as firmly established as America’s or Europe’s, we share a clear foundation in a Judeo-Christian moral framework that emphasises the value of human life, freedom, and individuality. There’s much to be proud of.

Having travelled extensively, I can confidently say there’s nowhere else I’d rather call home.

Of course, we’re not without our challenges – tall poppy syndrome, an underwhelming culinary scene, and ongoing struggles in education, labour productivity, and housing affordability.

And yes, Indigenous Australians face serious and complex issues, but these cannot be reduced to a simple narrative of blame on white colonisation.

Changing the date of our national holiday won’t magically improve life expectancy, health outcomes or educational attainment for Indigenous communities.

This Australia Day, for the first time in years, I’ll be celebrating – and I’m not ashamed.

Zoe Booth is a content director at Quillette.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/look-out-theres-a-new-vibe-about-our-national-day/news-story/568adce4361478fc31ed928397b0e593

Judge lashes WA government over decision to return boy to abuser

PAUL GARVEY - 15 January 2025

A District Court judge has lashed a decision by West Australian government minister Don Punch to return a ward of the state into the home of a child sex predator as ­“utterly extraordinary” and called on the state to rethink whether it wanted to fight a sex abuse compensation claim against it.

Mr Punch – a Labor MP since 2017 – was in a senior role with the WA Department of Communities when he helped set in train the return of eight-year-old Dion Barber into the care of his mother and her de facto partner in December 1988.

The Children’s Court had found 15 days earlier that, on the balance of probabilities, the de facto partner had sexually ­abused the boy.

Mr Barber was returned to the family home four months later.

He alleges he was then repeatedly sexually abused by his mother’s partner almost immediately.

Mr Barber is suing the state of WA, arguing it failed in its duty of care during his time as a ward of the state.

Opening the government’s defence on Wednesday afternoon, barrister Fiona Stanton said the state admitted it had breached its duties when Mr Punch and his colleague decided to send the boy back to the family home.

Judge Linda Black questioned how, in light of that admission, the state could argue that it was acting in good faith.

“I find it utterly extraordinary that the state would accept that it knew an eight-year-old … had been sexually abused by his stepfather, made a ward of the state, and within a very short … time returned him to the hands of the man who abused him. I find that frankly unbelievable,” she said.

Judge Black said she did not see how that decision could be anything other than an “egregious breach” of the department’s responsibilities.

The statement of claim from Mr Barber also alleges he was subsequently sexually abused by his biological father, his mat­ernal grandfather and the friend of foster parents – all of whom he came into contact with during ­periods when he was a ward of the state. The government has disputed whether all of those instances occurred.

Judge Black asked Ms Stanton to ensure her instructors understood the possibility that Mr Barber could be awarded a significant amount of damages solely due its admitted role in the return of Mr Barber to his stepfather’s care.

“The department is at risk of a sizeable damages award just on what they admit, even when you put aside the things they don’t admit,” Judge Black said. “I do not want the plaintiff to get in the witness box if we can avoid it.”

Ms Stanton argued that the court needed to consider that Mr Barber had already suffered significant harm to his wellbeing as a result of the sexual and physical abuse he had suffered at the hands of not only his stepfather but also, allegedly, his biological father before he was made a ward of the state.

She said Mr Barber had also suffered mental harm as a result of his mother’s decision to take the side of his abuser, who denied ever interfering with the boy, and her efforts to give up her children.

Those other factors needed to be considered when weighing up just how much the state should be held responsible for Mr Barber’s long-term conditions.

Earlier, Mr Barber’s lawyer, Joel Sheldrick, said records from the case management conference led by Mr Punch in December 1988 after the sex abuse allegations were made showed that the department believed only Mr Barber and the mother’s partner “actually knew what happened”, a conclusion he described as one of “appalling negligence”.

He said Mr Punch and his colleague appeared to have given no regard to the evidence from the social workers who investigated the incident, to the medical evidence collected at the time, or to the findings of the Children’s Court magistrate who issued the ward order.

“[Mr Barber was] sent back into the hands of an abuser,” Mr Sheldrick said. “The horror this child went through … should not be underestimated.”

Mr Punch holds the Disability Services, Regional Development, Fisheries, Volunteering and Seniors and Ageing portfolios in the Cook Labor government. He is slated to give evidence to the trial next week.

Mr Punch is the member for Bunbury, a bellwether seat that has almost always been held by the party that forms government in WA.

Mr Sheldrick said the damage suffered by Mr Barber at the hands of his mother’s partner damaged his client “irrevocably”. Mr Barber now suffers from complex PTSD, among a host of other physical and mental conditions.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/judge-lashes-wa-government-over-decision-to-return-boy-to-abuser/news-story/6df7e461975d75f5799de74a1eb6a3d8

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Ashley Paul Griffith to appeal life sentence after pleading guilty to abusing dozens of girls

LYDIA LYNCH - 16 January 2025

A probe into the failings of Queensland’s child protection system that allowed one of Australia’s worst pedophiles to sexually abuse dozens of girls in daycare centres will push ahead despite Ashley Paul Griffith’s decision to appeal his life sentence.

The inquiry, to be headed by the state’s Family and Child Commissioner Luke Twyford, is expected to start work this month and had been tasked with investigating how Griffith was able to repeatedly rape and abuse children for two decades, despite concerns about his conduct.

Describing Griffith’s decision to appeal his sentence as “horrendous”, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the child safety inquiry would not be delayed but would face new legal complexities.

“When parents send their kids off, they want them to be safe and that was an abhorrent breach of trust, and we will be defending our position forcefully,” he said.

“I don’t want the review to be delayed because there are some issues, including with blue cards that have to be reviewed.

“Clearly this appeal will bring some complexities into that case, but I still remain committed to doing that review, because I don’t think we can wait and leave the system without putting a spotlight over it.

“I think Mr Twyford is the right person to be able to manoeuvre the way through that complexity.”

Mr Twyford, who is also chair of the Child Death Review Board, will be handed powers to compel witness and evidence, similar to those of a royal commission.

Griffith was in November sentenced to life in prison, with a non-parole period of 27 years, after pleading guilty to 309 charges. He lodged an appeal against his sentence on December 20 but the matter is yet to be listed for a court hearing, which could be months away.

The 46-year-old was able to keep his Blue Card to work with children in Queensland despite two reports to police that he had abused girls in two separate Brisbane daycare centres in October 2021 and April 2022.

An internal review was previously completed by police, which found the matters were appropriately investigated and that the claims could not be ­substantiated. Griffith’s phone and homes were not searched and he was not even interviewed over the second complaint, from a three-year-old girl who told her mother that Griffith “touched my privates”.

His Blue Card was suspended only after the Australian Federal Police charged him in August 2022.

The former Miles Labor government resisted calls for a broad ­inquiry into system failures, saying it was sufficient for police to review their own handling of prior complaints against Griffith.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/ashley-paul-griffith-to-appeal-life-sentence-after-pleading-guilty-to-abusing-dozens-of-girls/news-story/0eed5036436f2c1256df9e3104110d2a