Tag: Australia

The Story: Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia, denied on Monday, April 25 charges that, if re-elected next month, his government will make cuts...

The Story: The island-nation of New Zealand, which has had success at keeping Covid-19 at bay over the last 18 months through draconian travel controls,...

The Story: For more than a year now, as the rest of the globe has struggled through various policy contortions, controversies, and surges, with the...

On Tuesday morning, southern farmers, irrigators and fellow residents will drive tractors and trucks into the centre of Albury-Wodonga to protest about water. Also imminent is the report into fish kills by a government-appointed expert panel, headed by Robert Vertessy, whose interim work suggested that without more inflows more fish kills could be expected. Farmers largely accept there needs to be environmental water. The rub is that once that water is taken out, southern irrigators believe it is not allocated fairly according to the government’s own rules. That is, they argue big operators in northern New South Wales, Queensland and in South Australia get priority over the average farmer because of the political imperatives of marginal seats and big corporate lobbyists. Some are also concerned at the conflicts within irrigation companies, which deliver water, regulate water and privately trade in water. Today’s protest will also highlight a campaign by the independent candidate and Albury mayor Kevin Mack against the Coalition government minister Sussan Ley in the federal seat of Farrer. Southern irrigators want to “pause, review and re-set” the MDB plan, something that neither major parties are entertaining given how hard it was to get across the line in the first place. And he is a northern NSW irrigator. After the fish kills over summer, the national survey of 1,532 people between 20 February and 4 March this year also found over a third (37%) said the health of the river system was very poor – three times more than in the previous year (11%).

Cabinet ministers were told they must agree emergency contingency plans to keep planes flying to North America and Australia, as well as keeping British troops legally in Bosnia, in case the EU forces a no-deal exit. Before their marathon cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill, briefed ministers that major security and commercial decisions would need to be completed if Brussels rejected Theresa May’s plan to ask for a short extension to article 50. A cabinet source said the decisions were likely to result in large costs to the taxpayer and that decisions would also need to be taken on direct rule in Northern Ireland and payment of the UK’s £39bn divorce bill to the EU. Negotiations would need to be urgently completed on a future fisheries agreement so that EU fishing boats could be expelled from British waters. Sedwill, the UK’s highest-ranking civil servant, is said to have warned cabinet ministers that some of the biggest decisions were likely to be very difficult to reverse, because they involved international agreements. The warnings from Sedwill, who is also May’s national security adviser, follow an earlier letter he wrote to ministers warning that no deal would lead to food price rises and a reduction in security capacity. Sedwill also warned that the UK would face a recession “more harmful” than the 2008 financial crisis and that food prices could increase by up to 10%. On Wednesday, Lord Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, called for the analysis to be made public. “The publication of such advice now is vital to ensure that parliament is fully informed, and to avoid any suggestion that information has been partially leaked to support a particular point of view.” At least 14 members of May’s cabinet spoke out against the possibility of a long article 50 extension and would only endorse a short Brexit extension. However, on Wednesday the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, said that unless the withdrawal deal was passed within nine days the UK would crash out of the EU or have to sign up to a long delay.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison was responding to an Al Jazeera documentary that reported One Nation party officials Steve Dickson and James Ashby flew to the United States for meetings with pro-gun interests, including the National Rifle Association and political donors Koch Industries in September last year seeking money to undermine Australian gun laws. Dickson and Ashby later told reporters that they had not secured any U.S. money. Morrison said his government had made laws to “criminalize taking foreign political donations so foreign lobbyists cannot seek to influence our politics.” Opposition leader Bill Shorten, whom opinion polls suggest will be prime minister after the election, accused One Nation of a “betrayal of the Australian political system.” “The idea of One National political party operatives going to the United States, seeking millions of dollars, promising to water down gun law protection in Australia — that was absolutely horrifying,” Shorten said. One Nation, an anti-Muslim party that had four senators after 2016 election but has been left with two after defections, said in a statement that all party members “have always complied with the law.” One Nation also suggested the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera had breached new laws that prohibit covert foreign interference in Australian politics. The NRA did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. This was not about sourcing money from the NRA. One Nation state president Steve Dickson, who is a Senate candidate at the next election, traveled with Ashby and Muller to the United States to ask for political donations, Al Jazeera reported. Dickson told reporters on Tuesday he supported Australia’s gun laws. Hanson, One Nation’s leader who was criticized for wearing a burqa in the Senate, voted for the ban on foreign donations in November. “Overseas money should not have an influence in our political scene … so I believe foreign donations should be stopped,” Hanson told the Senate.

