/qresearch/ - Q Research

CURRENT DOUGH

https://controlc.com/334795f6

Greetings Australia!

Massive spam attack again, do not know how long these will continue

Anons worry when the Aussies go missing, so have a bread

Rogue Aussie get in here

https://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/385931719#p385932140

PREVIOUSLY COLLECTED NOTABLES

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THREAD ARCHIVES

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CURRENT DOUGH UPDATED

https://controlc.com/7ef541a5

>>16670597 (pb)

Statement by President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi Mourning Former Prime Minister Abe

JULY 08, 2022

We, the leaders of Australia, India, and the United States, are shocked at the tragic assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Prime Minister Abe was a transformative leader for Japan and for Japanese relations with each one of our countries. He also played a formative role in the founding of the Quad partnership, and worked tirelessly to advance a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Our hearts are with the people of Japan — and Prime Minister Kishida— in this moment of grief. We will honor Prime Minister Abe’s memory by redoubling our work towards a peaceful and prosperous region.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/08/statement-by-president-joe-biden-prime-minister-anthony-albanese-and-prime-minister-narendra-modi-mourning-former-prime-minister-abe/

>>16670597 (pb)

Australian landmarks to be bathed in red and white for slain Shinzo Abe

CARLY DOUGLAS - JULY 9, 2022

Australian landmarks will be bathed in the red and white of Japan’s flag in tribute to assassinated former prime minister and close ally Shinzo Abe.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced separate plans to honour the late leader, 67, who was gunned down while giving a political stump speech on Friday in a killing that has shocked the world.

Speaking from Canberra on Saturday afternoon, Mr Albanese called Mr Abe, Japan’s longest-serving PM, “a true patriot and a true leader” and said he was “instrumental in delivering several historic developments between Japan and Australia.”

“He was a tireless champion for the comprehensive and progressive agreement for the Trans Pacific Partnership that brought huge benefits to Australia,” Mr Albanese said.

“He elevated our bilateral relationship to a special strategic partnership, and his long standing.”

The Prime Minister said the idea that “someone of such courage, with such strength of character could be taken away with an act of extreme cowardice,” was a “cruel paradox.”

He confirmed that landmarks across the country were to be lit up in red and white over the weekend, including at the Sydney Opera House, the Adelaide Oval and at Parliament House

Mr Albanese extended his support to Mr Abe’s friends and family, and to the people of Japan.

“We stand with you in this time of sadness,” he said.

Earlier, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said Melbourne’s most famous landmarks would also be lit in red and white on Saturday night in Mr Abe’s honour, calling his assassination an “unspeakable tragedy.”

“He served his country with great honour and transformed the geopolitics of our region,” Mr Andrews posted to Twitter this morning.

“He was a wonderful friend of Australia and my thoughts and prayers are with his wife, his family, and the Japanese people.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/australian-landmarks-to-be-bathed-in-red-and-white-for-slain-shinzo-abe/news-story/a54e4dc180b36dcdb9746485471bb825

>>16670597 (pb)

>>16670684 (pb)

Japanese Ambassador YAMAGAMI Shingo Tweets

We are devastated to learn of the passing of former Prime Minster ABE Shinzo. Our thoughts are with his family at this extremely tragic time. Deeply moved by all kind and thoughtful messages received on his passing from so many friends of (Japan).

https://twitter.com/YamagamiShingo/status/1545401977596563457

—

Grateful for the heartfelt kindness & sympathies of the people of Canberra. We have received so many warm messages on the passing of former Prime Minister ABE.

https://twitter.com/YamagamiShingo/status/1545674222759907329

‘The first step to better ties with Beijing’, says Penny Wong after meeting Chinese foreign minister

AMANDA HODGE and WILL GLASGOW - JULY 8, 2022

1/2

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia has taken an “important first step” towards stabilising ties with China following the first bilateral meeting in almost three years with its top diplomat Wang Yi, at which Beijing’s detention of Australian citizens and its trade coercion were raised.

Senator Wong met her Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Bali on late Friday after earlier this week calling on China to use its influence with Russia as a “no limits” partner to help end the war in Ukraine.

Senator Wong said after the meeting that the two ministers “spoke frankly and we listened carefully to each other’s priorities and concerns”.

But, she added, it would “take time and work” to mend ties.

The meeting in Bali follows Defence Minister Richard Marles’ meeting with his Chinese counterpart, General Wei Fenghe, in Singapore last month, which represented the first face-to-face minister-to-minister dialogue between the two nations since late 2019. A request by Trade Minister Don Farrell to meet his Chinese counterpart in Geneva was rebuffed. Former foreign minister Marise Payne last spoke to her Chinese counterpart by phone in early 2020, soon after the first cases of Covid-19 were ­detected in Wuhan.

“It’s fair to say we both recognised it’s a first step for both our nations,’’ Senator Wong said after her meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister. “We’ve got a path to walk and we will see if it can lead to a better place between the two countries.’’

“It’s unsurprising that we would raise consular cases including Ms Cheng Lei and Dr Yang, and others,” she said referring to the Chinese Australian journalist and Chinese Australian writer Yang Hengjun being held on spurious national security charges.

“Obviously we discussed the trade blockages that exist and it remains the government’s position that those trade blockages should be revoked.”

China’s trade reprisals against Australia began after Senator Payne called in April 2020 for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19. Since then, at least $20bn in Australian exports of coal, wine, lobsters and other products have since been hit by Chinese tariffs and unofficial bans.

In a readout of her opening comments released late on Friday, Senator Wong told her Chinese counterpart that In the context of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, a deepening global food and fuel crisis and supply chain shocks “Australia will stand up for international law and the UN charter and we will urge other countries to do so”.

She also told Mr Wang that “Australia’s Government has changed but our national interests and our policy settings have not.

“And Australia will speak as necessary on the issues that matter to our nation and our people – we will do so calmly and consistently.”

(continued)

>>16701998

2/2

Senator Wong said she had also conveyed Australia’s view about international law and the importance of the UN charter to Wang Yi in relation to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which China has refused to criticise.

Asked whether China had demanded anything concrete from Australia during the meeting, she replied: “I think the Chinese position is well known, the issues of difference is well known, and what was put to me reflected what we know China’s position to be.”

The foreign minister said she believed it was in both nations’ interests that another meeting be scheduled soon though “but that would require both countries to agree to do so”.

“I think all of these issues will take some time. And I think there is a path we are walking and we will take one step at a time in the interests of the country,” she said.

“We do have our differences but as I have previously said we believe it’s in the interests of both countries for the relationship to be stabilised and this Australian government will always seek to ­resolve issues calmly and consistently under the comprehensive strategic partnership and in accordance with Australia’s national interests.”

The highly anticipated meeting was the last in a whirlwind schedule of bilateral talks that on Friday included sit-downs with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as well as foreign ministers from France, Germany and Canada on the sidelines of the G20.

Senator Wong hailed the G20 meeting on her way out of Bali on Friday night as a “constructive meeting that reaffirmed the importance of multilateralism … when the world faces so many challenges from the war in Ukraine, Russia’s illegal, immoral invasion of Ukraine, to food ­security, to climate change”.

Her meeting with Mr Wang came a day after he warned G20 nations against linking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Beijing’s threats to Taiwan.

“It is obviously double standards. Beijing rejects any attempt to compare the Ukraine crisis with the Taiwan question and will firmly safeguard its core interests,” Mr Wang said.

Anthony Albanese last week said Russia’s failed bid to take Ukraine showed “attempts to impose change by force on a sovereign country meets resistance”, prompting a scathing editorial in the China Daily that warned that high hopes of a reset in bilateral relations were “diminishing by the day”.

Asked about Wang Yi’s warning before Friday’s G20 talks, Senator Wong said Russia’s actions clearly constituted an abrogation of the UN charter and international law that holds that “another state will not by threat or force compromise or infringe on the territory integrity of another”.

“In relation to Taiwan, there is a bipartisan position on one China policy. I think there’s a bipartisan position now that we support the status quo and that there be no unilateral change to that status quo,” she said.

Analysts in both countries have cautioned that any improvement in the bilateral relationship will be modest.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/the-first-step-to-better-ties-with-beijing-says-penny-wong-after-meeting-chinese-foreign-minister/news-story/0cd8d6a1cfbd0bcc55f2d81bcfaf1f50

>>16701998

Wang warns Wong: Don’t smear China over Ukraine

WILL GLASGOW - JULY 8, 2022

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has warned Australia and other G20 members against linking Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Beijing’s threats to Taiwan, hours before he meets with Penny Wong.

Foreign Minister Wang issued the warning on Thursday in a bilateral meeting in Bali with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’s summit.

“It is obviously double standards. Beijing rejects any attempt to compare the Ukraine crisis with the Taiwan question and will firmly safeguard its core interests,” Mr Wang said.

Beijing’s position on the war — refusing to condemn Russia and offering propaganda support for Vladimir Putin — is one of a host of disagreements that will be on the crowded agenda for Foreign Minister Wong’s meeting with Mr Wang on Friday afternoon.

Mr Wang’s warning was made a week after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese drew a parallel between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s menacing of Taiwan, saying Vladimir Putin’s failed bid to take Ukraine showed “attempts to impose change by force on a sovereign country meets resistance”.

Those comments by Mr Albanese — delivered during a NATO summit in Madrid — provoked an eruption from Chinese state media, which accused him of a “lack of diplomatic nous and poor grasp of political realities“.

The China Daily, in its first personal attack on the new Australian Prime Minister, warned of consequences.

“Last month, when Albanese’s Labor Party came to power, there were high hopes in both countries that it offered the opportunity to reset Australia’s ties with China. Those hopes are diminishing by the day,” the Beijing mouthpiece editorialised.

On Thursday, Mr Wang conducted bilateral meetings with countries including India and Indonesia that have also not explicitly condemned the invasion.

China’s envoy also met with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

Before leaving Bali, Mr Wang is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with the US, France and Australia, all countries that have criticised China’s position on the war.

On Thursday, Ms Wong said Russia was conducting an “illegal, unjust and immoral war in Ukraine”.

In a keynote address in Singapore before the Bali conference, the Foreign Minister urged Beijing to use its influence as a “no limits” partner to Russia to end the war.

Ms Wong also linked Beijing’s position on the war to its assertive behaviour in the region, although she did not directly mention Taiwan.

“The region and the world is now looking at Beijing’s actions in relation to Ukraine. But this has also been true in respect of its regional actions, as its strategic outreach has intensified,” Ms Wong said.

“Regardless of the character of leadership Beijing chooses to demonstrate, we all have our own choices to make, and our own agency to exercise.

“We are more than just supporting players in a grand drama of global geopolitics, on a stage dominated by great powers.

“It is up to all of us to create the kind of region we aspire to – a stable, peaceful, prosperous and secure region,” she said.

Friday’s meeting between the Australian and Chinese foreign ministers is the first in almost three years after Beijing froze all ministerial communication.

Analysts in both countries have cautioned that any improvement in the bilateral relationship will be modest.

Liu Xiaobo, an international relations expert in China, told The Australian he was not “optimistic” about the outlook.

“It takes a lot of effort, and so far I haven’t seen many such signs,“ said Mr Liu, a senior researcher of Grandview Institution, a Beijing-based think tank.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/wang-warns-wong-dont-smear-china-over-ukraine/news-story/d37510b9767f218c1d5f5fbfa1a37725

'Stop hiding behind the legal excuse': Australia can act to free Julian Assange, Andrew Wilkie says

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has rejected claims that Australia has limited ability to intervene in the case of Julian Assange, who is fighting an extradition request from the United States over leaks of classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

AAP, SBS - 8 July 2022

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie has hit back at claims Australia had no legal grounds to intervene in the case of Julian Assange.

Mr Wilkie, a former intelligence analyst and a prominent advocate for Mr Assange, says the matter could be solved quickly at a political level.

"Governments and politicians have got to stop hiding behind the excuse of the Julian Assange matter being a legal matter," he told AAP.

"It has always been an intensely political matter."

The comments came after former attorney-general George Brandis said Australia had no legal grounds in Mr Assange's case.

"Australia wasn't a party to the proceedings and had no standing to intervene in the proceedings," Mr Brandis told the ABC.

"It was legal proceedings in a British court between the government of the United States and a private citizen. We would not intervene in those proceedings."

The WikiLeaks founder and Australian journalist has appealed to the High Court in London to block his extradition to the US to face criminal charges in the latest step of a legal battle that has dragged on for more than a decade.

Mr Assange, 50, is wanted by US authorities on 18 counts, including a spying charge, relating to WikiLeaks' release of vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables, which US officials have said put lives in danger.

Last month, UK Home Secretary Priti Patel approved his extradition, with her office saying UK courts had concluded his extradition would not be incompatible with his human rights, and that he would be treated appropriately.

However, Mr Wilkie said the matter could be solved with a phone call from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the US or UK.

"This has gone on long enough, it's time to put it to an end," he said.

"I don't doubt that Australia has enough influence to bring this to an end, we underestimate ourselves to think otherwise, and we are close allies of both countries."

The independent MP said he was still optimistic about there being a change in the outcome for Mr Assange following the change of government in Australia at May's federal election.

"We hold out hope that with a change of government we see some progress on this," Mr Wilkie said.

Mr Albanese has said he didn't see the purpose of the "ongoing pursuit" of Mr Assange.

But he said the government would deal with the matter through diplomatic channels.

Former foreign minister Bob Carr said on Friday the government should tell the US "the Australian people want the Assange extradition quietly set aside", just as the US had commuted the sentence of whistleblower Chelsea Manning.

Mr Brandis, who oversaw consular assistance for Mr Assange when he was Australia's high commissioner in London, said he had made a point for staff to always be made available to meet the journalist's "reasonable requests".

"I instituted a practice of writing to him every month to ask him if there was anything more he needed," Mr Brandis said.

"Most of those letters were unresponded to, but there has not been a complaint that I'm aware of, from Mr Assange or his surrogates, that the Australian High Commission did not provide an appropriate level of consular support."

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/stop-hiding-behind-the-legal-excuse-australia-can-act-to-free-julian-assange-andrew-wilkie-says/e328tvlfd

EXCLUSIVE: Pope hopes London building last Vatican financial scandal

Pope praises Australian Cardinal George Pell who pushed for transparency

Philip Pullella - July 8, 2022

VATICAN CITY, July 7 (Reuters) - Pope Francis said he hoped that the recent sale of a luxury London building at the centre of an ongoing corruption trial meant the Vatican can see the back of financial scandals.

Vatican finances were one of the many Church and international topics the 85-year-old pontiff discussed in an exclusive interview with Reuters in his Vatican residence on July 2.

In other parts of the interview he denied that he was planning to resign anytime soon, denied that he had cancer, spoke of his hopes to go to Moscow and Kyiv and disclosed that for the first time he would appoint women to a Vatican committee that helps him choose bishops.

The interview took place a day after the Vatican announced it had completed the sale of the building on Sloane Avenue in Chelsea, taking an estimated hit of about 140 million euros.

Ten people including a Vatican cardinal and two Italian financial brokers are on trial in the Vatican on charges including embezzlement, fraud, money laundering and extortion relating to the building.

The pope was asked if he believed enough controls were now in place so that similar scandals could not take place again.

"I believe so," he said.

The Vatican's Secretariat of State first invested in the building in 2014 with funds from its own sovereign wealth fund, managed without external controls.

It had resisted oversight even from the Secretariat for the Economy, which the pope instituted in 2014 to oversee all Vatican finances and put a lid on decades of scandals caused by the fragmentation of finances, in which different departments exercised control in a fiefdom-like way.

As a result of the botched and embarrassing London deal, the pope stripped the Secretariat of State of control over its own investment funds in 2020.. Last month, he instituted a committee to oversee the ethics of all Vatican investments.

"Before, the administration (of Vatican money) was very messy," the pope said, adding that the Secretariat for the Economy is now staffed by expert, technical people, "who don't fall into the hands of quote-unquote benefactors or friends, who can make you slip up."

THE BLESSED IMELDA

He gave the example of priests who had no financial experience being asked to manage the finances of a department and who in good faith sought outside help from friends in the outside financial sector.

"But sometimes the friends were not The Blessed Imelda," he said, referring to a 14th century 11-year-old Italian girl who is a symbol of childhood purity.

"And so what happened, happened," the pope said.

He blamed "the irresponsibility of the structure" for past financial scandals, saying the administration of money "was not mature".

In the interview, Francis praised Australian Cardinal George Pell as "the genius" who had insisted that the Vatican needed an overarching economy ministry to control money flows and combat corruption.

Pell was the first head of the Secretariat for the Economy, receiving a mandate from the pope to clean up the Vatican's murky finances.

Pell, now 81, left the post in 2018 to face sex abuse charges dating back decades in Australia. He spent 13 months in solitary confinement before being cleared of all charges on appeal in 2020.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, whom Pell has accused of having resisted financial reforms when he was number two at the Secretariat of State, is currently one of 10 defendants at the corruption trial over the London real estate deal.

All of the defendants have denied wrongdoing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-pope-hopes-london-building-last-vatican-financial-scandal-2022-07-07/

>>16655702 (pb)

Anthony Albanese says New Zealanders might be allowed to vote in Australian elections, after meeting Jacinda Ardern

Tom Lowrey - 8 July 2022

New Zealanders who have lived in Australia for a long time could be given the right to vote in Australian elections, under potential changes flagged by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Albanese will ask federal parliament's elections committee to consider what changes could be made to extend voting rights to some New Zealanders.

New Zealand already grants voting rights to Australians living in New Zealand if they have been there for a year or more.

But that right is not reciprocated, except for a small number of New Zealanders who enrolled to vote as "British subjects" prior to 1984.

Mr Albanese said there might be scope to change that.

"We'll be asking the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters to consider whether there's a way to return to systems that have existed in the past of giving New Zealand people who are here in Australia, contributing to society, paying taxes, working, voting rights here in Australia as well," he said.

"We won't pre-empt those processes. But it is, I think, a really common-sense position to at least examine over coming months."

As of the 2021 census, there were more than 530,000 people born in New Zealand living in Australia.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she asked Mr Albanese for "greater acknowledgement" of the contribution New Zealand expats were making to Australia.

She said work is underway to create a dedicated path to Australian citizenship for New Zealanders, separate to the ordinary process.

"Our ask has been for there to be a greater acknowledgement of the role that New Zealanders play here in Australia," she said.

"The fact that we have an agreement that no New Zealander or Australian should be rendered 'permanently temporary', that is a change in the way that we've previously seen New Zealanders treated here."

It is expected firm proposals for change will be put together before Anzac Day next year.

Deportations to remain, but with 'common sense' applied

The pair also discussed the sensitive issue of convicted criminals being deported in significant numbers to New Zealand.

In recent years, Australia has deported hundreds of New Zealand citizens found guilty of serious criminal offences, despite some holding few ties to the country.

It has been a source of tension between the two countries, and Mr Albanese said the government's approach to the issue will shift.

"We will continue to deport people when appropriate," he said.

"But we will have some common sense apply here.

"Where you have a circumstance where someone has lived their entire life, effectively, in Australia with no connection whatsoever to New Zealand, common sense should apply and we will act as friends."

Ms Ardern said that is the approach she wants to see taken.

"We acknowledge Australia will continue to deport, as New Zealand currently does have provision and does deport those who don't have a long-term connection to New Zealand," she said.

"What we have been seeking is common sense and the spirit of friendship.

"And that's what Prime Minister Albanese has spoken to today."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-08/anthony-albanese-and-jacinda-ardern-meet-for-talks/101220750

ICAC witness Clifton Wong found dead in office after giving evidence

Megan Gorrey - July 8, 2022

Former Hurstville councillor Clifton Wong, who gave evidence to the state anti-corruption watchdog in an investigation into the conduct of three of his former council colleagues earlier this week, has been found dead.

NSW Police said emergency services crews responded to reports a 62-year-old man had died in an office complex on Deane Street in Burwood about 1.20pm on Wednesday.

The Herald has confirmed the man was Wong, a former Labor councillor who served on Hurstville City Council from 1999 to 2012.

Wong was among witnesses at the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s inquiry into whether three former Hurstville councillors accepted perks from developers in exchange for favourable planning decisions.

He appeared most recently for cross-examination on Monday, when he told the inquiry he regretted not telling anyone he witnessed a developer hand the then-deputy mayor $10,000 to help with a potential development.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances in his death. They will prepare a report for the coroner.

Wong’s barrister, Stephen Stanton, said the death of his client was “both personally and professionally [to me], a very sad development”.

Operation Galley is examining whether former Hurstville and Georges River councillors Con Hindi and Vince Badalati, and former Hurstville councillor Philip Sansom, accepted perks including overseas flights and accommodation from developers in exchange for supporting developments in Hurstville from 2014 to 2021.

The inquiry is also examining whether the three councillors deliberately failed to declare a conflict of interest stemming from their relationships with developers Philip Uy, Wensheng Liu and Yuqing Liu.

In his evidence on June 28, Wong said he saw Uy give Hindi an envelope containing $10,000 in exchange for favouring his and Wensheng Liu’s bid to buy a council-owned car park on Gloucester Road in Hurstville in 2012.

Under cross-examination on Monday, Wong said he hadn’t told anyone about the incident because he panicked.

“I didn’t know how to respond. I wish I had reported it back then, but I didn’t, and now I regret [it],” he said.

