/qresearch/ -  Q Research

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‘Filling his pockets’: Resurfaced footage shows former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews praising China ahead of ‘parade of dictators’

Newly resurfaced footage of former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has shown him cosying up to the Chinese Communist Party before he attended the “parade of dictators”.

Oscar Godsell - September 4, 2025

Newly resurfaced footage of former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has shown him lavishing praise on the Chinese Communist Party ahead of the parade of dictators.

Mr Andrews had sat down for an interview with state-run media just weeks before his attendance at Chinese President Xi Jinping’s military parade.

The former Premier has long faced criticism over his ties with China and secret dealings with the CCP, including Victoria’s short-lived involvement with the Belt and Road Initiative in 2018.

Recent footage, recorded in March 2025, featured Mr Andrews speaking with CGTN, the state-run Chinese news outlet under CCP control.

Mr Andrews praised China in the interview for its focus on productivity and economic growth.

“It's really important to see President Xi, as well as other senior leaders across China so consistently speak about changing the way economic growth occurs,” he said.

“I'm really looking forward to hearing more about how the Chinese government … sees (the renewable energy transition) unfolding in the years to come.”

Mr Andrews described renewable energy as “absolutely the future” and said he does not think China “gets the international credit and acclaim” that he believes it deserves.

He made the remarks despite the fact that between 2014 and 2024, China’s energy emissions rose by 1,970 million tonnes.

The footage was released shortly before Mr Andrews’ high-profile attendance at China’s largest-ever military parade.

The former Premier then was photographed smiling alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Former press secretary to the Morrison government Andrew Carswell told Sky News that Mr Andrews' presence in China was a “colossal error of judgement”.

“This is what we've always thought about Dan. We’ve had suspicion that he is self-interested in this area,” Mr Carswell said.

“I wouldn't say he's an ideologue. I wouldn't say he is seeking alignment with the Chinese Communist Party, but he's an opportunist.

“He's going to take that photo to every single meeting that he has in China and Asia more broadly … to drive business. So this is all about filling his pockets.”

The military parade on Wednesday marked the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II and was billed by Beijing as a demonstration of China’s global leadership.

The parade showcased more than 10,000 troops, hypersonic missiles, and an intercontinental ballistic missile launcher capable of hitting Australia.

Prime Minister Albanese declined to condemn his close friend, insisting that Mr Andrews was not acting on behalf of the government.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/filling-his-pockets-resurfaced-footage-shows-former-victorian-premier-daniel-andrews-praising-china-ahead-of-parade-of-dictators/news-story/797965921fd9868ead3b7ae64def0785

https://x.com/GlobalWatchCGTN/status/1903688159973855678

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Former premier of Victoria, Australia: China's renewable energy drive deserves greater global recognition

CGTN - 22-Mar-2025

Ahead of the 2025 China Development Forum, Daniel Andrews, former premier of Victoria, Australia, sat down with CGTN's Cui Yingjie in Beijing for an exclusive interview, sharing his insights on China's high-quality development and its role in the global green transition. As a reformer who spearheaded Victoria's shift away from fossil fuels, he said, "Formal Australia-China cooperation on decarbonizing heavy industries and advancing wind and solar technologies must be our next priority—this isn't just about our nations' futures, but the health of the planet." He praised China's new quality productive forces as a transformative model, stressing that China's progress in renewable energy deserves far greater global recognition. He also pointed out that while the United States remains obsessed with "erratic and nonsensical tariff games," Australia and China are forging a new path toward global sustainability through pragmatic collaboration.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-03-22/Ex-Victoria-premier-China-s-renewable-energy-efforts-deserve-praise-1BWGLoH3UNG/p.html

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Anthony Albanese talks critical minerals in ‘warm’ chat with Trump ahead of US visit

JOE KELLY and GEOFF CHAMBERS - 5 September 2025

Anthony Albanese has spoken with Donald Trump for the fourth time since the US President was re-elected last November, with the two leaders discussing economic co-operation, trade and critical minerals at a key time for the alliance relationship.

The phone call will boost hopes of a much anticipated meeting between both leaders, with Mr Albanese set to travel shortly to New York where he will address the UN General Assembly and officially recognise the State of Palestine – a point of policy conflict with Washington.

Posting on social media, the Australian Prime Minister said that he had “another warm and constructive conversation with President @realDonaldTrump. We discussed our trade and economic relationship as well as areas for growth including critical minerals.”

“We also discussed shared US-Australia security interests,” he said.

An Australian read-out of the conversation said that both men discussed the “strength of our relationship and the importance of our shared security interests.”

However, there was no mention of the landmark AUKUS agreement under which the US has agreed to provide Australia with at least three Virginia-class submarines from the early 2030s.

The trilateral AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia is currently being reviewed by the Pentagon – heightening fears that the Trump administration could seek to modify the deal.

Mr Albanese has not yet met face-to-face with the US President, but is travelling to New York later this month to address the UN General Assembly in what could present another opportunity for an in person encounter between the two leaders.

The Australian Prime Minister has previously said that he is available for a meeting with Mr Trump at “very short notice, at any time” and that Australia would continue to engage with the US.

Speaking in August, Mr Albanese said the US President had given him a “very warm phone conversation after my re-election as Prime Minister, and made some public comments about what he thought, that was very generous, and I thank him for it.”

Australia’s alliance relationship with the US faces a period of uncertainty. In addition to the Pentagon’s review of the AUKUS agreement, Canberra has rejected consistent American demands for defence spending to be lifted to 3.5 per cent of GDP and the Albanese government has criticised the imposition by Washington of a baseline ten per cent tariff on Australia.

Previous attempts for Mr Albanese to meet with the US President have fallen through including at June’s G7 summit in Canada, where Mr Trump left early to return to Washington to oversee the American response to the unfolding crisis in the Middle East – with the President eventually ordering the prevision bombing of Iran’s nuclear enrichment sites.

The pair first spoke shortly after Mr Trump’s November 2024 election win, with Mr Albanese saying at the time that he had personally congratulated the US President on his victory.

“We talked about the importance of the Alliance, and the strength of the Australia-US relationship in security, AUKUS, trade and investment,” Mr Albanese said. “I look forward to working together in the interests of both our countries.”

They spoke for a second time in February for 40 minutes ahead of the introduction of Mr Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs in April, with Mr Albanese describing their conversation as “warm” and “positive.”

The pair talked about AUKUS and the economic relationship, with Mr Trump later describing the Australian Prime Minister as a “very fine man.” He also said he would give “great consideration” to exempting Australia from his steel and aluminium tariffs – although this was an outcome that never came to pass.

In May, the leaders spoke again after Mr Albanese’s election victory. AUKUS and tariffs were, once again, two of the issues discussed. “I had a warm and positive conversation with President Trump … and I thank him for his very warm message of congratulations,“ Mr Albanese said.

“We talked about how AUKUS and tariffs will continue to engage, we will engage with each other on a face-to-face basis at some time in the future. And I thank him for reaching out in such a positive way.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/anthony-albanese-talks-critical-minerals-in-warm-chat-with-trump-ahead-of-us-visit/news-story/c1bf895b9e53010ebfc3d29c7c58189d

https://x.com/AlboMP/status/1963602153945403858

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Albanese has announced a strategic reserve of critical minerals and Australia’s ambassador to the US, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, told a think tank last month that Australia could be a rare earths “superpower”.

Rudd welcomed the latest phone call between Trump and Albanese. “Lots going on in the US-Australia relationship. And going from strength to strength,” he posted on X.

The Coalition and some media commentators have criticised Albanese for failing to arrange an in-person meeting with Trump since his return to power in January, noting the US president has met with other allies including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer multiple times, and with counterparts from the Indo-Pacific including the leaders of Japan, India and, as of last week, South Korea.

They were due to meet at the G7 leaders’ summit in Canada in June, but Trump left the gathering early amid a brewing crisis in the Middle East.

Albanese and Trump are both due to attend the opening of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month, though no formal meeting has been announced, and it is expected Trump will only spend a short time at the event.

The UN summit will be coloured by the decision of a number of US allies, including Australia, to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state amid the war between Israel and militant group Hamas - a move opposed by Washington. There was no indication of whether Trump and Albanese discussed the decision on their call.

On Thursday night, Albanese also participated in a separate call of members of the so-called “coalition of the willing” on Ukraine, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, Starmer and Zelensky. Trump was dialled into that meeting, according to a White House official.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/albanese-trump-in-warm-and-constructive-call-ahead-of-potential-meeting-20250905-p5msku.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgAfm0RFEFc

https://x.com/AmboRudd/status/1963638673158668520

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Former US, Australian defence heads reunite to urge Trump to stick with AUKUS

Michael Koziol - September 3, 2025

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New York: A high-level coalition of former ministers and military leaders is urging the Trump administration not to abandon the AUKUS pact with Australia and the United Kingdom, saying that while it will rob the US of nuclear-powered submarines at a crucial time, the benefits are worth the cost.

Jim Mattis, who served as Donald Trump’s defence secretary in his first term, co-wrote a piece published in the respected journal Foreign Affairs with former Australian defence minister Marise Payne, former British chief of defence staff Nicholas Carter and former US chief of naval operations Gary Roughead.

Published overnight, the essay warns that cancelling or substantially weakening AUKUS “would do the work of Washington’s adversaries for them”, noting both China and Russia do not like the alliance.

“The strongest argument for AUKUS is that China and Russia object to it,” the authors say. “When a country’s adversaries don’t like what it is doing, it should usually press on.”

Under the pact, the US is due to sell Australia between three and five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s, before Australia and the UK build a new class of vessel together, for entry into service in the 2040s.

However, the US president of the day has the final say on whether those submarines are sold to Australia, and the Navy – including Trump’s pick for chief of naval operations Daryl Caudle, who was sworn in last week – has warned the deal cannot be fulfilled unless the US lifts production from 1.2 boats a year to 2.3.

In the essay, Mattis, Payne, Carter and Roughead argue AUKUS will eventually enrich the maritime industrial bases of all three countries – even if the US must give up some submarines at a time when it is not producing enough for its own needs.

“These costs are worth the benefits,” they write. “The three states will essentially be operating common submarines, which will ultimately provide industry with a longer runway and thus the necessary industrial predictability to increase production.”

The authors say AUKUS will deter China by placing more nuclear attack submarines in the Pacific, even if they lack nuclear warheads, as Australia’s will. It would also enable American and British submarines to patrol elsewhere as circumstances demanded, troubling Moscow.

Mattis, Payne and the others acknowledge problems with AUKUS, particularly the second pillar of the program under which members are supposed to co-operate on emerging defence technologies.

Such co-operation requires sharing data and technologies which are usually highly protected: the authors say this part of AUKUS is “operationally adrift”, and more must be done to break down those barriers.

They also contend that sticking with the deal is symbolically important at a time when the US’s credibility as a reliable ally and partner is being questioned around the world. “Washington should thus do more than just recommit to AUKUS. It should revitalise the pact for the decades ahead,” they write.

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While the essay is unlikely to be read personally by Trump, who prefers television, it is certain to catch the attention of key decision-makers in the administration, including the undersecretary of defence for policy, Elbridge Colby, who is leading the Pentagon’s AUKUS review, and his deputy Alexander Velez-Green.

Colby has written for Foreign Affairs himself, arguing in a 2022 essay that the US should be doing much more to prepare for a potential war with China over Taiwan by redirecting military assets away from other spheres – such as Europe and the Middle East – to the Indo-Pacific.

That is now central to the Pentagon’s concerns about AUKUS, chiefly its desire for more information about if and how Australia would use the submarines in a conflict with China over Taiwan or other issues.

One of the strongest advocates of the deal in the US Congress, Democratic representative from Connecticut Joe Courtney, also authored an opinion piece on the weekend saying that abandoning or truncating the deal would “be met with great rejoicing in Beijing”.

