Australia Imposes Sanctions on Iran, Russia over Protests Crackdown

Saturday, 10 December, 2022

Australia's foreign minister said on Saturday the government would place targeted sanctions on Russia and Iran in response to what it called "egregious" human rights violations.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement Australia was imposing sanctions on 13 individuals and two entities, including Iran’s Morality Police and Basij Resistance Force, and six Iranians involved in the crackdown on protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in custody in September.

Seven Russians involved in what the foreign minister said was the attempted assassination of former opposition leader Alexei Navalny would also have human rights sanctions imposed on them, Wong said in her statement.

In addition to human rights sanctions, Wong said Australia was placing further targeted financial sanctions on three Iranians and one Iranian business for supplying drones to Russia for use against Ukraine. Australia's foreign minister said on Saturday the government would place targeted sanctions on Russia and Iran in response to what it called "egregious" human rights violations.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4035596/australia-imposes-sanctions-iran-russia-over-protests-crackdown.

Australia Starts Building 'Momentous' Radio Telescope

Monday, 5 December, 2022

Australia on Monday started building a vast network of antennas in the Outback, its section of what planners say will eventually become one of the most powerful radio telescopes in the world.

When complete, the antennas in Australia and a network of dishes in South Africa will form the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), a massive instrument that will aim to untangle mysteries about the creation of stars, galaxies and extraterrestrial life.

The idea for the telescope was first conceived in the early 1990s, but the project was plagued by delays, funding issues and diplomatic jockeying, AFP said.

The SKA Observatory's Director-General Philip Diamond described the beginning of its construction as "momentous".

The telescope "will be one of humanity's biggest-ever scientific endeavors", he said.

Its name is based on the planners' original aim, a telescope that could observe a one-square-kilometer surface, but the current South African and Australian sections will have a combined collecting area of just under half that, according to the observatory.

Both countries have huge expanses of land in remote areas with little radio disturbance -- ideal for such telescopes.

More than 130,000 Christmas tree-shaped antennas are planned in Western Australia, to be built on the traditional lands of the Wajarri Aboriginal people.

They have dubbed the site "Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara", or "sharing sky and stars".

"We honor their willingness to share their skies and stars with us as we seek to find answers to some of the most fundamental science questions we face," said Diamond.

The South African site will feature nearly 200 dishes in the remote Karoo region, according to the organization.

Comparison between radio telescopes is difficult as they operate in different frequencies, according to SKA's planners.

But they have said that the two sites will give SKA higher sensitivity over single-dish radio telescopes because its arrays are spread out, forming a much bigger "virtual dish".

The project will help in "charting the birth and death of galaxies, searching for new types of gravitational waves and expanding the boundaries of what we know about the universe", said telescope director Sarah Pearce.

Danny Price from the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy said the telescope would be extremely powerful.

"To put the sensitivity of the SKA into perspective, the SKA could detect a mobile phone in the pocket of an astronaut on Mars, 225 million kilometers away," he said.

The SKA Observatory, headquartered at Jodrell Bank in Britain, has said the telescope should start making scientific observations by the late 2020s.

The organization has 14 members: Britain, Australia, South Africa, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and The Netherlands.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.

Link: https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4025116/australia-starts-building-momentous-radio-telescope.

Aerosols released from Australian bushfires triggers algal blooms

Paris (ESA)

Oct 01, 2021

Australia's deadly bushfires in the 2019-2020 season generated 700 million tons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - triggering vast algal blooms in the Southern Ocean. Using satellite data, two new studies published in Nature prove how satellites can illuminate the complicated ways in which Earth is responding to climate change in an era of worsening wildfires.

Australia is no stranger to bushfires, however the 2019-2020 season proved to be unprecedented. As of March 2020, the fires burned an estimated 18.6 million hectares (or 186 000 sq km) destroying over 5000 buildings and killed over 400 people. It was estimated that more than a billion animals perished from the bushfires, with several endangered species facing the risk of total extinction.

Based on a new paper, published in Nature, the extreme bushfires across southeast Australia released 715 million tons of carbon dioxide into the air - more than double the emissions provided by fire emission inventory datasets.

In southeast Australia, the fires were both intense and extensive. As much as 74 000 sq km of mostly eucalyptus forest, roughly 2.5 times the area of Belgium, was affected. Previous estimates from global inventory datasets of wildfire emissions based on satellite fire data and modelled quantities of standing biomass suggested that the fires released on average 275 million tons of carbon dioxide between November 2019 and January 2020.

However, the new analysis indicates that this figure was a gross underestimate. Using data from the Tropomi instrument on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, the research team were able to obtain a more accurate estimate of the emissions.

While Tropomi doesn't directly measure carbon dioxide, the instrument takes daily snapshots of carbon monoxide levels in the atmospheric column beneath it. The research team used these data to calculate a more detailed estimate of the carbon monoxide emissions from the bushfires, which they used as a proxy for calculating carbon dioxide emissions.

The team were able to then conclude that the bushfires released 715 million tons in just three months. This is twice the amount of carbon dioxide that had previously been suggested by fire inventory estimates and surpasses Australia's normal annual bushfire and fossil fuel emissions by 80%.

Ivar R. van der Velde, an environmental scientist at the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, in Utrecht, and at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, commented, "The Tropomi data of atmospheric carbon monoxide concentrations provide us with invaluable information on all kinds of wildfires around the world. When the Australian fires raged in December 2019, we immediately sense that there was very interesting science hidden in the vast amount of Tropomi data.

"The disastrous impact the fires had on the local population and local air quality was already known. What we didn't know yet was the magnitude of the pollutants and greenhouse gases emitted by the fires."