“This sort of thing, I know very well that it is not only immoral, it is illegal,” Wong said.

The inquiry heard Wong had been identified as a person of interest, along with Sansom, Badalati and Hindi, for allegedly “exercising [his] official functions dishonestly” when the ICAC investigation commenced in November.

Wong said in the witness box that he realised he was no longer a person of interest when he read an “investigation list” on the commission’s website when the inquiry began a few weeks ago.

Stanton said Wong had been due to return to the ICAC inquiry at a later date.

“He was courageous in terms of the evidence he gave to the commission that’s on the public record,” Stanton said.

“He was, as far as I was concerned, an honourable fellow.”

Legal representatives for witnesses at the inquiry extended their condolences to Wong’s family at the start of Friday’s hearing.

Commissioner Stephen Rushton described Wong’s death as a tragedy, and said he was “shocked and saddened”.

“Our thoughts are with his family, and we extend our deepest sympathy for what has occurred.”

Lawyers for Uy said their client felt unable to continue his evidence on Friday, and that in Chinese culture it would be disrespectful to Wong’s memory if he did so. He asked to be excused until next week.

Sansom’s lawyer also said his client, who was due to give evidence on Monday, might not be ready to proceed.

Rushton said the inquiry should adjourn until next week. It will resume on Tuesday.

“I sympathise with everyone’s position in this, but there’s a public interest also in resolving this investigation expeditiously,” he said.

Rushton urged witnesses and their lawyers to use the commission’s employee assistance program, which he said was available to any person whose health and safety might be at risk due to an investigation.

The ICAC has been contacted for comment.

Crisis support can be found at Lifeline: (13 11 14), the Suicide Call Back Service (1300 659 467) and Beyond Blue (1300 22 4636).

https://www.lifeline.org.au/

https://www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au/

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/icac-witness-found-dead-in-office-after-giving-evidence-20220707-p5b00i.html

Ghislaine Maxwell's attorneys appeal her federal conviction and sentence

Lauren del Valle - July 8, 2022

Attorneys for Ghislaine Maxwell have appealed her conviction and 20-year federal prison sentence for carrying out a yearslong scheme with her longtime confidante Jeffrey Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls.

Maxwell's defense argument was not immediately available, but her attorneys have maintained her innocence since her 2020 arrest, asserting Maxwell has been a scapegoat for prosecutors in the wake of Epstein's death in prison.

A notice of appeal was filed Thursday in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Maxwell, 60, was found guilty of five of six federal charges against her in December: sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and three related counts of conspiracy.

She was sentenced on only three counts after the judge agreed two of the conspiracy counts she faced were repetitive.

At Maxwell's sentencing in June, defense attorney Bobbi Sternheim, as she did during the trial, pushed the blame on Epstein.

"We all know that the person who should have been sentenced today escaped accountability, avoided his victims, avoided absorbing their pain and receiving the punishment he truly deserved," Sternheim said. "Jeffrey Epstein left Ghislaine Maxwell holding the whole bag."

The trial judge, Alison Nathan, disagreed.

"Miss Maxwell is not punished in place of Epstein," she said. "Miss Maxwell is being punished for the role that she played."

Maxwell did not testify at her trial but spoke briefly at her sentencing, acknowledging she had been convicted but stopped short of taking responsibility.

"I am sorry for the pain that you've experienced," Maxwell said. "I hope my conviction … brings you closure."

Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to state prostitution charges, was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019. He died by suicide in prison a month later. Maxwell has been detained since her arrest in July 2020, and prosecutors said she received credit for two years of time served.

Maxwell's monthlong trial last year alternated between disturbing testimony from sexual abuse victims and illuminating testimony about some of Epstein's connections to high-profile celebrities.

Prosecutors argued Maxwell and Epstein conspired to set up a scheme to lure young girls into sexual relationships with Epstein from 1994 to 2004 in New York, Florida, New Mexico and the US Virgin Islands. Four women testified during the trial that Epstein abused them and that Maxwell facilitated the abuse and sometimes participated in it as well.

Her defense, meanwhile, besides arguing she was a scapegoat, also attacked the memories and motivations of the women who say they were sexually abused.

According to the Bureau of Prisons website, Maxwell is being housed at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/08/us/ghislaine-maxwell-appeal/index.html

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17318376/united-states-v-maxwell/?order_by=desc

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612/gov.uscourts.nysd.539612.697.0.pdf

>>16702157

RealGhislaine Tweet

Ghislaine Maxwell appeals conviction, 20-year sentence in Epstein case

…d-4338-88ee-63f8ce48d2ce.usrfiles.com/ugd/ba2454_432…

https://twitter.com/RealGhislaine/status/1545467562359668740

https://ba2454cd-c37d-4338-88ee-63f8ce48d2ce.usrfiles.com/ugd/ba2454_4326f324ac0a4643b1cdd04ac955534a.pdf

>>16702157

>>16702190

Ghislaine Maxwell appeals conviction, 20-year sentence in Epstein case

Jonathan Stempel - July 8, 2022

NEW YORK, July 7 (Reuters) - Ghislaine Maxwell on Thursday formally appealed her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping the late financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls over more than a decade.

The British socialite's notice of appeal was filed nine days after she was sentenced by U.S. Circuit Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan.

Nathan said the punishment reflected Maxwell's "instrumental" role in the abuse, and the "incalculable" damage it caused to victims.

Lawyers for Maxwell had argued that she was being scapegoated for Epstein's crimes.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December after a monthlong trial on sex trafficking and four other counts for recruiting and grooming four girls to have sexual encounters with Epstein, who was then her boyfriend, between 1994 and 2004.

The daughter of the late British media magnate Robert Maxwell could be imprisoned until her late 70s, with possible credit for good behavior plus credit for the two years she has been jailed at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

Maxwell's appeal was expected, and Thursday's notice did not say what issues she will raise.

Her lawyers have said the conviction was tainted because of a lack of evidence Maxwell was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, that prosecutors waited too long to indict her, and that one juror failed to disclose he had been sexually abused as a child.

Nathan rejected these arguments in April.

The lawyers have also said jail officials would not let Maxwell prepare adequately for trial, and that Nathan should have used different guidelines when calculating a sentence.

Bobbi Sternheim, the Maxwell lawyer who filed the notice of appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The appeals process will likely last several months or longer.

Epstein, 66, killed himself in August 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting his own trial for sex trafficking.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ghislaine-maxwell-appeals-conviction-20-year-sentence-epstein-case-2022-07-07/

o7

>>16701998

Australia the ‘root cause’ of breakdown with China, Wang Yi told Penny Wong

WILL GLASGOW - JULY 10, 2022

China’s Foreign Minister told Penny Wong the Coalition government was the “root cause” of Canberra and Beijing’s spectacular bilateral breakdown and said four things need to change to get the relationship “back on the right track”.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Australian counterpart that China was willing to “re-examine and re-calibrate” the bilateral relationship “based on mutual respect” at their meeting in Bali on Friday.

President Xi Jinping’s second most senior diplomat — after politburo member Yang Jiechi — blamed the Coalition government’s “irresponsible” words and deeds for the rupture in the relationship.

“The root cause of the difficulties in bilateral relations over the past few years was the former Australian government’s insisting on regarding China as a rival or even a threat, allowing its words and deeds being irresponsible against China,” Mr Wang said, according to China’s official newsagency Xinhua.

He expressed hope that the Australian side would “seize the current opportunity and take actions to improve bilateral relations”.

A seperate summary of the meeting issued by China’s foreign ministry said Australia should follow Beijing’s four-point plan for improving the relationship.

First, Mr Wang said Australia must treat China as a “partner rather than a rival”.

Second, the two countries must seek “common ground while shelving differences”.

Third, Australia must reject “manipulation by a third party”, he said, without naming the United States.

Fourth, both countries must build “a public support featuring positiveness and pragmatism”.

Friday’s meeting was the first time China’s Foreign Minister had communicated with his Australian counterpart in almost three years, following Beijing’s decision to freeze all ministerial relations after it became angry with the Morrison government.

Speaking to reporters in Bali hours after the meeting, Australia’s Foreign Minister attempted to lower expectations after the exchange.

“We’ve got a path to walk,” Senator Wong said.

She said Canberra was attempting to “stabilise” relations which would “take time and work”.

Public opinion in Australia has soured sharply towards China, as Beijing attempted to punish the Coalition government for calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of coronavirus.

A recent Lowy poll found that Australians’ trust in China had plunged to just 12 per cent, down from 52 per cent in 2018.

Only 11 per cent of Australians surveyed by Lowy said they had confidence in Mr Xi to do the right thing in international affairs, only marginally better than his good friend Russian President Vladimir Putin and his ally, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Mr Wang also defended China’s increased security presence in the Pacific in his meeting with Ms Wong, another point of ongoing tension between the two countries.

China’s Foreign Minister said those agreements — including a new police presence in Solomon Islands — was “at the request” of Pacific countries.

“At the same time, China has also carried out trilateral co-operation with Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the South Pacific region, which has achieved positive results,” he said, according to the Foreign Ministry statement.

During the election campaign, Senator Wong called Beijing’s new security agreement with the Solomons the “worst foreign policy blunder in the Pacific since the end of World War II”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Friday said he would discuss China’s “more aggressive” behaviour with the region’s leaders at this week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji.

After the election of Joe Biden in November 2020, China’s officials blamed the breakdown in the US-China relationship on the Donald Trump administration. More than a year and a half later, relations between the two superpowers remain extremely tense.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/australia-the-root-cause-of-breakdown-with-china-wang-yi-told-penny-wong/news-story/47cb9bba00d85f4150b088d60cffcab8

>>16701998

>>16704930

China, Australia agree to smooth bilateral ties

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the China-Australia relationship is facing both challenges and opportunities, and its healthy development suits the common interests of both peoples and helps safeguard the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

Xinhua - 2022-07-10

BALI, Indonesia, July 10 (Xinhua) – Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong here on Friday, with both sides agreeing to remove obstacles and bring bilateral ties back on the right track.

They met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers' meeting held in Bali, Indonesia.

Wang said that the China-Australia relationship is facing both challenges and opportunities, and its healthy development suits the common interests of both peoples and helps safeguard the peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

At the time of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Chinese side is willing to re-examine and re-calibrate bilateral relationship, based on mutual respect, and make efforts to bring it back on the right track, Wang said.

For her part, Wong said Australia and China are comprehensive strategic partners with extensive associations and frequent economic and trade exchanges, which have benefited the people of both countries.

The new Australian government will continue its one-China policy and hopes to take the advantage of the 50th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations to make Australia-China ties become more stable and mutually beneficial, she said.

Australia has no intention of expanding its differences with China, nor joining the containment of China, Wong noted.

She said her country will, by respecting each other and adopting a rational and pragmatic attitude, maintain constructive contacts and exchanges between the two sides, increase mutual trust, expand cooperation on the basis of equality, and work to remove existing barriers in bilateral relations.

During the meeting, Wang said the root cause of the difficulties in bilateral relations over the past few years was the former Australian government's insisting on regarding China as a rival or even a threat, allowing its words and deeds being irresponsible against China.

He expressed hope that the Australian side would seize the current opportunity and take actions to improve bilateral relations.

Wang called on the Australian side to add positive energy to the development of bilateral ties, with commitment to regarding China as a partner rather than a rival, seeking common ground while shelving differences, non-targeting and rejecting manipulation by a third party, and building a public support featuring positiveness and pragmatism.

The two sides also exchanged views on the affairs concerning Pacific Island countries.

https://english.news.cn/20220710/ce8f4e44d10e408e97e536f481dfd2fe/c.html

>>16701998

China blames Coalition government for ‘difficulties’ with Australia, proposes four point plan

Eryk Bagshaw - July 10, 2022

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Nadi: Beijing has laid the blame for three years of spiralling relations with Australia on the former Coalition government, clearing the way for a more stable dialogue with Labor.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday released details of Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s meeting with Penny Wong and outlined four proposals to get the relationship back on track.

“The root cause of the difficulties in China-Australia relations in the past few years is that the former Australian government insisted on treating China as an ‘adversary’ or even a ‘threat’, and adopted a series of irresponsible words and deeds against China,” Wang said.

“It is hoped that the Australian side will seize the current opportunity and take concrete actions to reshape its correct understanding of China, reduce negative assets and accumulate positive energy for the improvement of China-Australia relations.”

Coalition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham fired back on Sunday and accused Beijing of being dishonest. As trade minister in the Morrison government, Birmingham was responsible for responding to $20 billion in trade strikes by Beijing.

“It is widely acknowledged that the Chinese government has changed in recent years and Australia’s actions to protect our critical infrastructure or democratic institutions were entirely appropriate in the circumstances,” he said.

“To suggest that Australia acted in isolation would be a rewriting of history.”

Wang’s tone marks a significant departure from years of ongoing hostility between the two trading partners after the Coalition banned Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from the 5G network in 2018, called for an inquiry into COVID-19 and criticised China’s human rights record in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. China responded by hitting Australia trade strikes on half a dozen industries and cutting off all ministerial contact for almost three years.

Wang did not address the substantive issues in the relationship in his readout, including the trade strikes on Australian businesses or the ongoing detention of Australians Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei in Chinese jails.

Both issues were raised directly by Wong in her meeting with Wang on Friday, the first formal discussion between Australian and Chinese foreign ministers since September 2019.

Wang offered a vague four-point proposal to fix relations between the two governments.

“First, we must insist on treating China as a partner rather than an opponent,” he said.

“Second, we must adhere to the way of getting along with seeking common ground while reserving differences. Third, we must insist on not targeting third parties. Fourth, we must adhere to building a positive and pragmatic social foundation of public opinion.”

(continued)

>>16704938

2/2

Birmingham said China had breached the China-Australia Free Trade agreement by imposing sanctions. “Instead of setting conditions for Australia, the Chinese government should cease its unjustified punishment of Australian businesses,” he said.

Birmingham said the test of the new dialogue with Beijing will be in the outcome of the meetings.

“The test here over time is whether we do see an improvement in relation to the removal of trade sanctions,” he said.

“It will also be a test as to the treatment of individual Australian citizens who have been unfairly detained and charged in ways where we need to ensure they see transparent justice occur.”

The Australian public’s view of the Chinese government has collapsed under the weight of the ongoing diplomatic dispute. A Lowy Institute poll in June found that trust in China had fallen to 12 per cent, from 52 per cent in 2018.

The Chinese embassy has previously blamed negative media coverage of the world’s second-largest economy for the decline and demanded that the Australian government control independent think-tanks and news coverage to reverse public opinion.

“Australians see China’s foreign policy as a critical threat,” the executive director of the Lowy Insitute Michael Fullilove said at the release of the June report. “Their trust in China continues to fall, and in a dramatic shift, three-quarters of Australians see China as posing a military threat to Australia in the years to come.”

Wang said there was an opportunity for Australia and China to collaborate in the region ahead of the Pacific Island Forum leader’s meeting in Fiji this week. China’s ambitions in the Pacific are set to play a key part in the forum after it secured a security agreement with Solomon Islands but failed to push through a region-wide deal in May.

“China has carried out trilateral co-operation with Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the South Pacific region and achieved positive results,” said Wang. “China is willing to give play to its respective advantages to achieve a win-win.”

The Albanese government has maintained that the trade restrictions on Australian exports have to be removed if the relationship is to recover.

Wong said on Saturday that her meeting with Wang was the first step towards stabilising the relationship.

“We are a government and a nation that has made certain decisions on the basis of our national interest, our national security and our sovereignty and we won’t be resiling from those,” she said.

“But we do think it’s in our interests, and we would stay say in China’s interests, for the relationship to be stabilised. That’s going to take time, that’s going to take effort, that’s going to take work and it’s going to take some nuance.”

https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/china-blames-coalition-government-for-difficulties-with-australia-proposes-four-point-plan-20220710-p5b0iy.html

>>16701998

>>16704938

(Google translation)

Wang Yi Meets with Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian of Australia

2022-07-09

On July 8, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met at request with Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian of Australia on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bali.

Wang Yi said that China-Australia relations face both challenges and opportunities, and if healthy development can be achieved, it will serve the common interests of the two peoples and help maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia, the Chinese side is willing to take the pulse, recalibrate and set sail for the bilateral relationship in the spirit of mutual respect, and strive to bring the bilateral relationship back on track.

Huang Yingxian said that Australia and China are comprehensive strategic partners with extensive ties and close economic and trade exchanges, bringing benefits to the two peoples. The Australian and New Zealand governments will abide by the purposes of the UN Charter, abide by international law and norms of international relations, and continue to pursue the one-China policy. It is hoped that the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries will serve as an opportunity to make bilateral relations more stable and mutually beneficial. In the face of some complex factors in Australia-China relations, Australia has no intention of amplifying the differences between the two sides or participating in the containment of China. It will maintain constructive contacts and exchanges between the two sides, enhance mutual trust, expand equal cooperation, and eliminate bilateral obstacles in the relationship.

Wang Yi said that the root cause of the difficulties in China-Australia relations in the past few years is that the former Australian government insisted on treating China as an "adversary" or even a "threat", and adopted a series of irresponsible words and deeds against China. The Chinese side attaches great importance to the Australian and New Zealand government's reaffirmation of its position as a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and appreciates the Australian side's adherence to the one-China policy. It is our shared responsibility to abide by the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations. It is hoped that the Australian side will seize the current opportunity and take concrete actions to reshape its correct understanding of China, reduce negative assets and accumulate positive energy for the improvement of China-Australia relations. First, we must insist on treating China as a partner rather than an opponent. Second, we must adhere to the way of getting along with seeking common ground while reserving differences. Third, we must insist on neither targeting nor subject to third parties. Fourth, we must adhere to building a positive and pragmatic social foundation of public opinion.

The two sides also communicated on the affairs of Pacific island countries. Wang Yi stressed that at the request of the island countries and according to the needs of the people of the island countries, China and the island countries have carried out equal exchanges and cooperation between sovereign countries. China has also carried out trilateral cooperation with Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the South Pacific region and achieved positive results. China is willing to give play to its respective advantages to achieve win-win and multi-win.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/wjbzhd/202207/t20220709_10718039.shtml

>>16701998

Wong, Wang meeting in Bali was no ‘reset’

WILL GLASGOW - JULY 10, 2022

At least China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi didn’t berate Penny Wong in front of a media pack in Bali. Her predecessors weren’t always so lucky.

Back in 2013, Wang exploded at Julie Bishop after she expressed mild criticism over Beijing’s declaration of an air defence identification zone in the disputed East China Sea.

“It felt like an ambush,” Bishop told me last year.

Wang’s outburst was extraordinary back in December 2013. One senior Australian foreign affairs official said he had “never in 30 years encountered such rudeness”.

It marked the beginning of a new period: the era of the Wolf Warrior diplomat.

Beijing’s diplomatic corps — “China’s Civilian Army”, as they refer to themselves — have always been assertive. However, eruptions of the sort Bishop experienced had become uncommon in the decades before Xi Jinping took office in 2013.

Now they are routine.

The China that Foreign Minister Wong and the Albanese government are dealing with considers such tantrums a legitimate diplomatic tool.

Another anti-diplomatic tool of Xi’s China is the total cessation of ministerial contact when things get difficult, as it did for almost three years with the Morrison government.

On Friday, in a sideline meeting at the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Bali, Wang finally deemed to speak to his Australian counterpart. Of course that is a good thing.

“It’s a first step for both our nations,’’ Senator Wong said after the meeting.

The Chinese, for their part, took more than 24 hours to give their account, as they waited to see what the Australian government said first.

Minutes before midnight on Saturday, Foreign Minister Wang gave his version in a statement, in which he said the “root cause” of the breakdown was the Coalition government’s “irresponsible words and deeds”.

“[Mr Wang] expressed hope that the Australian side would seize the current opportunity and take actions to improve bilateral relations,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in the statement.

Beijing tried a similar strategy with the Biden administration, putting all the blame for the US-China breakdown on Donald Trump and his team. More than 18 months on, US-China relations remain terrible.

Ahead of the meeting, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman explained what Beijing wanted.

“A reset requires concrete actions,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian instructed.

That might be true, but Canberra is not after a “reset”. The goal, as Foreign Minister Wong explained, is to “stabilise” relations with China.

That is a good description of the difficult task. The Albanese government wants to put a floor under the tattered relationship.

Zhao may not have got the memo, but talk of another “reset” is an anathema in Canberra. Australia’s relations with China have already been reset. That happened in the Turnbull government, was furthered by the Morrison government and now continues in the Albanese era.

Banning Huawei from Australia’s 5G network, passing foreign interference legislation to limit Chinese government-backed activity in Australia, working with friends and partners to defend the international rules based system that Beijing is putting under stress — that was the reset.

And to be fair, it is understandable it enraged our biggest trading partner.

China has changed under Xi Jinping. But so, in response, has Australia. No wonder many in Beijing have whiplash.

Less than eight years ago, after President Xi addressed the Australian parliament, Tony Abbott lauded what he had heard as the Chinese leader’s commitment to make the People’s Republic of China “fully democratic” by 2050.

To put it politely, members of Australia’s political class were, at least until 2015, stunningly naive about the reality of China. Not anymore.

Good relations between the two countries are impossible right now. That is not the fault of Australian diplomacy. It is a function of deep and wide disagreements — many of which were raised by Wong in her meeting with Wang.