Writing in National Interest magazine, Courtney said Colby should look past the current production tally of Virginia-class submarines because significant investments in the maritime industrial base were coming to fruition and would be paying dividends in the 2030s.

The essays underscore the substantial fears in the political and military establishments of all three AUKUS countries that Trump will back away from the Joe Biden-era deal.

They also come at a time of frayed relations after a mangled visit to Washington last week by Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles.

While Marles met Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, his encounter with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth remains under a cloud of mystery.

After Australian officials released photographs of Marles and Hegseth, the Pentagon initially described it as a “happenstance encounter” rather than a proper meeting. But a spokesman later issued a statement saying the meeting was co-ordinated in advance. This masthead reported the encounter lasted about 10 minutes.

The Pentagon was contacted for comment on the Foreign Affairs essay. It has previously said its review of the AUKUS pact would be completed in the northern autumn, which could mean any time between now and Christmas.

https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/former-us-australian-defence-heads-reunite-to-urge-trump-to-stick-with-aukus-20250903-p5mrxt.html

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Don’t Abandon AUKUS

The Case for Recommitting to — and Revitalizing — the Alliance

Gary Roughead, Marise Payne, Nicholas Carter and James Mattis - September 2, 2025

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/dont-abandon-aukus-jim-mattis

https://archive.is/20250902160752/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/dont-abandon-aukus-jim-mattis

https://qalerts.app/?q=Mattis

https://qresear.ch/?q=Mattis

https://qresear.ch/?q=Marise+Payne

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Access and influence: how ‘Statesman Dan’ is getting rich in China

DAMON JOHNSTON - September 04, 2025

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Former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has spoken in statesmanlike terms in meetings with Chinese business leaders, promoting closer economic ties between China and Australia, inviting senior figures to visit Melbourne and indicating he will “spare no effort” to boost exchanges and co-operation with the communist superpower, according to published accounts of top-level talks held since he left office.

Just one day after sparking an international storm by after rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s most notorious dictators when he attended Xi Jinping’s military parade, details of Mr Andrews’ booming China-focused private business interests have emerged.

“This was all about access and influence; both add up to big dollars for Dan,” one source said of his controversial attendance at the event with the world’s harshest dictators.

As heat intensified in Australia over the ex-premier’s appearance, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hardened his position when grilled in Question Time over the issue, but still avoided personally criticising his friend and former Labor premier.

“My position is very, very clear. Which is we did not send any government representative because it would not have been appropriate,” he said. “None of my people would have sat in that position, as simple as that.” Labor Premier Jacinta Allan stood by her predecessor, saying

Mr Andrews’ links to China were “good for Victoria” and “Victoria is an old friend of China and these connections are so valuable for our state”.

Two Chinese business think tanks – the China Institute for South China Sea Studies and the China Center for International Economic Exchanges – lauded Mr Andrews in official records of the meetings in March and October 2024, with one describing him as “former Victoria Governor Andrews of Australia”.

After meeting Mr Andrews and his former government senior China adviser and now private business partner, Marty Mei, in March last year, the CISCSS said they discussed “international exchanges” between Hainan Province and Victoria.

The tone and content of both official accounts of the 2024 business meetings suggest that Mr Andrews’ reputation in China as an influential Australian political leader remains one of his key selling points as he builds a thriving business empire.

“The two sides exchange views on international exchanges and co-operation between Hainan Province and Victoria State in the fields of think tank construction, education, culture, tourism, etc, as well as Hainan’s high-level opening up and the construction of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics,” the CISCSS’s account of the March meeting at the Boao Forum stated.

“(Daniel Andrews) expressed that he sincerely invited and welcomed (CISCSS) President Wang Sheng and his delegation to visit Melbourne,” the account states.

“As an old friend and good friend of the Chinese people, he will spare no effort to promote exchanges and co-operation between Hainan Province and Victoria in the fields of economy, trade, culture, education, tourism, etc, promote common development and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.”

The Australian has approached Mr Andrews and Mr Mei for comment.

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The China Institute for South China Sea Studies has been a strong advocate for China’s right to influence the South China Sea and defended its surveys and military patrols in the disputed region.

In October last year, according to an account published by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, Mr Andrews and Mr Mei met with the Bi Jingquan, the chairman of the National Economic Centre.

“Daniel Andrews said that he looks forward to further promoting bilateral cultural exchanges between China and Australia, enhancing mutual understanding and trust between the two countries, and promoting pragmatic co-operation in the above mentioned key areas,” the CCIEE’s official record of the talks stated.

“Daniel Andrews expressed his expectation to further promote bilateral people-to-people exchanges between China and Australia, enhance mutual understanding and trust between the two countries, and promote practical co-operation in the abovementioned key areas.

“He also expressed his expectation to have in-depth exchanges with the centre on the research and formulation of relevant economic and trade policies, so as to promote the sustained and healthy development of China-Australia relations and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.”

In a Chinese television interview in March this year, first reported on by The Australian on Thursday, the former premier also lauded Xi Jinping’s record on renewable energy changes and declared he was “honoured to be an old friend of the Chinese people”.

Mr Andrews and Mr Mei travelled to Beijing this week and the former Victorian premier walked Xi Jinping’s red carpet alongside Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and North Korean hard line ruler Kim Jong-un. Mr Andrews was filmed warmly shaking supreme communist leader’s hand and talking to him as he entered the ceremony in Tiananmen Square which displayed China’s military might.

The business partners have established Wedgetail Partners Pty Ltd – Mr Andrews owns 90 per cent and Mr Mei owns 10 per cent – since he quit as premier two years ago. Labor sources familiar with the Chinese-focused business say it is thriving.

The sources say Wedgetail operates as a “middle man” connecting Chinese and Australian business interests, and the ALP figures said the former premier’s controversial appearance will help promote his business globally.

Wedgetail Partners was originally based at 470 St Kilda Rd, which is also the headquarters for property billions Max Beck, who is a self-professed friend of the former premier. But Australian Securities & Investments Commission documents confirm that on July 28, Wedgetail’s business address was changed to the Andrews family home in Mulgrave, in Melbourne southeast. Company records confirm Mr Andrews’ 90 per cent stake in Wedgetail is held by a company called Glencairn Street which he is the sole director and shareholder of.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/access-and-influence-how-statesman-dan-is-getting-rich-in-china/news-story/90c84c33a7252574ce02d82adb6736bd

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/comrade-dan-sends-ccp-the-wrong-message/news-story/89e670edfc33f563957a717a956de971

https://x.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/646090251446845440

https://x.com/danielandrewsmp/status/646957321919180801

https://x.com/DanielAndrewsMP/status/647582104738369537

https://qresear.ch/?q=Marty+Mei

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‘Deeply honoured’ Daniel Andrews spruiks Xi’s parade in People’s Daily

WILL GLASGOW and BEN PACKHAM - September 04, 2025

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Beijing’s propaganda machine has quoted fawning former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews in the Communist Party’s flagship daily as being “deeply honoured” to attend President Xi Jinping’s gargantuan military parade.

Anthony Albanese distanced himself on Thursday from Mr Andrews’ decision to join a historic gathering of dictators while even senior figures in the China-focused business community condemned the ex-premier’s “bizarre” behaviour.

The Australian was unable to contact Mr Andrews, who is believed still to be in Beijing in meetings related to his China-focused consultancy, which has Andrew Forrest’s iron ore giant Fortescue as an anchor client.

In an unapologetic statement released on Thursday afternoon, Mr Andrews defended his outing with Mr Xi and the Chinese leader’s guests of honour, the Russian and North Korean dictators, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, at an event Beijing used to assert its increasingly lethal military capabilities.

“I’ve said for years that a constructive relationship with China, our largest trading partner, is in Australia’s national interest and hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs depend on it – that hasn't changed,” Mr Andrews said in his first comments since Beijing announced he would attend the PLA parade to mark China’s victory over Japan in World War II.

The historic gathering of Mr Xi, Putin and Kim on Wednesday – a message of defiance directed at Washington and the US-alliance system — marked the first time the leaders of China, Russia and North Korea had been in the same place since the 1950s.

Mr Andrews’ attendance continued a long pattern of splitting with Canberra on China policy, including his decision to sign Victoria up for Mr Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2018.

The Prime Minister on Thursday refused for a second day to condemn his former flatmate’s decision to attend the event, but told parliament: “None of my people would have sat in that position. I am not responsible for what every Australian citizen does. What I’m responsible for … is what our government does.

“My position is very, very clear, which is — we did not send any government representative because it would not have been appropriate. It certainly is not something that I would have even thought of doing and no-one in my government would have thought of doing. Simple as that.”

Mr Andrews said in his statement that his trip to China had allowed him to “meet and engage” with former New Zealand prime ministers John Key and Helen Clark, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim “and of course Chinese President Xi”.

“We also shared an official photograph,” Mr Andrews said of his moment on Beijing’s red carpet with Xi.

In his statement, Mr Andrews also attempted to brandish his anti-authoritarian credentials.

“And just so there’s no confusion – I have condemned Putin and his illegal war in Ukraine from day one. That’s why he banned me from Russia last year,” he said.

“Further, my support for Israel and Australia’s Jewish community has been outspoken and unwavering, and I unequivocally condemn Iran for its attacks on Australia, Israel and elsewhere in the world.”

While Mr Andrews continued to avoid Australian media interviews, he appeared to be more talkative to Beijing’s official mouthpieces.

Mr Andrews was one of a gaggle of former politicians featured in the parade day edition of the People’s Daily, Beijing’s flagship masthead. The Australian was unable to reach Mr Andrews to confirm the accuracy of the quotes attributed to him.

“I am deeply honoured to be invited by China to attend this solemn commemoration,” Mr Andrews was quoted as saying in a piece on page 6 of Wednesday’s paper with the headline: “China is a key force in maintaining world peace, stability and development”.

Mr Andrews was quoted as saying most Australians were ignorant of China’s history in World War II, which he said had “global significance”.

“In Australia, many people do not know the history of the Chinese People’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression,” Andrews was quoted as saying.

“There is no doubt that the victory of the Chinese People’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression had a significant impact on turning the tide in the Asian theatre of World War II. This history has broader regional and even global significance.

“The victory of the Chinese People’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression safeguarded world peace and justice.”

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Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, who in coming weeks will lead a huge delegation for a four-city trip to China, defended her predecessor on parochial grounds.

“It is good for Victoria that Daniel Andrews is held in such high regard by the people of China,” she said. “Victoria is an old friend of China and these connections are so valuable for our state.”

Australian Sinologist Geremie Barme was withering of Mr Andrews’ decision, along with his fellow parade attendees and “has-beens” Ms Clark and Mr Key.

“The very presence of such thirsty opportunists in Beijing lends support, although not perhaps lustre, to ‘the China story historical-academic-PR complex’ which the Communist Party promotes worldwide,” Mr Barme said.

“What should we call this clutch of ‘former people’? Maybe ‘useless idiots’ will do.”

Even some senior figures in Australia’s China-focused business community were appalled by Mr Andrews’ presence at the parade, as the Victorian tries to grow the secretive consultancy he founded with his former political staffer Zheng “Marty” Mei.

“It’s bizarre,” one senior business figure said, adding it had undercut the federal government’s attempt to lead “a grown-up conversation about China”.

“I imagine Albanese is spitting chips about this,” the business figure added.

Some Australian China-focused business advisers predicted Mr Andrews would be able to put the picture with Mr Xi to work for years with Chinese businesses.

“The fact he walked the red carpet and shook Xi’s hand, that’s huge,” said a China-based corporate adviser.

Another corporate figure – who also insisted on speaking anonymously because of the political sensitivity – was sceptical about Mr Andrews’ business prospects. “A well-informed Chinese company would want to think seriously about how they engage with him,” the figure said.