Droughts, driven by climate change, are causing an increased frequency and intensity of wildfires. These have been a global problem since the fires release such an enormous quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, further driving climate change and raising global temperatures, driving a perpetual feedback loop.

The question then remains: what happens to all this carbon dioxide emitted in the long-term?

Another recent paper, also published in Nature, suggests that the aerosols generated by the record Australian bushfire season were 'sucked up' by a gigantic phytoplankton bloom thousands of kilometers away in the Pacific Southern Ocean.

The paper found that during the fires, vast plumes of smoke which are rich in nutrients, were swept away over the ocean. Within days, these aerosols had infused the waters with iron, nourishing phytoplankton - microscopic plants - which then absorbed carbon dioxide equivalent to as much as 95% of the emissions from the fires.

Phytoplankton are known to help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as these tiny organisms consume carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. These extensive phytoplankton blooms are said to have covered an area approximately the size of the Sahara Desert, more than 9.4 million sq km.

The researchers monitored aerosol plumes using data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) which include aerosol information from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). They then compared the aerosol observations to ocean chlorophyll concentrations recording by ESA's Ocean Color Climate Change Initiative project and found peaks in chlorophyll concentrations a few days to weeks later.

Thomas Jackson, an Ocean Color Scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), and a member of ESA's Ocean-Color Climate Change Initiative, commented, "It was an honor to work with this group of international scientists on such an interdisciplinary problem, with each one bringing their expertise to put the whole story together.

"The phytoplankton response to the fallout of the Australian wildfires was impressive in terms of both its geographical extent and the magnitude of the anomaly. Phytoplankton have long been considered sentinels of change, responding at both short and long timescales to changes in the physical and chemical state of the oceans.

It will be interesting to see if 'megablooms' such as these become more common, and what the ecological impacts of such blooms could be, as wildfires and other extreme environmental events become more frequent as a result of climate change."

Shubha Sathyendranath, also from PML and ESA's Ocean Color Climate Change Initiative project, added, "This work highlights the intricate interplay among various components of Earth's climate system. The paper shows how fire, aerosols, winds and phytoplankton interact with each other across thousands of kilometers."

The findings from both studies highlight the significance of wildfires on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations but also how they can directly influence ocean processes. However, more research needs to be undertaken to understand where the carbon taken up by the plankton eventually goes and whether this is re-released into the atmosphere.

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Aerosols_released_from_Australian_bushfires_triggers_algal_blooms_999.html.

Australia's Daintree rainforest returned to Indigenous owners

Brisbane, Australia (AFP)

Sept 30, 2021

Australia's Daintree rainforest has been returned to its Indigenous owners as the government begins to cede control of the world's oldest tropical forest.

The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Daintree National Park -- a 135-million-year-old tropical rainforest -- was handed back to the Eastern Kuku Yalanji people in a ceremony in the remote town of Bloomfield on Wednesday.

The vast and steamy jungle is teeming with ancient and rare species -- from a giant clawed cassowary bird to plants that have existed since the age of the dinosaurs.

Eastern Kuku Yalanji traditional owner Chrissy Grant said the move was a historic event that put the community "in control of our own destinies".

In total, 160,000 hectares (about 395,000 acres) of land on the Cape York peninsula -- the northeast tip of Australia -- is being returned to the area's traditional Aboriginal owners as part of reconciliation measures.

British settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, colonizing the continent and leaving Aboriginal groups marginalized.

The national parks will initially be jointly managed with the Queensland state government, before being transferred into the sole care of the Indigenous group.

Grant said a foundation would be created to provide training and employment for local First Nations people in areas such as land management, tourism and research.

Queensland state environment minister Meaghan Scanlon said the return of lands was a key step on the path toward reconciliation after an "uncomfortable and ugly" past.

"The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people's culture is one of the world's oldest living cultures and this agreement recognizes their right to own and manage their country, to protect their culture and to share it with visitors as they become leaders in the tourism industry," she said.

The government has handed back control of 3.8 million hectares on Cape York to Indigenous traditional owners to date, she added.

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australias_Daintree_rainforest_returned_to_Indigenous_owners_999.html.

Australia sets conditions for China joining Pacific pact

Sydney (AFP)

Sept 22, 2021

China must end a freeze on contacts with senior Australian politicians if it hopes to join a trans-Pacific trade pact, Canberra's trade minister said Wednesday, setting de facto preconditions for accession.

Dan Tehan linked China's bid to join an 11-nation trading alliance with steps to improve bilateral relations that are at their lowest ebb in decades.

China formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last week, and is lobbying to gain the consensus support of members including Australia.

This comes after a war of words between the two countries, a string of sanctions on Australian goods and a months-long freeze on senior-level government contacts.

"When I became trade minister, I wrote to my Chinese counterpart in January setting out how we can work more closely together. I am still waiting for a reply," Tehan said in a Monday speech.

"One of the most important things about negotiating the accession process of any country into the CPTPP is that you have to be able to sit down at ministerial level, look your economic partner in the eye, and talk about that accession process."

Tehan also indicated China would have to resolve disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) stemming from a slew of politically driven sanctions on Australian imports.

"All parties will want to be confident that any new member will meet, implement and adhere to the high standards of the agreement as well as to their WTO commitments and their existing trade agreements," he said.

"It's in everyone's interests that everyone plays by the rules."

- 'Economic coercion' -

Australia this month asked the WTO to rule against China's imposition of crippling tariffs on Australian wine exports, after initial consultations failed to resolve the dispute.

Wine sales by Australia to China plummeted from over Aus$1 billion ($840 million) to a virtual trickle after Beijing imposed the tariffs, according to industry figures.

