Albanese: ‘We support the status quo’ for Taiwan
Anthony Albanese says Australia is looking to partner with Trip.com to promote Australia as a destination for Chinese visitors, showcasing the potential for significant events like the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup and the grand prix, but also significant times of year like New Year’s Eve and the lunar new year.
Tourism is such an important economic benefit for Australia. It’s about jobs, it’s sustainable jobs. Australia has so much to offer as well. And one of the things about the market here is that for many of the visitors to Australia, they will go for a long period of time. It’s not just dropping by for a weekend, they’re here for a period of time. They visit our cities, but they also visit our regions such as the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, the other sites that are there in regional Australia.
The prime minister was asked the same thing his counterparts were asked during earlier appearances on Australian television this morning: what would Australia do in the event China went to war with Taiwan; is Australia willing to spend more on its defence; and is it willing to put more money into the Aukus alliance?
Albanese offered the same response his colleagues did – the same numbers, almost word for word: Australia is investing in the region and trade to ensure its peace and security; private conversations will remain private; Australia is already spending billions on defence and will take spending decisions on merit; Australia is already investing in its industrial capability as part of Aukus.
On Taiwan specifically:
I think it’s important that we have a consistent position, which Australia has had for a long period of time. We support the status quo when it comes to Taiwan. We don’t support any unilateral action there. We have a clear position and we have been consistent about that.
What’s important when it comes to international relationships is that you have a stable, orderly, coherent position going forward. Australia does. We want peace and security in our region. We don’t want any change to the status quo. That’s Australia’s position today. That was Australia’s position last week. That’s been a bipartisan position for a long period of time.
Key events
All signs point to jobs market holding firm in new data
Forward indicators suggest Australia’s unusually low unemployment rate will stay steady in fresh data set to be released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The unusual resilience of Australia’s jobs market is expected to continue in fresh data due out this week.
Despite expectations unemployment will rise over the course of 2025, forward indicators point to more jobs growth ahead of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ labour force release on Thursday.
Economists predict the figures to show the unemployment rate held at a relatively low 4.1 per cent in June, while about 20,000 jobs are tipped to have been added to the economy.
Another insight into household confidence levels will be revealed in the Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment report on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the ABS will release building activity data for the March quarter.
– AAP
Helen Davidson
For some more context about the questions being asked of the PM and other Labor figures about Taiwan on Sunday, the US under-secretary of defence for policy Elbridge Colby is demanding more of Australia and Japan than what the US is prepared to do itself.
For decades the US policy towards Taiwan has been underpinned by a doctrine of “strategic ambiguity”, refusing to say whether or not they would defend Taiwan. The doctrine is aimed at deterring both Beijing and Taipei from making significant moves – an attack or invasion by the former, or a declaration of independence by the latter.
Under Xi Jinping, the CCP’s growing aggression clearly shows they want to change the status quo and annex Taiwan (by force if they can’t convince Taipei to peacefully accept it), leading some observers to argue that strategic ambiguity has lost its relevance.
Joe Biden previously suggested several times that the US would militarily defend Taiwan at least while he was president, but for now it remains US policy.
Trump’s position has been less consistent. Early in his term he questioned whether it was worth supporting Taiwan at all, but CNN also reported last week that he claimed to have told Xi Jinping he would “bomb the shit out of Beijing” if they tried to invade it.
For more on this, read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Josh Butler:
‘The whole back of my HiLux was covered in rats’: what to do about Sydney’s growing vermin problem?
Nathaly Haeren has seen patios in Sydney collapse because brown rats have tunnelled under and created sinkholes. She’s been electrocuted in the roof of a house after they chewed through air conditioning wiring. She’s even visited a hairdresser where they’d gnawed a circle through double brick.
More recently, Haeren has started seeing rats standing in the street in the middle of the day, “oblivious” and unbothered – like they just don’t care.
“It’s the destruction they cause that blows my mind, that scares me, because I’m competing against them,” the owner of Pesty Girls pest management says.
Rats need to keep gnawing to keep their teeth down. Their strength is like iron. And they can flatten to the size of your thumb – they’ve got hinged ribs … I need to be 10 steps ahead.
For more on this story read the full report by Guardian Australia’s Caitlin Cassidy:
Josh Butler
Albanese underscores importance of China trade on first day in Shanghai
Anthony Albanese has given some brief remarks on his first full day in China, talking up the links with Australia as he seeks to drum up economic and tourism ties.
In Shanghai, the prime minister went for a walk along a riverfront with his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, and Australian football coach Kevin Muscat, who is managing Shanghai Port FC – a club with strong ties to Australia. Albanese today will also visit the headquarters of Trip.com, one of the world’s largest travel agent companies, to help launch a new tourism campaign.