Former foreign minister Bob Carr, who on Thursday spoke at a closed-door function with a Beijing think-tank after skipping the military spectacle, said he had “made it clear” to Chinese diplomats in Australia that he would not attend the parade when he accepted an invitation to China’s end-of-WWII celebrations.

Mr Carr declined to comment on Mr Andrews’ decision. “He is someone who has been battered to death by media hostility in his own state, and gone on to win, win big majorities,” he said. “He can defend himself.”

Mr Andrews is not registered under the federal government’s Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme as working on behalf of a “foreign principal”.

It is unclear whether his China-focused business activities would require him to register, but the opposition quizzed Mr Albanese on the subject in question time on Thursday.

The Prime Minister replied: “Everyone should comply with the law. It’s as simple as that.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/deeply-honoured-daniel-andrews-appears-in-peoples-daily/news-story/3360fb36e4bd6d43bf4b160947e040b0

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China praises Daniel Andrews for defending ‘peace and justice’ but accuses Australia of ‘undermining stability’

WILL GLASGOW - 5 September 2025

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Beijing has applauded former Victorian premier Daniel ­Andrews for joining the Chinese government in defending “peace and ­justice,” as the People’s Liberation Army accused Australia and its ­allies of “undermining regional peace and stability” by conducting a joint freedom-of-navigation ­exercise on the day of President Xi Jinping’s vast military parade.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday night suggested Mr Andrews and other “leaders, former statesman, high-level officials, ­envoys and friends” were examples for the Albanese government and others in the international community to follow, after the former premier appeared on Mr Xi’s red carpet at the parade, and ­attended a medal ceremony for family members of foreign soldiers who fought alongside China in World War II.

Asked by The Australian about the controversy surrounding Mr Andrews’ attendance at the ­parade, Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said those who joined Mr Xi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were showing their commitment to “defending historical memory” and “peace and justice”.

“China stands ready to work with all peace-loving countries and people to have a correct ­perception of history, jointly ­defend the fruits of World War II and the post-war international order and safeguard peace and ­stability,” Mr Guo said.

The comments came after ­Beijing’s propaganda machine continued to feature Mr Andrews. News agency Xinhua reported on his attendance at the medal ­ceremony, where he was near the centre, in the front row of the ­family picture of the event run by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign ­Countries.

People familiar with Mr Andrews’ China-focused consultancy have said he hoped this week’s photos, above all his picture with China’s President on a red carpet in Tiananmen Square, will help ­attract more Chinese business clients.

While Mr Andrews was being praised in China, ALP president Wayne Swan joined the chorus of critics of the former premier’s decision to attend the military parade, defying Canberra’s efforts to demote Australian representation. Anthony Albanese’s ­decision to lower official representation below ambassador level was accompanied by a joint maritime operation that enraged Beijing.

An Australian navy vessel joined counterparts from Canada, the Philippines and the US for the exercise, which began on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday, as Mr Xi brought together his historic assembly in Tiananmen Square to admire the PLA’s increasingly lethal capabilities. In a statement, Australia’s defence department said the exercise was conducted within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

“The Maritime Cooperative Activity was conducted from 2 to 3 September 2025, with the Royal Australian Navy’s guided-missile destroyer HMAS Brisbane participating alongside the Philippine Navy’s frigate BRP Jose Rizal and the Royal Canadian Navy’s frigate HMCS Ville de Quebec,” the department said.

“P-8A Poseidon maritime ­patrol aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States Navy also supported the activity.

“This MCA demonstrates the collective commitment of Australia and its partners to upholding the right to freedom of navigation and overflight, other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace, as well as respect for maritime rights under international law, as reflected in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

A PLA spokesman denounced the exercise.

“The Philippines is soliciting foreign countries to conduct so-called joint patrols, undermining regional peace and stability,” said a spokesperson for the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command.

Senior Colonel Tian Junli added: “The theatre command’s troops remain on high alert at all times and resolutely defend China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. Any attempt to disrupt the situation in the South China Sea or create hotspots will not succeed.”

He noted that China’s navy had responded with its own “routine patrol”.

China’s official mouthpieces bristled at the “noteworthy” timing of this “latest provocation” by Australia, Canada, the Philippines and the US.

“This makes the ­Marcos government’s move extremely egregious as the Philippines also suffered from Japanese aggression,” the state owned China Daily said in an editorial in its Friday edition.

(continued)

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Asked by The Australian about the Albanese government’s decision to send a low-ranking official below ambassador level to the parade, Beijing urged Australia and other countries to adopt a “right perception” of history.

“In World War II, Chinese and Australian people upheld justice and fought together,” Mr Guo said. “China is ready to work with all peace-loving countries and people to consolidate the right perception of history and uphold the outcomes and international order after World War II to safeguard world peace and stability.”

On Friday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles met their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo, Australia’s most important strategic partner in Asia. The Japanese government has been particularly concerned about Beijing’s elevation of China’s war-time history.

Senator Wong on Friday said shared “values and trust” in each other underpinned Australia’s relationship with Japan.

”We do face very difficult, challenging strategic circumstances,” she said after closed-door discussions, much of them centred on China but also swapping notes on their shared vital ally, President Donald Trump’s erratic America.

China’s military and paramilitary-like coast guard have been increasingly aggressive in recent years as Beijing asserts what it maintains are territorial rights to almost the entire South China Sea and in contested waters in the East China Sea.

In 2016, the Turnbull government enraged Beijing by publicly supporting a ruling by a tribunal arbitrating the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The Chinese government has never accepted the decision by the international court, dismissing it as “nothing but a piece of waste paper”.

Canberra has maintained its support of the tribunal’s decision throughout the Morrison and Albanese governments and reaffirmed its support again on Thursday to the “final and legally binding” Judgement.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/china-accuses-australia-allies-of-undermining-regional-peace/news-story/644b6e0e618ec51592ae0c3c471314b4

https://www.cpaffc.org.cn/index/news/detail/id/10417/lang/1.html

https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xw/fyrbt/202509/t20250905_11703299.html

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Penny Wong cautions Daniel Andrews on China visit after meetings in Japan

Stephen Dziedzic and James Oaten - 5 September 2025

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has cautioned former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews to be "mindful" about the message he sent by attending a huge military parade in Beijing earlier this week.

The Coalition has furiously criticised Mr Andrews for joining several authoritarian leaders — including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un — at the massive spectacle held on Wednesday to mark the defeat of Japan in World War II.

It has also pressed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to condemn Mr Andrews, saying he assisted China's efforts to give the spectacle international legitimacy.

When asked about the matter, Senator Wong did not directly criticise the former premier, but said all Australians needed to be "mindful" about the signals they sent by attending events.

"Obviously I speak for Australia and the Australian government, I don't speak for private individuals," she said.

"But I think, I hope, that we all should be mindful of the message that our presence and engagement sends.

"I certainly am."

She also emphasised that Australia decided not to send any politicians or even its ambassador to attend the parade — in contrast to the last anniversary parade in 2015, when a Coalition government minister attended.

"I would emphasise that Australia made a decision to be represented at the embassy staff level," Senator Wong said.

The foreign minister made the remarks alongside Defence Minister Richard Marles in Tokyo, after attending the annual 2 + 2 meeting with their Japanese counterparts.

Australia to 'modernise' defence force after 'significant' show from China

Both Australia and Japan have been deeply unnerved by China's massive military build-up and monitored this week's parade very closely

Mr Marles called it a "very significant display of Chinese military capability".

He also said there was now a "greater degree of cooperation between China and Russia and North Korea" which he said was "an expression of the complex strategic landscape which we've now been articulating since we came to government".

He said Australia was responding by building closer ties with partners like Japan and racing to "modernise and build our defence force".

"Where that leads us is clearly seeing that our interest lies in ensuring that we are firstly asserting the rules-based order, and secondly, making our contribution to the peace and stability of the region in which we live," he said.

The high-level meeting comes just a month after Australia announced it would spend $10 billion on buying Japanese-made Mogami-class frigates.

It is the biggest defence deal for Japan, which has only ever exported defence equipment, rather than platforms like tanks, fighter jets, and warships.

Mr Marles said the contract to buy the warships would be finalised early next year.

"There is a real intent on both sides to see those negotiations move forward quickly," he said.

The first three Mogami frigates will be built in Japan to ensure quick delivery, while the remaining eight will be made in Australia.

Mr Marles stressed the Mogami frigate was selected primarily due to its suitability for the Australian navy, but added it would further deepen the strategic partnership between Australia and Japan.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-05/penny-wong-comments-on-dan-andrews-in-japan-tokyo-visit/105741584

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Chinese embassy officials observe Canberra spy case in court

LIAM MENDES - September 01, 2025

A woman accused of spying on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party in the heart of Canberra has invoked Bruce Lehrmann’s aborted criminal trial to keep her identity a secret, as members of the Chinese embassy quietly attended a hearing to watch her in court.

The woman, who cannot be named because of a suppression order, on Monday indicated she would plead not guilty to working as a “proxy” to covertly gather ­information for an official working for China’s security bureau about Canberra’s Guan Yin Citta Buddhist Association.

The ACT Magistrates Court heard prosecutors had seized nine devices – amassing a total of 2.5tb of data – which has to be analysed and translated.

An application to extend the suppression order in place since not long after her arrest in August was granted by ACT Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker on the grounds that a juror could conduct research about the accused.

The woman has been charged with one count of reckless foreign interference after allegedly feeding information to China’s Public Security Bureau about the Canberra Guan Yin Citta Buddhist Association, a group banned in China.

If found guilty, she faces a maximum 15 years’ jail. She appeared emotionless on Monday after being quietly led into the courtroom.

The permanent Australian resident is accused of receiving more than $230,000 while taking instructions from a mysterious security official over encrypted messaging platform WeChat.

Her barrister, Anthony Williamson, said she would be pleading not guilty. In applying for the suppression to be continued, he referred to the 2022 criminal rape trial of Mr Lehrmann, which was aborted from juror misconduct and saw his charges dropped.

The application for the extension of the suppression order was heard in a secret room listed under a pseudonym in court, attended only by legal representatives from the AFP, Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions, Nationwide News (publisher of this masthead), her own legal representatives and supporters as well as members of the media.

Sitting inconspicuously in the courtroom, however, were two mysterious individuals, who refused to answer questions upon leaving and drove away in a Diplomatic Corps-plated vehicle, with a number-plate prefix corresponding to the Chinese embassy.

The court was closed for some 15 minutes for her defence to put part of the application for continued suppression order to the magistrate. In continuing the suppression order, Chief Magistrate Walker noted the “high profile” nature of the matter and that there was “highly prejudicial” information in the public domain about the defendant.

“It is a matter which by its very nature is likely to pique a certain curiosity in the level of apprehension in relation to anyone who may be a juror in these proceedings, which ultimately must be heard in the Supreme Court before a jury,” she said.

“I perceive a very real likelihood of prejudice to this defendant at this point in time, if her name is made public, and jurors are potentially influenced.”

Chief Magistrate Walker also noted it was only the third time an individual had been charged under the legislation and the first time in the jurisdiction.

Officers executing a search warrant on the woman’s home at the end of June located hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ­luxury goods, including a Rolex watch receipt, large boxes of high-end handbags “that were too numerous to practicably count” and a receipt for a mystery item costing $400,000.

Court documents show the woman travelled to China on “several occasions in the past ­several years” including to the ­region where her alleged security handler was employed.

She is alleged to have received “taskings” from the handler attached to the Jindong Branch – 650km east of Wuhan – from June 2, 2022, to ­covertly collect ­information and infiltrate the ­association.