Australia is also challenging Chinese tariffs on barley at the WTO and has objected to sanctions on a string of other goods, which Canberra describes as "economic coercion."

The measures are widely seen in Australia as punishment for pushing back against Beijing's operations to impose influence in Australia, rejecting Chinese investment in sensitive areas and publicly calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Chinese embassy in Australia this month lobbied Canberra to join the CPTPP, telling an Australian parliamentary inquiry that China's accession "would benefit all CPTPP members and the rest of the world."

Signed by 11 Asia-Pacific countries in 2018, the partnership is the region's biggest free-trade pact and accounts for around 13.5 percent of the global economy.

Source: Terra Daily.

Link: https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australia_sets_conditions_for_China_joining_Pacific_pact_999.html.

It's time for Australia to develop its own guided missiles

by Graeme Dunk | ANU/Shoal Group

Sydney, Australia (The Conversation) 

Sep 09, 2021

Step by step, Australia is inching its way towards more autonomy in defense.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Peter Dutton was reported to have signaled greater access to US missile technology will be a key test of the US-Australia alliance at a closed meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.

In March Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the defense department would select an industry partner to develop a A$1 billion guided weapons manufacturing capability.

But, more than in earlier times, it's the details that will matter.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Peter Jennings says a key lesson from the collapse of the US operation in Afghanistan is that its allies can no longer assume it will be just "over the horizon ready to defend our strategic interests".

It was, he said, "a tough message for Australia, which has become habituated to think that defense spending at a little over 2% of gross domestic product and a defense force about two-thirds the size of a Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd is enough to defend the country".

Japan seems to be also rethinking its strategy.

Four options: the best is expensive

There are four options for improving self-reliance in guided weapons.

The first is simply to buy more of what we currently have. It isn't bad as a short-term approach, but we can't guarantee we will have what we need, when we need it. Weapons can date and we can slip down the queue for replenishment - just think of COVID-19 vaccine supply.

The second option is to assemble in Australia, rather than simply import.

This is better than the first option, and would create jobs. But jobs are hardly going to be the most pressing issue when the firing starts. And we are unlikely to get all of the intellectual property (the knowledge about how to build and repair) we might need to upgrade when circumstances change.

The third option is to use Australian industry to improve and replace some capabilities of current weapons with locally-developed alternatives.

Targeting software and counter-counter-measure software could be examples.

This option is better than the previous two options, but still relies on us having access to foreign (often US) intellectual property, which might be problematic.

The best option is to design and build our own guided weapons. This would be expensive, and it would require significant time, but it would actually make us self-reliant. We would own the intellectual property and own the codes.

We would be able to upgrade to take account of developments in technology and to account for changes in the adversary. We wouldn't have to wait in line to be given an upgrade.

We will probably need all four options

This is not to suggest we need to develop every type of guided weapon type we would use. There are some where the integration issues would be profound if not close to impossible (the joint strike fighter is an example).

It isn't that we need sovereignty in guided weapons, what is that we need smart sovereignty - smart in the sense that we focus our efforts and our money where we can get the most useful sovereignty.

In some cases the sensible thing will be to buy and/or fabricate, just as Australia buys foreign cars and in the early days of manufacturing assembled foreign cars.

In others cases it will be to develop additional weapons locally. Each approach will be the best in different circumstances. We will probably need some of each, simultaneously.

But we need to take charge of our own destiny where we can, rather than just rely on a helping hand that may or may not come when we need it, or in the way we will need it.

We certainly can't go toe-to-toe with our most likely regional adversary on our own. We don't have anything like the capability.

But what we can do is target the development of local weapons to those that are likely to be of the most use against that adversary. Deployable, mobile, hypersonic anti-access/area denial guided weapons are among those that would help.

Waiting might leave us unable to choose

Irrespective of the option we choose, we will need to test the guided weapons we use domestically. This means developing in parallel a domestic capability for the modelling, simulation and analysis that will be critical to success.

Australian industry has the capability, but time is running short. The pandemic has shown us that the money can be found where the need is critical.

The future might not be kind to us but at the moment we still have time to choose the path to take. Later, that path might be dictated for us.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Its_time_for_Australia_to_develop_its_own_guided_missiles_999.html.

Australia voices full support for King Abdullah

05-04-2021

Ammon News - Australia expressed its complete support to His Majesty King Abdullah.

"Australia is a steadfast friend to the people of Jordan and to His Majesty King Abdullah," The Australian Foreign Ministry said in a statement distributed by the Australian embassy in Amman.

Source: Ammon News.

Link: https://en.ammonnews.net/article/48416.

Australia changes word in anthem to honor Indigenous people

January 01, 2021

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia has changed one word in its national anthem to reflect what the prime minister called “the spirit of unity” and the country's Indigenous population. Prime Minister Scott Morrison on New Year’s Eve announced that the second line of the anthem, Advance Australia Fair, has been changed from “For we are young and free” to “For we are one and free."

The change took effect Friday. “It is time to ensure this great unity is reflected more fully in our national anthem,” he said, adding that Australia was the “most successful multicultural nation on Earth."

“While Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, our country’s story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect,” Morrison said.

“In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we ensure our national anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation.” Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt said in a statement that he had been asked about the change and had given it his support.

Wyatt, the first Indigenous Australian elected to the federal Parliament’s lower house, said the one-word change was “small in nature but significant in purpose." “It is an acknowledgement that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures date back 65,000 years,” he said.

The change comes less than two months after New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian expressed support for Indigenous Australians who said the national anthem did not reflect them and their history.