Eagle-eyed readers and Australian politics tragics might remember this was the same river Albanese, clad in a yellow Socceroos jersey, took a walk along on his prior visit in 2023 – video of which led to him going somewhat viral on Chinese social media and being branded a “handsome boy” by the premier, Li Qiang.
On Sunday, Albanese said he was keen to “build the people-to-people relationships”.
I’ve brought with me a whole range of business people from the resources sector, the tourism sector, from the education sector, because one in four of Australian jobs is dependent upon our exports and overwhelmingly by far the largest destination for Australian exports is right here in China.
About 25%, more than the next four countries combined: Japan, South Korea, the United States and India. That says something about how important this relationship is.
Albanese said he was keen to talk about tourism and looking forward to meeting Xi Jinping on Tuesday.
Tomorrow, we’ll have a really important business round table as well from businesses around Australia who’ve travelled up to be here and led by the Business Council of Australia.
Position on China part of ‘private conversations’ – PM
The PM, like his ministers earlier this morning, has been resisting calls for clarity about Australia’s position on China, saying he won’t comment on “private conversations”.
It is not clear what private conversations he is referring to, or what exactly is being discussed, but what is clear is that the public aren’t going to get answers about business ostensibly being conducted for their benefit.
Albanese said:
So you don’t take private comments [public] at a media conference. We engage in a mature way. That’s the way that we deal with our relationships.
The PM is asked about the questions of sovereignty raised by the Aukus agreement, and he returns to talking about how Australia is working to ensure “peace and security in our region, in the Indo-Pacific”, saying “we have our Aukus arrangements in place”.
We’ll continue to work through all of these issues. Our alliance with the United States is a very important one for Australia. So we’ll continue to engage constructively in a coherent, stable, orderly way. That’s the way I conduct this government.
And that’s a wrap.
Albanese: ‘We support the status quo’ for Taiwan
Anthony Albanese says Australia is looking to partner with Trip.com to promote Australia as a destination for Chinese visitors, showcasing the potential for significant events like the Australian Open, the Melbourne Cup and the grand prix, but also significant times of year like New Year’s Eve and the lunar new year.
Tourism is such an important economic benefit for Australia. It’s about jobs, it’s sustainable jobs. Australia has so much to offer as well. And one of the things about the market here is that for many of the visitors to Australia, they will go for a long period of time. It’s not just dropping by for a weekend, they’re here for a period of time. They visit our cities, but they also visit our regions such as the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, the other sites that are there in regional Australia.
The prime minister was asked the same thing his counterparts were asked during earlier appearances on Australian television this morning: what would Australia do in the event China went to war with Taiwan; is Australia willing to spend more on its defence; and is it willing to put more money into the Aukus alliance?
Albanese offered the same response his colleagues did – the same numbers, almost word for word: Australia is investing in the region and trade to ensure its peace and security; private conversations will remain private; Australia is already spending billions on defence and will take spending decisions on merit; Australia is already investing in its industrial capability as part of Aukus.
On Taiwan specifically:
I think it’s important that we have a consistent position, which Australia has had for a long period of time. We support the status quo when it comes to Taiwan. We don’t support any unilateral action there. We have a clear position and we have been consistent about that.
What’s important when it comes to international relationships is that you have a stable, orderly, coherent position going forward. Australia does. We want peace and security in our region. We don’t want any change to the status quo. That’s Australia’s position today. That was Australia’s position last week. That’s been a bipartisan position for a long period of time.
Man arrested after alleged axe attack on NSW south coast
A man has been arrested after he allegedly attacked a police vehicle with an axe, assaulted a woman with an axe, stole her car and began a chase across the New South Wales south coast on Saturday.
The state’s police say officers were called to a property in Worrigee just before 1pm on Saturday following reports of a man armed with an axe and a hammer.
When officers arrived, the man allegedly threw the axe at the police vehicle, collected the weapon and ran to a nearby home. There he allegedly assaulted a 66-year-old woman sitting in a Ford Mustang.
Police allege the man hit the woman many times with the axe before forcing her from the car. Taking control of the car, he allegedly ran over the woman as he drove away.
Paramedics treated the woman for multiple leg and torso injuries before she was rushed to Shoalhaven memorial hospital in a serious but stable condition. She has since been transferred to St George hospital in Sydney for further treatment.
Police spotted the Mustang heading south on Princes Highway at about 2pm and initiated a pursuit after the driver failed to stop.
