When Matthew Wale won a parliamentary vote to become Solomon Islands’ prime minister last month, the questions came quickly: What does this mean for Beijing? Is this good news for Australia? When will the new PM tear up the 2022 security pact with China, sever ties with Beijing and declare Australia Solomon Islands’ best friend in perpetuity? This pervasive framing treats a change of government in Honiara primarily as a development in Australia’s competition with China – a mistake Canberra should not repeat when Wale arrives for talks with Anthony…
Tag: Australia news
New Aukus drone tech to protect critical undersea cables as Marles warns: ‘seabed is a battlefield’
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has said the “seabed is a battlefield” in a combative speech urging Beijing to be more transparent about its maritime operations, and taking aim at weak international controls over so-called “shadow-fleet” vessels. The warning came as the US, UK and Australia announced a new Aukus project to develop new underwater drone technology to protect undersea cables. The same announcement also revealed that Australia would buy three secondhand Virginia-class submarines from the US under Aukus, instead of a mix of old and new, in a move…
Revealed: the internal BHP memo that slammed the brakes on world’s biggest miner’s climate push
In the middle of 2019, London was sweltering through a heatwave. Temperature records tumbled. Frail, ill and elderly people died in their hundreds. In a city not built for heat, trains were brought to a halt. Railway lines threatened to buckle and sagging power lines caused spot fires along the tracks. Across the channel, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany also hit record temperatures. During the hottest week in late July, the then global chief executive of one of the world’s worst polluters was preparing to take the stage at a…
BHP quietly scrapped plan to build Pilbara plant that would have drastically cut emissions
BHP quietly dumped plans for an iron ore processing facility that would have cut emissions drastically, despite internally rating it as having “excellent social value” and being “well-aligned” to its shareholder-endorsed climate plan and decarbonisation targets. In 2025 the mining giant was well advanced in its plans to build a beneficiation plant near its Jimblebar open-cut mine in the Pilbara, which would greatly improve the purity and quality of its iron ore. BHP knew higher quality iron ore was desired by steelmakers across the globe, including in China, where government…
Angus Taylor’s claim support is a ‘privilege of citizenship’ leaves Deepa and others with an impossible choice
When Deepa Chaudhary’s newborn slept, she used the time to find out what support she could get as a permanent resident in Australia. The answer was: not very much. Chaudhary moved here from India four years ago and worked until her baby was born in January last year. She describes the stress and mental health issues of being a new mother in Australia. “You’re supposed to get a maternity payment, but I didn’t meet the residency test so I didn’t get it,” she says. She does get the Family Tax…
Australia eyes security pact with Fiji as pushback from Beijing undermines agreement with Vanuatu
Australia looks close to signing a landmark security and economic agreement with Fiji as part of the Albanese government’s efforts to contain China’s growing influence across the Pacific. But pushback from Beijing has undermined a separate pact with Vanuatu’s government, resulting in a scaling back of a deal aimed at locking in Australia as the country’s primary security partner. The foreign minister, Penny Wong, and the minister for Pacific Island affairs, Pat Conroy, were due to arrive in Suva on Tuesday afternoon as part of a three-day trip focused on…
Student’s alleged jailing in China over Australian pro-democracy protests sparks calls for inquiry
Australia’s human rights commissioner has said the Chinese student who was allegedly jailed for six years by Chinese authorities for joining protests in Sydney underscores the “very real and growing risks of transnational repression affecting people in Australia – including international students”. Commissioner Lorraine Finlay told Guardian Australia that while she could not comment on the circumstances of individual cases “no one should fear punishment abroad for exercising their lawful rights to free expression and peaceful protest here”. The University of Sydney student went missing in December 2024 after returning…
Student allegedly jailed in China for six years after taking part in pro-democracy protests in Australia
The Australian government has been urged to take stronger action to protect Chinese international students from political repression by authorities on their return after a Chinese student was allegedly sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for joining pro-democracy protests in Australia. The student, who the Guardian has chosen not to name, lost contact with his friends in Sydney after returning to China in December 2024. He was known to have plans to stay in Australia after graduation. Two employers also confirmed with Guardian Australia that they have lost contact with the…
Private jets, deserted shores and an unbuilt resort: alleged links to sanctioned ‘scam’ empire revealed in Timor-Leste
Guests were enticed with the promise of luxury villas overlooking aquamarine seas; a world-first crypto resort where the tech elite could commune over the latest digital innovation in opulent surrounds. The promotional material from June last year pitched a sprawling, futuristic development that would hug the coastline of Timor-Leste, one of the world’s poorest countries, and donate a percentage of profits to philanthropy. But in February, when a joint investigative team visited the proposed site of the AB Digital Technology Resort – separated from Dili airport by a barbed-wire fence…
A day in the life of Asia’s fuel crisis
4.30am Kaipara, New ZealandJames Brady, farmer We’ve got a small dairy farm, north of Auckland. We milk 200 cows and have a small amount of beef cattle and young stock. We start about 4.30am in the morning – checking cows, feeding, milking and then we do it again in the afternoon. Most of the day is spent tending to stock, moving animals, and we’re busy renewing pastures at the moment. Diesel is our main fuel – we run two tractors and machinery. We have quad bikes that run on petrol.…