University of New South Wales law professor Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble woman from the Barrungam nation in southwest Queensland state, criticized the lack of consultation with Indigenous people about the change.

“This is a disappointing way to end 2020 and start 2021. Everything about us, without us,” she wrote on social media. Last month, Australia's national rugby team, the Wallabies, became the first sporting team to sing the anthem in an Indigenous language before their match against Argentina.

Advance Australia Fair was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick and first performed in 1878. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1984.

China slaps more taxes on Australian wine amid tension

December 10, 2020

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government on Thursday slapped more taxes on wine from Australia, stepping up pressure in a bitter diplomatic conflict over the coronavirus, territorial disputes and other irritants.

China, Australia's biggest export market, already has blocked imports of its wine, barley, beef and other goods since the Australian government expressed support for a probe into the origin of the coronavirus pandemic that began in China last December.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said an investigation begun in August concluded Australia improperly subsidizes wine exports, hurting Chinese producers. The ministry said importers will be required to pay a deposit of 6.3% to 6.4%, effective Friday, pending a final ruling.

That is on top of taxes of more than 200% imposed earlier on Australian wine, which the country's trade minister said would make it unsellable in China. China's foreign ministry has demanded Australia take unspecified steps to repair relations.

Beijing increasingly uses access to its populous market as leverage to extract concessions from its neighbors and increase its strategic influence. Chinese leaders were irked by Australia's decision to pursue a mutual defense treaty with Japan, which Beijing sees as a strategic rival, and to join Asian governments and the United States in objecting to China's claims to most of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest trade routes.

Report finds Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghans

 November 19, 2020

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A shocking Australian military report into war crimes has found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians. Australian Defense Force Chief Gen. Angus Campbell said Thursday the shameful record included alleged instances in which new patrol members would shoot a prisoner in order to achieve their first kill in a practice known as “blooding.” He said the soldiers would then plant weapons and radios to support false claims the prisoners were enemies killed in action.

Campbell told reporters in Canberra the illegal killings began in 2009, with the majority occurring in 2012 and 2013. He said some members of the elite Special Air Service encouraged “a self-centered, warrior culture.”

The chief was announcing the findings of a four-year investigation by Maj. Gen. Paul Brereton, a judge and Army reservist who was asked to look into the allegations and interviewed more than 400 witnesses and reviewed thousands of pages of documents. Brereton recommended 19 soldiers be investigated by police for possible charges, including murder.

“To the people of Afghanistan, on behalf of the Australian Defense Force, I sincerely and unreservedly apologize for any wrongdoing by Australian soldiers,” Campbell said. He said he’d spoken directly to his Afghan military counterpart to express his remorse.

“Such alleged behavior profoundly disrespected the trust placed in us by the Afghan people who had asked us to their country to help them,” Campbell said. “It would have devastated the lives of Afghan families and communities, causing immeasurable pain and suffering. And it would have put in jeopardy our mission and the safety of our Afghan and coalition partners.”

As well as the 39 killings, the report outlines two allegations of cruel treatment. It says that none of the alleged crimes were committed during the heat of battle. Only parts of the report have been made public. Many details, including the names of alleged killers, remain redacted.

The report said a total of 25 current or former troops were involved as perpetrators or accessories in 23 separate incidents, with some involved just once and a few multiple times. It said some Australian troops would regularly carry “throw downs" — things like foreign pistols, radios and grenades that they could plant on those they killed so the Afghan civilians would appear like combatants in photographs.

The report said most of the alleged crimes were committed and concealed at a patrol commander level by corporals and sergeants, and that while higher-level troop and squadron commanders had to take some responsibility for the events that happened on their watch, they weren't primarily to blame.

The report paints a picture of a toxic culture in which soldiers were competing against those from other squadrons, accounts of deaths were sanitized or embellished, and many procedures to ensure safety and integrity had broken down.

“Those who wished to speak up were allegedly discouraged, intimidated and discredited,” Campbell said. The report recommended 19 soldiers be referred to federal police for criminal investigation. Campbell said he's accepting all the report's recommendations.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has already announced a special investigator will help pursue possible prosecutions because the workload would overwhelm existing police resources. Many troops are also likely to be stripped of their medals and the defense force will undergo significant structural changes. The report says that where there is credible evidence of unlawful killings, Afghan families should be compensated immediately by Australia without waiting for the criminal cases to proceed.

“This will be an important step in rehabilitating Australia’s international reputation, in particular with Afghanistan, and it is simply the right thing to do,” the report states.

Australia to prosecute troops for war crimes in Afghanistan

November 12, 2020

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia on Thursday announced a new investigative agency to build criminal cases against Australian special forces suspected of committing war crimes in Afghanistan. The Office of the Special Investigator is to be formed after a four-year investigation into allegations and rumors surrounding behavior of some soldiers in Special Air Service and Commando Regiments in Afghanistan from 2005 and 2016.

Benjamin Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most highly-decorated member of the armed services when he left the SAS in 2013, has been accused of by former colleagues of unlawful treatment of prisoners including illegally killing prisoners. The former corporal, who was awarded the Victorian Cross and the Medal for Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan, has denied any misconduct.

Defense Force Chief Gen. Angus Campbell will make public a redacted report on the four-year investigation next week. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the new agency, headed by a retired judge or senior criminal lawyer, was needed because the workload would “seriously overwhelm” existing police resources.

“This report will be difficult news and all of our partners must be assured and those around the world who rightly hold the Australian Defense Forces in high regard,” Morrison told reporters. “In Australia, we deal with this stuff and we deal with it honestly, but in accordance through the rule of law and by following the justice practices and principles that makes Australia what it is,” he added.

