Source : the age
Key posts
The opposition’s finance spokesman, James Paterson, has been pushing for Australia to increase its defence spending to up to 3 per cent of the country’s GDP (it’s currently about 2 per cent).
But on ABC Radio National just now, host Sally Sara pushed Paterson on what cuts would be made to fund the increase.
Sara: “So just to clarify, the Coalition is making a commitment now to 3 per cent of GDP in a decade without knowing how you’ll fund it?”
Paterson: “Well we are committed to 3 per cent GDP as an important principle because that’s the advice of experts. We will demonstrate how we pay for that before the next election, but I can’t outline exactly the dollars and cents with you today because there’ll be three budgets and three mid-year economic and fiscal outlooks between now and the next election, and this government will make decisions on defence spending and other things that will have implications for whatever provision we’re meant to make for these things. So it’s not possible to give you the exact numbers today but I can give you a commitment that we’ll be upfront and transparent and honest about it.”
NSW Premier Chris Minns is refusing to appear at an inquiry being run by members of the NSW Parliament’s upper house which is investigating the Dural caravan incident and what the premier was told about the saga which ended up being a hoax.
The Daily Telegraph and 2GB reported summons would be signed today for several senior staff in the premier’s office to appear at the inquiry. But, speaking just now to Ben Fordham on 2GB, Minns described the inquiry as a “giant conspiracy” of independent MLC Rod Roberts.
NSW Premier Chris Minns.Credit: Sitthixay Ditthavong
“It rests on the premise that the Dural caravan case was not a threat to the community, that we knew about the circumstances relating to the case from the very beginning” and that the situation was used to push through stricter anti-vilification laws, Minns said.
He said appearing at every “investigative” inquiry initiated by the upper house would “make my job completely untenable”. He labelled himself as one of the most available politicians regularly being asked questions by the media and opposition MPs during the parliament’s question time.
The Trump family is licensing its name to a new mobile phone service, the latest in a string of ventures announced while Donald Trump is in the White House, despite ethical concerns that the US president could mould public policy for personal gain.
Eric Trump, the president’s son running The Trump Organisation in his absence, announced a new venture called Trump Mobile. The plan is to sell phones that will be built in the US, and maintain a call centre in the country as well.
The service would operate using the networks of the three major US wireless carriers. Some key details about the venture, including those about the family’s partner in the business and financial terms of their licensing deal, were not immediately disclosed.
The Trump phone will retail for $US499 and will be released in August.
Even oversight of such a company, with the Trump name attached, raises ethical concerns.
Trump has already used the federal government to reward his allies and punish his enemies. The Federal Communications Commission, the primary regulatory body overseeing mobile phone companies, has already launched investigations of media outlets Trump dislikes and, in some cases, is personally suing.
AP, Reuters
How should Anthony Albanese handle his first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump? Former Australian ambassador to the United States Joe Hockey had some advice for the PM at the Defending Australia conference yesterday:
“I’d walk in and say, ‘Mr President, you’ve got a war in Ukraine to deal with, you’ve got a war in the Middle East to deal with, you’re trying to restructure the biggest economy in the world, you had … terrible political assassinations in Minessota, and everyone that meets you asks for something. I’m here to say: What can I do to help?’”
“Everyone that goes into the Oval Office goes asking for something. Go in there to Donald Trump, disarm him and say: What can I do to help? We’re aligned in our interests, we want freedom, we want democracy. We want a safe world.”
The federal Liberal Party is preparing to dump the two octogenarian Victorians appointed to oversee the troubled NSW division, a fortnight after ex-Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale questioned whether the prevalence of assertive women required protecting men.
Alan Stockdale and Richard Alston.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
Under a draft plan conveyed by four senior Liberal sources, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity citing party rules barring speaking to the media, the three-person administrative committee’s term would expire on June 30. It would probably be replaced by a seven-person committee chaired by a Liberal luminary.
The tenure of Stockdale and former Victorian senator Richard Alston, unpopular among a large section of NSW Liberals, appeared terminal after the former raised concerns about “sufficiently assertive” women during a meeting of the party’s women’s council on June 3.
The G7 meeting of world leaders in Canada has got off to an awkward start over the past few hours: US President Donald Trump kicked off his first engagement, a bilaterial meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, by complaining to the press that Russian President Vladimir Putin was kicked out of the group, then the G8, over his annexation of Crimea more than a decade ago.
Trump said:
The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that that was a mistake.
But that’s not quite correct. North America correspondent Michael Koziol writes: “Russia was actually removed by G7 members when Justin Trudeau’s predecessor, Stephen Harper, of the Conservative Party, led Canada. Harper said Russia should never be allowed to rejoin while Putin was president – a position that Trudeau continued.”
Good morning, welcome to Tuesday, June 17.
I’m Anthony Segaert, with you for rolling news through the morning. Let’s get started.
