16 News

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles and Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong will today welcome Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono to Melbourne.

At the 10th Australia–Indonesia Foreign and Defence Ministers’ Meeting, Ministers will discuss cooperation on defence, security, economic and development priorities.

Australia and Indonesia share a deep and longstanding partnership, underpinned by trust, mutual respect and close cooperation.

The meeting follows Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President Prabowo Subianto’s signing in February of the landmark Australia–Indonesia Treaty on Common Security (the Jakarta Treaty), which strengthens defence cooperation and increases consultation and cooperation on shared security challenges.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles:

“Our relationship with Indonesia continues to go from strength to strength, reflecting mutual trust and a shared commitment to regional stability.

“I look forward to our meeting where we will have the opportunity to discuss progress across a range of practical defence and security initiatives to operationalise the Australia-Indonesia Defence Cooperation Agreement and the Jakarta Treaty.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong:

“This is our first meeting since the signing of the Jakarta Treaty and marks a new chapter in the relationship between Australia and Indonesia.

“Together we are building on the strong ties between our countries and deepening cooperation across the full breadth of our partnership.”

The Albanese Government wants more young Australians to learn a language and build the skills, confidence and connections to engage with our region, including with our close partner Indonesia.

Today Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono and Special Envoy Tim Watts MP joined Collingwood Football Club captain and Bahasa Indonesia speaker Darcy Moore to showcase the important role language and sport can play in bringing Australia and Indonesia even closer together.

At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, they met with the Krakatoas Australian-Indonesian AFL team and children learning Bahasa Indonesia from Brunswick North West Primary School through the Australia Awards Indonesian Language Learning Ambassador program.

For Australia, giving young people the language skills and cultural understanding to engage with our region is an investment in our future security, prosperity and relationships.

In May, the Government announced $2.5 million through the Community Language Schools Grants Program – Fluency in Asian Languages – Round 1 grant to support Asian language learning.

Under the Jakarta Treaty signed in February this year, the Australia-Indonesia Institute will receive $11.4 million to expand its cultural exchange and grants programs over 4 years, creating more opportunities for Australians and Indonesians to learn from each other and strengthen ties.

The Government is also strengthening Australia’s Indonesia capability through the New Colombo Plan, with a renewed focus on priority Asian language learning, longer-term immersive experiences and deeper engagement with Indonesia.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong:

“Darcy Moore is a great example of how learning a language can open doors to new experiences, connections and a deeper understanding of our region.

“We want more young Australians to have the opportunity to learn Bahasa Indonesia and other regional languages so that we build greater cultural understanding and connections with our neighbours.

“For Australia, building these skills strengthens our ability to confidently engage with our region and supports our future security and prosperity.”

Special Envoy for Indian Ocean Affairs, Tim Watts:

“Building Australia’s Asia capability is critical to our nation’s future.

“We want language learning to open doors for young Australians, whether that is through the classroom, an exchange program, study or a career working with our region.

“For Australia to succeed in the years and decades ahead, we need a deeper understanding and engagement with our region’s languages, cultures, histories, societies and economies.”

The Labor Government is slashing the number of refugees able to rebuild their life in Australia by a third as part of sweeping changes targeted against migrants according to reports out today.

At a time when other nations, notably the US, has shut the door to refugees this is a severe blow to the post-World War II international architecture to protect people seeking asylum from war and oppression.

Before this cut Australia’s current refugee intake of 20,000 was still well bellow the 27,000 Labor promised when it was elected. Reports now indicate that they are planning to slash it 13,750, the same level as the Morrison Government.  

There are also further reports of harsh conditions being placed on family visas too, such as preventing people onshore applying for a visa. If these changes go ahead it will fundamentally break the social fabric that supports a multicultural society.

There is further concern that the Albanese Labor Government will prevent people seeking asylum from having the right to work while waiting for their application to be processed, this would be catastrophic. People seeking asylum did not choose to wait for years to have their visa processed, that is a resourcing decision inside Home Affairs by the Labor Government.

Punishing migrants and people seeking asylum for the actions of the Government seems to be the fundamental ideology of Labor and One Nation.