Two Australian Broadcasting Corp. journalists until recently faced potential prison sentences for using leaked classified defense documents as a basis for a 2017 report that detailed allegations of Australian soldiers killing unarmed men and children.

Police raided ABC Sydney headquarters with search warrants last year but prosecutors decided that charging the journalists would not be in the public interest. Prosecuting alleged Australian war criminals is expected to take years.

“These are incredibly complex events involving actions and conduct in another country, in a war,” Morrison said. “This is not a simple matter ... and so it will take as long as it needs to take to ensure we deal with our dual objectives of addressing the justice that is necessary in accordance with our laws and systems but also ensuring the integrity of our defense forces on which we all rely,” he added.

Neil James, chief executive of the Australian Defense Association think tank, said the Australian military wanted solders to have their day in court to end a “continuous rumor mill.” “It’s certainly the case that they’re going to take a long time because we’re talking about a complex investigation, witnesses will have to be interviewed under caution, in many cases those witnesses will be overseas, and in some cases it’ll be hard to interview them because they are in enemy-held territory in a war zone,” James said.

“So the complexity of this is going to be difficult, but it’s got to be faced because ... Australia has to face up to this, that things did go wrong and we need to fix it,” he added. Around 39,000 Australians served in Afghanistan and 41 were killed.

Chinese-born Australian CCTV journalist detained in China

September 01, 2020

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Chinese-born Australian journalist working for Chinese state television has been detained by authorities in China, Australia's government says. Australian officials had a consular visit via video link with Cheng Lei at a detention facility last Thursday, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said in a statement Monday. They will continue to provide assistance and support to her and her family, Payne said.

Australia had been informed by Chinese authorities on Aug. 14 of her detention, but made its first public statement on Monday. Australian authorities have said they do not know why she was detained and declined to give further information, citing privacy concerns. Cheng wored for CGTN, the English-language channel of China Central Television,

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said she had no information about Cheng's situation, but accused Canberra of bowing to “pressure from allies,” in an apparent reference to China’s main rival, the U.S.

Cheng's detention comes amid a major downturn in China's relations with Australia, a major source of the natural resources needed for its manufacturing-based economy, but also a close ally of the U.S., with which China is engaged in a competition for military dominance in the South China Sea among other sources of tensions.

Ties between Australia and China have soured in recent years over issues from market access for Chinese tech giant Huawei, to allegations of Chinese meddling in Australia’s domestic politics and Canberra"s support for an independent investigation into the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic that is believed to have started in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

“Also I would like to stress that as China acts in accordance with law, unlike certain countries, we will not bow to pressure from allies and engage in something illegal in the name of law,” Hua told reporters at a daily briefing.

Cheng had not been charged, but was being held under what is called “residential surveillance at a designated location," Australian media reported Tuesday. It is a form of detention in which investigators can imprison and question a suspect for up to six months without a formal arrest.

Cheng’s two young children are with family members in the Australian city of Melbourne. “As a family, we are aware of the current situation with regard to Cheng Lei’s status as advised by the (Australian) Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade," the family said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to a “satisfactory and timely conclusion to the matter.”

“In China, due process will be observed," the family said. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said on Tuesday the government did not know why Cheng had been detained. “We are obviously engaging where we can with Ms. Cheng Lei,” Birmingham told Nine Network television.

“We will continue ... to work as best we can in providing her and her family with assistance through what is no doubt a stressful and difficult time for them,” he added. Australia in July warned its citizens of a risk of arbitrary detention in China, as relations between the free trade partners have soured in recent years. China dismissed the warning as disinformation.

Australia has criticized China for charging Chinese-Australian spy novelist Yang Hengjun with espionage in March. He has been detained since January last year. Australian Karm Gilespie was sentenced to death in China in June, seven years after he was arrested and charged with attempting to board an international flight with more than 7.5 kilograms (16.5 pounds) of methamphetamine. Some observers suspect that such a severe sentence so long after the crime was related to the bilateral rift.

Cheng is an anchor for CGTN's BizAsia program. She was born in China and worked in finance in Australia before returning to China and starting a career in journalism with CCTV in Beijing in 2003. She has reported on major Chinese events including Beijing’s 2008 Olympics and Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo.

Virus surges in India, Philippines; Australia imposes curfew

August 02, 2020

NEW DELHI (AP) — Surges of new coronavirus cases continued Sunday in India and the Philippines, which recorded another daily high to surpass 100,000 total infections, as officials across the globe considered stricter measures to stymie the spread of the pandemic.

A curfew was imposed on Australia's second-largest city, Melbourne, following a spike in infections. Countries including the United States, India and South Africa are struggling to rein in their first wave of infections while South Korea and others where the disease abated try to avert a second wave as curbs on travel and trade ease.

Governments worldwide have reported 684,075 deaths and 17.8 million cases, according to data gathered by Johns Hopkins University. India's 54,735 new cases were down from the previous day's record 57,118 but raised the total to 1.75 million. The month of July accounted for more than 1.1 million of those cases.

The major cities of New Delhi and Mumbai might have passed their peaks, said a government expert, Randeep Guleria. Subways, cinemas and other public facilities are closed until Aug. 31. The Philippines reported 5,032 new cases, raising its total to 103,185, with 2,059 deaths.

On Saturday, leaders of Philippine medical organizations appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to reimpose a lockdown on the capital, Manila. They said the health system was in danger as personnel fall ill or quit due to fear or fatigue.

In Japan, the government reported 1,540 new cases, close to Friday's record of 1,579. The spike in infections, most of them in their 20s and 30s, prompted warnings young people were letting their guard down. Gov. Yuriko Koike of Tokyo, which has about one-third of the new infections, says she might declare an emergency to contain the outbreak.