Police believe the woman, who first entered Australia on a higher education visa, secretly collected information about the Guan Yin Citta organisation, including ­details regarding the residential addresses of former leaders of the group and their national office ­locations.

She allegedly provided photos of the front doors of businesses, internal map data of locations and financial information about organisations and businesses, as well as gathering information about a radio station and its affiliations with the Buddhist group.

The matter will return to court on November 10.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/chinese-embassy-officials-observe-canberra-spy-case-in-court/news-story/0f6021f02dc27e91ea1c51c2764fa654

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High Court throws out Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation appeal bid

Michaela Whitbourn - September 4, 2025

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The High Court has thrown out Ben Roberts-Smith’s last-ditch bid to appeal against his damning defamation loss, putting an end to seven years of litigation costing tens of millions of dollars.

On Thursday, the nation’s highest court refused the former Special Air Service corporal’s application for special leave to appeal against a decision of the Full Court of the Federal Court, which had rejected his bid to overturn a decision that found he had committed war crimes.

Roberts-Smith, a Victoria Cross recipient, launched the defamation case against The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald in 2018, alleging the newspapers defamed him in a series of articles that year suggesting he was a war criminal.

The High Court said the application raised “no question of legal principle” and the proposed appeal had “insufficient prospects of success”.

Investigative journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters, the lead authors of the articles, said in a joint statement that the case had been an “ordeal that all the nation has endured”.

“We are grateful to the courts for their sound and thorough deliberations, and to the Australian soldiers who had the moral courage to stand up for what was right and tell the truth about Ben Roberts-Smith.

“They are the heroes of this grim but vital story that the Australian public needs to know. We also remember the Afghan victims of war crimes whose families are still waiting for justice.”

Tory Maguire, Nine’s managing director of publishing, said the decision vindicated “the brave soldiers of Australia’s SAS Regiment who spoke the truth in telling their stories at great personal risk”.

“This is a win for them and the values they represent. While this case has been challenging at times for all of those who spoke up, for the journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters, and their newsroom leaders, it was important for Nine to defend public interest journalism,” Maguire said.

“With no further legal options available on this matter, the closure of this litigation is an important milestone in that mission.”

In a decision in 2023, then-Federal Court judge Anthony Besanko upheld the newspapers’ truth defence and found to the civil standard of proof that Roberts-Smith was complicit in the murder of four unarmed prisoners, including a man with a prosthetic leg, while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012.

Roberts-Smith lodged an appeal. The Full Court – Justices Nye Perram, Anna Katzmann and Geoffrey Kennett – said in a decision in May that the evidence was sufficiently cogent to support Besanko’s findings that Roberts-Smith murdered four Afghan men, contrary to the rules of engagement that bound the SAS.

The High Court refused special leave to appeal against that decision and ordered the former soldier to pay the newspapers’ legal costs.

(continued)

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At the centre of the case was an allegation that Roberts-Smith machine-gunned the man with the prosthetic leg outside a compound dubbed Whiskey 108 during a mission on Easter Sunday, 2009.

The Full Court said it found “no error” in Besanko’s approach, pointing to three eyewitness accounts given in court.

“The problem for [Roberts-Smith] is that, unlike most homicides, there were three eyewitnesses to this murder,” the Full Court said.

“When all is said and done, it is a rare murder that is witnessed by three independent witnesses.”

The war veteran’s defamation case was aimed at The Age and the Herald, owned by Nine, and The Canberra Times, now under separate ownership. The trial started in 2021 and concluded in July 2022 after 110 days, 41 witnesses and a combined $30 million in legal costs. The appeal cost the parties a further $4 million.

Roberts-Smith’s former employer, Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes, bankrolled the trial using private funds but did not pay for the appeal. Stokes is on the hook for Nine’s costs in the trial.

Roberts-Smith agreed in 2023 to pay $910,000 into court as security for Nine’s legal costs as a condition of bringing the appeal.

The litigation was beset with twists and turns, including a failed application by Roberts-Smith to reopen his appeal before the Full Court’s decision was delivered to allow a “secret recording” of McKenzie to be admitted into evidence.

In a decision on legal costs, delivered on Thursday, the Full Court rejected an argument by Roberts-Smith that he should not be ordered to pay the newspapers’ costs of responding to that application.

His lawyers had argued there should be no costs order because the application raised a novel point and had a public interest character, but the Full Court did not accept that characterisation.

“[We] do not agree that the reopening application had a public interest character and we do not think it raised a question of general importance or difficulty,” the Full Court said.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/high-court-throws-out-ben-roberts-smith-s-defamation-appeal-bid-20250904-p5msc9.html

https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/special-leave

https://www.hcourt.gov.au/sites/default/files/special-leave-applications/2025-09/04-09-25%20Results.pdf

https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/judgments/special-leave-dispositions/roberts-smith-v-federal-capital-press-australia-acn-008-394-063-ors-1

https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/full/2025/2025fcafc0122

https://qresear.ch/?q=ben+roberts-smith

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Australian Army called in to assist Victoria Police in hunt for alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman

Specialist units from the Australian Army will join the search for Dezi Freeman after Victoria Police requested assistance to help find the alleged cop killer.

Patrick Hannaford - September 3, 2025

Specialist military units will be deployed in Porepunkah after Victoria Police requested ADF assistance to help track down alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman.

Hundreds of Victoria Police personnel have been deployed to Victoria’s high country to help find the self-proclaimed “sovereign citizen” since he allegedly shot and killed two police officers on August 26, however police have been unable to track down the 56-year-old nine days into the search.

Victoria Police have now requested assistance from the Australian Defence Force, with Defence Minister Richard Marles announcing the request would be met.

“The Australian Defence Force will work with Victorian police as they request our assistance in terms of the particular assets and capabilities,” Mr Marles told the ABC.

“We are providing a planning specialist in relation to this and that comes after a request from Victorian police.

“We’re also providing some air surveillance assets, again, coming after a request from Victorian police.”

Superintendent Brett Kahan revealed on Monday that Victoria Police believe Freeman is being helped or even harboured by local community members.

"People know the whereabouts of the person," Superintendent Kahan said.

"People have chosen — for whatever reason — not to come forward."

The latest revelations come as the Herald Sun revealed family and neighbours of Freeman had branded him a “coward” and a “hypocrite” who had benefitted from hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer-funded welfare payments despite claiming not to recognise the legitimacy of the Australian state.

“He never worked, never had any money … that’s what used to sh*t me too because he was so against the government, but then got his Centrelink cheque every week,” one former neighbour said.

A relative of the fugitive told the Herald Sun he had been receiving a disability pension for more than 20 years, although they were unsure how he qualified for it, adding his family viewed him as a hypocrite.

“He always told everyone how poor he was and that he was the victim … The whole family kind of laughed at him,” the relative said.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/crime/australian-army-called-in-to-assist-victoria-police-in-hunt-for-alleged-cop-killer-dezi-freeman/news-story/750b4ddfc4280008a7120eed80f0985c

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Ms Walker-Davidson recalled how Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart would look forward to his weekly hours-long Skype calls with his parents Carolina de Waart and Alain Hottart, who travelled from Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart’s native country of Belgium to attend the funeral.

Ms de Waart delivered a tribute to her son read out by his cousin, Jeremy Dellavedova.

“Our beautiful, kind, wise, joyful boy, taken from us,” she said. “Mother Nature now holds him in her embrace. Vadim is everywhere now, in the ether, in the divine … Vadim will live among us as a soft breeze on our cheek, an unexpected, pure white butterfly hovering over my head.”

Mr Bush described Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart as one of the force’s “finest officers”. He was awarded the Victoria Police Star, an honour for officers who are killed or seriously injured, in addition to the National Police Service Medal, National Medal and Victoria Police Service Medal.

“They are in recognition, not just of the six years that he served us and his community, but acknowledging the years that he would have given, had he been allowed,” Mr Bush said.

The medals were displayed in the chapel, alongside a statue of Batman, who Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart idolised because he helped people.

Following the service, Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart’s hearse was driven through a guard of honour formed by his police colleagues, while the air wing conducted a flyover in tribute.

Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart was on temporary assignment in Wangaratta when he was killed alongside his colleague, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, last Tuesday. The two officers were shot while executing a search warrant in Porepunkah. A third officer was also seriously injured.

Mr Thompson’s funeral will be held on Monday.

Police continue to hunt for their alleged killer, Desmond Freeman.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/my-superhero-brothers-tribute-tofallen-officer/news-story/2b1e9712a06070fa417ac9e685662c42

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egnhCpzp0e8

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‘Real and likely risk of serious injury or death’ if neo-Nazi released, police say

Erin Pearson - September 3, 2025

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Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell is likely to kill or seriously injure someone – or order one of his devoted followers to – unless he remains behind bars, police say.

Police allege Sewell is responsible for an attack on sacred Indigenous land that injured several people, as well as a string of other violent offences.

Detective Senior Constable Saer Pascoe told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday the 32-year-old from Balwyn, who leads the National Socialist Network, had complete control over a large contingent of members, who would attack others on his instruction and without hesitation.

Pascoe said Sewell had orchestrated an attack on people at Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne’s Kings Domain on Sunday that left one woman needing staples to secure a head laceration and others with minor wounds.

He said Sewell represented an unacceptable risk to the safety and welfare of the public if released on bail. The neo-Nazi was dramatically arrested outside Melbourne’s Magistrates Court on Tuesday, during a break in proceedings for a case in which he is accused of intimidating a police officer and his family last year. Sewell is representing himself in the matter.

“Although they present themselves as a self-political organisation, they have a documented history of hate crimes and acting with violence,” Pascoe said. “They also have a documented and recent history of violence incited and instructed by Thomas Sewell.

“He is their leader and has complete control.

“It’s almost certain the applicant will return to committing offences [if bailed]. There is a real and likely risk of serious injury or death.”

Pascoe said Sewell was unemployed, had recently been evicted from his Wantirna South home and was staying between a holiday campervan and his in-laws’ Balwyn home with his two young daughters, aged two and eight months.

He described the National Socialist Network as a neo-Nazi political organisation with white supremacist and anti-immigration ideology.

In addition to being charged over the Camp Sovereignty attack, Sewell is also facing fresh charges relating to the organisation’s August 9 event, in which police allege 200 neo-Nazis, led by Sewell, marched through the CBD and Bourke Street Mall dressed in black, carrying banners and chanting.

About 12.45am, police allege a man ran at Sewell and spat on the ground near him before punches were thrown. Other National Socialist Network members then knocked the victim to the ground, pulled away a bystander, and kicked the man in the head. The victim was taken to hospital. Sewell has been charged with assault and committing an indictable offence while on bail over the incident.

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On August 31, Sewell spoke on the steps of state parliament at an anti-immigration rally, which was also attended by other National Socialist Network members. There was also a counter-demonstration and the weekly pro-Palestine rally in the city, and groups clashed in the streets.

After most of the groups left, police allege a group of about 30 National Socialist Network members, led by Sewell, descended on Camp Sovereignty, a sacred site for the Indigenous community in Kings Domain.

The court heard Sewell had allegedly instructed the group to charge up a 30-metre hill towards the camp and attack occupants.

There, camera footage allegedly showed members attacking people, including holding two people down while another was kicked, while others were struck with a pole.

Sewell allegedly punched one man while fellow neo-Nazi Nathan Bull, who has also been charged, is alleged to have kicked another. One victim was allegedly hit while attempting to retrieve a drum that was damaged in the melee, while a woman was hospitalised and required staples to close a scalp wound.

Police are now working to identify at least 10 further alleged offenders.

Sewell was arrested on Tuesday and charged with more than 20 offences, including assault and violent disorder as the alleged main offender.

At the time, the court heard, Sewell was already on two counts of bail and facing charges of allegedly intimidating a police officer and his family, and breaching intervention orders, which he is currently contesting.

