Dutton ‘disappointed’ by Trump-Zelenskyy clash, he says
Asked about the explosive clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Peter Dutton described it as “disappointing”.
He told reporters he was “disappointed by the scenes at the White House” and that Zelenskyy required support.
People have got short memories and is not that long ago since the second world war, and when the prime minister says we live in the most precarious period since then, he is right.
And what we know is that bullies do not respect weakness, and we will stand up with like-minded countries in support of peace in Europe and make sure that Russia can feel the pressure of having to settle a deal quickly so that Ukraine and her people can get on with a normal life as quickly as possible.
Key events
Flight makes emergency landing in Sydney after smoke spotted in cockpit
A Perth-bound plane has made an emergency landing in Sydney shortly after take-off due to a technical issue.
Smoke was seen in the cockpit of Qantas flight QF643 shortly after takeoff, with the captain requesting a priority landing. The smoke did not enter the cabin.
The aircraft was met by emergency services and landed normally, before being taxied back to the gate.
A Qantas spokesperson said the aircraft “landed safely after the appropriate procedures were conducted.”
We understand this would have been an unsettling experience for customers and apologise for the inconvenience. Our engineers will be checking the aircraft today and we will be conducting an investigation into what caused the issue.
Dutton says Albanese ‘out of his depth’ on China’s live-fire drills
Taking a final question, Peter Dutton accused the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, of “lacking in the ability to stand up for our country”. He told reporters:
What he has tried to do is suggest that when the Coalition was last in government that warships turned up into Sydney Harbour unannounced – that is a complete lie. The fact is the Chinese notified the then-government in April that year, and there was planning in relation to the ships turning up into Sydney.
This prime minister had no idea about the presence, he didn’t know what to do, he had to rely on the Virgin pilot and other sources to inform them about the training exercise that was taking place. I think the prime minister has demonstrated to Australians that he is completely out of his depth.
No one knows ‘what threats will come our way over next century’ – Dutton
Peter Dutton stressed the importance of “functioning relationships with allies”, and told reporters:
Ultimately Australia is an island nation [with] 27 million people effectively in the middle of nowhere, and we need to make sure we have strong defences and we need to make sure we have functioning relationships with allies – like the US – because nobody can really predict what will happen, what threats will come our way over the next century.
Dutton says he would lobby Trump to change US position on Ukraine
On the Australia-US relationship, Peter Dutton said the US was an “incredibly important ally for us” and that “historical relationships are important”.
Whatever happens in the future, Australia is best served by strong relationships with the US and the UK with our other Five Eyes partners and allies, including Japan and India.
Dutton said “tough decisions” needed to be made, and “sometimes that means standing up to your friends and the traditional allies because our views have diverged”.
In relation to Ukraine, the Australian view at the moment is different to the US, and my job as prime minister will be to lobby the president of the United States to reconsider his position in relation to Ukraine because I think it is in all of our collective best interest if we are able to provide support to Ukraine
Dutton ‘disappointed’ by Trump-Zelenskyy clash, he says
Asked about the explosive clash between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Peter Dutton described it as “disappointing”.
He told reporters he was “disappointed by the scenes at the White House” and that Zelenskyy required support.
People have got short memories and is not that long ago since the second world war, and when the prime minister says we live in the most precarious period since then, he is right.
And what we know is that bullies do not respect weakness, and we will stand up with like-minded countries in support of peace in Europe and make sure that Russia can feel the pressure of having to settle a deal quickly so that Ukraine and her people can get on with a normal life as quickly as possible.
Dutton says Trump has made it clear Europe needs to ‘step up’ on Ukraine
Peter Dutton has been speaking to reporters in Queensland, where the opposition leader said he would receive a briefing on Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Taking questions, he is asked about Ukraine – specifically, if Australia should send troops?
Dutton said the “short answer is no”, but “we should continue our support for Ukraine”.
Everyone wants peace – across the world, but in Europe – and we want Putin to retreat from Ukraine and to stop the attacks.
He described president Zelenskyy as a “modern-day hero” and “war hero” who deserves support.
I think one thing that we have seen out of the current debate is an escalation in the minds of many European nations about the threat that is obvious – [that] the European nations, particularly the bigger nations, can’t continue to rely for financial support or military support from the United States. They need to chip in themselves, and I think President Trump has made this clear … the US has an incredibly important role to play in the world, but it can’t be everywhere at once, and it’s important for Europe to step up. It seems that’s what’s happening at the moment.