In Florida, authorities were trying to prepare storm shelters while enforcing social distancing as Tropical Storm Isaias churned toward the heavily populated state. It was due to be near the coast early Sunday.

Florida reported 179 deaths on Saturday, raising its total to more than 7,000. The governor warned residents to expect power outages and said they should have a week’s supply of water and food. The United States has the world’s biggest number of confirmed cases at 4.6 million, or one-quarter of the total, and 154,361 deaths. White House coronavirus task force leader Dr. Deborah Birx said Sunday that the virus had entered a “new phase” in the U.S. as it has rapidly spread in rural and urban America.

“What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread," Birx told CNN’s “State of the Union” as she urged Americans to wear face masks and observe social distancing measures.

In Australia, Premier Daniel Andrews of the southern state of Victoria announced a 8 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew on Melbourne, a city of 5 million people. Schools statewide are to return to home-based teaching and day care centers were closed.

Andrews said there were seven deaths and 671 new cases since Saturday. “If we don’t make these changes, we’re not going to get through this,” Andrews said. Also Sunday, China and South Korea reported more infections but spikes in both countries appeared to be tailing off.

China had 49 new confirmed cases, up from the previous day’s 45. Thirty were in Xinjiang in the northwest, where authorities are trying to contain an outbreak focused on the regional capital, Urumqi.

Three cases were found in students who returned from Russia to Wuhan, the southern Chinese city where the pandemic began in December. Most anti-disease controls were lifted there after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the disease in March.

Hong Kong reported 125 new infections as authorities tried to find the source of its latest outbreak. The Chinese government said a team of seven virus testing experts was sent to the city to help. South Korea reported 30 new cases, raising its total to 14,366 with 301 deaths, but said only eight were acquired in the country.

The government warned earlier case numbers would rise as South Koreans came home from the Middle East and other places with outbreaks. Authorities say cases from abroad are less threatening because arrivals are quarantined for two weeks.

On Saturday, the leader of a secretive Korean church was arrested in an investigation into whether the group hampered the anti-virus response after thousands of worshipers were infected in February and March.

On Saturday, South Africa reported 10,107 new cases, raising its total to 503,290. That put the country fifth behind the United States, Brazil, Russia and India in total cases, though its population of 58 million is much smaller than theirs.

In Europe, the number of new cases reported in Italy dipped below 300 for the first time. An employee in the Austrian chancellery tested positive for the virus but didn’t work directly with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian Press Agency reported.

McDonald reported from Beijing. AP journalists worldwide contributed to this report.

British-Australian academic moved to notorious Iran prison

July 29, 2020

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A British-Australian academic serving a 10-year sentence for espionage in Iran has been moved to a notorious prison where concerns for her well-being have escalated, the Australian government confirmed Wednesday.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert was a Melbourne University lecturer on Middle Eastern studies when she was sent to Tehran’s Evin Prison in September 2018. She had been arrested at Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference.

Iran told Australia that Moore-Gilbert had been recently moved to Qarchak Prison east of Tehran, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement. Australian envoys were “urgently seeking further consular access to her at this new location,” the government statement said.

“We hold Iran responsible for Dr. Moore-Gilbert’s safety and well-being,” it said. The Center for Human Rights in Iran, a U.S.-based organization, said Moore-Gilbert was being held with violent criminals in harsh conditions.

“Complete contempt for the law is being compounded by inexplicable cruelty towards Kylie Moore-Gilbert,” the center’s executive director, Hadi Ghaemi, said in a statement. Reza Khandan, husband of human rights lawyer and Evin Prison inmate Nasrin Sotoudeh, posted on social media this week that Moore-Gilbert had been transferred “as a form of punishment.”

Australia describes Moore-Gilbert’s case as one of its highest priorities. The Australian ambassador recently visited her in the Tehran prison and she had telephone contact with family and the embassy, the government statement said.

Moore-Gilbert has gone on hunger strikes and pleaded for the Australian government to do more to free her during almost two years in custody. She wrote to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year that she has been “subjected to grievous violations of my legal and human rights, including psychological torture and spending prolonged periods of time in solitary confinement.”

Australia isolates virus-prone state, Serbs oppose lockdown

July 08, 2020

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia isolated the state of Victoria on Wednesday in a bid to contain the worsening spread of the coronavirus as the city of Melbourne prepared for its second lockdown, an example of a resurgent disease in places that initially succeeded in taming it.

Melbourne’s failure to curb the virus in the past three weeks is a starkly different pandemic experience to other parts of the country that have been reporting single-digit daily counts of infections if any.

In Serbia, chaos erupted as thousands of protesters fought running battles with police and tried to storm the parliament building in Belgrade on Tuesday after the president announced that a coronavirus lockdown will be reintroduced in the Balkan country.

President Aleksandar Vucic called the virus situation in Belgrade “alarming” and “critical” as the city’s hospitals neared their capacity limits after health officials reported the highest single-day death toll of 13 amid 299 new COVID-19 cases.

Many blame the autocratic Serbian leader for lifting the previous lockdown measures just so he would cement his grip on power after parliamentary elections. He has denied those claims. In China, where the pandemic appeared late last year, only seven new cases were confirmed on Wednesday, all of them brought from outside the country. But South Korea reported 63 additional cases among a population twice the size of Australia’s. South Korean authorities are scrambling to stem transmissions tied to places such as churches, temples, restaurants and workplaces.

Pakistan’s daily infection rate dropped below 3,000 for the second straight day. Medical professionals are urging caution, noting testing has been cut by almost one third. Still some experts, particularly in the eastern city of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province where nearly 60% of the country’s 220 million people live, are suggesting the virus may have peaked in June.