The detective said other allegations that remained before the courts include behaving in an offensive manner at the Eureka Stockade near Ballarat on December 3, 2023, and at the Chinese consulate in Toorak on October 26, 2024.

In providing examples of Sewell’s alleged escalating behaviour, Pascoe said the accused had attended a press conference held by Premier Jacinta Allan this week when he interrupted and shouted aggressively, resulting in Allan being extracted by her security.

“There is police intelligence regarding the NSN’s motivation and ideology. And they are very carefully watched,” Pascoe said.

Defence lawyer Matthew Hopkins appeared remotely from what appeared to be a house interstate, fighting reception issues throughout the hearing, and having to return using his mobile phone.

He said his client maintained his innocence and that during the Bourke Street Mall incident, he had been defending himself from an unprovoked attack. Hopkins also suggested the Camp Sovereignty attack had been provoked by the graffitiing of cars.

In pushing for bail, he said Sewell was not on bail currently for any physically violent offending and had a history of always attending court.

Hopkins then hit out at the police’s terminology, telling the magistrate his client had a constitutional implied right of political communication.

“I do note for many, many decades in this country there was a white Australia policy,” Hopkins said.

“[There is] an implied right to defend one’s political views.

“He will vigorously defend the charges against him. He will accept any [bail] conditions the court sees fit.”

Magistrate Donna Bakos said she would hand down her decision on bail on Friday.

“Am I allowed a book?” Sewell asked her as he was being led away. Bakos said she could not guarantee him access to a book in jail.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/real-and-likely-risk-of-serious-injury-or-death-if-neo-nazi-released-police-say-20250903-p5mrz7.html

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>>23555214

‘Endanger safety’: neo-Nazi will remain behind bars after alleged assault at Camp Sovereignty

Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell will remain behind bars in custody after a court ruled that he was a risk to the “safety of others” if released on bail.

Clareese Packer - September 5, 2025

Neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell will remain behind bars in custody after he was denied bail over an alleged assault at a First Nations camp in Melbourne.

Magistrate Donna Bakos found there was a risk that Sewell could “endanger the safety and welfare of others” if released.

“People have the right to go about their lives without being confronted by hateful speech,” Ms Bakos told the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday morning.

She said the charges were “serious” and some “strike at the heart of a cohesive society”.

Sewell, 33, the leader of the National Socialist Network (NSN), was arrested after an alleged assault following the March for Australia anti-immigration rally.

Camp Sovereignty members at the sacred Indigenous site in Kings Domain were allegedly attacked by a group of about 30 men, led by Sewell, on August 31, with police alleging the attack was “unprovoked”.

“The NSN group was across the road … they ran some 30m up the hill to the camp,” Ms Bakos on Friday told the court of the allegations.

“At least three people were injured … one, a young woman, required staples to seal the wound to her scalp.”

Sewell was interviewed over the alleged assault and remanded in custody.

He was charged with 21 offences, including violent disorder, affray, seven charges of assault by kicking, five of discharge missile, and four of unlawful assault.

A court was earlier told he was unemployed but acted as the leader of the neo-Nazi political organisation NSN.

Ms Bakos emphasised that Sewell was not charged with any offences relating to his political views after arguments by his defence that the prosecutor’s evidence was a “political attack” on him.

The defence had argued there was “no evidence of a racially motivated ideology”, and this was merely a “contest of ideas”.

“It relates to charges for unlawful and violent conduct,” Ms Bakos said.

“Given the matters I have addressed, this application for bail must be refused.”

The court was told a police informant believed Sewell may not comply with bail conditions, and he had “complete control” over the NSN and “a large group of followers that will attack on his instruction without hesitation” at his disposal.

“The informant said that NSN members would also be put at risk by counter attacks by persons opposed to their views,” Ms Bakos said.

“(The informant believes) there is a real risk and likely risk of serious injury or death.”

The court was also told of police allegations that Sewell had engaged in behaviour “escalating in violence and in concerning behaviour” in recent times.

Police said this included an incident on August 9 in which Sewell allegedly assaulted a man during an NSN march in Melbourne’s CBD, a charge he also sought bail for on Friday.

It is alleged about 200 members of the NSN marched through Melbourne’s CBD about 12.30am, holding banners emblazoned with the words “white men fight back”.

Ms Bakos said Sewell was the only one from the large group not wearing a face covering.

The group were allegedly “chanting and holding up banners that depicted their ideology” when a man approached them and spat on the ground in Sewell’s direction.

The court was told Sewell then allegedly “raised his fists in a fighting stance” and lunged in the man’s direction, the pair trading blows after the man allegedly punched Sewell in the head.

The man was kicked in the head several times during the alleged incident and suffered cuts and abrasions to his face, the court was told.

Sewell was arrested on August 22 over the incident. He was released pending further inquiries and charged weeks later on September 2 with common law assault and committing an indictable offence while on bail.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/neonazi-thomas-sewell-denied-bail-over-alleged-assault-at-camp-sovereignty/news-story/75445225674283329833ce999f5aadbd

https://x.com/NoticerNews/status/1954157532840124826

>>23538724

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price ordered to remove flag in Senate chamber

RHIANNON DOWN - September 03, 2025

Liberal Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was ordered in the Senate chamber to remove an Australian flag that was wrapped around her shoulders, in the middle of a speech calling for the burning of the national ensign to be criminalised.

Her push for the burning of the Australian flag to become a criminal offence was interrupted on Wednesday when Greens senator Nick McKim raised a point of order that Senator Price was using a prop as part of her address.

The Indigenous senator was ordered to remove the flag from her shoulders while she finished her speech to avoid “setting a ­precedent”.

The incident took place amid mounting pressure to criminalise the burning or destruction of the national flag, with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson moving a motion that a criminal offence be created.

Senator Price said the flag represented the nation’s history and symbolised “gratitude” for the good fortune to live in Australia. “Our national flag reminds us of the duty of responsible citizenship, doing something that’s bigger than ourselves,” she said.

“For example, raising a family, contributing to one’s community, working hard in a chosen field, or serving the nation in some ­capacity.

“When one understands the history behind our national flag, when one values its symbolic weight, it’s beyond comprehension that the burning of our ­national flag is not a criminal ­offence.

“Like most Australians, I was appalled by the footage of pro-Palestinian protesters burning our national flag in Melbourne on Sunday, the third of August.”

Senator McKim raised a point of order about Senator Price’s use of the flag during her speech as contravening standing orders that forbid props.

“I do want to make the point that if it’s OK for Senator Nampijinpa Price to wrap herself in this flag, I would intend to wrap myself in a Palestinian flag and come into the chamber and exercise the same rights that Senator Nampijinpa Price is currently exercising,” he said.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie interjected that the flag was not a prop, declaring that it “sits in our chamber right now”.

Senator Hanson moved her motion late on Wednesday, which called for the Senate to “take immediate action to make it an offence to wilfully burn or desecrate the Australian national flag”.

“Shamefully, there are people who know what the flag means to so many Australians, and that’s why they despise it,” Senator Hanson said.

“They despise our people and our nation for their stupid, narrow, hateful causes and for the symbolic value of our flag.

“They choose to desecrate it. They choose to burn it in our streets.”

Senator Price spoke in support of the motion, wearing a dress emblazoned with the Australian flag under her blazer.

The motion came just hours after Senator Price singled out the Indian community as being a source of concern during nation-wide anti-immigration protests on Sunday, declaring that Labor was leaning on the diaspora for votes.

“As we have seen, you yourself mentioned, that there is a concern with the Indian community, and only because there’s been large numbers, and we can see that reflected in the way the community votes for Labor at the same time,” she told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/jacinta-nampijinpa-price-ordered-to-remove-flag-in-senate-chamber/news-story/72755cc1a369cf9357478a4dd9ef7bb9

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COMMENTARY: Trans lobby defends a lie that silences women

CHRIS UHLMANN - September 05, 2025

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Not all change is progress. Some of it is decay. Bad ideas do damage and, to borrow from Orwell, we live in an age where restating the obvious has become a civic duty.

So here goes: there is such a thing as binary sex. It is etched in your chromosomes and biology, and you cannot change it. Human beings are male or female. A vanishingly small number are intersex. That is a biological anomaly. It is not a third sex. We also use the words man and woman. That is gender. You can legally change your gender. If you wish to do so, good luck to you. No one should discriminate against you. But your rights are not the only rights, and when identity collides with reality in a plural society, compromise is unavoidable. As a general rule, the vast majority should not be forced to make profound changes to customs, laws and language to accommodate a tiny minority.

The legal right to change gender should not compel others to deny the reality of sex, because it is the definition of tyranny that you demand I sign up to a fantasy. Conceding that gender can be changed with nothing more than a form and a fee is a big enough leap. Conceding that sex is fluid is an assault on reason.

Giggle vs Tickle and a demand to deny reason

But the obvious is now being obscured. The concession to change the law on gender now leads to a demand to deny science. The activist playbook never changes: assert, extend, sanctify, silence. Sentiment overrules reason, and those who insist on fidelity to the truth are traduced. Who could have imagined that the ordinary meaning of male and female would one day be put on trial, and that the very body created to defend women’s rights would argue that “female” is essentially meaningless?

Yet that is exactly what is happening in the Giggle v Tickle case, in which Roxanne Tickle, a transgender woman, successfully sued the women-only social media app Giggle for Girls for excluding her, with the Federal Court finding this was unlawful indirect discrimination under the Sex Discrimination Act.

The case has gone to appeal and the Sex Discrimination Commissioner has intervened as a friend of the court, submitting that sex is “not a biological concept referring to whether a person at birth had male or female physical traits”.

“Nor is it a binary concept, limited to the ‘male’ or ‘female’ sex,” the commissioner’s submission argues. “The word ‘sex’ takes its ordinary meaning, which is informed by how that term is used throughout Australia including in state and territory legislation. ‘Sex’ can refer to a person being male, female, or another non-binary status. It is also broad enough to encompass the idea that a person’s ‘sex’ can be changed.”

The ordinary meaning of words is as old as the language itself, and the words “male” and “female” have carried stable, biologically rooted meanings in English for more than 600 years. Most Australians understand what those words mean and the Oxford Dictionary defines sex as “either of the main divisions (male and female) into which living things are placed on the basis of their reproductive functions”. By treating a legislative novelty a dozen years old as the measure of ordinary meaning, the commissioner has abandoned the highway of plain speech for a legal cul-de-sac of confusion.

(continued)

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When Labor’s Susan Ryan introduced the Sex Discrimination Bill in 1983, she made her purpose clear. The law was to give effect to the United Nations convention on the elimination of discrimination against women. That convention, and the Australian law that followed, were built on the recognition that women had been held back precisely because of things proper to their sex. Pregnancy and the possibility of pregnancy were named because they had long been used as reasons to sack women, deny them jobs, or block their advancement. Ryan told the Senate the bill would outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status, or pregnancy. These protections were grounded in biology and were designed to secure equality for women as a group.

A Trojan horse wheeled inside the walls of the law

That clarity did not last. In 2013, the act was amended and the definitions of man and woman were quietly repealed to accommodate protections for gender identity. Where the law once spelled out that a man was a member of the male sex and a woman was a member of the female sex, the federal parliament now said those words should take their “ordinary meaning”. It was presented as a technical change, but it was nothing of the sort. It was a Trojan horse wheeled inside the walls of the law. The effect has been to light a fire that now burns the city of meaning to the ground. What was once fixed was unmoored.

This has opened a door for the commissioner to argue that even the act’s pregnancy provisions – protections written precisely for biological women because of their capacity to conceive – should be read as extending to trans women.