The pursuit continued through Nowra, Bomaderry, Berry, Gerringong and Kiama, during which the sports car allegedly reached speeds of 180km/h in an 80km/h zone.
Police deployed road spikes, but the driver drove the car towards a highway patrol officer, narrowly missing him and the spikes.
The pursuit ended after the Mustang was seen driving on the opposite side of the Princes Highway at Kiama Downs, where it collided with a ute before stopping.
The alleged driver, a 25-year-old man, then tried to run from the scene, but members of the public held him until police arrived.
He was arrested and taken to Wollongong hospital under police guard, where he remains.
The driver of the ute was also taken to Wollongong hospital for assessment.
Police established a crime scene and – following a search of the Mustang – seized an axe and a hammer for forensic examination.
The investigation is ongoing.
Chalmers calls on Tasmanians to vote out ‘bumbling’ Liberals
Chalmers is in Devonport, Tasmania, where he has helped launch Labor’s state election campaign, urging those present to end Jeremy Rockliff’s 11-year government next Saturday.
The treasurer used the opportunity to promote the federal Labor government’s record, but credited Labor’s Tasmanian representatives with driving some of the most significant decisions of the government’s agenda, particularly the decision to rework the stage 3 tax cuts.
Some of the strongest voices in our caucus backing that decision came from right here in Tasmania.
I remember how Brian Mitchell, at the time the member for Lyons, was so determined to reshape those tax cuts. He didn’t just support the changes, he championed them.
He described the Rockliff government as “bumbling and stumbling”, saying the state government wasn’t “just out of touch or out of ideas, they’re utterly out of their depth”. Chalmers tried to link the embattled premier to failed Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
From what I see and hear at global economic forums and in the expert advice I sift through every day, Tasmania has what the world wants. What the country needs. And what the future demands.
Chalmers backs RBA decision on rates
The treasurer said he understood the frustration of many Australians at the decision to leave interest rates on hold but stood by the Reserve Bank governor, saying Michele Bullock had made clear it was “a matter of timing not a matter of direction”.
The direction of travel when it comes to inflation and interest rates is already quite clear. The governor made that even clearer on Tuesday. We’ve already had two interest rate cuts in the last five months. That’s because of the progress we’ve made together on inflation. That’s already providing some relief to millions of people with a mortgage.
But of course, people are looking for more rate relief where they can get it. The governor of the Reserve Bank has made it clear that that will come at some point, but that she and her board would like more information before they make that decision to cut rates for the third time this year.
On government support for industry, Chalmers said the commonwealth was already talking to the governments of South Australia and Tasmania about what it can do to help struggling manufacturers.
The federal government has already offered $70m to support Nyrstar, which operates the Port Pirie lead smelter in South Australia and operations in Tasmania, with the treasurer saying the company can access a $2bn aluminium fund for smelters.
Nyrstar said at the start of July that it was weeks away from closing its Port Pirie operation. The operation has faced problems, including environmental pollution issues, after dying birds and bats found across the town were exposed to lead at 3,000 times acceptable levels.
The treasurer said he was in Tasmania to help out with Labor’s campaign in the state election, which he framed as a “pretty simply choice”.
Four more years of farce and failure and economic mismanagement from a Liberal government stumbling from one stuff-up to another, or a fresh start under Dean Winter and Tasmanian Labor.
Relationship with China ‘a very good earner’ – Chalmers
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has described Australia’s relationship with China as “a very good earner” as he has joined other Labor MPs on Sunday in framing the prime minister’s visit as a critical step towards strengthening economic ties with Australia’s biggest trading partner.
Speaking to Sky News on Sunday morning, Chalmers said China is a “big part of our prosperity” and an “important obvious focus of our economic diplomacy”.
Look, it’s a really important part of the trading relationship. No doubt about it. It’s a very good earner for Australia. We’re very supportive of the industry and its efforts to create that prosperity with that trade with China.
Chalmers was asked about an upcoming visit to South Africa for the G20 meeting this week, where he said economic instability will form a large part of the discussions.
We are trying to navigate together a world where conflict and tension and unpredictability and volatility are the norm rather than the exception. And so, we come at this challenge of international engagement in that light.
The treasurer said he would be meeting with his Indonesian counterpart on the sidelines of the meeting and hoped to have “a specific way to announce later in the week that we can advance that really important economic relationship” relating to a two-way trade in critical minerals and capital restrictions.
More broadly, if you think about the fragmentation in the world, you think about the uncertainty, unpredictability and volatility which defines the times in the global economy, our strategy is more engagement, more diverse markets and more resilience in our own economy as well.