And how could Australia have good relations with a country that treats communication with its Foreign Minister as a concession, rather than just normal behaviour?

After the 2017-2022 reset, Australia-China relations deteriorated to an appalling state. The goal for the Albanese government is to try to transform an appalling Australia-China relationship into a bad Australia-China relationship or, if things go better than expected, a fraught Australia-China relationship.

Forget good. Work towards less bad.

Even that won’t be easy, but the meeting in Bali was a step in the right direction.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/wong-wang-meeting-in-bali-was-no-reset/news-story/27bf40692a1defa8e20163cd5d4223b8

https://twitter.com/wmdglasgow/status/1545592854969745409

Prof Nicola Spurrier: SA businesses urged to consider masks, work-from-home mandates

SA businesses have been urged to consider imposing mask rules and re-introducing work from home arrangements, as Covid cases climb once again.

Andrew Hough - July 10, 2022

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South Australian businesses have been urged to consider imposing their own mask rules to stop Covid-19 spreading, as a third Omicron wave sweeps the country.

Chief public health officer Professor Nicola Spurrier said employers and firms should start thinking about business continuity plans and about how to protect their employees.

The calls emerged as an urgent review into the country’s vaccine program was launched and lifesaving Covid-19 antivirals expanded.

The country’s emergency medical panel, the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, on Friday urged employers to consider imposing work-from-home conditions.

Prof Spurrier – an AHPPC member – on Sunday endorsed the move, saying businesses should look at strategies including work-from-home and mask rules as Covid cases rise once again in SA.

“That might mean that employers might want to bring in a mask policy over this period of time as well,” she said.

“And certainly have a look at your business continuity plans because you don’t want your whole team wiped out with Covid or indeed flu at this time of the year.

“There are some businesses where you can’t work from home. (But) there are many businesses who have found that it’s actually very productive to have people working from home.

“Many employees… find that fits into their lifestyle, and they are as productive and they’re able to also, you know, look after their kids and such like.”

The state government has, however, ruled out imposing any new restrictions or mask mandates on top of those that already exist in hospitals, nursing homes and public transport.

Health Minister Chris Picton said it was more appropriate for businesses to come up with their own mandates.

“What we’re seeing now is a phase of the pandemic where businesses are making decisions in terms of what’s best for their workplace, what’s best for their business continuity,” he said.

“Many businesses are facing issues where as more people test positive, then that has issues in terms of their business.

“I think we will see businesses take measures themselves to look at how we can make sure that our workplace is protected, how we can make sure that our businesses continue.”

SA Health will on Monday expand access to a fourth, or “winter”, vaccine dose, as authorities grapple with a surge of new variants BA.4 and BA.5 that current vaccinations fail to protect against.

More than 236,000 South Australians aged 50-64 will be eligible including Prof Spurrier, who will get her fourth jab on Monday. A further 255,000 adults older than 30 are also eligible.

Authorities have reopened several vaccination clinics, including those in Rundle Mall’s Myer Centre and at Enfield, while a pop-up facility is planned for the parklands.

Under new guidelines, which are based on updated advice from Australia’s top immunisation panel, adults older than 50 are strongly recommended to get their fourth jab.

Those aged between 30 and 49 are also being urged to have an updated Covid-19 vaccine dose – despite many in these age groups shunning a third booster jab.

Figures show more than 174,000 fourth doses have been administered but a third of eligible adults have failed to get the winter jab.

(continued)

>>16705037

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‘This will save lives’: Thousands to gain access to Covid treatments

Meanwhile, an urgent review into the country’s Covid vaccine program has been launched, as thousands of South Australians gain access to lifesaving Covid-19 drugs.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler announced former Commonwealth health chief Jane Halton would investigate procurement adequacy.

The review, which is expected to report back within weeks, will also explore supplies of antivirals as the eligibility is expanded.

“I’ve asked Jane Halton to conduct an urgent review into the adequacy of our existing vaccine and medicine procurement arrangements for Covid to make sure they fit for purpose for the rest of this year and into next year,” Mr Butler said in Adelaide on Sunday.

“Up until now, it was very, very difficult to get access to these (antiviral) medicines in spite of the fact that the former government to their credit, bought 1.3 million doses of those medicines.

“But up until now, they’ve essentially been sitting on shelves in warehouses instead of out there doing their job to prevent severe disease.”

The Advertiser this week revealed how difficult it was for South Australians to access the lifesaving antivirals.

Every person over the age of 70 will be able to get a script from their GP for the oral treatments at an affordable rate under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from Monday, while the risk factor threshold for younger people has also been lowered.

Under the expansion, Australians over 50 can access the drugs if they have two or more risk factors, such as obesity, asthma, heart conditions or diabetes, with the age lowered to 30 and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The oral antivirals, Lagevrio and Paxlovid, have been shown to be effective in the early treatment of mild to moderate Covid-19 in adults who are at increased risk of progression to hospitalisation.

Previously, the antivirals were available only to people aged over 75 with at least one underlying condition, or 65 and over with two risk factors. Australians 18 and over who are “moderately to sev­erely immunocompromised” were also eligible and this ­remains unchanged.

New Covid case numbers in SA have been hovering around 4000 a day over the past week.

SA Health last Tuesday said new modelling forecast a rise in hospitalisations of people suffering only from Covid from fewer than 100 cases to more than 150 within three weeks.

Mr Picton welcomed the expansion and criticised the slowness of decisions from an expert pharmacy panel.

“I think this decision is clearly going to save people’s lives,” he said of the antiviral expansion.

“And we need to encourage as many people as possible to get access to these antivirals.

“The previous rules were far too restrictive.

“These new rules are really targeted in terms of where we know the greatest impact of people ending up with severe issues having to go to hospital or the risk of death is and that’s people who are in the elderly population.”

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/coronavirus/access-to-lifesaving-covid-antiviral-drugs-expanded/news-story/baf3a75ef58afd1f6fc3cbc700ce22aa

>>16705037

Labor MPs and experts urge action over Victoria’s high COVID death rate

Paul Sakkal - July 10, 2022

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Victorian Labor MPs and epidemiologists have urged the government to do more to lower the state’s nation-leading COVID-19 death rate, while some suggest the Andrews government is putting politics ahead of public health by avoiding discussion about the pandemic.

Six Labor MPs, including a current and former minister, said the impending Omicron sub-variant wave necessitates increased public health messaging on things like ventilation, mask-wearing and vaccine boosters.

However, several other Labor MPs argue the government’s language has not changed and it has minimal ability to influence the behaviour of a weary public, three years into the pandemic.

Public attention is turning once again to COVID-19, as new BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants spawn a winter wave of infections. The threat spurred the nation’s chief health officers, acting under the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, to say on Friday that, “without increased community and public health actions”, cases could rise as dramatically as they did in January when Omicron overwhelmed the testing system.

The number of COVID-19 related deaths per day in Australia, as a proportion of the population, is significantly higher than in the US, UK, France or Canada, according to statistics from Our World in Data. Within Australia, more Victorians are dying than in any state; an average of 18 per day, compared to 12.7 in NSW.

University of Melbourne Professor Nancy Baxter said political leaders were displaying a lack of political will to confront the new Omicron wave, which she said could strain Victoria’s already-overcrowded hospitals.

Baxter has been a regular voice for stronger health measures. She called on politicians to wear masks during indoor press conferences, to encourage Victorians to do the same.

While she did not propose sweeping new rules, Baxter said the government could encourage people to work from home and advise people to reduce the size of their indoor gatherings and ensure they happen in well-ventilated areas.

“If it is politically expedient to say the pandemic is over then it’s hard, until things get totally out of hand, to say anything different,” she said.

“We’re talking about it being endemic, but it always comes in waves. We need to have frank discussions about what happens when we move into the growth phases of these waves.”

A serving Labor minister, speaking anonymously to talk candidly about government policy, said governments around Australia were reluctant to make COVID mitigation a dominant part of their narrative because it invoked voters’ memories of lockdowns.

“We’re not the only ones in that basket, but an election around the corner [in November] is obviously a factor for the premier because the opposition hysterically leaps onto anything we say on this front,” she said. “[Messaging] may need to step up soon.”

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Discussing the impending wave, boosters and flu vaccinations on Friday, Industry Minister Ben Carroll conceded: “We do need to do a bit more work around communications, which we will do.” He ruled out an indoor mask mandate and lockdowns, which no expert or politician is advocating for.

But one backbencher said it was timely for the government to consider reintroducing rules, such as visitor caps at aged care homes and hospitals.

Another said he was “distressed” by the number of people dying.

“Everyone has taken their foot off the pedal and there would be value, even if these things remain voluntary, in strongly promoting the things we are accustomed to: distancing, ventilation, mask-wearing and vaccination.”

“Mask wearing is so spectacularly under-enforced on public transport. I frequently see tram drivers not wearing them. If we can’t get the workers to wear them, how can we make travellers do it?”

Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said the Victorian government had failed to shift from top-down messaging early in the pandemic to community-empowering information about tools to manage risk.

Professor Bennett, who has often criticised Victoria’s COVID-19 policy settings, said the Victorian Health Department should be doing things like presenting data on how effective masks are at preventing infection.

“We need to get creative about engagement. We did that in vaccination and outbreak control. We need to be doing that again to understand what communities need to get them to keep wearing masks and doing other things,” she said.

“Yes it would help if the premier would lead by example, but we need more than that now. Does it have to be positive? Yes. We have to move away from fear. Public health messaging shouldn’t be about fear; it’s about giving people the info they need to feel like they can control risk.”

A state government spokeswoman said the Andrews government was continuing to protect public heath, “including through simple and common-sense restrictions,” by spending $2 million since the start of winter on information campaigns, including on boosters and managing COVID-19 at home.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/labor-mps-and-experts-urge-action-over-victoria-s-high-covid-death-rate-20220709-p5b0d0.html

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Paedophile schoolteacher David Harkess the third sex offender identified among WACA elite junior cricket coaches of the 1970s

Russell Jackson - 10 July 2022

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A paedophile schoolteacher whose victims were left suicidal from their abuse is the latest former cricket coach to be identified in an ABC Sport investigation of Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) elite junior squads of the 1970s and 1980s.

Warning: This article contains content that readers may find distressing

David "Harry" Harkess, who in 1989 was convicted of 55 counts of indecently dealing with 21 schoolboys, coached elite WACA under-16, under-15, under-14 and under-12 squads for five seasons from 1977-78 to 1981-1982.

ABC Sport understands WACA powerbrokers of the 1970s and 80s knew the nature of Harkess's conviction at the time it became public, but WACA chief executive Christina Matthews said the organisation's current leadership was not aware of Harkess's involvement at the WACA until contacted by ABC Sport.

Harkess's stint as a WACA junior coach overlapped with that of convicted sex offender Ian King, who coached WACA junior squads until at least 1977-78, and former WACA junior development officer and youth cricket council secretary Roy Wenlock, whose abuse of boys he had coaxed into "drinks boy" duties at the WACA was revealed by ABC Sport last month.

Wenlock's stint at the WACA lasted 29 years between 1979 and his death in 2007, but his sexual abuse of boys was only publicly revealed in 2012, as part of a West Australian parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse of boys at Anglican hostels.

King is currently serving a 16-year jail sentence for his sexual abuse of boys in elite junior cricket squads administered by Cricket ACT. In 2006, a former Cricket ACT coaching colleague of King's told police that he and another coach had been warned by Western Australian counterparts upon King's arrival in Canberra that King had offended against boys in Western Australia.

Matthews said the WACA is taking the issue seriously and would consider options including a formal investigation of its elite junior programs of the 70s and 80s.

"We certainly have to think about how we look back and decide whether an investigation has to be undertaken," Matthews said.

"It's very, very sad and disappointing to hear that there may be further victims of sexual abuse out there. It's something we have to look into more deeply and get to the bottom of it.

"Again, I'm very sorry to anybody who suffered abuse while partaking in any WACA activities. I want to assure people that we have a lot of very strong, robust programs in place to make sure that can't happen now, and they're constantly being reviewed.

"That does not help survivors, but it does indicate that we've learned from the past and will continue to be stronger in the future."

In addition to his WACA coaching positions, Harkess, who died at 52 in 1999, also coached cricket, football and numerous others sports in the Perth suburbs of Mosman Park and Balga, and for many years in a West Australian wheatbelt town.

'Everyone's favourite uncle'

To associates on the West Australian cricket scene, David Alan Harkess was known as "Harry". To many of the hundreds of children he encountered in schools, churches and sports clubs around Western Australia, he was "Uncle Harry".

Decades after his abuse of children was revealed, Harkess is still described as a "Pied Piper" character within the communities he offended in. Survivors say he was a popular teacher and mentor who could instantly win the trust of any child he encountered.

But in May 1989, Harkess's life unravelled in Perth's Children's Court, where he pleaded guilty to 55 charges of indecently dealing with 21 boys from a small wheatbelt town in which he taught for seven years. Harkess was sentenced to 18 months in jail and minutes later attempted suicide in a holding cell, before being transported to Fremantle jail.

Newspaper reports at the time said at least four boys had been left suicidal by Harkess's abuse and others had suffered nightmares, psychological disorders and displayed symptoms of anorexia. The West Australian government was so fearful of the impact on the town that it sent a delegation of 12 psychologists to deal with the fallout.

At the time of Harkess's conviction, a gag order prevented media outlets from naming the town because the risk of identifying victims was too great. Harkess had abused at least one-third of the town's 100 boys.

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But even outside court there were also disturbing insights into Harkess's ability to cultivate support, groom parents and maintain a psychological hold on those who fell under his spell. A contingent of parents belonging to the town's Church of Christ community stepped forward in Harkess's defence, saying the town had "no hate for him".

"Children were his whole life," one mother said of Harkess.

"He spent so much time with them, coaching junior teams in football, cricket, basketball, hockey and playing and coaching senior teams as well."

In 1987, the town had named him its citizen of the year. In court, Harkess's pastor described him as "everyone's favourite uncle".

Yet other sections of the town's community had long harboured suspicions about Harkess and were "disgusted" when supporters flocked to him.

"The general community feeling is that we do not want to see Harkess here ever," one resident told The West Australian.

'Moulding teenage boys into gentlemen'

According to WACA annual reports, Harkess was appointed to his first WACA coaching positions for the 1977-78 season — a period in which, survivors told ABC Sport, he was sexually abusing schoolboys placed in his care.

In that summer alone, Harkess coached three WACA junior teams: the under-15 state squad, plus the under-16 and under-14 WACA Metropolitan teams.

In 1978-79, Harkess was appointed WACA under-16 coach, replacing Ian King — another coach later convicted of child sex offences. In his first year in that role, Harkess led the under-16s on an interstate tour to Rockhampton.

In a note of thanks for his efforts, the WACA annual report stated that Harkess had "moulded 14 teenage boys into a group of young gentlemen, who won the accolades of all who came in contact with them".

In subsequent seasons, Harkess would lead the WACA under-16s on numerous interstate trips, including to Melbourne and Launceston for national carnivals.

A husky diabetic who exaggerated his playing feats, as a teenager Harkess had only been the scorer for the first XI at his Perth private school, Christ Church Grammar.

As a senior cricketer, his main claim to fame was as the unknown left-arm paceman who clean bowled England captain Mike Smith when the 1965-66 Ashes tourists took a net session in Perth. Otherwise, Harkess found his level in Nedlands CC's thirds and fourths teams.

As coach of the Nedlands under-12 and under-14 teams in the first half of the 1970s, Harkess was a bigger hit — so popular with the boys and their parents that his arrest and imprisonment almost 20 years later stunned them.

But others on the Perth cricket scene still wonder how, other than by nepotism, Harkess could have risen so far in WACA coaching ranks. During Harkess's elite coaching years, his father Alan, a prominent Perth businessman, was a notable sponsor of the WACA's junior programs via his Homecraft Nationwide stores.

WACA annual reports of the time confirm annual WACA 'player of the year' awards for each junior age group — trophies and coveted bats — were sponsored by Homecraft Nationwide Stores and presented by either Alan or David Harkess. As a naming rights sponsor, the company's name and logo appeared on WACA junior competition shields.

Speaking to ABC Sport, one former WACA elite junior who received one of the WACA's junior 'player of the year' awards said the brand new bats were often not available on the WACA's annual presentation night, but would instead be delivered to the boys' homes by David Harkess.

And one survivor of Harkess's abuse told ABC Sport that Harkess used brand new 'SP' brand cricket bats to groom boys at local club training sessions, allowing only select boys to use them.

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'This fellow had a great rapport with the children'

The WACA was not the only Western Australian institution that Harkess infiltrated for a sustained period. Legal sources confirmed to ABC Sport that survivors of Harkess's abuse in primary school settings are considering suing the West Australian Department of Education.

At the time of Harkess's conviction, the only offences to be publicly aired were those that occurred between 1982 and the end of 1988, the point at which Harkess was exiled from the wheatbelt. But survivors of Harkess's abuse told ABC Sport he had been offending against schoolboys since at least the mid-1970s.

In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by ABC Sport, Western Australia's Department of Education confirmed that between 1977 and 1989, Harkess taught at three other government schools — Balga North Primary between 1977 and 1980, Carlisle Primary School in 1982 and Banksia Park Primary School in 1989.

In his four years teaching at Balga North, survivors confirmed, Harkess had sexually abused boys during Friday night "sleepover" events the school permitted Harkess to host on school grounds.

Survivors said the schools ignored other obvious red flags about the "king of the kids" teacher, including his use of lollies and presents to groom children until they were "literally hanging off him" and his standing invitation for children to visit him at home and borrow videos from his film library.

Survivors told ABC Sport that most weekends, Harkess would drive children around in an 11-seater minibus that was his personal vehicle, taking boys on trips to the local speedway and WAFL football games — excursions on which, they say, boys were sexually abused.

Among those familiar with the West Australian Education Department's decision to accept a transfer request from Harkess in December 1988 — when his offending in the wheatbelt town was known — and grant him one final teaching posting at the beginning of 1989, there is still a sense of anger.

An education source with knowledge of Harkess's appointment to Banksia Park Primary School told ABC Sport the school was not warned about Harkess's rampant offending at his previous school and only became aware of his impending court appearance when an anonymous police officer tipped off the school.

By then, Harkess had taught at the school for the entire first term, instantly winning the affection of children.

"This fellow had a great rapport with the children," a social worker who counselled Harkess's victims told the Sydney Morning Herald in 1989.

"It cannot be said he was a monster in the mythical sense of the word.

"This rapport explains why the offences went on so long."

Do you have more information on this story? Contact jackson.russell@abc.net.au

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-10/paedophile-teacher-david-harkess-third-sex-offender-waca-70s-80s/101219542

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Australian law enforcer suspected of being mafia informant

One of Australia’s top law enforcers is under investigation amid suspicions he was allegedly secretly working with the mafia and may have compromised some of our biggest crime cases.

Charles Miranda - July 10, 2022

One of Australia’s top law enforcers is under investigation, with suspicions he is a mafia informant and over decades may have compromised some of Australia’s most notorious organised crime cases.

News Corp Australia has confirmed the officer has recently resigned after being advised of the high-level investigation into his activities. No charges have been laid.

The allegations have now been handed to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, a government statutory body tasked with weeding out corruption within the Department of Home Affairs and agencies including the AFP, Australian Border Force and other law enforcement bodies.

ACLEI is looking at dozens of potential criminal cases that may have failed during his tenure as a senior officer working for and with multiple law enforcement bodies across Australia and whether he had a hand in their collapse.

There are strong fears too other senior figures within law enforcement, the judiciary and politics might also have been influenced by the man and his associates. There is a list of names.

News Corp has unsuccessfully attempted to contact him.

ACLEI has confirmed there is an investigation currently under way into alleged systemic corruption issues.

“ACLEI is conducting an investigation into an alleged corruption issue that relates to a former law enforcement staff member’s association with organised crime while they were a member of a law enforcement agency,” a spokesperson told News Corp Australia.

“As a matter of course, once the Integrity Commissioner has provided a report on a completed investigation to the Attorney-General and head of agency, she will decide whether it is in the public interest to publish a report on the ACLEI website.”

It is understood the former officer’s career spans as far back as being involved in elements of the police investigation into the 1989 assassination of AFP assistant commissioner Colin Winchester.

He may have had a role in the carriage of the case that seven years later would see a public servant David Eastman wrongfully convicted and spend 19 years in jail until a retrial found a miscarriage of justice and questioned the validity of the AFP’s probe.

As detailed in an exclusive report on Saturday, elements of Italian organised crime were overlooked or not fully pursued by the AFP which instead built a case just around Eastman.

News Corp Australia has learned the former officer’s identity came to light only as recently as 2019 when another law enforcement agency, believed to be ASIO, uncovered apparent close associations to known Italian organised crime figures.

He would openly meet them in bars and restaurants, unaware he was being watched.

Specifically, those figures belong to the ’Ndrangheta criminal syndicate from Calabria, considered one of the most powerful crime groups in the world.

The AFP was informed about the issue and launched an investigation into the numerous criminal cases including murders and drug plots involving some of the biggest names in organised crime whose briefs may have crossed the man’s desk.

https://www.thechronicle.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/crimeinfocus/australian-law-enforcer-suspected-of-being-mafia-informant/news-story/ec1959e873f4f4f297e5e5c6c282097e

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>>16705177

David Eastman’s lawyers claim AFP ignored mafia links to Colin Winchester murder

The lawyers who represented David Eastman – the man wrongly convicted of top cop Colin Winchester’s murder have hit out at the AFP and their handling of claims it was a mafia hit.