“The act defines ‘potential pregnancy’ to include the fact that the woman has expressed a desire to become pregnant, or that the woman is perceived as being likely to become pregnant. The repeal of the definition of ‘woman’, together with the comments in the 2013 notes on the law, suggest that a trans woman should be able to access protections like this, which in turn confirms that the word ‘woman’ is intended to include a trans woman.”

A trans woman may “desire” pregnancy, but no rational person could ever perceive her as capable of it. Yet the commissioner stretches the law to that absurdity, because the absence of definitions in the act allows it to conflate the moveable feast of gender with the biological reality of sex. That is a basic logical mistake, a category error, mixing up things that don’t belong together, like trying to measure temperature with a ruler.

Institutional betrayal of women

Parliament left this door ajar but the commissioner’s reasoning is as scrambled as its priorities. It ignores the common understanding of words, leaps across logic, and concludes that law can remake biology. That is like parliament declaring gravity does not exist. You can write it into a statute, but the apple still falls from the tree.

The terrifying thing in this is it takes a highly intelligent person to make an argument so reckless. Only an academic or a lawyer could do it. Only a court, a campus, or an inner-city dinner party could entertain the argument that the ­ordinary meaning of male and ­female is meaningless. It would not pass the pub test anywhere west of Chippendale.

The Sex Discrimination Act itself recognises that women sometimes need protections that are single-sex. Section 32 permits single-sex services where the nature of the service requires it, and section 42 expressly allows exclusion in competitive sporting activities where strength, stamina or physique are relevant. So, the act was written with the clear understanding that biology matters, and that there are circumstances in which women need spaces and protections of their own.

(continued)

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In dissolving the boundary between sex and gender, the commissioner is engaging in institutional betrayal. The office created to defend women now seeks to erase them. If the word “female” can be colonised by biological males, the law cannot protect women as women and every protection won over generations collapses. Even the experience of pregnancy and childbirth will be claimed by those who can never endure it. In the end, women lose not only their rights but their recognition. They will be pushed into a legal limbo, where their very existence as a class is denied.

The most insidious part of the commissioner’s argument is that it acts to silence women who dare to dissent. Women’s organisations already face orchestrated pressure to change their language and practice to accommodate aggressive activists. If sex is stripped of its biological anchor in law, on what grounds could any male who declares himself female be denied entry to real or virtual single-sex spaces?

Does the commissioner truly believe that in a world where any man can change gender by nomination alone, predatory men will not exploit that licence to prey on women?

The erasure of sex is just one skirmish in the war on reason waged by identity politics. It is an ideology aimed at dissolving the foundations of meaning, built on the belief that all human relationships are exercises in power. Confusion is the objective. When the meaning of basic terms is unmoored, power flows to those who dictate the new definitions.

The commissioner seems determined to etch a dangerous precedent into law. Its staff may feel on the right side of history, but they are morally adrift. They are defending a lie – and no law or court can make it true.

Chris Uhlmann is a Walkley Award winning journalist and broadcaster, having begun his media career at The Canberra Times and as a radio producer for the ABC in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was most recently the ABC's political editor on its flagship 7.30 program.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/australias-transgender-debate-iscreating-a-dangerous-precedent/news-story/033f38735d8249b77961eaf2536f9440

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Thompson graduated from the police academy in 1988 and started his career at Collingwood police station, before stints with the Melbourne crime investigation unit and the fraud squad. He relocated to Wangaratta in 2007, where he was based with the crime investigation unit.

The 59-year-old was due to retire last Friday and had planned to travel throughout South America with his partner.

Victoria’s new police chief commissioner, Mike Bush, described Thompson as a cherished and respected member of the state’s police family; a “fisherman, a hunter, a provider and a sharer and the sort of person that people rallied around”.

“I did not have the privilege of working with or knowing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson,” Bush said.

“But I have spoken to many who did have that pleasure, and they have relayed many stories. Without a doubt, Neal was a highly respected, highly regarded, very capable, very experienced police officer and member of the Victoria Police.”

Friend and colleague Paul Campbell said his longtime friend had an aura of “invincibility” and was respected by police, legal staff and offenders alike.

“He worked until the very end,” Campbell said.

“There was no ease-up or time off, always first through the door with a purpose. He would do anything for his crew, and was loyal to a fault.”

Just after 1pm on Monday, thousands of officers formed an honour guard that stretched more than a kilometre along View Mount Road. Each officer saluted as a hearse containing Thompson’s casket passed, while a police helicopter hovered above.

Thompson’s ashes will be spread at an unidentified site near his farm, where he recently said goodbye to his beloved German wirehaired pointer Jimmy.

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/thousands-farewell-police-officer-who-tackled-life-to-the-fullest-20250908-p5mtdt.html

https://thenightly.com.au/australia/victoria/neal-thompson-fallen-officer-on-brink-of-retirement-to-be-farewelled-with-full-police-honours-c-19944172

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bghj1MiFYwk

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Beijing has post-parade tantrum at Australia over ‘incomprehensible’ Japan ties

WILL GLASGOW - September 8, 2025

Beijing has erupted over Penny Wong and Richard Marles’ “incomprehensible” decision to “provoke China” at a meeting on Friday with their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo two days after Xi Jinping oversaw the most intimidating display of military hardware in the 76-year history of the People’s Republic of China.

China’s outrage was delivered as the Pacific Islands Forum was preparing to meet in Solomon Islands amid a barely disguised tussle between Beijing and Canberra for influence in Australia’s near neighbourhood.

Beijing’s anger was sent in the lead editorial in Monday’s China Daily, following a pattern it has used since diplomatic relations with Australia have officially improved under the Albanese government.

“Japan and Australia have tried to depict their strengthened security co-operation as a meaningful move to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific,” the state-owned masthead editorialised.

“Yet what they have done by elevating their so-called special strategic partnership is actually stirring up tensions.”

The China Daily — Beijing’s most authoritative English language daily — said the Australian and Japanese senior ministers “did not stop at just parroting the hackneyed China-targeted phrases from the playbook of the United States”.

“They went further by seeking to provoke China on issues that concern its core interests,” the government-owned masthead said, noting that “the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and “serious concern at the increase in scale and frequency of provocative activities by China in Japan’s maritime and air domain” were both in the Australian and Japanese joint statement.

“Such remarks confuse right and wrong,” the Beijing mouthpiece declared.

“Japan and Australia are reneging on their formal recognition of Taiwan as part of China and degenerating into puppets on the geopolitical chessboard of the US that seems bent on playing the ‘Taiwan card’ to contain China.”

Australia and fellow “like minded” countries demoted their diplomatic representation for President Xi’s military parade last Wednesday, which was nominally held to mark 80 years since the defeat of imperial Japan and the end of World War Two.

Beijing used the parade, and a preceding meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, to position China as the inheritor and champion its leadership role in the global order. Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un were Xi’s guests of honour for what China’s foreign ministry said was an event to support “peace and justice”.

While the parade was under way, an Australian navy vessel joined counterparts from Canada, the Philippines and the US for a freedom of navigation exercise in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Beijing claims the waters as its own, despite losing an international arbitration in 2016.

A PLA spokesman and later the Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced the exercise. “We urge the relevant countries to stop forming small groupings and making trouble in the South China Sea and undermining regional peace and stability,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Beijing on Monday signalled its deep unhappiness with the pointedly timed exercise.

“[A]s if Australia thinks what it has done is not damaging enough to bilateral ties, it sent a guided-missile destroyer to sail through the Taiwan Strait,” the China Daily wrote.

“There is no fundamental conflict of interests between China and Australia, and the two countries have every reason to build on their vast common interests and expand their mutually beneficial pragmatic co-operation.

“It is thus incomprehensible that Canberra should implement a foreign policy that only serves the US’ geopolitical interests while ignoring all the negative consequences.”

(continued)

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The Beijing masthead again urged the Albanese government to follow the advice of former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating.

“Former Labor prime minister of Australia Paul Keating has justifiably criticised some politicians in Canberra for having ‘no pride’ and a “‘miserable view of themselves’.

“Pointing to Australia’s lack of strategic autonomy, he said it was not intelligent for the country to be ‘owned’ by the US, and warned that Australia should not get involved if tensions over Taiwan boiled over into conflict.

“‘Taiwan is not a vital Australian interest,’ Keating rightly said. Hopefully his words will knock some sense into the heads of some in Canberra,” the Chinese government owned masthead concluded.

While in Tokyo, Senator Wong and Mr Marles both met Shigeru Ishiba days before he announced he would step down as Japan’s Prime Minister after less than a year in the job.

Jockeying is now underway with Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to chose his successor.

Tokyo has seen a return to a period of rotating prime ministers within the LDP since the long-serving Shinzo Abe stood down citing illness in 2020. Mr Abe, Japan’s most important leader since the end of the Cold War, was assassinated in 2022.

Despite the churn in Japanese Prime Ministers, the two countries have only further elevated their defence and diplomatic co-operation. That strategic alignment is expected to continue under Japan’s next leader.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/beijing-has-postparade-tantrum-at-australia-over-incomprehensible-japan-ties/news-story/a1a0bfad23f4ee6f4f661816d568051a

https://archive.vn/iP14T

https://www.chinadailyasia.com/hk/article/619411#Japan-Australia-security-partnership-not-as-well-intentioned-as-claimed–2025-09-08

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‘Beijing says no’: Solomon Islands MP reveals how China pulls the strings

STEPHEN RICE - September 07, 2025

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As Anthony Albanese joins regional leaders in Honiara this week for the Pacific Islands Forum, the Chinese government will be doing everything in its power to muscle in on the event, with new evidence that host nation Solomon Islands is taking orders directly from Beijing.

In a rare glimpse into Beijing’s naked interference in the rule of Pacific island nations, The Australian can reveal how China’s Solomon Islands embassy orchestrated moves to sideline prominent MPs critical of Beijing’s growing control over their country.

Prominent MP Peter Kenilorea recounts how pro-Beijing Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, under direct instruction from China’s ambassador, froze him out of a place in the government.

The revelation exposes the stark reality of China’s ambitions in the region as it seeks to reshape the Pacific’s political landscape, marginalise Taiwan, and cement its dominance.

When Mr Albanese arrives at the Pacific Islands Forum in Honiara, he and the other leaders will be the guests of Mr Manele, who has been working assiduously to keep Taiwan out of the summit.

China’s corruption of Solomons Islands politics – often in the form of “constituency funds” paid directly to MPs – has been a fact of life for many years but even Mr Kenilorea, a veteran political leader, was stunned by what unfolded when he was summoned to the home of the Prime Minister after last year’s national election.

Mr Kenilorea, the son of Solomon Islands’ first prime minister, Sir Peter Kenilorea, is the leader of the United Party, the only party that has vowed to terminate Solomon Islands’ secretive 2022 security pact with China.

The outspoken former diplomat is also a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of legislators from around the world demanding accountability from an increasingly authoritarian China.

When Mr Manele’s government came under threat during a no-confidence vote in parliament in May, Mr Kenilorea helped him stay in office, using his bloc of votes as head of the UP to prevent the even more rabidly pro-Beijing former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare returning to power.

Mr Kenilorea offered to join Mr Manele’s government, hoping to help steer it away from its pro-China stance.

But Beijing had other ideas, and its orders, says Mr Kenilorea, came directly from the Prime Minister.

“Right after the (no confidence) motion got withdrawn on the floor of parliament, Manele invited me to his house, his residence, and he just told me straight out that the Chinese ambassador told him not to take me,” Mr Kenilorea said.

“It is extraordinary, but it’s just the norm these days. I’d suspected that was the deal, but it was still shocking to hear the Prime Minister say that, too.”

Mr Kenilorea and Mr Manele had been long-time friends, serving together in New York at the Solomon Islands mission to the UN.

“We were the only Solomon Island families in New York, so I know him very well – his children call me uncle,” Mr Kenilorea said.