Sian Cain
Adam Elliot misses out on Oscar
Not a great run so far for the Australian nominees at the Oscars. Moments after Guy Pearce lost out to Kieran Culkin in the best supporting actor category, Melbourne film-maker Adam Elliot missed out on the Oscar for best animated feature, having been nominated for his stop-motion film Memoir of a Snail.
The Oscar went to the animated film Flow, which was the first Latvian film ever to be nominated for an Oscar. Flow beat out competition from Pixar’s Inside Out 2 – the highest-grossing film of 2024 – and sci-fi adventure The Wild Robot.
Elliot previously won an Oscar in 2016, winning best animated short for his film Harvey Krumpet.
Cait Kelly
Antipoverty Centre calls for urgent end to mutual obligations amid IT defects
Welfare organisation The Antipoverty Centre has sent a letter to the department of employment and workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, after it was revealed in Senate estimates last week that $1,233,527 had to be refunded to 1,280 jobseekers after IT defects affected the mutual obligations system.
The department is unsure if the system is operating lawfully. In the letter, research and policy lead Jay Coonan said:
We are frustrated that after many years of advocacy by unemployed people raising the alarm about the damage caused by compulsory activities to us and our peers, we must once again write urging the government in the strongest possible terms to end “mutual” obligations and immediately act to remove the delegated legislation that grants the DEWR secretary the power to cancel a person’s social security payment.
In short, you can urgently stop all payment reductions and cancellations as a first step.
We do not understand how it is possible that there is no one in the government or employment department who is able to immediately pause compulsory requirements, given that this has been done many times, somewhat arbitrarily, and in far less dire circumstances than these.
Caitlin Cassidy
Civil liberties council writes to Universities Australia about adoption of new antisemitism definition
The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties (NSWCCL) has written to Universities Australia (UA) expressing concerns regarding the adoption of a new definition of antisemitism by its 36 member universities.
In a letter to the UA chair, Prof David Lloyd, the body warned the definition conflated “legitimate criticism of the State of Israel with antisemitism”, urging UA to reconsider the definition so it did not “inadvertently suppress legitimate political and academic discourse”.
Timothy Roberts, president of the NSWCCL, said universities should “not be in the business of censoring legitimate views on geopolitics”.
Academics should not be fired for advocating for a single, democratic state in Israel-Palestine in which Palestinians and Israelis have the same rights. That is a legitimate perspective, and obviously not antisemitic.
Academics must have the right to question whether the very structure of Israel legitimates credible accusations of apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide … suggestions that such work is racist goes against basic principles of academic freedom and stifles urgent discussions about serious geopolitical and legal issues.
The adoption of a sector-wide definition emerged as a key recommendation of a report on antisemitism on Australian university campuses, which found there was an “urgent need for reform” to ensure the safety of Jewish students and staff.
Guy Pearce misses out on Oscar
Sian Cain
Over at the Oscars – well, it isn’t exactly unexpected news, given Kieran Culkin’s dominance this whole awards season, but – Guy Pearce has missed out on the best supporting actor gong for his role in The Brutalist.
This was Pearce’s first ever Oscar nomination, for his performance as wealthy industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren.
Culkin, who has just won, was the favourite for the prize, having taken almost all of the equivalent awards in the run-up to the Oscars for his performance in A Real Pain, including a Golden Globe, Bafta and Screen Actors Guild award.
Last week, Pearce told Guardian Australia that he did not think he would win, given Culkin’s dominance throughout the award season:
I’ve been nominated for a few of these awards, and I haven’t won any! I’m not gonna win! Kieran [Culkin] will win, again.
The 97th Academy Awards are taking place in Hollywood. You can follow along live below:
Rescued rower receiving medical assessment en route to Sydney
The Lithuanian rower who was rescued from Tropical Cyclone Alfred’s damaging winds and monster waves is receiving medical treatment.
As AAP reports, rower Aurimas Mockus called for help on Friday as he was attempting to row 12,000km across the Pacific Ocean from San Diego to Brisbane. He was stranded about 740km east of Mackay off the Queensland coast.