Charles Miranda - July 9, 2022

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An internal report by the Italian anti-mafia Carabinieri police circulating in the public prosecutor’s office in Rome to use for local gangster prosecutions sought to describe the activities of the ’Ndrangheta beyond Europe’s shores.

It was detailed, expansive and, towards the end, included a curious addition about Australia that should have set alarm bell ringing at AFP headquarters in Canberra.

The 2014 report described how the mafia had infiltrated Australian organised crime at all levels and had been responsible for at least three high-profile murders in the country: Griffith anti-drugs campaigner Donald MacKay in 1977, National Crime Authority officer Geoffrey Bowen in 1994, and the 1989 slaying of AFP assistant commissioner Colin Winchester.

As far as the AFP was concerned at that time, the Winchester execution had nothing to do with the mafia but rather a disgruntled former Treasury official David Eastman who had already served 19 years jail for a crime he did not commit.

The basis of the Italian police claim, which was stated nonchalantly as fact, dated back to the time of Mr Winchester’s murder outside his Canberra home in January 1989.

Five months after the murder, Italian police told the AFP that according to wire taps two suspected assassins dubbed “The Shepherds” with known ties to both the Italian and Australian mafia had been dispatched to carry out the crime.

A cursory check by the commonwealth arm of the AFP, as opposed to the ACT branch, found the men did arrive, did have links to known organised crime heavyweights involved in the drug trade, and at least one could be placed in the Canberra district at the time.

But by then the ACT AFP investigators, acrimonious to their commonwealth counterparts, decided they had their suspect and other hypothesis were just that.

To Italian police and prosecutors, the conviction of a mentally troubled Eastman with no ties to organised crime was a stunning result, but was an issue for the Australian courts.

There had always been a stench about the prosecution of former public servant Eastman, who was sentenced to life in 1985 before an independent inquiry found a miscarriage of justice and recommended the sentenced be quashed and he should be pardoned.

A hint of how this prosecution proceeded peppered the 2014 inquiry by judge Brian Martin who found it “deeply flawed” at all turns, notably the questionable forensic evidence presented and critical material held back from Eastman’s defence team.

It also pointed to the AFP’s “blind spot” attitude to pursuing the apparent mafia clues described as a “reluctance” to thoroughly and impartially reinvestigate alternative hypothesis, the strength of which Justice Martin declared remained unknown.

That reluctance flowed from a “policy or stance” to not “disturb” the AFP’s earlier securing of the Eastman conviction.

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An internal AFP memo from the time also points to the PR disaster and likely criticism levelled at key AFP members that could sue should any further action be taken on information related to the mafia and suspicions be publicly revealed.

Former Eastman lawyer Terry O’Donnell said the mafia lines were never truly pursued because on “day three” after Mr Winchester’s murder, investigating officers decided it had to be Eastman.

“They were not interested in the Italians and certainly by 1992 they completely discounted it … they had Eastman in their sights and they were after him,” Mr O’Donnell said.

He said the fact there was now no one charged or convicted of the murder of a top police officer – and so much relevant new and past evidence had not been fully examined – demanded a new probe should be launched.

“I would just be interested to see how far (the AFP) will now go,” he said, adding he could help police now if they needed.

Another lawyer at one stage involved in the Winchester case, Bernard Collaery, agreed the police could not afford to have a chief murdered with no one looking at who may have done it.

“Eastman was demonised and exploited in a very cynical fashion,” Mr Collaery said.

“He (Eastman) was already unfavourably known to police for his behaviour at a time when mental health issues tended to enter the justice system more than they do now in our more enlightened era.

“The second thing is there was no serious investigation of the Italian connection which was obvious, prominent and clearly a matter that had to be investigated fully and proved or disproved. The assistance sought from the Carabinieri was quite limited, and the story of the two ‘Shepherds’ was treated as a folkloric issue and belittled internally.”

The whole link to Mr Winchester and the mafia stemmed from an informant who approached the AFP with details about the Calabrian mafia asking him to grow cannabis crops in Bungendore in NSW, to which Mr Winchester and the NSW Bureau of Criminal Intelligence hatched a plan to authorise the crop in a bid to gather intelligence on the network of growers. Operation Seville, as it was dubbed, allowed the informant to tell the mafia that he was paying corrupt police to ensure the crops would not be seized.

The operation collapsed after a suspect with the cannabis haul was arrested in Victoria. He became an informant and revealed the Calabrians had ordered the killing of Donald MacKay as well as other details related to the Bungendore crops and Italian organised crime.

https://www.thechronicle.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/crimeinfocus/david-eastmans-lawyers-claim-afp-ignored-mafia-links-to-colin-winchester-murder/news-story/9c9a654db4eb8254353ceb6811e34e78

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Solomon Islands blocks Australian aid workers

BEN PACKHAM - JULY 10, 2022

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Solomon Islands has blocked Australian aid workers from ­entering the country as it opens its doors to Chinese advisers and praises Beijing as a “worthy partner” in supporting its development.

As Anthony Albanese prepares to attend the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji this week, five Australian advisers are being denied visas by Honiara.

At the same time, Solomon Islands has granted entry to at least six Chinese advisers under its security agreement with Beijing.

“We will deal with such issues diplomatically,” the Prime Minister told The Australian.

Mr Albanese, who will have his first face-to-face meeting with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare at the forum leaders’ summit, said he would tell Pacific counterparts that Australian aid “comes with no strings attached”.

The 51st forum leaders’ meeting is shaping up to be a disrupted one, after it was revealed on Sunday that Kiribati – which switched its diplomatic allegiances from Taiwan to China just days after Solomon Islands in 2019 – had withdrawn from the regional group­ing. The move, which follows anger by the forum’s five-­nation Melanesian bloc over its influence in the forum, fractures regional unity as China attempts to seal a wider security agreement with Pacific Island nations.

The Australian aid workers have been employed to work on official development assistance programs to support governance and economic reforms in the Solomons.

One adviser has been in limbo waiting for a visa since March; the other four applied in June.

It’s understood the advisers’ status has been queried by Solomon Islands under its 1994 development co-operation agreement with Australia, on the grounds they would work across several government agencies rather than a specific ministry.

Such visas would normally be approved quickly so the advisers could begin their work.

It’s feared the rebuff is part of a wider shift by Solomon Islands as Mr Sogavare – a long-time critic of Australia – aligns his country more closely with China, after his security deal with Beijing.

Mr Albanese will depart for Fiji on Wednesday – a week after returning home from a major trip to meet NATO leaders in Madrid, repair relations with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and pledge fresh Australian support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

He said NATO’s new strategic road map calling out China’s efforts to create “strategic dependencies‘’ would provide an important backdrop to the forum. “It is important our ­Pacific Island neighbours know – I’m sure they’re conscious of it – that the world is concerned about the implications behind some of the geostrategic competition in our region,” he said.

He said he expected to be well received at the meeting after his government’s move to ratchet up the ambition of Australia’s climate change policies.

Pacific leaders would “make their own decisions” about which countries they partnered with, Mr Albanese said, “and we will treat them with respect”.

“And part of our message to the Pacific … is that our support for the Pacific including aid, including action on climate change, and our support for maritime security, comes with no strings attached,” he said.

“It’s part of the way we engage with the world.”

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The withdrawal of Kiribati, revealed by New Zealand’s 1News, presents fresh challenges for Australia, which is relying on regional unity to keep China at bay.

The government was heartened in May by the rejection by 10 Pacific nations of a proposed ­regional security agreement with China, on the grounds the Pacific forum needed to consider it before a decision could be reached.

China, which is a forum “dialogue partner” but not a member like Australia, has not been invited to the summit.

But in an audacious diplomatic move, Beijing has invited the same Pacific states to attend a virtual meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday – the same day as the forum leaders’ meeting.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Solomon Islands had granted entry to Australian aid workers during the pandemic but advisers were now facing delays. “Currently, visa arrangements for five specific advisers are awaiting Solomon Islands approval,” a spokeswoman said.

Solomon Islands Opposition Leader Matthew Wale said Mr Sogavare had previously “slowed down” the entry of US diplomatic and project staff, “so I am not surprised he is making it hard for Australian advisers”.

“He has made himself a puppet of China,” Mr Wale said.

After last year’s violent protests targeting government buildings and Chinese businesses, Beijing sent at least six security advisers to Honiara, together with donated equipment, to help train local police in Chinese riot control tactics.

Mr Sogavare, in a speech last Thursday to mark Solomon Islands’ Independence Day, praised China’s “genuine intention” to be a ”worthy partner” in his country’s development.

He did not specifically mention Australia in the speech but, after months of tensions between the countries, declared that “relationships at times can sour”.

New Zealand’s Anne-Marie Brady, an expert on China’s interests in the Pacific, said the Chinese Communist Party was “running Sogavare like a puppet on a string”.

“Xi Jinping seems to be demanding a deliverable on the ­Pacific before the 20th party congress (later this year),” Professor Brady said.

“We will see very soon if the existing Pacific institutions like the PIF and (the region’s) partnership with the US, Australia, NZ and other states can withstand the pressure.”

In a recent phone call, Mr Sogavare assured Mr Albanese that Australia remained his country’s “security partner of choice”.

Australian and US officials remain concerned Solomon Islands’ security agreement with China could open the way for a Chinese base in the country.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape will attend the forum, which falls during the voting period for the national election. His main leadership rival, former prime minister Peter O’Neill, said he had information Mr Marape was attending “to push for China’s inclusion in this important regional group”.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/solomon-islands-blocks-australian-aid-workers/news-story/bf0857f97ffab01b3a354c2730fe702c

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>>16705199

Australian Federal Police

Statement on the historic assassination of Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester

10 July 2022

The AFP has not reopened previously closed files into the Winchester assassination.

There is no evidence to suggest Italian organised crime was responsible for the death of one of our own, Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester.

Our thoughts are always with the Winchester family.

The AFP wants to be clear: there is no recent, AFP review, report or intelligence, that suggests the mafia is responsible for the murder of former Assistant Commissioner Winchester.

There is no open investigation into this matter. It is not under review.

https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/statement-historic-assassination-assistant-commissioner-colin-winchester

>>16701998

China winning entropic warfare in Pacific Islands

We’ve seen Chinese entropic warfare in various stages in Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and elsewhere. And the contagion seems to be spreading in the Pacific.

Cleo Paskal - June 4, 2022

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Alexandria, VA.: Make no mistake, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s tour of eight Pacific Island Countries (PICs) has been a success.

No, they didn’t sign his “China-Pacific Island Countries Common Development Vision” but it’s doubtful Beijing even thought that was on the cards. Otherwise, Wang would have held his group meeting with the PIC foreign ministers at the end of his trip, after he had a chance to speak to more of them individually, rather than in the middle. Remember the draft document was leaked, not trumpeted by China, and negotiations are to be expected.

Also, four of the countries in the region recognize Taiwan. Those signing up to Beijing’s deal would have been striking a sudden blow by proxy against their neighbours. It’s not the ways things are usually done in the Pacific. Just look at the regional consternation in response to the China-Solomon Islands security deal.

China would know that. It has half-a-dozen think tanks dedicated to studying the region, has trained hundreds (if not by now thousands) of Pacific Islands bureaucrats, and has generational, focused, intelligence on key leaders and their families.

Within the countries, China has large footprints, including often the largest embassy (with staff that speak the local language), financial relationships with key business leaders, favourite members of the media, and control of large sections of the retail sector, including in the relatively remote areas, and more.

It’s worth remembering that China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law reads: “Any organization or citizen shall support, assist or cooperate with the state intelligence work…The state protects individuals and organizations that support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence work… The State commends and rewards individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to national intelligence work.”

China has put in the effort to know the region. Bold individual action—such as the influential letter questioning the wisdom of the deals written by Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo—may have been a surprise, but the Chinese delegation would have deep files on the region and known before leaving Beijing this is a diverse and complicated area, with many leaders who value their nations’ sovereignty. They would have known the chances of getting the Vision agreed to as is, was slim.

So to better gauge if the trip was a success or not by Beijing’s metrics, let’s look at what some of the real goals might be.

KINETIC WARFARE

There was a lot of discussion about implications for kinetic warfare. In this context, kinetic broadly means “of or relating to the motion of material bodies”. Or a shooting war. You know, the Chinese “base” question.

No, China didn’t get a “base”, however, given China’s doctrines of unrestricted warfare and civil-military fusion, China may put kinetic elements in place in ways designed to bypass Western trip wires.

For example, the Vision proposes to “establish China-Pacific Island Countries Disaster Management Cooperation Mechanism”, that includes prepositioned “China-Pacific Island Countries Reserve of Emergency Supplies”. Those can easily be dual use.

And, while the multilateral Vision wasn’t signed, Wang did sign a series of bilateral deals, some of which echoed elements of the Vision, in most of the countries he visited. Some were formalizations or expansions of existing areas of cooperation, including blue economy, disaster management and more. Some were new, such as MoUs on fingerprint laboratories.

There also seemed to be a focus on gaining access in agriculture (land), fisheries (seas), aviation (air), and disaster response (amphibious, prepositioning). I’d like to be more precise, but the contents of most of the deals are secret. Which in itself is a win for Wang, on the political warfare front.

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POLITICAL WARFARE

While strategic positioning is taking place, the primary battlefield now is not kinetic warfare, but political warfare. Political warfare can be defined as anything short of kinetic, including media warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare, also known in China as the Three Warfares.

But what is the goal of that political warfare? From what we’ve seen on this trip, and from decades of Chinese operations, one of the main goals might be winning “entropic warfare”.

ENTROPIC WARFARE

Take a look at the chain of events that has garnered Beijing its closest PIC ally to date—one that did sign an overt security document with Beijing that has overt kinetic elements—Solomon Islands.

Solomons had some longstanding domestic political fractures, and when the government of Prime Minster Manasseh Sogavare switched the country from Taiwan to China in 2019 without public consultation, those fractures were aggravated.

Leaders within the country who objected to the switch, for example the Premier of Malaita Province, Daniel Suidani, were targeted by Sogavare with backing from the Chinese Embassy. That inflamed the situation even more, leading to unrest. That unrest created the justification for Sogavare to say he needed the security deal with China to handle the civil unrest.

It took around two years for a Solomons Prime Minister complicit with (if not compliant to) China, to dangerously destabilize the country. That destabilization suits the increasingly autocratic Prime Minister as it gives him the justification to go after his opposition in the name of “stability” and potentially to postpone elections—elections he is likely to lose.

Sogavare’s government is even acting in ways that are starting to have distinct “Chinese characteristics”, such as suppression of opposition and free speech. The Media Association of Solomon Islands boycotted covering Wang Yi’s visit because of restrictions placed on them by Sogavare’s government at the behest of the Chinese. And the Solomon Islands Christian Association issued a statement saying there “must be transparency for any international MOU’s and MOA’s with the Solomon Islands. These international documents should be made public before the actual signing.”

There is widespread and growing discontent in Solomons as the fragile social contract breaks down. Which China can consider a win. Solomons is weakened from within, making opposition less effective, and the leadership more dependent on Beijing.

The definition of entropy is: “a process of degradation or running down or a trend to disorder.” Political warfare is the tactic (using for example media warfare to create social division, lawfare to arrest critics, and psychological warfare to damage a target country’s relationship with other potential sources of support). That political warfare supports an “entropic warfare” win—paralyzing a target country’s ability to respond or defend itself, and so allowing Beijing to “win without fighting”.

We’ve seen Chinese entropic warfare in various stages in Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and elsewhere.

And the contagion seems to be spreading in the Pacific. Everywhere Wang Yi went, governments kept deals secret, restricted their own journalists, and blithely waived quarantine regulations that have been keeping families apart for over two years. In what are normally very tight-knit societies, that has sown seeds of social discord that are still nascent, but that have the potential to grow into the strangling vines of entropy.

(continued)

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INDIA VERSUS ENTROPY

Because India has an understanding of a broad range of Chinese political warfare tactics (as shown for example by the banning of Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat), India has proven successful at helping to blunt entropic warfare attacks in Maldives and Nepal, and is now trying in Sri Lanka.

China knows this, and that is likely why its proxy, the government of Prime Minister Sogavare, is stalling the entry of India’s High Commissioner to Solomon Islands.

The entropic “degradation” of the social contract in the region has come as a wake-up call to many, including Australia. John Blaxland, Professor of International Security & Intelligence Studies at Australian National University said: “What has happened in Timor L’este [one of the countries to sign multiple deals with China] reflects a sad and cynical mishandling of the bilateral relationship by Australia. Australian goodwill has been squandered, after the remarkable circumstances in September 1999, when, under Major General Peter Cosgrove, the Australian-led and UN-endorsed International Force in East Timor (INTERFET) was the handmaiden of Timorese independence. The level of trust and goodwill back then was sky high. Now it’s in the toilet. How Australia could have played its hand so badly should be the subject of a hard-nosed review. Perhaps too clever by half, we thought we could play the role of dominant regional benefactor without thinking through the limits of our own power.”

Australia’s new government seems to be trying to right the boat, but there is likely to be a steep learning curve—and that review can’t come soon enough.

On news of Wang Yi’s plans, Australia’s new Foreign Minister Penny Wong quickly travelled to the region and gave speeches about Australia being a member of the “Pacific family”. But given the problems Pacific Islanders often have getting visas to Australia, many were likely thinking “you are the sort of family member who shows up in our house whenever you want and demands attention, but if we want to visit you, good luck getting in the door.”

Australia still has a lot to learn about its neighbours, and itself. But it doesn’t have much time. Entropy is spreading, with the active help of Beijing. While Canberra and others get up to speed, countries like India, and leaders like FSM President Panuelo, could be encouraged to engage more broadly on political warfare education and defence across the region—helping to knit together like-minded journalists, community leaders, business sectors, democracy-minded political leaders, and more.

For example, President Panuelo and Premier Suidani could be assured their economies won’t be penalized for their principled leadership, their analyses could be shared personally with other Pacific leaders (ideally in a low key, bilateral manner, without Australian or New Zealand intervention), and investigating could be launched into the “agents of entropy” laundering their ill-gotten Chinese money via, for example, Australian and New Zealand real estate. It would also be good to see Australia and others asking Solomons why Quad partner India wasn’t being allowed in.

Wang Yi’s trip was a win in China’s protracted entropic warfare strategy. That needs to be acknowledged, reviewed and understood. Australia just announced a new patrol boat for Samoa and recently opened a new military training facility in Fiji.

You can give a country as many patrol boats as you like, build whatever military training facilities you want, but if the country’s society weakens, fragments and is captured by Beijing, all you’ve done is given China and its proxies a nice new boat and barracks with which to suppress local opposition and project power.

Cleo Paskal is The Sunday Guardian Special Correspondent as well as Non-Resident Senior Fellow for the Indo-Pacific at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/china-winning-entropic-warfare-pacific-islands

>>16701998

Changing hostility toward China first step for Australia to improve ties

Global Times - Jul 10, 2022

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia on Friday evening, the first meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries in three years.

This meeting is arguably the most substantive dialogue between the two major trading partners, during which both ministers raised their respective concerns. Particularly, Wang called on Australia to regard China as a partner rather than a rival and seek common ground while shelving differences, which indicates that it's more important to seek common ground between the two sides despite the various differences, which is very crucial.

China and Australia elevated bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2014, which has been in name only since the relationship gradually deteriorated from 2017. Thus it is significant that both ministers stressed the importance of adhering to such strategic positioning, which means that the nature of China-Australia relations has not fundamentally changed, Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times.

Wong mentioned that the meeting with Wang was a "first step" toward stabilizing the relationship. According to Chen, the emphasis on stabilization is a hint that there were ups and downs in relations in the past. It can be felt that the Australian side recognizes that the previous China-Australia relationship was not normal, while the reckless and provocative rhetoric toward China has significantly reduced under the current government.

Although such signals to repair the relationship are appreciated by Beijing, pragmatic moves rather than just verbal statements should be adopted by Canberra when "stabilizing" relations. It is not enough for Australian politicians to just stay on the level of will.

"The root cause of the difficulties in China-Australia relations in recent years lies in the insistence of previous Australian governments to treat China as an 'opponent' and even a 'threat,' Wang noted, adding that Australia's words and actions have been "irresponsible." In his message of congratulation to new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang highlighted the need for both sides to "review the past, look into the future." Australia should be aware that it is the lack of rational judgment on China that has led to even more radical rhetoric than that from the US, and the free-fall decline in China-Australia relations.

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That is why it is crucial for Wang to urge Canberra to develop a rational and correct perception toward China. Only with the right mindset can both sides get the job done. Chen noted that the Albanese government is gradually formulating and implementing its diplomatic and security policies after taking office, and the influence of the previous government can be observed in this process, especially in terms of perceptions toward China, such as "Beijing is assertive" and "it is China that has changed." Such cognition, highly shared among Western countries, is determined by the long-standing alliance between Australia and the US, as well as Australia's core status in the Anglosphere.