Those are the principles which drove our response to the tariff announcement out of DC, but also which drive our trade and investment and foreign policy as well, and you’ll see that in the prime minister’s engagement this week.
Queensland LNP to use CFMEU inquiry to pursue Labor
Joe Hinchliffe
Queensland’s governing Liberal National party says it will use a commission of inquiry into the state branch of the CFMEU to pursue its Labor opposition, which they described as a “protection racket” for the embattled union.
The deputy premier and chief LNP attack dog, Jarrod Bleijie, likened Sunday’s announced inquiry into the Queensland Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) to the landmark Fitzgerald inquiry, which led to the downfall of the longstanding conservative premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen and ushered in the state’s modern political era.
The LNP will purge the underbelly of the CFMEU and its enablers in Queensland. This is Labor’s Fitzgerald moment.
In 2015 the Labor party was elected back in government in Queensland and what we saw ensue over the last 10 years is nothing but a protection racket for the CFMEU orchestrated by Labor, its administration and its ministers at the time.
The LNP swept Labor from power last October after nearly a decade in government. Bleijie named most of the senior Labor figures who remain in parliament but focused heavily on former industrial relations minister Grace Grace, whom he described as the CFMEU’s “chief enabler”.
The premier, David Crisafulli, said he wanted the inquiry to begin its work “this next month”, saying it was the “most powerful tool” at the government’s disposal and one needed to bring “sunshine” into the construction sector ahead of a building boom in the leadup to the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games.
‘We don’t want to be climate refugees’: Torres Strait uncles fear for their islands and their people
Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai are afraid for the future of their ancestral homelands.
Their country on the outer islands of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait), less than 10km off Papua New Guinea, is under siege from the impacts of the climate crisis.
The two men fear the loss of their islands, their culture and their way of life, forcing their families and communities to become Australia’s first climate refugees.
The uncles have taken the federal government to court in the landmark Australian climate case, seeking orders which would require the commonwealth to undertake steps to prevent further harm to their communities.
This would include cutting greenhouse gas emissions in line with the best available science.
For more on this story, read the full report here:
Tom McIlroy
India ‘at the crossroads of a lot of the chop and change in the global order’
Lemahieu added that while India was recognised as an “anchor” for strategic balance, Australia’s academic community was playing catch-up on the rapid evolution of the bilateral relationship.
He said India was often understood through the prism of the Quad security partnership, which also includes Japan and the United States.
But India sits at the crossroads of a lot of the chop and change in the global order and I think the understanding of that is what can be underdone sometimes in Australia.
For more, read on this story, read Daniel Filton’s analysis on the Australian-Indian relationship:
Tom McIlroy
New India research role ‘an asset to Australia’s foreign policy landscape’ – Wong
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said Labor would fund a global search for the new chair through the Maitri Grants program, administered by the Centre for Australia-India Relations.
We are deepening cooperation across priority sectors that are vital to both nations’ futures, including in defence, trade, education and technology.
In an increasingly complex Indo-Pacific, our countries’ alignment on regional priorities continues to grow, while our cooperation is essential to ensuring lasting peace and stability for the region.
The establishment of the Lowy Institute’s first India chair reflects this importance; it will be an asset to Australia’s foreign policy landscape, developing research, informing policy and strengthening debate within the sector.
Lowy’s director of research, Hervé Lemahieu, told Guardian Australia the appointment was a significant investment in the organisation’s global reach.
It elevates India, and south Asia more broadly, in terms of our research agenda, and brings in new talent, more depth and a deeper bench on a vital piece of the puzzle in terms of understanding the future of the regional order.
It also elevates our understanding of the role India will play globally in coming years.
Tom McIlroy
Australia funding new Lowy Institute expert position on India
The federal government will boost Australia’s foreign policy and academic ties with India, helping fund a new thinktank position to lead research on the global power.
The Lowy Institute will name its first India chair in coming months, appointing a distinguished scholar to study the country’s growing influence, focusing on relations with Australia, China and the United States, and changing dynamics in the Indian Ocean region.
The government’s strategy for economic engagement with India, released earlier this year, said the country was adding the equivalent of the New Zealand economy to its national GDP each year.
India’s economy is on track to be the world’s third largest by 2030. With a population of more than 1.4 billion people, it is among Australia’s top five trading partners and is the country’s largest source of skilled migrants.
Nearly 1 million Australians have Indian ancestry, and more than 15,000 Australians live in India.
But despite its size and influence, India has long been considered a missing piece of Australia’s foreign policy academic landscape, and support for the new appointment will assist creation of a new program of work to progress Australia’s national interests.