“So it was really, really weird to hear him say that the Chinese ambassador told him not to take me.”

(continued)

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Mr Kenilorea says he made it clear that he was happy to be a backbencher, so long as he did not have to toe a pro-Beijing line.

Mr Manele, he says, told him that would only happen if he left his party and gave a press conference praising Beijing.

“And then he says, ‘and you have to take a trip to China’. And I was like, ‘what for – a conference?’

“He said, ‘no, just go and just go and visit’. I was like, oh, man, it’s OK, I’ll just stay.

“For China, it means a lot that I have capitulated to them. I’m not willing to do that.”

It’s not the first time China has intervened to silence critics and consolidate its influence in Solomon Islands, Mr Kenilorea said.

The only other Solomon Islands member of the pro-Taiwan IPAC was Mr Kenilorea’s fellow MP Daniel Waneoroa, who accepted a place in Mr Manele’s turbulent government as Minister for Rural Development. But the job came with a catch.

“Danny got a personal dressing down by the Chinese Embassy in Honiara to pretty much leave IPAC as a condition to join the government,” Mr Kenilorea said.

“They summoned him to the embassy and gave the conditions on what he must do, so it was direct political interference.”

Mr Waneoroa resigned from IPAC soon after, saying he had done so “in the interest of fostering stability and aligning with a collective national vision”.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Mr Kenilorea said. “It’s quite an issue for China to have parliamentarians coming together in a collective like IPAC and speaking openly on China’s aggressive approach in global affairs.”

Mr Waneoroa could not be reached for comment, but Mr Kenilorea said he suspected that threats of withdrawing aid projects from the MP’s electorate may have been part of the pressure campaign.

“I wouldn’t be surprised – it’s quite an intimidatory kind of tactic,” he said.

As the behind-the-scenes manoeuvring with Mr Kenilorea and others was taking place, Mr Manele was also taking steps to exclude Taiwan from the Pacific Islands Forum.

China, the US and other “development partners” will also likely be excluded but the move is seen as a ploy to specifically remove Taiwan, which has participated for more than 30 years.

Mr Kenilorea said he fully expected to see China flex its muscle at the Forum beginning on Monday – with plenty of help from Solomon Islands.

“In Honiara we have a government that’s clearly bent the knee to Beijing,” he said.

“So it will definitely play the host card, with the prerogatives that come with that, to try and bulldoze something through.”

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/beijing-says-no-solomon-islands-mp-reveals-how-china-pulls-the-strings/news-story/9c78cdb621671c3417fa95bbcdf7284d

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AI apps face $49.5m fine for creating fake nudes of Aussie students

Time is ticking for a sinister fake nude app used by young school boys to strips clothes from the photos of teachers and female students.

Lachlan Leeming - September 8, 2025

Exclusive: The company behind “nudify” software, which can take photos of real people and remove their clothes to create “deepfake” pornographic images, has been targeted by Australia’s online safety watchdog, with a dire warning the tech has already infiltrated schoolyards across the country.

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has confirmed a formal warning has been sent to an overseas-based tech company over its “nudify” apps, the first step to issuing a possible $49.5m fine, amid concerns the service is allowing the creation of child pornography.

The company – which has not been named by eSafety over concerns identifying it would attract more users – runs two of the world’s most-visited artificial intelligence (AI)-generated nude image websites, which allow users to upload photos of real people, including children.

The two services in Australia have 100,000 users per month, with eSafety saying the app was already being used to create sexually explicit deepfake images of Aussie schoolkids.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said reports to her office had shown the platforms were being used “nefariously by Australian schoolchildren, to create deepfake image-based abuse of their peers”.

“Shockingly, we found these services did little to deter the generation of synthetic child sexual abuse material by marketing alarming features such as undressing ‘any girl’, with options for ‘schoolgirl’ and ‘sex mode’, to name a few,” Ms Inman Grant said. “And while these platforms can be accessed for free, the cost to the children targeted is incredibly high, if not incalculable.”

Federal Communications Minister Anika Wells last week said the government would consult on ways to stop AI being used to create child abuse material in Australia, with Ms Inman Grant saying her office would use the powers already available to it to clamp down on the problem.

She added it was estimated nudify apps were making millions of dollars globally.

“These aren’t just harmless little developers having fun. This is an extremely lucrative business,” Ms Inman Grant said. “One says ‘give us the age of a child and a body type … and we’ll create a girl of your predilection’.

“It’s creating child sexual abuse (material).

“It’s causing tremendous harm to young and teenage girls in schools every week.”

The eSafety Commissioner’s office revealed in June that the number of fake, damaging images reported to its image-based abuse reporting line had soared – with the number of intimate, digitally-altered images featuring teens and children under 18 more than doubling in 18 months, compared to the seven years prior.

Ms Inman Grant warned it was likely the true number of school students impacted by fake images of them remained under-reported.

“We know that digitally-enabled harms are under-reported, so we are certain this is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/ai-porn-app-faces-495m-fine-for-creating-fake-nudes-of-aussie-students/news-story/65e56d5d8167eaaaba3bb134ce5ef589

https://www.esafety.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/esafety-moves-against-services-used-to-nudify-australian-school-children

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Australia and China’s fierce rivalry for influence in the Pacific has been underscored by duelling gifts of vehicles to be used by delegates and police officers during the forum in the Solomons capital of Honiara.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele announced in late August that Australia would provide a fleet of 61 vehicles – including 40 Ford Rangers, 10 Nissan Navaras and 11 Toyota Hilux pick-up trucks – valued at $5.2 million.

These would be used to ferry around leaders and other dignitaries during the forum, before they are given to the police force.

On the same day, Manele announced that the Solomons had received the first 27 of a fleet of 40 vehicles paid for by China.

Under the agreement, Australia would pour $500 million into Vanuatu to help fund its economic, security and climate needs while locking in Australia as the nation’s main security and development partner.

Australia and Vanuatu agreed on a security deal in 2022, but it was blocked by Vanuatu’s parliament after it became mired in domestic political debate.

Vanuatu, a nation of 330,000 people, is seen as a key “swing” state in the Pacific given its historically strong ties to Australia and burgeoning relationship with China.

Mihai Sora, program director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, said there would be “definite disappointment” in the government about the apparent delay in reaching an agreement with Vanuatu.

“Australia was looking to celebrate the finalisation of this deal,” Sora said.

He said the deal was not dead as it was still in the interests of both countries to strike an agreement, even if the details prove difficult to finalise.

“Australia will keep trying,” he said.

Meg Keen, head of the Pacific Research Program at the Australian National University, said critical infrastructure was a key point of tension between Australia and Vanuatu.

“Australia sees critical infrastructure as a security issue, but some in Vanuatu feel it is more of a development issue and don’t want to close options or funding sources,” she said.

“Napat has to build a consensus to implement the deal in Vanuatu; otherwise it will be scuttled.”

Keen said she believed a deal could still be reached, but it would take time, and more compromises may be required.

Sora said he was more optimistic about a bilateral security agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea that Albanese and counterpart James Marape are set to sign next week during PNG’s 50th anniversary of independence celebrations. As part of the agreement, PNG nationals will be allowed to serve in the Australian Defence Force and be put on a pathway to Australian citizenship as the two nations move to integrate their military operations.

“This is a huge step for PNG and a change to their foreign policy,” he said. “It’s a big deal for the Australia-PNG relationship.”

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/australia-s-bid-to-win-battle-with-china-for-pacific-influence-hits-a-snag-20250909-p5mtip.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=571GZBGNbtI

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COMMENTARY: Beijing scores a win in Vanuatu, as $500m deal hangs in balance

BEN PACKHAM - 9 September 2025

Australia has been left bloodied and bruised after its latest diplomatic bout with China in the Pacific.

The Albanese government had hoped to seal another win against Beijing by signing a new economic and security agreement with Vanuatu.

It had high hopes of success just weeks earlier, when Richard Marles, Penny Wong and Pacific Minister Pat Conroy initialled the Nakamal Agreement with counterparts from Vanuatu on the edge of an active volcano.

But Beijing’s embassy in Port Vila has been hard at work since then, plying its influence with members of Prime Minister Jotham Napat’s coalition government.

The Australian side knew the deal was looking shaky before Anthony Albanese boarded his VIP jet to Vanuatu on Tuesday morning.

He decided to make the trip anyway, hoping his personal touch could help seal the agreement.

But his counterpart was clear: the deal as it stands is a non-starter.

“Some of my ministers and MPs … feel it requires more discussions, particularly on some of the specific wordings in the agreement when it comes to the critical infrastructure,” Napat said.

He responded with a brief “yes” when asked if Vanuatu was concerned the agreement would limit infrastructure funding from other countries.

Of course, there’s only one country he could be referring to.

A clause in the proposed agreement would give Australia a veto against investment by any other country (ie. China) in Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure sectors, such as ports, airports and telecommunications.

In return, Vanuatu would get an extra $500m over a decade for economic development and climate resilience projects.

That’s big money in the Pacific, but not enough to send China packing.

Vanuatu owes Chinese lenders an estimated $US100m for an array of big-ticket projects, including a new presidential palace, parliament building, major port, roads projects, sports stadium and convention centre.

The mixing of business and politics in Vanuatu, as elsewhere in the Pacific, offers Beijing additional sway over Vanuatu’s elites.

Albanese says he is confident the agreement will be finalised soon. But he’d be wise not to hold his breath.

It’s the second time Vanuatu has gotten cold feet over a security-related agreement with Australia.

A similar deal, signed in 2022 but not ratified, sparked a political crisis that led to the fall of the country’s then-prime minister, Ishmael Kalakaua.

Napat wanted to avoid the same fate.

Albanese can take heart, though, in recent and coming wins elsewhere in the region.

Agreements with Tuvalu and Nauru have firmly placed them in Australia’s orbit, giving Canberra veto rights over their security relationships with other countries.

And a bilateral defence treaty to be signed next week with Papua New Guinea will establish the countries as bona fide allies with mutual obligations to support each other in the event of a conflict.

That’s on top of Australia’s $600m deal to support a PNG side to play in the NRL – a commitment no sane leader of that country would jeopardise by getting too close to Beijing.

As Penny Wong declared last year, Australia is in a “state of permanent contest” with China in the Pacific.

Beijing has won this round. But the competition continues.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/beijing-scores-a-win-in-vanuatu-as-500m-deal-hangs-in-balance/news-story/4add929bdc719033aa5267e906cd6c1d

https://x.com/pmc_gov_au/status/1965305167131070744

https://x.com/AlboMP/status/1965284479133700361

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OPINION: China and Australia in a high-speed race to win control of the Pacific

Peter Hartcher - September 9, 2025

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If you want to know how China and Australia are competing for influence in the Pacific Islands, here’s a microcosm of the contest.

Constantly seeking opportunities to establish itself as the dominant power in the Pacific, Beijing decided to offer a fleet of 27 brand-new vehicles as a gift to Solomon Islands in time for its hosting this week of the annual summit of the region’s paramount political gathering, the Pacific Islands Forum. The 18-member forum includes Australia and New Zealand. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be there.

The purported function of the vehicles? The 27 SUVs were to ferry the various leaders and ministers around during the summit. It might not sound like a big deal, but for a tiny nation with a per-capita income in the same range as that of Haiti and the Congo, the prime minister himself, Jeremiah Manele, turned out for the handover.

The Australian response? To announce that it would give the Solomons a fleet of 60 brand-new vehicles. “Australia continues to be the Pacific’s largest development partner, and security partner of choice,” Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said in jointly announcing the gift, together with Pacific Island Affairs Minister Pat Conroy.

Unspoken is that Canberra doesn’t want any of the leaders to travel in China’s cars because they are inevitably set up to spy for Beijing. The Australian aim is that the forum leaders are chauffeured around in the cars from Canberra. After this week’s events, the Australian cars are to be distributed across various islands of the Solomons for police use.