Clearly, many politicians in the Australian Labor Party, including Albanese and Wong, cannot avoid being affected by Washington's hostile attitude toward China, such as the prime minister's preconditions for restarting the China-Australia relationship, saying that China needs to "remove sanctions" imposed on Australia in order to "improve relations." In fact, China initiated anti-dumping investigations into certain Australian exports in accordance with laws and regulations, and then imposed anti-dumping measures accordingly. China's probe into products from countries such as Australia is in accordance with WTO rules. Australia should abandon its double standard when analyzing China's trade remedy measures adopted to safeguard its reasonable interests.

Australia has recently expressed its willingness and stance to ease the bilateral relationship. On the key issue of tariffs and trade, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell "held out the olive branch" to China, suggesting that a "compromise situation" or "alternative way" to settle trade disputes might emerge in talks between the two countries. The meeting between both foreign ministers is another step forward, and more substantive moves are believed to be on the way.

At such a critical moment, Australia should indeed be more sensible and act in its own interests, rather than following the anti-China strategy of the US, so it can truly improve its relationship with China, Australia's largest trading partner, Chen said.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1270183.shtml

China crushes rare protest from people demanding their life savings back

Chinese officials have reacted with force after over 1000 people marched in a rare protest against alleged government corruption.

Staff writers / AFP - July 11, 2022

Chinese authorities reportedly crushed a peaceful protest by hundreds who demanded their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis.

Hundreds marched Sunday in protest against alleged corruption by local officials in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, multiple participants told AFP, in a rare public demonstration in the tightly-controlled country.

Hit hard by the country’s economic slowdown, four banks in Henan province have since mid-April frozen all cash withdrawals, leaving thousands of small savers without funds and sparking sporadic demonstrations.

Sunday saw some of the largest protests yet, with several hundred people rallying in front of a branch of the People’s Bank of China in the Henan capital Zhengzhou, according to multiple witnesses who declined to be named.

Images circulating on social media showed banners denouncing “the corruption and violence of the Henan authorities”.

Protesters were “hit, wounded and were bleeding from the head. Disabled people were also violently beaten,” one participant told AFP, estimating the number of demonstrators to have been “several thousand”.

Local sources said the face-off lasted for several hours until rows of security officers suddenly charged up the stairs and confronted the protesters head-on.

Security officers reportedly dragged protesters down the stairs and beat those who resisted.

One woman told CNN she was pushed to the ground by two security guards, who twisted and injured her arm. Another 27-year-old man said he was kicked by seven or eight guards on the ground before being carried away.

Local authorities in Henan did not immediately comment on the protests. Some demonstrators accuse officials of colluding with local banks to suppress protests, with authorities last month accused of exploiting the Covid health pass to quell new protests, turning protesters passes red to effectively bar them from public spaces.

The health pass has become a ubiquitous part of life in China under Beijing’s strict Covid-zero strategy, and is required to access the vast majority of buildings, shopping centres, public places and also certain public transport.

While most accept use of the technology for public health purposes, some have voiced concern that it could also be used for surveillance of the population – already widespread in China.

Demonstrations are relatively rare in tightly-controlled China, where social stability is an official obsession and where opposition is swiftly repressed.

But desperate citizens do sometimes take to the streets, despite the risk of arrest and prosecution.

Analysts say that some local banks across China have found their already-precarious financial situations exacerbated by corruption.

https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/china-crushes-rare-protest-from-people-demanding-their-life-savings-back/news-story/59518d0d1bdb7cf2885e7d5912fd87d3

>>16716474

China crushes mass protest by bank depositors demanding their life savings back

Nectar Gan - July 11, 2022

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Hong Kong (CNN) - Chinese authorities on Sunday violently dispersed a peaceful protest by hundreds of depositors, who sought in vain to demand their life savings back from banks that have run into a deepening cash crisis.

Since April, four rural banks in China's central Henan province have frozen millions of dollars worth of deposits, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of customers in an economy already battered by draconian Covid lockdowns.

Anguished depositors have staged several demonstrations in the city of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, over the past two months, but their demands have invariably fallen on deaf ears.

On Sunday, more than 1,000 depositors from across China gathered outside the Zhengzhou branch of the country's central bank, the People's Bank of China, to launch their largest protest yet, more than half a dozen protesters told CNN.

The demonstration is among the largest China has seen since the pandemic, with domestic travel limited by various Covid restrictions on movement. Last month, Zhengzhou authorities even resorted to tampering with the country's digital Covid health-code system to restrict the movements of depositors and thwart their planned protest, sparking a nationwide outcry.

This time, most protesters arrived outside the bank before dawn - some as early as 4 a.m. - to avoid being intercepted by authorities. The crowd, which included the elderly and children, occupied a flight of imposing stairs outside the bank, chanting slogans and holding up banners.

"Henan banks, return my savings!" they shouted in unison, many waving Chinese flags, in videos shared with CNN by two protesters.

Using national flags to display patriotism is a common strategy for protesters in China, where dissent is strictly suppressed. The tactic is meant to show that their grievances are only against local governments, and that they support and rely on the central government to seek redress.

"Against the corruption and violence of the Henan government," a banner written in English read.

A large portrait of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong was pasted on a pillar at the entrance of the bank.

Across the street, hundreds of police and security personnel - some in uniforms and others in plain clothes - assembled and surrounded the site, as protesters shouted "gangsters" at them.

Violent crackdown

The face-off lasted for several hours until after 11 a.m., when rows of security officers suddenly charged up the stairs and clashed with protesters, who threw bottles and other small objects at them.

The scene quickly descended into chaos, as security officers dragged protesters down the stairs and beat those who resisted, including women and the elderly, according to witnesses and social media videos.

One woman from eastern Shandong province told CNN she was pushed to the ground by two security guards, who twisted and injured her arm. A 27-year-old man from the southern city of Shenzhen, surnamed Sun, said he was kicked by seven or eight guards on the ground before being carried away. A 45-year-old man from the central city of Wuhan said his shirt was completely torn at the back during the scuffle.

Many said they were shocked by the sudden burst of violence by the security forces.

"I did not expect them to be so violent and shameless this time. There was no communication, no warning before they brutally dispersed us," said one depositor from a metropolis outside Henan who had protested in Zhengzhou previously, and who requested CNN conceal his name due to security concerns.

"Why would government employees beat us up? We're only ordinary people asking for our deposits back, we did nothing wrong," the Shandong woman said.

The protesters were hurled onto dozens of buses and sent to makeshift detention sites across the city - from hotels and schools to factories, according to people taken there. Some injured were escorted to hospitals; many were released from detention by the late afternoon, the people said.

CNN has reached out to the Henan provincial government for comment.

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The Zhengzhou Business District Police Station - which has jurisdiction over the protest site - hung up on CNN's call requesting comment.

Late on Sunday night, the Henan banking regulator issued a terse statement, saying "relevant departments" were speeding up efforts to verify information on customer funds at the four rural banks.

"(Authorities) are coming up with a plan to deal with the issue, which will be announced in the near future," the statement said.

Police in Xuchang, a city neighboring Zhengzhou, said in a statement late Sunday they recently arrested members of an alleged "criminal gang," who were accused of effectively taking control over the Henan rural banks starting from 2011 - by leveraging their shareholdings and "manipulating banks executives."

The suspects were also accused of illegally transferring funds through fictitious loans, the police said, adding that some of their funds and assets had been seized and frozen.

Shattered lives

The protest comes at a politically sensitive time for the ruling Communist Party, just months before its leader Xi Jinping is expected to seek an unprecedented third term at a key meeting this fall.

Large-scale demonstrations over lost savings and ruined livelihoods could be perceived as a political embarrassment for Xi, who has promoted a nationalistic vision of leading the country to "great rejuvenation."

Henan authorities are under tremendous pressure to stop the protests. But depositors remain undeterred. As the issue drags on, many have become ever more desperate to recover their savings.

Huang, the depositor from Wuhan, lost his job in the medical cosmetology industry this year, as businesses struggled in the pandemic. Yet he is unable to withdraw any of his life savings - of over 500,000 yuan ($75,000) - from a rural bank in Henan.

"Being unemployed, all I can live on is my past savings. But I can't even do that now - how am I supposed to (support my family)?" said Huang, whose son is in high school.

Sun, from Shenzhen, is struggling to keep his machine factory from bankruptcy after losing his deposit of 4 million yuan ($597,000) to a Henan bank. He can't even pay his more than 40 employees without the funds.

Sun said he was covered in bruises and had a swollen lower back after being repeatedly stomped by security guards at the protest.

"The incident completely overturned my perception of the government. I've lived all my life placing so much faith in the government. After today, I'll never trust it again," he said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/10/china/china-henan-bank-depositors-protest-mic-intl-hnk/index.html

Catholic Church considers appeal while facing huge sex-abuse hit

JOHN FERGUSON - JULY 10, 2022

The Catholic Church is confronting a potentially huge hit to its ­finances, with several new sex abuse claimants emerging after a $1.9m damages payout to a former altar boy in the archdiocese of Melbourne.

Rightside Legal lawyer Michael Magazanik said several people had come forward alleging offending by disgraced Catholic priest Desmond Gannon in the wake of the huge payout this year to one of his victims.

The Catholic Church is considering appealing the decision by Victorian Supreme Court judge Andrew Keogh, who ordered the church to pay the $1.9m for pain, suffering and economic loss to the former parishioner.

The victim alleged there was negligence by the archdiocese and it was vicariously liable for the abuse perpetrated by Gannon, a serial offender. Responsibility was finally sheeted home to the church, which had been warned in the past about Gannon’s behaviour but failed to act.

The altar boy was sexually ­abused three times by Gannon between 1968 and 1970 but he was not convicted and jailed for the abuse until 2009.

Mr Magazanik said he believed there were still a large number of people in the community who had been offended against by clergy and had not previously alerted authorities.

“I think there is a really big cohort of clergy abuse survivors who have never come forward,” he said.

“We’ve had a steady run of new clients since the Gannon decision. The church is deluded if it believes this completely avoidable disaster is coming to an end.”

The church did not comment on the Gannon matter but has confirmed an appeal against the Gannon decision was being considered.

The massive Gannon payout comes as the archdiocese of Melbourne battles strong financial headwinds from the pandemic, the long-term implications of the sex-abuse crisis and changing community attitudes to religion.

It is believed there have been dozens of Gannon victims.

The neighbouring diocese of Ballarat has also confronted a relentless series of complaints in recent decades, many related to Gerald Ridsdale, whom police believe could have attacked hundreds of victims.

The Victorian government passed legislation in 2019 that en­abled the courts to set aside past deeds of release relating to child abuse, which could have a profound impact on the number of large civil claims that could follow.

There are expected to be hundreds of people in Victoria who have signed deeds of release in exchange for relatively small financial payouts, under the Catholic Church’s Melbourne Response and Towards Healing, and via other institutions.

Chris Goddard, adjunct professor at UniSA and an expert on abuse matters, said large payouts such as the Gannon case contrasted sharply with the small payments afforded victims under the Melbourne Response and other schemes.

He said the recent large civil payments would still not restore people’s lives.

“It’s to try to give restitution to lives that were destroyed,” he said.

In the case of Gannon’s victim, most of the payout was for loss of earning capacity damages.

The Gannon victim previously had received $139,000 in compensation under the Melbourne Response but that payment and deed was not a barrier to the claim as it was an ex-gratia payment made when he had no legal rights.

There are questions about whether many – or even any – of the Melbourne Response deeds will protect the church after legislative reform and legal precedents were set.

Legal sources familiar with the Gannon decision said the church would have no option but to ­appeal the decision because of the financial implications of the case, even though some church cases are covered, at least in part, by ­insurance.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/catholic-church-considers-appeal-while-facing-huge-sexabuse-hit/news-story/95ba013d3929449ec1561faeb6bddb48

Hi-tech arms may be more important than subs, Defence Minister Richard Marles says

Defence Minister Richard Marles says hi-tech arms and expertise may be more important than the nuclear submarines that headline the AUKUS pact.

Tom Minear - July 11, 2022

Hypersonic missiles, autonomous undersea vehicles and quantum technologies may be even more important to Australia’s security than the nuclear submarines that headline the AUKUS pact, Defence Minister Richard Marles says.

He has also opened the door to creating a new AUKUS visa, saying it was an “interesting idea” to ensure Australia, the US and the UK could “share expertise and technology at an industrial level”.

The Deputy Prime Minister flew out to the US on Sunday for what will be the first ministerial visit to Australia’s closest ally since the federal election in May.

Speaking to the Herald Sun prior to his departure, Mr Marles said the progress of the submarine program would be a key focus of talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin.

The Albanese government will announce early next year whether it will build a version of the US or UK submarines, along with the timeline and budget for the huge program, which Mr Marles said he wanted to deliver “as quickly as possible”.

But he said he was also ­focused on advancing the ­development of other technologies that would be “central to how countries do defence in the future”.

“These other technologies that we are looking at developing may well end up being … just as if not more important in terms of the way in which the three countries relate to each other, and therefore what AUKUS ultimately delivers,” Mr Marles said.

The Defence Minister ­acknowledged visits from US and UK submarines to our shores could be part of covering the capability gap before Australia’s subs hit the water, which could take until at least 2040.

Prior to the election, former prime minister Scott Morrison said ­Defence was ­reviewing the infrastructure upgrades required at Western Australia’s submarine base to host US and UK submarines.

Mr Marles said this was one of several measures “that we would contemplate about how we maintain and evolve our submarine capability from this moment through until whenever we get the first submarine”.

He refused to be drawn on when Australia’s submarine work would begin, though he said the government wanted to create a “production line” based in South Australia.

On the trip, Mr Marles will also meet with Democrat and Republican congressional leaders, saying he was “really confident about a sense of bipartisanship in the US around AUKUS”.

“It is a very deep relationship and it genuinely is a relationship that transcends politics on both sides of the ­Pacific,” he said.

“We’re living through a moment in time where the ­alliance has really never been more important.”

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/hitech-arms-may-be-more-important-than-subs-defence-minister-richard-marles-says/news-story/f2cd07e29fdf4d6d93494a80fd29bfde

Exercise Koolendong 2022: Australian Defence Force and US Marines hold warfighting exercise across the Top End

11 July 2022

US Marines of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) and members of the Australian Defence Force from Australian Army’s 1st and 13th Brigade, and Royal Australian Air Force’s 36th, 37th and 75th Squadrons have commenced Exercise Koolendong this week across the Top End.

The three week warfighting exercise is being held at Defence training areas in the Northern Territory and for the first time, in Western Australia to simulate a response to a regional security crisis.

Australian Army Colonel Marcus Constable, Commander Headquarters Northern Command said the exercise built on the recent successes of Exercises Southern Jackaroo and Crocodile Response.

“This annual exercise allows the ADF to rehearse with the US Marines in a combined arms littoral combat scenario,” Colonel Constable said.

“Koolendong strengthens the US-Australian relationship, advances and validates USMC-ADF interoperability and demonstrates preparedness to respond to a regional crisis.”

US Marine Colonel Christopher Steele, MRF-D’s Commanding Officer, said the culminating exercise of the MRF-D demonstrates the potency of the US and Australian alliance.

“We are deploying significant forces by land, air and sea to training areas in both WA and the NT including Mount Bundy Training Area, RAAF Base Curtin & Yampi Sound Training Area,” Colonel Steele said.

“This mid-intensity warfighting exercise replicates elements of a combined joint littoral combat operation supported by capabilities from the US Army and US Air Force.

“The Australia-US Alliance has never been more important as we look ahead to our regional strategic challenges,” Colonel Steele said.

The Marine Rotational Force – Darwin is part of the United States Force Posture Initiative which demonstrates of the strength of the Australia-United States Alliance and our shared deep engagement with the Indo-Pacific region.

Media note

Media can access imagery of Exercise Koolendong at:

https://images.defence.gov.au/S20221716

and at:

https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/MRF-D

https://news.defence.gov.au/media/media-releases/defence-and-us-marines-hold-warfighting-exercise-across-top-end

>>16716521

US B-2 bombers arrive in Australia for rotational deployment

Defense Brief Editorial - July 11, 2022

US Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers arrived at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base Amberley on July 10 for a regularly-scheduled deployment.

This is the first time since August 2020 that the B-2s deployed to the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) area of responsibility as part of a Bomber Task Force.

The aircraft from the 509th Bomb Wing, Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, will be operating out of Australia, supporting the Enhanced Cooperation Initiative under the Force Posture Agreement between the United States and Australia.

The EAC initiative began in February 2017 to build on a broad range of long-standing air exercises and training activities undertaken between the two countries. Its aim is to deepen advanced air-to-air integration between the Australian Defence Force and United States air elements to enable the two countries to operate together seamlessly.

The US airmen will employ the B-2 to conduct training missions and strategic deterrence missions with allies, partners and joint forces in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Several PACAF KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft will be supporting the B-2 Spirit aircraft, providing refueling capability for the visiting bomber aircraft while they integrate with the Royal Australian Air Force to conduct various training exercises and activities.

“This deployment of the B-2 to Australia demonstrates and enhances the readiness and lethality of our long-range penetrating strike force,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Kousgaard, 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander. “We look forward to training and enhancing our interoperability with our RAAF teammates, as well as partners and allies across the Indo-Pacific as we meet PACAF objectives.”

Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) exercise Koolendong kicks off

The arrival of the bombers in Queensland coincided with the kick-off of the joint exercise Koolendong that is undertaken by US Marines of the Marine Rotational Force-Darwin (MRF-D) and members of the Australian Defence Force from Australian Army’s 1st and 13th Brigade, and Royal Australian Air Force’s 36th, 37th and 75th Squadrons.

The three week warfighting exercise is being held at training areas in the Northern Territory and for the first time, in Western Australia to simulate a response to a regional security crisis.

Australian Army Colonel Marcus Constable, Commander Headquarters Northern Command said the exercise built on the recent successes of Exercises Southern Jackaroo and Crocodile Response.

“This annual exercise allows the ADF to rehearse with the US Marines in a combined arms littoral combat scenario,” Colonel Constable said.

“Koolendong strengthens the US-Australian relationship, advances and validates USMC-ADF interoperability and demonstrates preparedness to respond to a regional crisis.”

US Marine Colonel Christopher Steele, MRF-D’s Commanding Officer, said the culminating exercise of the MRF-D demonstrates the potency of the US and Australian alliance.

“We are deploying significant forces by land, air and sea to training areas in both WA and the NT including Mount Bundy Training Area, RAAF Base Curtin & Yampi Sound Training Area,” Colonel Steele said.

“This mid-intensity warfighting exercise replicates elements of a combined joint littoral combat operation supported by capabilities from the US Army and US Air Force.”

https://defbrief.com/2022/07/11/us-b-2-bombers-arrive-in-australia-for-rotational-deployment/

>>16705051

Victorian government rejects chief health officer’s mask mandate recommendation

HAMISH SPENCE - JULY 12, 2022

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The Victorian government has been accused of going against health advice for political reasons after rejecting a recommendation from the state’s chief health officer to mandate masks in certain settings.

The Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas unveiled a range of new pandemic orders on Tuesday, with another wave of Covid sweeping through and the state’s hospital numbers continuing to climb.

But she only “strongly recommended” that masks be worn indoors and in crowded settings despite revealing acting chief health officer Ben Cowie had advised mandates should be reintroduced in some settings.

“The chief health officer has provided his advice and I have accepted his advice, except that I have chosen not to extend mandates for mask wearing in some of the settings that were recommended to me,” Ms Thomas said on Tuesday.

“The advice from the chief health officer was to mandate mask wearing in early childhood and school settings, and indeed in retail and in some hospitality settings for workers in those areas.

“I made a decision based on the advice that I had received that further mandating masks was not the most effective way to get the message out about the importance of mask wearing.

“We need to empower Victorians to make their own decisions.”

But new Victorian Nationals deputy leader Emma Kealy said the decision went against the government's previous stance of following health advice and was motivated by politics during a state election year.

“For the past two years, all we‘ve heard is that this government is listening to the health advice and now with an election looming, they’re making decisions informed by political will,” she said.

“We have a government that have got us into a chaotic mess in Victoria with their health care system crisis and with people not able to get their health care support when they need it.”

But Victorian Liberals leader Matthew Guy was supportive of the government’s decision.

“I’m glad the government aren’t introducing mask mandates; that’s one piece of good news,” he said.

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra also welcomed the decision, calling it a “common sense” approach.

“The Victorian Chamber welcomes the approach of recommendations and not mandates; this puts the decision making back on the individual and businesses,” he said.

“We have advocated that mandates should be avoided. This is a commonsense approach which enables people to make their own decisions to protect their health, the health of their clients and their family and friends.

“We would also encourage our members to support their teams to get their third or fourth Covid-19 vaccination, such as time off to attend appointments.”

Masks are still mandatory on public transport, in rideshare vehicles and in high-risk settings.

(continued)

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Victoria’s Covid hospitalisation numbers have grown by more than 50 per cent over the last two weeks, with 737 people in the state’s hospitals as of Tuesday with the virus.

To help counter this issue, the government announced a “significant new investment” for a public campaign.

The Stay Well in Winter campaign will run on television, radio, and outdoor and digital channels to educate the community about the benefits of getting vaccinated, wearing a mask and maximising ventilation indoors.

Another round of the Small Business Ventilation Grant Program was also announced to help businesses invest in equipment that will keep their workers and customers safe in indoor settings.

These announcements were accompanied by changes to the state’s immunity and isolation rules.