The Christchurch attacks in New Zealand are an extreme symptom — the most extreme — of a much wider problem. Fear of other people has been weaponized by politicians, newspaper editors and broadcasters to suit their own agendas and to boost their election campaigns. To attract viewers and sell newspapers in an era when sales are declining and paid audiences shrinking. This is happening around the world. But it’s also happening in Australia. This fear is driven by ignorance, and it’s this widespread ignorance that permeates the upper levels of Australian society. The male, pale and stale leaders of our businesses, our media companies and our political parties. It is their ignorance that sets the narrative about Muslims in Australia. They decide who edits their newspapers and who produces their broadcasts. The editors decide what stories are run showing what... Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.

The vote handed the job to Scott Morrison. The upheaval also ended her 11-year tenure as Liberal Party deputy leader. She said it had been an "immense honour" to serve as the Liberal Party's first female deputy leader, as well as her Perth electorate of Curtin for two decades. "I am also proud of the fact that I am the first woman to contest a leadership ballot of the Liberal Party in its 75-year history," she told the parliament on Thursday. High-profile diplomacy As foreign minister for five years, Ms Bishop took a leading role in many prominent matters. AdChoices AdChoices Notably, she was lauded for her handling of Australia's response to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, and for calling on Russia to take responsibility over the downing of MH17. She relinquished her ministerial role in August, after the party turmoil and ouster of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister. Thank you @JulieBishopMP for your service to our nation and our Party and, above all, your friendship over so many years. Australia MP condemns sexist 'bullying' Last year, Ms Bishop accused parliamentary colleagues of "appalling behaviour" and said political parties had "a problem" with keeping women MPs.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said the country's major political parties were hacked earlier this month alongside the federal parliament by a "sophisticated state actor". The announcement on Monday came 10 days after the launch of a probe into the cybersecurity breach of the parliament's computer network. "Our cyber experts believe that a sophisticated state actor is responsible for this malicious activity," he said. At the time, the Australian Signals Directorate had confirmed it was working with parliament in response to the breach, a move that indicated the possible involvement of sophisticated actors. May polls Australia is expected to hold elections in mid-May, raising concerns that hackers could be trying to influence the outcome of the vote or change the tenor of the debate. Along with Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, Australia is part of the Five Eyes intelligence network, which gives it access to a host of signals and human intelligence to back up any suspicions of state hacking. "Our political institutions represent high-value targets. But we have resilient systems in place to detect compromises and remediate them," said Alastair MacGibbon, head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre. He said it was unclear whether the attackers gained access to sensitive data or emails. "We genuinely do not know."

The Chinese billionaire and major political donor Huang Xiangmo has hit out at a decision to bar him from Australia, describing his treatment as “grotesquely unfair” and telling political parties to return his money if they believe it was given inappropriately. Concerns have been raised about his long-running involvement with the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China, which experts say acts as part of China’s global influence network. “The decision of visa cancellation was made based on unfounded speculations that are prejudiced and groundless,” he said in a statement. “This is not the Australia that I believe in, the Australia of freedom, democracy, rule-of-law and fairness, but I keep my faith in law and justice.” Political donor Huang Xiangmo blocked from returning to Australia Read more Huang has donated $2.7m to major parties in Australia. He came to notoriety through his dealings with the former Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who Huang gave $5,000 to cover “legal bills”. Huang on Friday urged political parties to return his money if they thought any donations were inappropriate. He said he had only ever donated money at the request of political parties. The council promotes China’s policies on Tibet and Taiwan and its vision of One China. But Huang said the council’s One China stance was in line with Australia’s own foreign policy. “If I am penalised for promoting the peaceful reunification of China, such penalty is against Australia’s own diplomatic position and international commitment as well as Australia’s fundamental principles of cultural diversity and freedom of speech,” he said.