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1 week ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
As the US conducts a review into the AUKUS security pact, a foreign policy expert says Beijing's official reaction has been "fairly muted". The Pentagon will look into whether the multi-billion-dollar submarine deal it has with Australia and the UK — believed to be aimed at countering China — fit its "America First" agenda. Both Canberra and Downing Street are down playing down news of the probe, saying it is natural for a new administration to reassess.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Patrick Martin |Rachel Wearmouth |Tessa Flemming |Joshua Boscaini
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has told the UN Security Council that his country's strikes on Iran were "an act of national preservation". Danon says intelligence confirmed, that within days, Iran could have produced enough fissile material for multiple bombs. He says Israel conducted the strikes alone. "We waited for diplomacy to work, we watched negotiations stretch on as Iran made false concessions or refused most fundamental conditions," Danon says.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
Brett Worthington has taken a look at Australia's decision to join the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in applying sanctions to Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. Here's some of what he's had to say:"Australia understands it lacks clout in the Middle East, especially to take actions unilaterally," Worthington says.
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2 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
I know we talk about federal politics here but if you're like me I've been keeping an eye on Tasmanian politics lately. Well, in some news that dropped a short time ago, Premier Jeremy Rockliff is expected to attend Government House soon to ask for an election after crucial budget supply bills passed Tasmania's parliament. Both houses of parliament were forced into a special sitting today to pass supply bills after a motion of no confidence in Rockliff was successful last week.
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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
The discussion has moved onto the topic of Senator Dorinda Cox's defection from the Greens to Labor on Monday. The Greens have argued that Cox should resign from parliament after he defection since she ran as a Greens candidate in 2022. Labor MP Josh Burns says while people join political parties to help shape them, people can change their minds.
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3 weeks ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
The panel has been asked about its reaction to Dorinda Cox defecting from the Greens to Labor yesterday. Aaron Violi says her decision was a shock and surprise. He's compared the prime minister's reaction to Cox's defection from the Greens with Albanese's reaction when Fatima Payman left Labor. "He [Anthony Albanese] said she [Payman] should resign her Senate seat and give it back to the Labor Party last year, and now he's saying that it's OK for Senator Cox to do this.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
The concerns of environment groups challenging a major Woodside gas proposal off the Western Australia coast have been formally rejected by Environment Minister Murray Watt, clearing the decks for a final decision before the end of next week. The environmental approval for Woodside's Karratha gas facility expires in 2030, and the company's request to extend the North West Shelf Project's life by another 40 years has been under assessment since 2018.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
The strained marriage of the Liberal and National parties has reached breaking point, with the minor party leader David Littleproud announcing his party will split from the Coalition. It marks a break in a century-long tradition, but it's not the first time tensions have forced the parties apart. Since the 1920s, the conservative partners have drifted apart and come back together, securing the Nationals an at-times outsized and consistent presence in Australia's federal parliament.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has reaffirmed the government's commitment to climate action as she tours the Pacific region. Wong this morning met with Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and a section of cultural leaders known as the Great Council of Chiefs. But it was the ever-present issue of climate action that remained front-and-centre, as Pacific nations look for greater commitments from Australia ahead of its push to co-host COP 31 with the Pacific Islands nations next year.
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1 month ago | 
abc.net.au | Courtney Gould |Joshua Boscaini
American officials remain privately frustrated over Australia's decision to donate retired Abrams tanks to Ukraine, even as the vehicles finally begin the long sea journey to the battleground. During an overnight meeting in Rome, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after he confirmed the fleet of second-hand M1A1 vehicles was on the way.