The period when someone is considered a recently confirmed case, meaning they are exempt from testing and isolation and quarantine requirements, was reduced from 12 weeks to four weeks.

This change was in line with Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice, with evidence suggesting that new Covid variants can evade immunity from prior infection.

Positive cases in seven-day isolation were given an additional reason to leave their home – to provide transport for a household member to obtain food if essential.

The infected person will need to remain in the car and wear a face covering at all times.

These changes will come into effect from 11:59m on Tuesday.

Ms Thomas also requested that employers consider working-from-home arrangements for their employees where “most appropriate”.

She encouraged Victorians to follow health advice during that state’s third Covid winter.

“This is our third Covid winter. We all wish that it would go away, but that is not happening. Victorians know what to do,” Ms Thomas said.

“As we’re seeing across the globe and around Australia, winter means more time inside where Covid and the flu can spread. It also means our nurses, ambos and doctors have never worked harder, and we can’t thank them enough.

“We are working with business and community leaders to ensure advice and information is provided to the wider community – to help all Victorians stay well this winter.

“Wearing a mask, getting up to date with your vaccinations and ensuring indoor areas are well ventilated are small but effective steps Victorians and businesses can take to manage their own Covid risk this winter.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/victorian-government-rejects-mask-mandate-recommendation/news-story/18f80fca0a603fd2d52b1db35c87a7de

PM Anthony Albanese rolls up sleeve for fourth Covid-19 vaccine

CATIE MCLEOD - JULY 12, 2022

Anthony Albanese has rolled up his sleeve for his second booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The Prime Minister received his fourth shot at a Sydney pharmacy on Tuesday, a day before he departs for Fiji to attend the Pacific Islands Forum.

At 59-years-old, Mr Albanese is part of the age bracket which has been recommended to have a fourth dose of the vaccine as infections surge.

He opted for a pharmacy in Rozelle in his inner-west electorate of Grayndler, where he was photographed smiling as he received his jab before posing for a selfie with a customer.

The federal government last week opened up fourth dose Covid-19 vaccinations to people aged 30 and over, and recommend fourth doses to people aged 50 to 64.

The changes are in line with advice from the expert immunisation panel ATAGI and come amid a winter wave of Covid-19 infections, as well as the emergence of new variants.

Health Minister Mark Butler last week warned Australians that two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine would no longer be enough to protect them against the virus.

“We’ve got the information campaigns out there. States are drumming home this message. Health experts are drumming home this message,” Mr Butler said.

“I think Australians are starting to see the impact of this growing third wave on their health and hospital systems through the winter, compounded by the impact of influenza as well.”

Mr Butler said the government hadn’t set a target for the uptake of fourth doses.

“We want to see the wonderful response to the first two-dose campaign, where more than 95 per cent of over 16s now have had two doses of vaccine,” he said.

“Let’s work to maximise that number because we know two doses is not sufficient protection against these Omicron numbers.

“We don’t have a number. We want to encourage individuals to act on that health advice.”

Mr Butler also said he had “put a strong case” to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme advisory committee asking them to expand access to antiviral treatments for the virus.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/pm-anthony-albanese-rolls-up-sleeve-for-fourth-covid19-vaccine/news-story/ae3bdb078e1c03de42884aac62d6f3fe

>>16701998

>>16704938

China maintains demands despite Prime Minister’s rebuff

COURTNEY GOULD - JULY 12, 2022

China has maintained it is ready to thaw diplomatic tensions despite Anthony Albanese cold shouldering Beijing after it released a list of demands.

A statement from China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi listing four “actions” by which Australia could improve its relationship with Beijing was rebuffed by the Prime Minister on Monday.

Mr Albanese said Australia “doesn’t respond to demands” when asked during a press conference on Monday.

But China‘s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Beijing remained open to talks – if the new government corrected perception of China.

“China is ready to re-examine, recalibrate, and reinvigorate bilateral ties in the spirit of mutual respect, and strive to bring bilateral relations back on the right track,” he told reporters in Beijing.

While he declined to comment directly on Mr Albanese’s comments, he said an improvement in relations would help both nations.

“We hope that Australia will seize the current opportunity, take concrete actions, and reshape a correct perception of China, work with China in the same direction, and reduce liabilities and build positive dynamics for improving China-Australia relations,” Mr Wang continued.

The Albanese government has been attempting to repair the damaged relationship between Beijing and Canberra since coming to power.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with her counterpart Wang Yi in Bali on Friday on the sidelines of the G20.

It was the first time the Foreign Ministers had met face-to-face since 2019.

According to a summary published by the China foreign ministry, he issued Senator Wong a list of measures Australia should take to mend ties.

It included seeing China as a partner rather than a rival, finding common ground over differences, not being manipulated by third parties and “building a positive and pragmatic social foundation of public opinion”.

When asked about the demands, Mr Albanese said he would stand up for Australia’s national interests.

“Australia doesn’t respond to demands. We respond to our own national interest,” he said.

“We will co-operate with China where we can. I want to build good relations with all countries. But we will stand up for Australia’s interests when we must.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/breaking-news/china-maintains-demands-despite-prime-ministers-rebuff/news-story/e4bdc71f637a8cc80ba2f14ee7b8d34d

—

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin’s Regular Press Conference on July 11, 2022

Bloomberg: State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi issued a four-point proposal to Australia over the weekend in order to get relations between the two countries back on track. The Australian Prime Minister stated his view on the meeting between the Chinese and Australian foreign ministers. Does the Chinese Foreign Ministry have any comment on the response from Australia?

Wang Wenbin: As noted by State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi when meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, the China-Australia relationship is facing both challenges and opportunities. If the relationship can achieve sound development, that will serve the common interests of the two peoples and be conducive to maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia. China is ready to re-examine, re-calibrate, and reinvigorate bilateral ties in the spirit of mutual respect, and strive to bring bilateral relations back on the right track.

We hope that Australia will seize the current opportunity, take concrete actions, reshape a correct perception of China, work with China in the same direction, and reduce liabilities and build positive dynamics for improving China-Australia relations.

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202207/t20220711_10718490.html

>>16704978

China influenced Kiribati exit from Pacific Islands Forum, MP claims

Opposition leader calls withdrawal from PIF an ‘extreme move’ and claims the reasons offered by Kiribati’s president were just excuses

Rimon Rimon - 12 Jul 2022

Kiribati’s decision to withdraw from the Pacific Islands Forum on the eve of the event was an extreme move driven by pressure from China, the Micronesian nation’s opposition leader says.

Tessie Lambourne, a former top diplomat who was elected to Kiribati’s parliament in 2020, said she was “shocked and extremely disappointed” by the government’s move to withdraw from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

She said the reasons offered by Kiribati’s president, Taneti Maamau, for leaving the forum, contained in a leaked letter to the PIF secretary general, were just “excuses”.

Lambourne, who for more than a decade led Kiribati’s diplomatic corps as secretary for foreign affairs and secretary to cabinet, said she was embarrassed by the contents of the letter.

She said she believed the decision to withdraw from PIF was influenced by China, claiming that the Maamau administration was weak, vulnerable and greatly indebted to a superpower that was aggressively trying to acquire strong footing in the region.

“I believe there is someone telling our government that we don’t need regional solidarity. That we don’t need to be a part of the Pacific family. That we don’t need Australia and New Zealand. They are telling us that they are here for us and that they will help us with everything we need,” she said.

Lambourne said the issues raised in Maamau’s letter should have led to Kiribati sending a delegation or special envoy to the PIF, “because that’s where we sort out our issues as a family … but to opt out instead is an extreme move that raises a lot of concerns”.

“President Maamau is trying to portray to the region and the world that Kiribati has been abandoned and excluded from consultations and due considerations and that we are not part of the Pacific family, hence the withdrawal,” Lambourne said.

“I’m embarrassed because what we are saying is that we are not in the fold … we are outside. And why are we outside? I think it’s us who keep ourselves out … because we are not engaged or engaging.”

At the weekend, Maamau outlined four reasons for the decision to leave the forum, most of which centre on his belief that the forum has not adequately addressed the concerns of Micronesian countries – including Kiribati – who threatened to leave the PIF more than a year ago.

In February 2021, Micronesian leaders announced plans to leave the regional body after their candidate for secretary general was passed over in favour of a Polynesian candidate, despite a “gentleman’s agreement” that the top job should be shared between Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian candidates.

The Micronesian leaders had signalled their intention to leave the forum at the end of June, but last-minute talks in Suva last month between key Pacific leaders, including some from Micronesia, were thought to have resolved the impasse.

Lambourne said regional solidarity was more critical than ever given the landscape of heightened geopolitical tension.

“When we attend international or UN meetings at the global stage such as COP meetings on climate change, we cannot go alone because we need the support of our region because that’s where our strength lies – in numbers and in regional solidarity,” she said.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said China had no involvement with Kiribati’s decision in a statement on Tuesday. “I read media reports saying that Kiribati’s withdrawal from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) may have something to do with China,” he said.

“Let me make it clear that these reports are completely groundless. For years, China and the PIF have sound cooperative relations. I would like to stress that China does not interfere in the internal affairs of Pacific Islands countries.”

Lambourne added that it was in China’s interest for Kiribati to be isolated from the Pacific family.

“I always say this because I don’t trust China’s intentions,” she said. “What will Kiribati achieve now by not being a member of the forum? And what family do we belong to now if we have pulled out from our Pacific family?”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/12/china-influenced-kiribati-exit-from-pacific-islands-forum-mp-claims

>>16716521

>>16716533

Stealth bombers fly into Brisbane in US show of force to region

Cameron Atfield - July 12, 2022

Some of the United States’ deadliest bombers have arrived at Amberley, just west of Brisbane, in a not-so-stealthy show of force to the Indo-Pacific.

At least four nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers flew almost 14,000 kilometres from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to land at RAAF Base Amberley this week.

The bomber’s flying wing design, meaning it lacks a fuselage and a tail, allows it to evade enemy radar as it approaches its target.

Although designed to evade detection, the B-2s’ arrival in Brisbane was well publicised by both the US and Australian air forces.

While in Australia, the B-2s will conduct training and “strategic deterrence missions” with the Royal Australian Air Force and other allies that the US Air Force said was “in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

An RAAF spokeswoman said the visit was part of the two air forces’ Enhanced Air Cooperation initiative.

“EAC aims to deepen advanced air-to-air integration between the Australian Defence Force and United States air elements to enable the two countries to operate together seamlessly,” she said.

“The EAC initiative has been operating successfully for several years as one of the United States Force Posture Initiatives.

“…The RAAF welcomes the visiting aircraft and personnel and looks forward to working with them during this activity.”

Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Kousgaard, US Air Force 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron commander, said the visit was more than just about training.

It was also about sending a message.

“This deployment of the B-2 to Australia demonstrates and enhances the readiness and lethality of our long-range penetrating strike force,” Lieutenant Colonel Kousgaard said.

“We look forward to training and enhancing our interoperability with our RAAF teammates, as well as partners and allies across the Indo-Pacific as we meet [Pacific Air Forces Bomber Task Force] objectives.”

The 393rd Bomb Squadron remains the only unit to have deployed nuclear weapons in combat, with the bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II both conducted by the 393rd.

The B-2 can deploy both conventional and nuclear weapons.

The deployment of B-2s to Australia was telegraphed last year in a Pentagon review, which noted new rotations were needed to “deter potential Chinese military aggression and threats from North Korea”.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/queensland/stealth-bombers-fly-into-brisbane-in-us-show-of-force-to-region-20220712-p5b0zb.html

Marles warns Australia, US must step up to avoid ‘catastrophic failure’ in Indo-Pacific

Farrah Tomazin - July 12, 2022

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Washington: Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles has used his first post-election trip to the US to warn that both countries must lift their game in the Indo-Pacific to avoid a “catastrophic failure of deterrence” in the face of growing threats.

Speaking shortly after he landed in Washington, Marles – who is also defence minister – vowed that Australia would “do its share” to bolster its military capabilities in the region, with the Albanese government determined to “take greater responsibility for its own security” compared to its predecessors.

While there was “no more important partner to Australia than the United States,” Marles said, both sides would have to step up in the Indo-Pacific given the challenges they faced, from climate change or coercion in the South China Sea to a military build-up from China “occurring at a rate unseen since World War II”.

“Notwithstanding our strong foundations, we can’t afford to stand still,” he said in a keynote address at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, one of Washington’s leading think tanks.

“In the years ahead, the US-Australia alliance will not only have to operate in a much more challenging strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific; it will need to contribute to a more effective balance of military power aimed at avoiding a catastrophic failure of deterrence.”

The Defence Minister flew to Washington to meet his US counterpart, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, as well as other government officials, policymakers and members of Congress, where he will spend the next few days discussing the AUKUS agreement and the ties between the two countries more broadly.

Marles’ trip represents the first time he has visited the US since taking office and comes as the Albanese government decides in coming months whether to choose a US or British design for a nuclear submarine fleet promised under the AUKUS strategic pact.

He has previously said he doubts Australia would be able to build its first nuclear submarine by the former Morrison government’s deadline of 2038.

Asked by the Herald and The Age how the US would help Australia with that capability gap – and whether he would discuss acquiring ready-made submarines, as flagged by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton – Marles replied: “The former government had not really advanced the proposition beyond acquiring the capability in the 2040s. We want to be talking to the United Kingdom and the United States about how we can get that first submarine earlier. Our mind is very open about all the possibilities that we need to be looking at to close that capability gap.”

(continued)

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The trip also comes at a critical juncture for Australia’s relationship with China, with the Labor government seeking to mend ties with Beijing while many in the US remain hawkish about its ongoing rise in the Indo-Pacific.

In April, after China and the Solomon Islands sent shockwaves around the world by signing a security pact, Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney, the co-chair of Congress’ so-called “AUKUS caucus”, told The Age and the Herald that Beijing’s encroachment in the region was like “boiling a frog, where you turn up the temperature bit by bit”.

Marles – who met recently with Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe – did not mention China directly in his speech but, in a Q&A session with CSIS Australia chair Charles Edel, he said China “was seeking to shape the world around us in a way we’ve not seen before”.

In response to these changing dynamics, he added, Australia was acquiring new types of military capabilities such as greater missile and aerial denial capabilities, cyber enhancements and hypersonic weapons.

“In particular we worry about use of force or coercion to advance territorial claims, as is occurring in the South China Sea, and its implications for the any number of places in the Indo-Pacific where borders or sovereignty is disputed,” Marles said.

He also lashed out at Russia, whose “war against Ukraine is not just a brutal attempt to subjugate a sovereign state – it’s a calculated application of violence, intended to roll back the post-Soviet order from one founded on sovereignty and self-determination, to one governed by the rule of might and force.”

This can’t be allowed to succeed, he said. “Only by ensuring such tactics fail can we deter their future employment, in Europe, the Indo-Pacific, or elsewhere.”

And he vowed that Australia would not take its status in the Indo-Pacific for granted, noting that “the Pacific has been clear in saying that geopolitical competition is of lesser concern to them than the threat of rising sea levels, economic insecurity, and transnational crime. Australia respects and understands this position.”

“Pacific Island countries have choices about their partners. And we will work to earn their trust,” he said.

Marles began his trip on Monday morning (US time) by visiting Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, where those who served in American military conflicts are buried, including former presidents John F Kennedy and William Taft.

The defence minister laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, before visiting the Japanese Embassy to pay his respects after the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Among the dignitaries in the audience for the CSIS speech was Australia’s ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, former US Ambassador to Australia Arthur B Culvahouse and Defence Force chief Angus Campbell.

Later this week, Marles will address the Australian American Leadership Dialogue, which Dutton will also attend in between holidaying overseas.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/marles-warns-australia-us-must-step-up-to-avoid-catastrophic-failure-in-indo-pacific-20220712-p5b0vb.html

Anthony Albanese hugs Solomon Islands PM and preaches positivity at Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji

Stephen Dziedzic - 13 July 2022

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Solomon Islands counterpart have hugged and greeted each other warmly while meeting face to face for the first time on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Fiji.

Tensions between Australia and Solomon Islands have intensified in the wake of Honiara's decision to strike a contentious security pact with China.

But the initial exchange between the two leaders showed positive signs the countries could smooth their increasingly strained relationship.

"Ahhh, I need a hug!" Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said as the pair embraced.

"It's good to meet you and thank you for the discussion we've had on the phone about our common interests," Mr Albanese told him.

"The relationship between us is very important and there's much more we can do to cooperate and develop those relationships of trust."

Mr Sogavare said Solomon Islands and Australia had been friends even before independence.

"We are family and there are many issues, and that makes family stronger," Mr Sogavare said.

Details of the pact with China have not been disclosed, but Mr Sogavare has ruled out allowing Beijing to have a military base in Solomon Islands.

When questioned on the issue earlier in the day, Mr Albanese would not say whether he would press his counterpart on the pact.

He said he would aim to have an honest discussion.

"And that means not necessarily agreeing with each other the whole time, but it means being able to have an open dialogue," he said.

Albanese aims to bring positivity to forum in Suva

Mr Albanese arrived in the Fijian capital on Wednesday saying he wanted to bring "positive energy" to the forum to help heal divisions which threaten the unity of the peak regional body.

He also welcomed the Biden administration's promise to ramp up its diplomatic engagement in the region.

The meeting of foreign leaders in Suva has been overshadowed by internal divisions after Kiribati announced it would quit the forum.

The controversy has its roots in a complex dispute over leadership, but the opposition in Kiribati has accused China of driving the decision.

Mr Albanese would not be drawn on the cause of the split when asked about it in Suva, saying he wanted to focus on how to heal the rift.

"What I want to do and what I bring to this forum is a positive energy, and I'll be doing all that I can to bring all of the nations who are members of the Pacific Forum together," he told reporters.

Several Micronesian leaders have been trying to reach the President of Kiribati, Taneti Maamau, but so far he has refused to return calls.

Mr Albanese arrived in Fiji after US Vice-President Kamala Harris laid out a suite of new measures to boost America's presence in the region, telling Pacific Island leaders this morning the region had not always "received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve".

She also warned that nations in the Pacific must be "free from aggression or coercion" in a clear reference to China.

"At a time when we see bad actors seeking to undermine the rules-based order, we must stand united," she told the forum.

"We must remind ourselves that [by] upholding a system of laws, institutions,and common understandings, this is how we ensure stability and indeed prosperity around the world."

(continued)

>>16729011

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Chinese embassy officials sneak into US address

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama responded warmly to the new commitments and took a swipe at the former US president Donald Trump's administration, saying the US was now "looking a lot more like the Pacific partner we have traditionally held it to be".

There was a brief kerfuffle during the Vice-President's address after two Chinese embassy officials entered the room, despite not being formally invited.

The two men — who the ABC has been told are the defence attaché and the deputy defence attaché at the Chinese embassy in Suva — were asked to leave the venue after they stood in the media area and were identified by a Fijian journalist.

However the officials later returned to the back of the room where the Vice-President's address was taking place.

It is not clear if they were given permission to do so, and when the ABC approached the two men after the event they declined to speak.

Mr Albanese also praised the new announcements from the Biden administration, saying it would "renew" the US commitment to the region.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-13/anthony-albanese-pacific-islands-forum-fiji-australia/101233822

>>16729011

US hasn’t given Pacific the support it deserved, Kamala Harris tells forum

JOE KELLY, SARAH ISON and ADAM CREIGHTON - JULY 13, 2022

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US Vice President Kamala Harris has told Pacific Island leaders via a virtual address that America will strengthen the international rules based order and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pacific nations.

The comments, aimed at drawing a contrast with the approach taken by Beijing without directly referencing China, went to the importance of nations conducting their affairs “free from aggression or coercion.”

“At a time when we see bad actors seeking to undermine the rules based order, we must stand United,” she told the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji.

“We must remind ourselves that (by) upholding a system of laws, institutions and common understandings, this is how we ensure stability and indeed prosperity around the world.”

Ms Harris said that relations between the US and the Pacific would take place in the spirit of openness and transparency. She said the future of the Pacific Islands and the US was inextricably linked with their historic bonds “going back generations” through shared fights for “freedom and liberty.”

Ms Harris said that America wanted to deepen its partnership with the Pacific, conceding that the Pacific Islands may not have previously “received the diplomatic attention and support that you deserve.”

“We are going to change that,” she said.

“The US has an enduring commitment to the Pacific Islands which is why President Joe Biden and I seek to strengthen our partnership with you.”

The speech is accompanied by a series of new actions being taken by the US to reflect the elevated priority it attaches to the region, with America to establish diplomatic outposts in Kiribati and Tonga while reopening its embassy in Solomon Islands which has signed a new security agreement with China.

The White House has also confirmed the US government will release its first national strategy on the Pacific Islands and appoint a designated envoy to the PIF to “increase our overall diplomatic footprint across the Pacific Islands”.

US Peace Corps volunteers will also “soon return to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu”, while America also confirmed a re-established US Agency for International Development would “take steps to expand its presence in the Pacific to improve close co-operation with its host country partners”.

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama responded to Ms Harris’ comments by saying the US had “long been a Pacific power.”

“America is prepared to become a Pacific power like never before,” he said.

Mr Bainimarama also welcomed the request from the Biden Administration from

congress for up to $60m per year for the next ten years to assist with economic development and ocean resilience in the Pacific, describing it as a powerful commitment.