Senator David Shoebridge, Greens spokesperson on Immigration, said:

“Instead of standing against One Nation, Labor has chosen to stand beside them. When it comes to immigration there is almost no daylight between One Nation and Labor.

“The difference between One Nation and Labor is that, when One Nation attacks refugees, they don’t then pat themselves on the back for how much they support multiculturalism.

“People have a right to seek asylum to save their lives, and they are often fleeing wars that the Australian Government has supported and fueled.

“The Australian Government was a part of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, has supported endless wars in Iran and Palestine, and profited from weapons sales into these wars as part of US supply lines. This was often justified by the Government as saving or liberating the people in those countries, we now see how hollow that is, as Labor slams the door in their face.

“Lets put this in perspective, the total number of visas Australia provides to refugees each year doesn’t even fill one fifth of the seats at the MCG. In a country the size of Australia this is a very modest number of people, and anyone trying to say otherwise is just scapegoating people with a different colour skin.

“This is Minister Tony Burke doing his best One Nation impression despite representing one of the most diverse and multicultural seats in the country.

“It is clear that even Labor members do not support these changes, having just affirmed a policy to increase the refugee intake, but again the Albanese Labor Government has chosen One Nation over its own rank-and-file.

“Most Australians want a fair migration system where people are able to build a full life here.

“Caring about people fleeing some of the worst conditions on earth is something most Australians want, instead we get this toxic politics that makes our country meaner and weaker.”

The Australian Greens will introduce legislation to place a 12 month ban on the import of camera-enabled wearable devices, including Meta and Anko glasses, and to implement urgent reforms to Australia’s privacy laws to prevent big tech companies selling covert surveillance as a fashion accessory.

The Bill will apply a temporary ban to imports of glasses and other covert wearable devices with an integrated camera, with an exemption for genuine disability aids. It will also update the Privacy Act so that filming, storing or sharing footage from these devices without consent is a clear breach of the law, and give the Information Commissioner and eSafety Commissioner power to investigate complaints and issue penalties.

A third of Australians already want these devices banned outright, and a Monash University study found a disturbing number of owners admit to using them to secretly record people, including in change rooms, beaches and workplaces. Schools have already banned them from classrooms over deepfake and livestreaming risks.

Senator David Shoebridge, Australian Greens spokesperson for Digital Rights, said:

“These covert wearables are a disturbing technology. They’re built to let someone film you without your knowledge in a change room, on the street, or at your kid’s swimming lesson, and our law does nothing about it.

“Big tech won’t police itself, it never has. That’s why we need Parliament to act now and stop the influx of these devices into Australia. 

“Australia’s privacy laws were written four decades before this technology existed, and every day we wait is another day these devices fly off the shelves with no rules attached.

“While some of these devices have lights when they are recording these are far from any real privacy protection, and many have no warnings at all 

“Big corporates like Meta and Kmart see these as all about profit and have no regard to the impacts they have on communities, or the risks to children and vulnerable people. 

“There are good reasons to allow recordings in public, using hand held phones or cameras for journalism, art or just sharing your day with family and friends. This bill targets covert surveillance, where no one is aware they are being recorded, and where the privacy risks skyrocket.

“A few weeks ago we saw Labor’s Attorney General respond to this privacy risk by writing a letter to the Privacy Commissioner. That was about as useful as an inflatable dartboard when it comes to protecting people’s privacy.

“META and other corporations profit from selling secret surveillance devices to the public. It’s time our laws caught up, and that’s going to require more than a letter to a bureaucrat.”

The Greens warn that Prime Minister Albanese will push power prices up 13% in Queensland if he locks in his capitulation on coal and gas powered data centres.

Prior to yesterday’s National Cabinet, the Energy Minister was warning that allowing states to give data centre approvals without a renewable energy requirement would make power more expensive for all Australians.

Despite this warning of cost-of-living pain from his own government ministers, the Prime Minister prioritised fossil fuels and big AI yesterday.

The Greens have called for a moratorium on data centre approvals until regulations are in place to protect communities, the environment and water security. Renewable energy would be a minimum expectation of data centre standards, and has been pursued elsewhere in the world including Germany, Ireland and China.

Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Larissa Waters said:

“What an extraordinary capitulation on a promise made by the Prime Minister only a month ago that tech giants would need to underwrite renewable energy supply if they are going to drain the grid with power hungry data centres.

“The Government themselves admitted that letting power hungry data centres use coal and gas will push power prices up by 13%. Queenslanders would be the hardest hit during this cost of living crisis.

“AI is the new extractive industry, and we are watching our government sell out Australians’ interests to the highest tech bro corporate bidder.

“This is about the future of Australia’s energy and water security.

“Once again the Prime Minister is bending the knee to big corporations and shafting Australians and nature.

“Too many people are already doing it tough – with workers facing losing their jobs due to AI,  they shouldn’t be paying the price by paying more on every power bill too.

“If Labor locks this in, it means that millions of Australians will be paying for AI every time they turn on the lights or air conditioning. 

“If the PM wants to legislate data centre standards, he should start by reverting back to his original commitment to require data centres to be powered by renewable energy.

“There needs to be a moratorium on the rollout of data centres until regulation is in place to regulate the impact they have on energy, water use, people and the environment.”

Reports today reveal the Allan Labor Government has abandoned one planned noise wall and more than halved the height of another that was promised to shield students from traffic noise and pollution. 

The Victorian Greens say that school children should not be paying the price for Labor’s $26 billion North East Link bin fire and have been calling for an independent inquiry into the disaster-plagued project. 

According to reports in the Age, Labor quietly scaled back promised protections next to Belle Vue Primary School. The revelations come after years of problems with the North East Link Project, including billion-dollar cost blowouts, sinkholes, and environmental damage causing nearby waterways to turn bright blue. 

The Greens say this project was bad from the very start and has been an utter trainwreck in its delivery.  They say the community deserves answers about the project’s health risks, environmental impacts and spiralling costs. 

This builds on their earlier comments slamming the Allan Labor Government for refusing to protect wildlife under the toll road in Rosanna, despite past commitments to the community that this would be delivered.

Earlier this year, Greens MP for North-Eastern Metropolitan Aiv Puglielli called for an independent inquiry into the project. 

Greens MP for North-Eastern Metropolitan, Aiv Puglielli: 

“The community is fed up with this bin fire of a project  and the laundry list of problems that continue to stem from it. We need an inquiry.

“Labor’s now selling out school kids because of their serious mismanagement of this expensive and unnecessary project that no one asked for in the first place. 

“We could’ve funded 25 years of free public transport for the cost of this project, but instead Labor’s given us a private toll road that’s caused sinkholes and turned waterways bright blue with pollution.” 

“The Albanese government’s spending addiction to feed their active inflation agenda has led the National Australia Bank to forecast interest rate hikes in September, exactly when households and small business can least afford higher interest rates and supermarket prices”, said Shadow Treasurer, Tim Wilson.

Mr Wilson’s comments come as the National Australia Bank forecasts the Reserve Bank will raise the cash rate in the wake of stubborn underlying inflation.

“The Albanese government’s game of interest rate chicken is forcing the RBA to keep rates higher for longer, and likely to lead to further rate hikes for Australian families and small business, who are already struggling with mortgages and supermarket prices”, Mr Wilson said.

“The Albanese government’s active inflation agenda is designed to stoke inflation, tax inflation and spend inflation in a vicious cycle that keeps Australians poorer. Now, economists are saying it is going to send interest rates up for the 16th time, and to their highest levels under this government”.

“Australian families and small business cannot afford another rate rise, and they cannot afford Labor’s active inflation agenda”.

“Underlying inflation has remained above the RBA’s target band for 14 of the 17 quarters under this government. Anthony Albanese has the worst inflation record of any government since the introduction of the target band”.

“The amount of money that Albanese and Chalmers keep pouring into the economy directly correlates to the higher prices families have to pay at the checkout, and higher interest rates”.

“The RBA has consistently said that inflation was too high before the Middle East crisis began, and Australians now have to pay the price of the government’s reckless economic agenda”.