Victoria authorities announced another 134 coronavirus cases in the latest 24 hours, down from a daily record 191 cases on Tuesday. The rest of Australia recorded 13 cases including three Melbourne-linked infections in the national capital Canberra. The Canberra infections are the first recorded there in almost a month.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the entire nation was behind Melbourne as it locked down for six weeks from Wednesday night. “We’re all Melburnians now when it comes to the challenges we face,” Morrison said. “We’re all Victorians now because we’re all Australians and that’s where the challenge is right now."

The Victoria border with New South Wales closed on Tuesday, but a steady stream of cars continued to pass through police checkpoints with permits granted to travelers to cross for reasons such as work and medical treatment.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned her citizens against traveling to the border region. She foreshadowed potential restrictions on travel within Australia’s most populous state to further reduce the risk of Melbourne virus reaching Sydney.

Other states have warned that people from Victoria would be turned back or be forced to spend two weeks in quarantine on arrival. Australian successes in the early weeks of the pandemic through its suppression strategy were similar to near-neighbor New Zealand, which set out to eradicate the virus and ended community transmission.

New Zealand authorities said Wednesday they will press charges against a coronavirus patient who escaped quarantine in Auckland and went shopping at a supermarket. Air Commodore Darryn Webb, the head of managed isolation and quarantine, said the 32-year-old man escaped through a fence at the Stamford Plaza hotel and was gone for just over an hour before returning.

The man later tested positive for the virus. Webb said the man was a New Zealander who recently returned from India and his actions were “completely unacceptable.” New Zealand is trying to contain cases at the border by placing new arrivals into a 14-day quarantine at various hotels.

Morrison said he wanted to reduce the numbers of Australian citizens, permanent residents and foreigners exempt from Australia’s travel ban landing at Australian airports because of the strain on hotel quarantine.

Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

Australia ends Hong Kong extradition treaty, extends visas

July 09, 2020

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extended visas for Hong Kong residents in response to China’s imposition of a tough national security law on the semi-autonomous territory, the prime minister said Thursday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a range of visas that will be extended from two to five years and offers of pathways to permanent residency visas. It is not clear how many Hong Kongers are expected to get the extensions.

The move comes after China bypassed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council to impose the sweeping security legislation without public consultation. Critics view it as a further deterioration of freedoms promised to the former British colony, in response to last year's massive protests calling for greater democracy and more police accountability.

The national security law prohibits what Beijing views as secessionist, subversive or terrorist activities or as foreign intervention in Hong Kong affairs. Under the law, police now have sweeping powers to conduct searches without warrants and order internet service providers and platforms to remove messages deemed to be in violation of the legislation.

“Our government, together with other governments around the world, have been very consistent in expressing our concerns about the imposition of the national security law on Hong Kong,” Morrison told reporters.

“That national security law constitutes a fundamental change of circumstances in respect to our extradition agreement with Hong Kong,” Morrison said. Britain, too, is extending residency rights for up to 3 million Hong Kongers eligible for British National Overseas passports, allowing them to live and work in the U.K. for five years.

Canada has suspected its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and is looking at other options including migration. In Australia, the most likely Hong Kongers to benefit from the new policies are the 10,000 already in the country on student and other temporary visas.

Acting Immigration Minister Alan Tudge said he expected the numbers of Kong Hongers who would come to Australia under the new arrangements would be “in the hundreds or low thousands.” Australia last offered “safe haven” visas to Chinese after the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. More than 27,000 Chinese students in Australia at the time were allowed to stay permanently.

China last week warned Australia against “interfering in China’s internal affairs with Hong Kong.” Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpieces, this week warned that “no one should underestimate the repercussions to the Australian economy from a further deterioration of bilateral ties.”

“If the Australian government chooses to continue to interfere in China’s internal affairs, it should be expected that the ‘safe haven’ offer will result in a huge negative impact on the Australian economy, making the issue much more serious than many people would have anticipated,” the newspaper said.

China accused Australia of spreading disinformation when the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a travel advisory this week warning that Australian visitors could be at risk of arbitrary detention.

The department’s latest advisory for Hong Kong on Thursday warned that visitors could be sent to mainland China to be prosecuted under mainland law. “You may be at increased risk of detention on vaguely defined national security grounds,” the advisory said. “You could break the law without intending to.”

Australia had negotiated an extradition treaty with China, but shelved it in 2017 when it became clear that the Australian Senate would vote it down. The separate Hong Kong treaty has been in place since 1993.

Chinese threats, weaker US alliance spur Australian military overhaul

By Andrew Beatty
Sydney (AFP)
July 1, 2020

Australia has unveiled plans to dramatically tool-up its military as threats from China mount, but some see collapsing trust in the United States alliance as an underlying motivation.

On paper, Australia's landmark defense review released Wednesday was all about a middle-ranking military power looking north at an increasingly belligerent emerging superpower and deciding it was time to get some of the world's most high-tech weapons.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled plans to buy missiles that could strike targets thousands of kilometres away, step-up cyber capabilities and invest in things that could define future warfare like hypersonic missiles, lasers and battlefield robots.

Australia's backyard, he said, had become the battleground of the 21st century and the country needed to wake up to the new reality.

But beyond real concerns about Chinese hacking, territorial seizures, economic coercion and "grey-zone" operations just short of open warfare lay an unspoken acknowledgement: America's defense umbrella -- which had long offered protection from these threats -- is looking very leaky.

"Australia is losing faith in the United States," Van Jackson, a former Pentagon official and expert on Asian security policy told AFP.