(continued)

>>16729023

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US pushback in the Pacific

The US has joined Australia’s ­effort to push back against the rise of Chinese influence in the Pacific with a multimillion-dollar package of funding for island nations and a ramped-up diplomatic presence in the region.

Vice-President Kamala Harris told Pacific leaders the US will triple funding to $US60m ($88.5m) a year over the next decade for economic development and increase “ocean resiliency” by combating illegal fishing.

The US will also establish outposts in Kiribati and Tonga and Ms Harris says that the superpower is “on track” to reopen its embassy in Solomon Islands.

The US announcement came ahead of Anthony Albanese landing in Fiji for the PIF, and as Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday met with New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama in the capital, Suva.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles – who is in the US on a four-day trip – also said Aus­tralia and the US must step up their ­engagement and military capabilities in the Pacific to avoid a “catastrophic failure of ­deterrence”.

“We worry about use of force or coercion to advance territorial claims, as is occurring in the South China Sea, and its impli­cations for any number of places in the Indo-Pacific,” Mr Marles said in Washington.

“I will be proposing specific measures that both sides could adopt to streamline processes and overcome barriers to procurement, investment, information and data sharing systems and export requirements.”

Ahead of Ms Harris’s virtual address to Pacific Island nations this week, the White House confirmed the US government would release its first national strategy on the Pacific Islands and appoint a designated envoy to the PIF to “increase our overall diplomatic footprint across the Pacific ­Islands”.

The White House also revealed US Peace Corps volunteers would “soon return to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu”, while confirming a re-established US Agency for International Development would “take steps to expand its presence in the Pacific to improve close co-operation with its host country partners”.

China has increasingly flexed its muscles in the Pacific Islands, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi touring the Pacific in June in a bid to persuade 10 island nations to join a trade and security pact after penning a historic deal with Solomon Islands that would allow Beijing troops to be stationed in the region.

While failing to secure consensus of all targeted nations at the time, China signed individual ­accords with countries including Kiribati and Samoa.

It followed warnings from US Indo-Pacific co-ordinator Kurt Campbell earlier this year that the Pacific was the region most likely to witness a “strategic surprise” over the “next year or two”, flagging that the US needed to “step up its game” on engagement across the Indo-Pacific as China’s influence grew.

On Tuesday before the US package was announced, the Prime Minister said ensuring security in the region did not come down solely to “defence spending”.

“Our neighbours in the Pacific understand that climate change is a national security issue,” he said, following an address to the Sydney Energy Forum.

“They regard – just as the US does – it being at the centre of national security and I look forward to the discussions that I’ll have with the leaders in the Pacific.”

(continued)

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Mr Albanese, who is flying to Fiji on Wednesday, is expected to focus on Australia’s updated target of a 43 per cent cut to emissions on 2005 levels in talks with leaders behind closed doors on Thursday.

However, Labor’s allowance for more than 100 new coal and gas projects to go ahead is set to be a stumbling block.

Pacific Minister Pat Conroy said the coalmines would “go through normal environmental approvals”, and Australia’s 43 per cent emissions target was “absolutely credible”.

“The 43 per cent emissions reduction target will be across the whole economy and we‘re confident we’ve got policies in place to achieve that,” he said.

Senator Wong said fossil fuel projects would “be dealt with in accordance with Australian law”, but stressed Australia’s updated climate target had been met with a sense of “relief” by Pacific Island nations.

“In my bilaterals and my private discussions and in the public discussions I’ve had, there’s actually a sense of relief that finally Australia is prepared to actually do something,” she said.

“It’s completely legitimate for island states, which are already experiencing, and have for many years, the effects of climate change to urge us to do more. But given Australia has been so intransigent for the last decade, I think the view particularly has been relief.”

The Greens seized on the concerns of Pacific nations regarding new coal and gas projects and said Australia must “walk the talk” on its climate commitments.

“If we don’t change course on coal and gas, big talk will mean nothing to our regional neighbours,” Greens leader Adam Bandt said. “This is a time to rebuild trust in the region, not threaten their homes with more coal and gas.

“Pacific Island leaders know opening new coal and gas projects is a threat to their survival.”

PIF secretary-general Henry Puna said the world needed to urgently reduce its emissions by 45 per cent this decade and not lose sight of the climate emergency in the wake of events like Ukraine.

Mr Bainimarama said the issue of unity was key to this year’s forum, issuing the challenge for nations to “be assertive” rather than allowing others to dictate their fate, in a veiled swipe at China.

“How will we, the Pacific Islands Forum, choose to navigate these challenges and opportunities as we verge into the future?” he said in an address on Wednesday.

“Will we forge ahead together? Will we take individuals paths? Will we be assertive or will we leave it to others to decide our fate?”

It follows Kiribati pulling out of the PIF leader’s dialogue this week, prompting concerns the move would weaken the forum against emerging threats like China.

After discussion with Pacific Island leaders on Tuesday, Mr Conroy “wouldn’t say I’m more optimistic about Kiribati rejoining … I think it’s one where we have to let Kiribati go through their paces.

“We all have to work hard to support Kiribati deciding to rejoin the PIF,” he said on ABC.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/us-launches-its-mission-pacific-with-aid-diplomacy/news-story/b5674f5e07d98e2677820679f5dfabdc

>>16729011

U.S. to open new embassies, boost aid in Pacific as China’s sway grows

Michael E. Miller - July 12, 2022

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SYDNEY — The United States said Tuesday it would expand its diplomatic presence in the Pacific, as it seeks to counter the growing influence of China in a region of intensifying great-power rivalry.

The new efforts, which will be announced by Vice President Harris during a virtual address to leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Fiji, will include two additional U.S. embassies and a tripling of some aid, among other measures.

The diplomatic push comes amid concerns that China has supplanted the United States as the friend of choice for some Pacific island nations. China struck a security agreement with the Solomon Islands in April despite American objections. And the Chinese foreign minister recently signed several other bilateral agreements during an eight-country tour of the region.

The Biden administration has sought to shift American focus from the Middle East to Asia. It has withdrawn U.S. troops from Afghanistan, ramped up the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Japan, Australia and India, and launched the AUKUS pact with Britain and Australia, which, like the Quad, is seen as a countermeasure to China’s growing military assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

Yet China’s security agreement with the Solomon Islands — the site of a key American military victory at Guadalcanal during World War II — appeared to catch the United States and its close regional allies, Australia and New Zealand, by surprise.

The new diplomatic initiatives come as the United States tries to restore some of its influence in the region.

“We are significantly stepping up our game in the Pacific islands,” said a senior administration official who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity ahead of the vice president’s PIF appearance. The official said the United States is not asking Pacific island nations to choose between it and China.

“We are focusing on our own engagement and our own interests and our own support,” the official said. “Of course contrasts [with China] will be made, and we would like to think that contrast looks favorably on us, where we’ve been a responsible security actor in the region, in fact, in the entire Indo-Pacific, for many decades and have helped to preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Among the measures Harris will announce to Pacific leaders will be new U.S. embassies in Kiribati and Tonga. In 2019, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands both switched their diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, underscoring the inroads Beijing has made in the region.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited both countries during his Pacific tour in late May and signed bilateral agreements with each.

Kiribati announced this week that it was withdrawing from the PIF, purportedly over a leadership dispute, although an opposition leader told the Guardian the withdrawal was the result of Chinese pressure. China has denied that.

The U.S. official said that the Biden administration was “concerned” by Kiribati’s withdrawal but that discussions over the issue are ongoing.

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>>16729043

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Harris will also announce that the administration aims to triple funding for economic development and ocean resilience in the region to $60 million a year for the next decade, although Congress will have to approve the increase. Some of the funds would go toward combating the impact of climate change on the Pacific island nations, which are among the world’s most vulnerable.

The United States will also appoint its first envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum, which, despite infighting, has emerged as a key regional bloc. In a sign of the region’s growing geopolitical importance, the Biden administration will also design and release its first national strategy specifically devoted to the Pacific islands.

Harris will announce the return of the Peace Corps to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu after volunteers were withdrawn during the pandemic. The Biden administration is also exploring expanding the program to additional Pacific island countries.

“We are expanding our footprint and making sure we have the people and apparatus in place to deepen our cooperation on a day-to-day basis and to deliver concrete results,” the senior administration official said.

But the Solomon Islands show the limitations of such outreach. In February, the Biden administration announced it would reopen its long-shuttered embassy in the nation’s capital, Honiara, only for China to announce its security agreement two months later.

That agreement stirred fears of a Chinese military base about 1,000 miles from Australian shores, though China and the Solomon Islands denied that would happen. China recently failed in an attempt to strike a similar but far broader security agreement with 10 Pacific island countries, but Beijing has suggested it will try again.

Australia’s recently elected center-left Labor government has also promised to boost diplomacy, aid and military ties to Pacific island nations to counter Beijing’s growing influence.

Despite a slight easing of tensions between the two countries, highlighted by the first ministerial meetings in three years, China has yet to lift punishing tariffs on Australia.

During a visit to Washington this week, Richard Marles, the Australian defense minister and deputy prime minister, said the United States and Australia will need to increase their presence in the Indo-Pacific, warning that a failure to maintain a balance of power could be “catastrophic.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/12/kamala-harris-pacific-islands-us-china/

>>16704938

>>16721729

Beijing says ‘anti-China forces’ manipulating Anthony Albanese

WILL GLASGOW - JULY 13, 2022

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Beijing has said “anti-China forces” were responsible for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s dismissal of a four point list given to Australia by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The party-state masthead Global Times said Prime Minister Albanese had yielded to “the unhealthy atmosphere within Australia toward China”, which it blamed on the Morrison government.

“Obviously, some anti-China forces in the US and Australia do not want to see China-Australia relations break the ice,” the Global Times wrote in its lead editorial on Wednesday.

In a separate news-story, the party-state masthead quoted a Shanghai-based scholar of Australia-China relations who worried the Albanese government would “continue competition against China in a more subtle and tactical manner” despite having a “softer tone” than the Morrison government.

Chinese foreign policy experts made similar observations about the Biden administration after Beijing’s attempt to blame the breakdown in US-China relations on Donald Trump failed to change Washington’s policy settings.

China’s Foreign Minister — President Xi Jinping’s second most senior envoy — met his Australian counterpart in Bali on Friday, ending an almost three-year communication freeze imposed by Beijing.

Mr Wang told his Australian counterpart China was now willing to “re-examine and recalibrate” the bilateral relationship “based on mutual respect”.

He also gave her a list of four requirements to improve the relationship: Australia must treat China as a “partner rather than a rival”; the two countries must seek “common ground while shelving differences”; Australia must reject “manipulation by a third party”; and both countries must build “public support featuring positiveness and pragmatism”.

Some in Australia — including James Laurenceson, director of UTS’s Australia-China Relations Institute — have objected to the characterisation of Mr Wang’s “four musts” as “demands”.

The Global Times agreed in Wednesday’s editorial, writing: “It needs to be emphasised that these ‘four points’ are not ‘demands.’”

In an attempt at clarifying the remarks on Monday, China’s foreign ministry said Mr Wang had “issued a four-point proposal to Australia”.

“We hope that Australia will seize the current opportunity, take concrete actions, reshape a correct perception of China, work with China in the same direction, and reduce liabilities and build positive dynamics for improving China-Australia relations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

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>>16729061

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Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Albanese said Australia “doesn’t respond to demands” when asked about China’s list.

“We respond to our own national interest,” Mr Albanese said on Monday.

In its editorial, The Global Times said Australia’s concern with values made “China feel very strange”.

“We really hope that Australia can truly put its own national interests first, and at the same time we want to point out that it’s up to Australia as to what kind of values it wants to hold and China has no intention of interfering and changing Australia’s values. To be honest, Australia always emphasises this concern, which makes China feel very strange,” the party-state masthead wrote.

It said “Canberra fired the ‘first shot’ in undermining China-Australia relations,” marking the trigger as the Turnbull government’s decision to ban Chinese provider Huawei from Australia’s 5G network in 2018.

“Australia is the first country in the world to ban Huawei and other Chinese suppliers from providing 5G equipment, it has also served as a belligerent voice in provoking China on a series of issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Which of these actions that harm China-Australia relations is in Australia’s actual interests?” the Global Times wrote.

Australian public sentiment soured profoundly during the almost three years that Beijing imposed its ministerial freeze, black-listed Australian exports worth $20 billion-a-year and imprisoned two Australians, Cheng Lei and Dr Yang Hengjun.

A recent Lowy poll found Australians’ trust in China had plunged to just 12 per cent, down from 52 per cent in 2018.

A separate poll by the Australia-China Relations Institute found a majority of Australians wanted their government to take a “harder line” with China.

The same ACRI poll found almost 60 per cent of Australians surveyed wanted the government to force Chinese company Landbridge to sell the Port of Darwin, which it took control of in 2015. Only 13 per cent of those surveyed disagreed.

A fortnight ago, the Chinese party-state’s other English language masthead China Daily accused Mr Albanese of a “lack of diplomatic nous and poor grasp of political realities”, after he made a link between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Beijing’s threats to Taiwan.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/beijing-says-antichina-forces-manipulating-anthony-albanese/news-story/3ad0a1afd2010ebf25de5f367cf1ce13

>>16729061

China-Australia ties cannot be eased on top of ‘minefields’: Global Times editorial

Global Times - Jul 12, 2022

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Some US and Australian media on Tuesday hyped the news that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "rejected Beijing's four-point demands," making up a story in which Beijing put pressure on Canberra while Albanese resisted pressure and uncompromisingly refused to give in. This seems to be an affirmation for Albanese on the surface, but it actually created obstacles for the current Australian government in easing relations with China. Put another way, it is putting Canberra in a difficult position, and forcing it not to "soften its stance" toward China.

The whole thing is not complicated. Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on July 8 during the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bali, Indonesia. This was the first meeting between Chinese and Australian foreign ministers in three years, which was being viewed as an important step in thawing bilateral relations. Both China and Australia believe the meeting was constructive. But obviously, some anti-China forces in the US and Australia do not want to see China-Australia relations break the ice.

During the meeting, Wang said that China hopes that Australia will seize the current opportunity, take concrete actions, reshape a correct perception of China, and reduce negative assets and accumulate positive energy for improving China-Australia relations. First, stick to regarding China as a partner rather than a rival. Second, stick to the way we get along with each other, which features seeking common ground while reserving differences. Third, stick to not targeting any third party or being controlled by any third party. Fourth, stick to building positive and pragmatic social foundations and public support. It is this four-point proposal, which is both sincere and reasonable, that has been summed up by those with an ulterior motive in the US and Australia as "Beijing's four-point demand", and prompted them to seek a response from Albanese.

In fact, this is a trap constructed by American and Western opinion, which has created the image of a "coercive" China in line with Western narratives. Albanese stressed that Australia would "respond to our own national interest" and said that "we will stand up for Australia's interests when we must." To a large extent it was yielding to the unhealthy atmosphere within Australia toward China, which was promoted and amplified by the previous Morrison government.

It needs to be emphasized that these "four points" are not "demands." Handling bilateral ties based on equality and mutual respect is not asking too much, and should be the bottom line for the two countries to handle the relationship in the right way.

And the point of "sticking to not targeting any third party or being controlled by any third party" attacked by American and Western opinion is even more inexplicable. Isn't this normal international exchange norm? On the other hand, if Australia subjects itself to the US, then China can directly deal with Washington, what's the point of developing relations with Canberra?

(continued)

>>16729074

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Nowadays, American and Western opinion is very keen to use "values" to hold Canberra captive, and Australian authorities also like to talk about "Australian interests" or "Australian values." We really hope that Australia can truly put its own national interests first, and at the same time we want to point out that it's up to Australia as to what kind of values it wants to hold and China has no intention of interfering and changing Australia's values. To be honest, Australia always emphasizes this concern, which makes China feel very strange.

Canberra fired the "first shot" in undermining China-Australia relations. Australia is the first country in the world to ban Huawei and other Chinese suppliers from providing 5G equipment, it has also served as a belligerent voice in provoking China on a series of issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Which of these actions that harm China-Australia relations is in Australia's actual interests? Canberra often talks about the lifting of the so-called trade sanctions against Australia, but avoids talking about China's legitimate interests and reasonable concerns.

After the current Australian government came to power, it signaled its intention to ease the relationship between the two countries, but the "landmine" fuse of bilateral relations has not been eliminated, and the normal exchanges between the two countries cannot be established on top of "minefields."

Washington is paying close attention to every move made by Canberra and inside Australia, there are also "watchful eyes". This oppressive atmosphere of domestic and foreign policies was created by the previous government. Some Australian opinion believes that in view of the tense atmosphere at home and abroad against China, the current Australian government may adopt the roundabout tactics of "one step back and two steps forward" to repair China-Australia relations, and prevent the sudden end to any rapid policy shift. But in any case, continuing the "megaphone diplomacy" of the Morrison government can only be counterproductive; it is even more hopeless to treat China-Australia relations as an appendage of US-Australia relations.

Some in the Australian media have quoted a Chinese idiom of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" when analyzing China's policy toward Australia, believing that China is forcing Australia to yield in order to deter small neighboring countries. This opinionated view has quite a market in Australia. This view, while arrogant, is also belittling to itself. Australia is not a "chicken", and other countries are not "monkeys." China has always insisted that all countries, big or small, are equal, and adhered to mutual benefit and win-win results with all countries in the world. China's four-point proposal reflects this concept. We hope that Canberra will cherish this goodwill and meet China halfway.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1270381.shtml

>>16729061

Australia to hype ‘China influence’ at regional forum to assert its ‘patriarch’ role against PICs’ interest

Zhang Han - Jul 12, 2022

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is anticipated to push security and China influence topics at the ongoing Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Fiji, after media hyped his reaction to China's four-point advice on improving bilateral relations, as Canberra always sees the South Pacific as its exclusive realm and is eager to use this forum to slander China's role in the region and reassert its "patriarchal" role, observers said.

Experts also believed that despite with a softer tone than from the Morrison government, Canberra will continue competition against China in a more subtle and tactical manner despite some positive signs in the direction to improving China-Australia relations.

Ensuring that Australia remains "the security partner of choice" for Pacific island nations amid China's rising influence will be a key topic for Albanese at the forum, Australia's 9news reported on Monday.

Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern last week agreed at their meeting in Sydney that the security implications of China's so-called encroachment in the region needed to be on the agenda of the forum, which last through Monday to Thursday.

Observers attributed Australia's efforts to paint China as a regional disturbing element as due to discomfort caused by China entering a "self-indentified backyard."

Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday there are strong Australian pushes behind the PIF, with the US standing backstage.

Feeling anxious about China's presence in its sphere of influence, Australia is unsurprisingly using the platform as a vehicle to compete with China, said Chen, who is also director of the Australian Studies Center at East China Normal University in Shanghai. "When calling the Pacific nations a big family, Australia designated itself as the patriarch," he said.

The expert cited Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong's attendance at the PIF as evidence that Australia wants stronger involvement with Pacific island countries (PICs) to compete against China, although China has been reiterating the South Pacific should not be an arena of major power competition and that China seeks no exclusive role in the region.

(continued)

>>16729087

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China always upholds mutual respect, openness and inclusiveness in developing relations and cooperating with PICs. During his recent meeting with Wong on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi noted China has also carried out tripartite cooperation with countries including Australia and New Zealand in the South Pacific region. Wang also made four-point suggestions in improving bilateral relations.

Some Australian media hyped the suggestions. In response, Albanese said Australia will continue to cooperate with China where it can but won't shy away from standing up for the national interest.

"Look, Australia doesn't respond to demands. We respond to our own national interest,'' Albanese said.

Australia's reaction, albeit with a softer tone that from the Morrison government, foretells that despite positive signs in the direction to improving China-Australia relations, Canberra will continue competition against China in a more subtle, tactical and sophisticated manner, Chen said.

For Pacific island nations, which expect to be friends to all and enemies to none, cooperation with China has no political provisions and is beneficial to their national interests, while Western-style cooperation usually bears political conditions and eyes comprehensive influence, and even interference in PICs' internal affairs as well as foreign policies, experts said.

The Western way of using economic bait to kidnap and coerce PICs' policies has prompted discontent from the region.

The Fiji Times published an opinion authored by scholars at the Australian National University and the Center for Pacific Islands Studies of University of Hawaii to slam the Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP), an initiative the White House announced on June 24 that includes Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the UK.

The opinion stated the initiative puts the PBP under the Pacific regionalism umbrella without permission and on its own terms. It excludes others such as China who are dialogue partners of the PIF, and who are clearly "delivering results" in the region, and goes against the "friends to all" doctrine of the PIF.

Its high-sounding rhetoric of partnership and cooperation, claimed respect for Pacific agendas, as well as references to appropriate consultation with Pacific leaders, hides deeper geopolitical purpose, reads the opinion piece.

The five PBP powers have co-opted the name and narrative of the "Blue Pacific" to advance their interests, created an inner circle which complicates and ignores existing structures and bypassed normal regional decision-making practices.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1270379.shtml

>>16721848

Marles' comments at odds with moving forward China-Australia relations

Lu Xue - Jul 12, 2022

Since Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took office, Chinese and Australian senior officials have recently held a series of interactions. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that a meeting with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was "a first step towards stabilizing the relationship." This has triggered wider discussions on whether the two countries are about to reset their relations. But Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles' latest remarks seem to be at odds with such a prospective atmosphere.