For good measure, the Australian government is throwing in support for the Solomons’ cybersecurity, upgrades to roads around the capital of Honiara, and $3 million for logistics support for the PIF summit.

This is the new reality. It’s a daily competition, hand-to-hand diplomatic combat. Sometimes literally. One of Beijing’s cultural gifts to the Solomons is a program in which Chinese police instructors teach kung fu classes to local kids. The Solomons media call it “kung fu diplomacy”.

When you hear ministers or experts speak of abstract “strategic competition”, this is what it looks like in action in the Pacific.

In some cases, Australia woke up too late. It was the Solomons that dealt Australia its Pacific shock. That was the day in the Scott Morrison years when we woke up to learn that China had struck a security pact with Honiara.

The very islands that a hostile Imperial Japanese Army occupied to cut off Australia’s economic and military lifelines in WWII were falling under the influence of China.

It took a vast and bloody effort by the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK to dislodge the Japanese from the Solomons in the battle for the island of Guadalcanal. That campaign cost the allies 29 ships sunk, 615 aircraft destroyed and more than 7000 troops killed.

By the time in 2022 that Canberra was shocked out of its complacency, Beijing had not only signed a security pact with the Solomons. Its agents had been offering bags of cash to Solomons’ politicians to look more favourably on China.

How do we know? Because the then-deputy leader of the opposition, Peter Kenilorea Jr, said publicly that China offered MPs the equivalent of between about $300,000 and $900,000 to lend their support to Beijing. The premier of Malaita Province, Daniel Suidani, said he’d been offered the equivalent of around $150,000.

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There are some bidding wars that Australia cannot win. To this day, despite Australia’s new attentiveness and new prime ministers in both countries, the Solomons is considered one of the Pacific nations least simpatico with Australia.

Kiribati and Vanuatu are other Pacific states considered to be more sympathetic to Beijing’s interests. The biggest of the Pasifika nations, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, are considered solidly aligned with Australia.

We’ll learn more about the PNG relationship when Albanese travels there next week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its independence from Australia. The two nations’ prime ministers are set to reveal a defence agreement that Canberra believes to be highly consequential.

But this is a daily contest in a permanent struggle across a vast expanse of what the regional nations call the Blue Pacific Continent. China is intent on establishing military bases in the Pacific and will not rest until it succeeds. If it does, will the US under Donald Trump be prepared to help dislodge them next time?

It’s obvious that Australia needs to do more to protect itself in its own near approaches. “There will be lots of ups and downs, and Australia has to continue playing Whac-A-Mole and doing everything it’s doing now,” says the director of research at the Lowy Institute, Herve Lemahieu.

But he has a big idea for transforming the contest, the region and Australia’s future: “Implementing a credible, deep and wide integration project would be the single most consequential project for this generation in Australia’s foreign policy,” he tells me.

If that sounds too abstract, think EU. Applied to the Pacific, the concept would be a Pacific Union, with the ambition to gradually ease barriers to free movement of data, capital and people across the region, including, of course Australia and NZ, but excluding China and the US.

It would be attractive for the peoples of the Pacific, says Lemahieu. He offers the case study of comparing Poland and Ukraine in 1989 when the Cold War ended, when both were similarly poor and hapless. One joined the EU and became one of the richest and most successful nations in the world. The other is a second-rate nation fighting a war of survival against Russia.

“The enlargement of the EU,” argues Lemahieu, “has been the single most effective policy against Putin’s designs to make Eastern Europe a Russian sphere”. A Pacific Union “would make many Pacific countries resistant to top-down elite capture” by China, while making support for integration a popular bottom-up pan-Pacific project. Pacific leaders who wanted to opt out of the union and enrich themselves by selling out their people would have a harder time.

“Our island continent is surrounded by friends and fish,” says Lemahieu. “Sustaining and nurturing that protective membrane, regardless of what Trump and Xi do, is our first principle and should be our guiding star.”

The region that Australia long thought was the least important is now accepted as the most important. As Pat Conroy has been heard telling Australian diplomats, don’t go chasing postings in traditional glamour cities – what you do in the Pacific is what matters most.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/china-and-australia-in-a-high-speed-race-to-win-control-of-the-pacific-20250908-p5mtbf.html

Victoria becomes first Australian state to formally table treaty legislation in parliament

Richard Willingham - 9 September 2025

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Victoria's historic treaty is promising to "reckon with the past" and empower the state's First Peoples — and explicitly declares it will not take anything away from the broader community.

The treaty legislation was tabled in parliament on Tuesday afternoon and if passed, will make permanent the First Peoples' Assembly under a new authority called Gellung Warl.

The assembly, which was set up in 2019 to elect Aboriginal people to negotiate a treaty on their behalf, will have the power to make rules on matters that directly affect First Peoples in Victoria.

"Treaty is built on a simple principle: First Peoples decide First Peoples' issues. This doesn't take anything away from anyone else,'' the treaty says.

It also says: "The State has made the commitment to Treaty because when First Peoples thrive, all of Victoria is stronger, fairer, and more whole. Treaty is not a gift given, but a commitment made — to practical change, to shared progress, and to a future in which dignity and opportunity belong to all."

"We know already governments are spending huge amounts of money seeking to close the gap … but it's not working," Ms Allan said.

The mechanics of the bill, she said, would reflect in-principle agreements the state government had already reached with the First Peoples' Assembly through treaty negotiations.

"It puts into the law the changes that will give Aboriginal people a say about how services and programs that are for Aboriginal Victorians are run," Ms Allan said.

Co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria Ngarra Murray said today marked "a new era".

"Treaty offers us a chance to reshape the story of this country," she said.

Her co-chair, Rueben Berg, said the treaty bill would "reset the relationship" between First Peoples and the state government.

"Under treaty, government must speak with us when making laws, rules or policies about us," he said.

New authority would continue truth-telling work

Gellung Warl will also include two extra bodies to hold the government to account and to continue the truth-telling work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

The negotiated treaty requires a formal apology from the state government to the First Peoples of Victoria.

Victoria's primary and secondary students will also learn more about Victoria's First Peoples, with a new curriculum to be developed for prep to year 10 students, using the findings of the Yoorrook Commission.

The Gellung Warl will be futureproofed with a special appropriation act to be set up by parliament, with the body to receive tens of millions of dollars a year once fully operational.

Among its other roles will be to oversee consultation with all state-funded bodies, including police, when rules and policies are developed relating to First Peoples.

"The injustices that began with colonisation — dispossession, racism, and discrimination — continue to shape the lives of First Peoples today,'' the Treaty says.

"Treaty is the next step through that door. It is not about dwelling in the past, nor laying blame. It is about acknowledging that the past still shapes the present and choosing to do better from here."

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Same oversight as government

Gellung Warl will be subject to the same oversight as the government and parliament by the anti-corruption watchdog IBAC and the ombudsman.

The new body will be fully operational by July 1 next year, with fresh elections to be held for the new Assembly before then.

"Policies and programs work best when the people affected by them have a say in how they are delivered — that's why this Bill proposes to put decision-making power about initiatives and services that impact First Peoples into the hands of First Peoples' Assembly,'' a joint statement from assembly co-chairs Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg, Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister Natalie Hutchins says.

The bill proposes that the expanded assembly forms an independent accountability mechanism, as required by the National Agreement to Close the Gap.

As previously reported by the ABC, the treaty will also help establish a First Peoples Institute.

The process for treaty began a decade ago under former premier Daniel Andrews and Victoria is the first state to introduce a treaty to its parliament.

The treaty has taken inspiration from other First Nations treaties around the world — in particular, treaties in Canada's British Columbia.

Coalition vows to vote against treaty

Even before the legislation was tabled, the Coalition declared it would vote against treaty, with Opposition Leader Brad Battin likening it to the Voice referendum, in which a majority of Victorians voted no.

But the Coalition's position will not stop the treaty legislation being passed into law, with the Greens, Animal Justice Party and Legalise Cannabis Party all throwing their support behind it in the upper house.

Mr Battin accused the government of rushing the bill through parliament without proper scrutiny or transparency.

"We remain committed to working with Indigenous communities to close the gap and deliver better outcomes for everyone — regardless of race, gender or background,'' he said earlier this month.

"At a time when families are under real pressure from the cost-of-living crisis, rising crime and a health system under strain, we believe the government's focus should be on delivering practical solutions that make life better and fairer for everyone."

The Victorian Greens will support the treaty bill without amendment.

"I'm so proud that Victoria is taking this first step towards a better future for our First Nations communities," Victorian Greens leader Ellen Sandell said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-09/victoria-treaty-legislation-parliment-first-peoples/105749692

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Big changes made to Epstein accuser’s memoir after family complains

Virginia Giuffre’s book Nobody’s Girl will come out in October

Hillel Italie - 04 September 2025

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The publisher of Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, Nobody’s Girl, has reached an agreement on a final draft with her family, following their public objections to its initial content.

Surviving relatives of the Jeffrey Epstein accuser had expressed concerns that the book presented an “outdated and unduly positive portrait” of her marriage, which ended in the months leading up to her death by suicide in April.

Jordan Pavlin, Knopf’s publisher and editor-in-chief, confirmed the resolution in a statement Wednesday.

“We worked with Virginia’s brothers and their wives to contextualize the narrative Virginia’s memoir presents, and we appreciate their support of this publication,” he said.

“We all believe that Virginia’s voice must be heard, and that her courage in telling her story has the power to offer strength and hope to victims of sexual abuse.

“Nobody’s Girl is a testament to Virginia’s dignity and fortitude in the face of Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s monstrous cruelty. Its impact will be profound.”

A spokesperson for Giuffre's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In August, Alfred A. Knopf announced that Nobody’s Girl would come out October 21 and called the book a “riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.”

Family members soon issued a statement saying that Nobody's Girl, which reportedly presents her marriage to Robert Giuffre as part of her healing process, “will undermine Virginia’s credibility as someone who consistently told the truth in her pursuit of justice and accountability.”

The final edition, which Knopf has sent to the printers, includes a foreword that outlines the changes in Giuffre's life since the manuscript was completed in fall 2024.

Knopf and her family had spent months working on the language for the foreword, written by Giuffre's collaborator, the author and journalist, Amy Wallace.

Giuffre originally signed in 2023 with Penguin Press, in what Knopf spokesman Todd Doughty said recently was a seven-figure deal.

She moved from Penguin to Knopf along with her acquiring editor, Emily Cunningham, who joined Knopf in 2024. Both Knopf and Penguin are part of Penguin Random House.

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Earlier Wednesday, some Giuffre family members joined dozens of survivors of Epstein's abuse at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, where they called on lawyers to release files of the sex trafficking investigation into the late financier and rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss the issue as a “hoax.”

“No leniency, no deals, no special treatment,” Sky Roberts, Giuffre's brother, said at the conference. “The Epstein documents must be unsealed."

Doughty has confirmed that Nobody's Girl mentions Trump, who once employed Giuffre at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, but added that he is not accused of any wrongdoing. The publisher has otherwise declined to offer specifics on anyone else named.

Giuffre had contended she was caught up in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring in the 2000s and was exploited by Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men.

Epstein was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019 in what investigators described as a suicide. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in late 2021 on sex trafficking and other charges.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/epstein-ghislaine-virginia-giuffre-memoir-b2819919.html

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/712958/nobodys-girl-by-virginia-roberts-giuffre/

—

Q Post #4923

Oct 21 2020 20:55:05 (EST)

https://twitter.com/VRSVirginia/status/1319071346282778624

Dearest Virginia -

We stand with you.

Now and always.

Find peace through prayer.

Never give up the good fight.

God bless you.

Q

https://qanon.pub/#4923

https://qanon.pub/#4568