HMAS Choules arrived at Mockus’ remote location at about 6.30am this morning. Vice admiral Justin Jones said in a statement:
The solo sailor has been rescued and is safely on board HMAS Choules undergoing a medical assessment.
The ship is now on its way back to Fleet Base East at HMAS Kuttabul Sydney.
McBride receives standing ovation from supporters while entering courtroom for appeal
Christopher Knaus
David McBride has received a standing ovation from supporters in the public gallery as he entered a courtroom seeking to overturn his conviction or reduce his sentence for leaking documents used by journalists to expose war crimes.
McBride, a former military lawyer, was sentenced to five years and eight months’ imprisonment last year for handing classified documents to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Those documents were used by the ABC for an exposé on war crimes allegedly committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan.
McBride is now appealing both his conviction and sentence in the ACT court of appeal. Flanked by correctional officers, McBride entered the courtroom to widespread applause and vocal support from a packed public gallery.
He grinned at his supporters and motioned for calm.
Police offer $1m reward to help solve fatal car bombing
Police have announced a $1m reward in a bid to solve a fatal car bombing that happened almost 30 years ago.
AAP reports that businessman Gianni “John” Furlan, 48, died instantly when his sedan exploded on a Coburg street in Melbourne’s north on 3 August 1998. Just after 8.30am, while still in motion, a bomb in Furlan’s car detonated.
The force of the explosion killed him instantly and catapulted his car 15m down the road. Police said commercial explosives had been attached to the car while Furlan was visiting a friend in Hobart days before the explosion.
Police have today announced a $1m reward in a bid to find those responsible for Furlan’s death. DI Chris Murray said police believed members of the public could hold the missing piece of the puzzle:
It has been almost 30 years since John’s death, but I would like to strongly reinforce that this is both an active investigation and one that we believe is solvable.
John’s death was shocking, brutal and a horrendous act of violence that put the lives of many innocent civilians going about their daily life at risk.
We have every reason to believe someone out there today knows what happened to John and who is responsible.
Lowe blames lack of productivity growth for cost-of-living challenges
Philip Lowe says it’s a lack of productivity growth, not high interest rates, that is to blame for cost-of-living challenges.
Speaking to The Australian, the former Reserve Bank governor said Australia’s productivity problem is a “political one” rather than an economic one:
That’s the source of the cost-of-living – shall I use the word ‘crisis’? It’s not interest rates. Interest rates have probably suppressed aggregate demand by 1% this year. The lack of productivity growth over that time has suppressed demand now by 9% [today]. So that’s the source of the problem.
And we’ve got to do something about that … We’ve had our living standards rising quickly for decades, and that’s no longer happening, and people are getting unhappy about it. The problem isn’t an economic one, we kind of know broadly what to do. It’s a political one – our society has lost the ability to form coalitions to implement difficult things that in the short run will hurt some people, but are good for our kids. And we’re now seeing the consequences.
Ben Doherty
ADF issues update on movement of Chinese ships
The Australian defence force has issued an update on the movement of the Chinese naval flotilla sailing off Australia.
The three ships – possibly unaccompanied by an undetected nuclear submarine – sailed down Australia’s east coast over the past fortnight, and conducted live fire drills in the Tasman Sea.
The ADF has updated this morning:
People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) Task Group 107, comprised of the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang, the Renhai-class Cruiser Zunyi, and the Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu, is operating 305 nautical miles (approx. 550 kilometres) Southeast of Perth.
Defence continues to monitor the Task Group while it remains in the vicinity of Australia’s maritime approaches.
Last week, China’s ambassador Xiao Qian said China didn’t even need to “think” about apologising over the way it notified Australia about its live-fire naval drills:
Australia continuing to monitor Chinese ships in international waters, PM says
Wrapping up his address before a cabinet meeting in Canberra, the prime minister said Australia is continuing to monitor the Chinese ships moving around international waters surrounding Australia. Anthony Albanese said:
HMAS Stuart and HMAS Warramunga … will continue to monitor what is going on there. It stands in stark contrast with what happened prior to 2022 when there [was] a surveillance ship off the Western Australian coast that had no monitoring …
We’ll continue to respond in appropriate way and will continue to monitor there. I have every faith in our Australian Defence Force to make sure they get that done.