Speaking in Washington on Monday, Marles called for the US to expand its military presence in the Indo-Pacific, warning that a failure to maintain the balance of power in the region could be "catastrophic," according to Bloomberg. A recent ABC News report said Marles also claimed that China was engaging in the biggest military build-up since the end of World War II.

"Marles' lines aim to offer convenience at a military level to the US and serve Washington's Indo-pacific Strategy. Australia now attaches great importance to cooperation under the framework of the AUKUS military alliance. So it keeps hyping up the threat of China as a major rival to AUKUS, hoping that the US will station more troops in Australia," Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told the Global Times.

"It is the US and Australia which are the main source of threats in the Indo-Pacific. The AUKUS has the appetite for military intervention in both the Pacific and the Indian oceans. They are the destroyers of regional peace," noted Wei.

There are many Australian scholars who have discussed how to reset the China-Australia relationship. Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, suggested in a recent article that stepping back from conducting maritime patrols in the waters close to China may be one of the concessions Canberra will find itself choosing to make as it learns to live with the realities of China's power.

As to whether it will become one of Canberra's options, Wei noted that Australia's overall strategy is not up to itself, but is too much influenced by the US and needs to fully cooperate with the Pentagon. Thus, it is less likely that this attitude will be completely reversed. It's better for Australia to be more autonomous in its foreign strategy and policies, working from its own strategic goals, rather than totally adhering to the US. It will be quite difficult for Canberra to improve relations with other countries if it remains subject to Washington in terms of military and foreign strategy.

In general, Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, said that the new Albanese government still has the will to improve relations with China, bringing a hope of improvement to China-Australia relations, but the outlook still remains quite uncertain.

It is obvious that the degree of the new Australian government's hostility toward China has perceptibly declined in both rhetoric and specific moves compared with its predecessor, especially the bellicose remarks of former defense minister Peter Dutton. But on the whole, the Albanese government has not yet come out of the shadow of its predecessor, and is still on the track of serving the US anti-China strategy. The new leadership team has to look to the right direction for the sake of its own national interests.

The author is a reporter with the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1270370.shtml

>>16729011

Pacific minister says Australia is open to partnering on Chinese projects

Eryk Bagshaw - July 13, 2022

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Suva: Pacific Minister Pat Conroy says Australia is open to collaborating with China on infrastructure in the Pacific, but has warned that Beijing must lift the quality of its projects and hire more local workers.

“We’re open to partnering with other countries in supporting the development aspirations of the Pacific,” Conroy said. “We partner, for example, in projects that go through the Asian Development Bank that might involve Australian finance, mixing with other people’s finance, developed by the Asian Development Bank and built by a Chinese company.”

Conroy’s comments follow a push by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi to engage more with Australia and New Zealand after Beijing failed to land a Pacific-wide security and economic deal in May.

“China has carried out trilateral co-operation with Australia, New Zealand and other countries in the South Pacific region and achieved positive results,” Wang said after his meeting with Foreign Minister Penny Wong last week. “China is willing to give play to its respective advantages to achieve a win-win outcome.”

The comments by Wang have been seen as part of a wider effort to stabilise the relationship between China and Australia after years of diplomatic acrimony but have also been viewed with scepticism by Australian Foreign Affairs officials.

Australia has partnered with China in the past on projects such as malaria control in Papua New Guinea in 2016, but the relationship has deteriorated sharply since then. Beijing has pledged more than $6.5 billion in Pacific development investment since 2018. It helped build the Suva Civic Centre, which is hosting parts of the Pacific Islands Forum this week, and schools, highways and stadiums across the region – some of which have been criticised for poor construction work, safety issues and high levels of debt.

Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in Suva, Conroy said there was a real sensitivity around some of the infrastructure projects delivered in the Pacific being chosen for the cheapest price, delivering poor quality outcomes.

“And then secondly, that there isn’t enough focus on including local labour in these projects,” he said. “They’re two criticisms that are particularly heard of Chinese projects.”

Asked about Conroy’s comments at her press conference with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the afternoon, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said that, while Australia was “open to collaboration with all partners”, any projects had to meet key criteria for transparency and come with “no strings attached”.

Wong said there was “nothing in contemplation on the infrastructure point at this time” with China.

(continued)

>>16729115

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US Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday addressed the Pacific Islands Forum and pledged to deliver $900 million in fisheries economic development aid over the next decade, along with the return of the Peace Corps to the region, a US Pacific strategy and climate change co-operation. Harris indirectly accused China of being a “bad actor seeking to undermine the rules-based order”.

“These international rules and norms have brought peace and stability to the Pacific for more than 75 years. Principles that importantly state that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states must be respected, principles that allow all states big and small to conduct their affairs, free from aggression, or coercion.”

Chinese diplomats, who were not accredited for the forum, took notes of Harris’ speech at the Grand Pacific Hotel but would not respond to requests for comment.

“I think that there’s an element of geostrategic competition to [the US announcement],” said Conroy. “There’s no use denying that because that’s a fact of life.”

Climate, China’s rising influence and COVID have dominated discussions at the leader’s meeting – which continues after the last-minute withdrawal of Kiribati – a small island nation increasingly linked with Beijing. Kiribati said on Monday it had withdrawn from the meeting after determining that Micronesian voices were not being heard by Pacific leaders.

Conroy said Australia had offered to fly Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau to Fiji. “If Kiribati wanted to get to the Pacific Island’s meeting, we would be very happy to facilitate that,” he said. Conroy confirmed Australia flew three Micronesian leaders to Suva in June to sign off on the Suva agreement – a deal that allowed the forum’s secretary-general Henry Puna to stay in power, while guaranteeing Micronesian leaders a greater say in the summit, a compromise that has been threatened by the withdrawal of Kiribati.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on Wednesday afternoon. The Solomons leader has been the leading advocate for greater Chinese government influence in the region and advocated for a Pacific-wide economic and security pact to be endorsed in May after signing his own deal in April.

Conroy said he had “really positive discussions about the way forward and how we rebuild the relationship” with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele.

“I think we start by accepting the assurances of the Solomon Islands government that there won’t be a Chinese military base in the Solomon Islands,” he said.

“We’re intent on rebuilding that relationship to ensure that Australia is the security partner choice for the Pacific as well as the partner of choice on development, on climate on all those issues.”

Conroy, who was chief of staff to Greg Combet as climate change minister, said his priority at the forum was introducing the new Australian government to Pacific leaders.

“We have a very clear message that we’re listening now, we’re respecting what their priorities are,” he said. “Number two is to inform them and make sure they’re aware of our very different climate change and Pacific policies. And third is to play our part in trying to rebuild Pacific unity.”

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/pacific-minister-says-australia-is-open-to-partnering-on-chinese-projects-20220713-p5b17j.html

Defence Department silent on latest Chinese military encounter with Australian warship

Andrew Greene - 13 July 2022

Defence has cited "operational security reasons" for not discussing an Australian warship's recent encounters with the Chinese military while sailing through international waters claimed by Beijing.

Military sources claim HMAS Parramatta has been closely tracked by the People's Liberation Army over recent weeks, including being followed by a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine, a warship and multiple aircraft.

"Formal challenges have occurred, such as telling us that we're entering 'China's territorial waters'," a Defence figure familiar with the interactions said.

"The most intense activity occurred as HMAS Parramatta was in the East China Sea," the official told the ABC, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss operations.

Since departing Australia in late May, the ANZAC-class frigate has travelled to Vietnam and South Korea and then on to Japan via the South China and East China Seas as part of a "regional presence deployment" which has included several joint military exercises with other navies.

According to the Australian embassy in Vietnam, HMAS Parramatta arrived in the port city of Da Nang on June 5, before departing the country over a week later bound for the Busan Naval Base in South Korea.

That trip took the ship through the South China Sea and then the East China Sea past Taiwan, which include heavily militarised territory claimed by the Chinese.

During its passage, the ABC was told, HMAS Parramatta was closely tracked by Chinese military assets including a Type 052C "Luyang II" guided-missile destroyer and a Type 093-A "Shang II" nuclear-powered attack submarine.

On June 28, the Australian warship then arrived in the Port of Sasebo, in the Nagasaki prefecture, after completing naval exercises with Japan's Self-Defence Force.

Last week the ABC approached the Defence Department with a series of detailed questions about the Chinese military's interactions with HMAS Parramatta, but it declined to answer them.

"HMAS Parramatta is currently undertaking a regional presence deployment, conducting a number of navy-to-navy activities with Australia's regional partners and participating in various maritime exercises," a departmental spokesperson said.

"Regional deployments form part of Australia's longstanding contribution to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific.

"For operational security reasons, Defence does not publicly disclose specific details of operations," the spokesperson added.

Defence Minister Richard Marles, who is visiting the United States, also declined to comment when asked by the ABC about the recent encounters.

"I won't go into details around that, other than to say that what our military does, what our navy, does in the South China Sea is routine," Mr Marles told the ABC from Washington DC.

"It's been doing it for decades, and it is focused on asserting the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, the global rules-based order, which I've been describing as being so important for our national interest.

Asked whether the government may choose to later publicly disclose the incident as it has with previous encounters with the Chinese military, Mr Marles left open the possibility.

"That may happen in the future again, but what we are focused on first and foremost is doing the activity because that's in our national interest."

"And then obviously, in terms of the management of the information around that activity, we're focused on the safety of our servicemen and women."

Last week Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) announced it had "conducted a trilateral exercise with United States Ship Dewy and HMAS Parramatta in the East China Sea to East of Okinawa" between July 4 and 6.

"The Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force strengthens cooperation among JMSDF, US navy and Australian navy in order to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific," it said.

Earlier this year the Defence Department revealed a Chinese J-16 jet fighter had flown close to an RAAF P-8 maritime surveillance plane during a routine patrol in the South China Sea.

On Friday Foreign Minister Penny Wong met her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Bali, the first such face-to-face meeting at such a high level in almost three years.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-13/australian-defence-warship-tracked-by-chinese-military/101229906

https://twitter.com/Australian_Navy/status/1543837008958615552

https://twitter.com/JMSDF_SDF_ENG/status/1544899755590897665

WHO calls on countries to bring back mask rules as Covid ‘runs free’

Australia has seen a significant jump in cases and hospitalisations as new Omicron variants emerge.

news.com.au - July 13, 2022

Fresh surges of Covid infections show the pandemic is nowhere near over, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) chief has said, warning that the virus is running free.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was worried that case numbers were shooting up, putting more strain on health systems and workers.

The number of Covid cases reported to the WHO increased 30 per cent in the past two weeks, driven by sub-variants of the Omicron strain and the lifting of control measures.

“New waves of the virus demonstrate again that Covid-19 is nowhere near over. As the virus pushes at us, we must push back,” he insisted.

He told a news conference that as transmission increases, governments must also deploy tried-and-tested measures like mask-wearing and improving ventilation.

Australia has seen a significant jump in cases and hospitalisations as new Omicron variants that can evade the protection offered by vaccines emerge.

Some health experts are calling on state governments to reintroduce mask rules to combat the spread.

“Sub-variants of Omicron, like BA. 4 and BA. 5, continue to drive waves of cases, hospitalisation and death around the world,” Mr Tedros said.

“Surveillance has reduced significantly – including testing and sequencing – making it increasingly difficult to assess the impact of variants on transmission, disease characteristics, and the effectiveness of countermeasures.”

Furthermore, tests, treatments and vaccines are not being deployed effectively.

“The virus is running freely and countries are not effectively managing the disease burden based on their capacity,” he said, both in terms of hospitalisation of acute cases and the expanding number of people with long Covid.

“Uncertain and unpredictable”

The WHO’s Covid-19 emergency committee met Friday via videoconference and determined the pandemic remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern – the highest alarm the WHO can sound.

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told the meeting recent changes in testing policies were hindering the detection of cases and the monitoring of virus evolution.

The committee stressed the need to reduce transmission as the implications of a pandemic caused by a new respiratory virus would not be fully understood, the WHO said in a statement Monday.

The group voiced concern over steep reductions in testing, resulting in reduced surveillance and genomic sequencing.

“This impedes assessments of currently circulating and emerging variants of the virus,” the WHO said, feeding the inability to interpret trends in transmission.

The committee said the trajectory of virus evolution and the characteristics of emerging variants remained “uncertain and unpredictable”.

It said the absence of measures to reduce transmission increased the likelihood of “new, fitter variants emerging, with different degrees of virulence, transmissibility, and immune escape potential”.

Booster boost

Meanwhile the WHO’s European office recommended a second booster shot of a Covid vaccine for older people and vulnerable groups.

Covid cases have been rising sharply since the end of May around most of Europe. The call followed the EU’s health and medicine agencies recommendation on Monday of a second booster shot for people over 60 years old.

Coronavirus cases have risen 57 per cent in Moscow over the past week, the Russian capital’s health authorities said.

“We recommend that you wear a mask in public places because the new Omicron sub-variants BA. 4 and BA. 5 spread more rapidly from person to person,” Moscow social services wrote on Telegram.

And hundreds of thousands of people were under lockdown in a small Chinese city after just one case of Covid-19 was detected, as Beijing’s strict no-tolerance virus strategy showed no sign of abating.

The steelmaking hub of Wugang in Henan province announced three days of “closed control”.

None of the city’s 320,000 people are allowed outside their homes until midday Thursday. Local authorities were to deliver basic necessities.

China is the last major economy glued to a zero-Covid policy, crushing new outbreaks with snap lockdowns, forced quarantines and onerous travel curbs despite mounting public fatigue and damage to the economy.

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/who-calls-on-countries-to-bring-back-mask-rules-as-covid-runs-free/news-story/9e75b815aeffd56f9803341d0ba43846

>>16594226 (pb)

TikTok admits Australian data can be accessed in China, prompting warnings app may be compromised

Jake Evans - 13 July 2022

The federal Treasurer says he is concerned that social media platform TikTok's China-based employees are able to access Australian user data.

Responding to a letter from Shadow Cyber Security Minister James Paterson, TikTok admitted its staff in China were able to access Australian data.

"Our security teams minimise the number of people who have access to data and limit it only to people who need that access in order to do their jobs," the company's Australian director of public policy, Brent Thomas, wrote.

"We have policies and procedures that limit internal access to Australian user data by our employees, wherever they're based, based on need.

"We have never provided Australian user data to the Chinese government, we have never been asked for Australian user data by the Chinese government, and we would not provide it if we were asked."

The letter comes after reports in US media that American TikTok data was able to be accessed and had been accessed in mainland China.

Senator Paterson said TikTok's claim that Australian data cannot be compromised was not credible.

"TikTok denies they would ever hand over data to the Chinese Communist Party but this is very hard to believe given their national security laws," he wrote.

"It's time the Albanese government woke up and took action to protect the privacy of 7 million Australian users."

Treasurer Jim Chalmers told TikTok users to be careful about what they did on the platform.

"Those concerns have been there for some time, and we take advice from our various national security agencies," Mr Chalmers said.

"Australians need to be careful online and we need to recognise the risks of participating in some of those platforms."

Chinese law requires TikTok to share user data

Chinese cyber security laws require Chinese companies to store certain data and allow Chinese authorities to conduct spot checks of their operations.

The laws also compel social media companies to hand over information if requested by Beijing.

Australian TikTok data is held on servers in the US and Singapore, and its security team, which provides authorisations, is US-based.

Mr Thomas wrote that Australian data integrity was of the "utmost importance" and at the core of its daily operations.

Cyber security expert Fergus Ryan from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the social media platform's assertion it does not share data with Beijing could not be believed.

"They can't [refuse an order for data], and even further than that, if the authorities in China sought to access any of the data that they had collected … TikTok and Bytedance, the parent company, would legally not be allowed to talk about the fact that data had been accessed," Mr Ryan said.

Mr Ryan said over the years Beijing "has demonstrated it has an insatiable appetite for data", and Australian data collected by TikTok could be used to help build "vivid" profiles of people's lives.

"It's up to individual TikTok users to decide for themselves how comfortable they are with their data being accessible from China," Mr Ryan said.

"But for TikTok users to make that decision, TikTok needs to be up-front about the fact that their data is accessible from China, and is being accessed.

"There are users of TikTok who might be teenagers now, but in a few years' time might be working in sensitive areas of the Australian government, for example."

Mr Ryan said while the federal government should not rule out banning the platform, former US president Donald Trump's attempt to do so proved bans do not always work.

Rather, the government should consider introducing regulations that require the platform to be transparent with its data, and label state-affiliated content from China.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-13/tiktok-admits-australian-data-accessible-in-china/101233320

https://twitter.com/SenPaterson/status/1546957121274621952

>>16721901

Exclusive: Robert Hughes confronted following prison release

Simon Bouda - 11 July 2022

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Robert Hughes: former television star, convicted paedophile.

Last month, the 73-year-old was released from Sydney's Long Bay jail on parole.

Eight years behind bars appears to have taken its toll.

He looks every one of his 73 years.

After renouncing his Australian citizenship, Hughes was detained by immigration before being deported to the UK.

It was there where A Current Affair tracked him down last week.

For the first time in more than 10 years, the face of the man who was a TV favourite was revealed as I approached Hughes in the busy central mall in Southampton, south-west of London.

"Robert Hughes," I said as I approached him and his wife - actors' agent Robyn Gardiner.

For the briefest of moments, I noticed a small smile appear on his face.

I had the impression that perhaps he thought I was an adoring fan from his previous life.

"Simon Bouda, from A Current Affair," I continued.

With those words the smile vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"Mr Hughes, how's it feel to be free today?" I persisted.

A Current Affair tracked Hughes down in the historic English port city of Southampton.

"You enjoying your new found freedom?" I asked.

Staring dead ahead, Hughes remained silent as he continued walking - ignoring my questions and the camera in front of him.

Hughes was the star of the Australian family sitcom Hey Dad!

One of his victims included his on-screen daughter Sarah Monahan.

"You were just a child … when this all started," I asked Monahan before Hughes was granted parole.

"Yeah," she replied.

"What long term impact do you think it has had on you, because you were just a child? You were what - I think you were aged…" I continued.

Monahan completed my sentence: "I was six when I started - when I did the audition - and I left television because of him."

For the last 12 years, Monahan has been the very public face of the child sex abuse case against Hughes.

Hey Dad! was a top-rating family comedy through the late '80s and early '90s.

Behind the scenes was a terrible and dark secret.

Its star was a paedophile preying on his on-screen daughter, targeting her and abusing her.

"He would do it in front of a live audience … that's how ballsy he was," Monahan told me.

A photograph proved to be invaluable evidence - Hughes' hand hidden by a script, resting in Monahan's lap.

The look on her face said it all.

"That was a polaroid," Monahan explained.

"People kept trying to say that it was photoshopped.

"You can't photoshop a polaroid.

"That's how he got away with a lot of it, was in plain sight."

In Singapore - in 2010 - A Current Affair first confronted Hughes about the accusations.

It would be the start of our decade-long investigation.

"I am absolutely shocked at the allegations and I deny - absolutely deny - everything," Hughes told A Current Affair at the time.

It was the last time Hughes publicly spoke about the accusations.

In 2012 he was arrested in London, extradited to Australia, charged and convicted of sexually and indecently assaulting four girls.

"What about the women you were accused of assaulting - have you got anything you want to say to them?" I asked Hughes when we confronted him last week.

He continued to maintain his silence - no acceptance, no denial.

On June 14, after serving eight years of his 10-year sentence, Hughes was removed from prison by the Australian Border Force before being housed at the Villawood Detention Centre.

On June 28, he flew out of Sydney, somehow managing to avoid any media scrutiny.

He was in the wind.

(continued)

>>16729148

2/2

A Current Affair's search for Hughes began the day he was released from prison.

Over the ensuing weeks we tracked down his long term wife, Gardiner - a one-time agent to film stars including Cate Blanchett.

Gardiner lives in a modest apartment in the medieval cathedral city of Salisbury - not far from Stonehenge - and 40 minutes' drive from Southampton.

She ultimately led us to a serviced apartment block in Southampton.

We were there when the reunited couple arrived.

The unit they occupied is a far cry from the four-by-two-metre cell Hughes was used to - almost palatial, you could say.

Websites boast the apartment block has: "Everything guests will need for a comfortable stay … Southampton Common, a popular park, is a short distance from the property … this is the perfect place for guests to go for a walk, run, or enjoy a picnic."

It could not be further away from the prison exercise yard.

But the serviced apartments are only a few hundred metres from St Michael's Pre School and a few blocks from Cantell Secondary school.

The New South Wales State Parole Authority announced the decision to free Hughes in a 13-page judgement.

Under his parole conditions, Hughes was ordered to report to police in the UK within three days of his arrival.

He's also been placed on the UK Sex Offenders Register and has to report any changh of address, or if he's planning to go on a holiday.

He must also tell police if he plans to stay at an address for longer than 12 hours where a child is present.

Before his release, Monahan told A Current Affair she was concerned Hughes won't be watched closely enough.

"I feel sorry for the kids in the UK," Monahan told me before Hughes was released.

"It is kind of scary that there is that situation that he could be completely unmonitored."

"What's your greatest fear if he does get parole?" I asked her.

"That he'll hurt more kids … that he'll go over there (the UK) and he'll hurt more kids."

When we confronted Hughes, I told him Monahan still believes he's a threat - again, stony silence.

Hughes has never admitted his crimes.