Policy officials cannot publicly admit it, he said, "but that's clearly what this is all about".

"It's not just that China's more aggressive in this region. It's China fears combined with US unreliability and strategic incompetence."

- Changing of the guard -

For much of the last century, Australian security relied on the United States.

After independence from Britain, Australia actively supported the US-led rules-based order and its forces fought in wars from Vietnam to Iraq. In return, it got the protection of the world's preeminent nuclear power.

But even before Donald Trump entered the Oval Office and threatened to set fire to decades-old security treaties, Washington had shown an increased reluctance to play security guard for countries rich enough to afford their own defense.

There is no guarantee the United States can continue to be a global policeman, even if it wanted to, observers note.

"I think they've been a bit rattled by the sheer unpredictability and unreliability of President Trump," Sam Roggeveen, director of the international security program at Sydney's Lowy Institute told AFP, referring to Australian policymakers.

"But I think they also recognize that no matter who is in charge in Washington, that the shift in the strategic balance from a US-led system to one where China is the leading strategic and military power in the region is inevitable."

"Our ally is not going to be in charge of the Asian strategic order over the long term. So we've got to prepare for that."

In response, Roggeveen said, Canberra decided Australia would "take greater responsibility for our own security."

That stops short of trying to develop an Australian nuclear deterrent, but "the intent here is to essentially make the costs of wanting to attack Australia too high," said Peter Jennings, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

"(It is) to strengthen our capacity for independent military operations and to sustain those operations over a lengthy period of time without drawing on the US alliance."

But some worry Australia is entering an arena with enormous risk, and potentially opening the door to a conflict it cannot win and without commensurate investments in diplomacy and building alliances with other democracies.

"The big conversation really that the government needs to have with the Australian people, is what kind of risks are we prepared to run and what kind of costs are we prepared to pay if we want to confront China on various issues," said Roggeveen.

"If we're proposing to buy, or even to develop strike weapons... an adversary like China, they can throw that back at us multiplied by three, four or 10."

"I think that would be an escalatory step, which would actually destabilize our region, and ultimately would actually make our region more dangerous for Australia."

Source: Space War.
Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Chinese_threats_weaker_US_alliance_spur_Australian_military_overhaul_999.html.

2 Sydney statues of British explorer James Cook vandalized

June 15, 2020

SYDNEY (AP) — An Australian state government leader said on Monday she was considering tougher laws to protect monuments after two statues of British explorer James Cook were vandalized in Sydney. Two women were charged with defacing a statue with spray paint in downtown Hyde Park over Saturday night. Another statue was discovered spray painted in the eastern suburb of Randwick on Sunday morning in an unrelated attack, police said.

Cities around the world are taking steps to remove statues that represent cultural or racial oppression. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she would consider toughening laws to deter future vandalism.

“I wish it didn’t come to this and I want to stress that it’s only a very, very small percentage of the population that’s engaging in this activity, the vast majority of us don’t condone it, we think it’s disrespectful, it’s un-Australian,” she told reporters.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week apologized for words he used last week to reject calls for his Sydney electoral district of Cook to be renamed. Cook came ashore in the district in 1770 in what was to become the site of the first British colony in Australia.

Morrison apologized for saying Australia has been colonized without slavery after critics pointed out that tens of thousands of South Pacific islanders had been forced to labor on Australian sugar cane plantations in the 19th century and Australian indigenous people had been forced to work for wages that were never paid.

A part-time employee of the minor Greens party, Xiaoran Shi, 28, and her alleged accomplice Charmaine Morrison-Mills, 27, were released on bail from a Sydney court on Sunday on charges of damaging property and possessing a graffiti implement over the Hyde Park statue.

Greens state lawmaker David Shoebridge, for whom Shi works, said he was aware of the allegations. “They were not engaged in employment at the time of the incident which occurred well outside of work hours,” Shoebridge said in a statement.

Black Lives Matter protests mostly peaceful in Australia

June 06, 2020

SYDNEY (AP) — Black Lives Matter protests across Australia on Saturday proceeded mostly peacefully as thousands of demonstrators in state capitals honored the memory of George Floyd and protested the deaths of indigenous Australians in custody.

Organizers of the Sydney protest got a late reprieve when their appeal against a Friday ruling declaring the rally unauthorized was granted. The New South Wales Court of Appeal, just 12 minutes before the rally was scheduled to start, gave the green light, meaning those taking part could not be arrested.

It appeared to be a moot point as up to 1,000 protesters had already gathered in the Town Hall area of downtown Sydney ahead of the decision. Floyd, a black man, died in handcuffs while a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee on his neck even after he pleaded for air and stopped moving.

In Sydney, there was one early scuffle when police removed a man who appeared to be a counter protester carrying a sign saying, “White Lives, Black Lives, All Lives Matter." Crowds filled Victoria Square in Adelaide after police gave special permission for the event to proceed despite COVID-19 restrictions. The march through the city was held after Commissioner Grant Stevens approved the rally on Friday.

“This is a unique and extraordinary event. There is a sentiment that suggests people should have a right to protest on significant matters,” Stevens said. In Brisbane, the Queensland state capital, organizers said about 30,000 people gathered, forcing police to close down two major streets. The rally appeared orderly as police handed out masks to protesters and other officials provided hand sanitizers.

A Maori group did a traditional haka, or war dance, during the Brisbane protest. The large crowd later marched to a local police precinct, some chanting “They say justice, we say murder.” On Friday, 2,000 demonstrators gathered in the national capital Canberra to remind Australians that the racial inequality underscored by Floyd’s death was not unique to the United States.

“Australians have to understand that what’s been going on the United States has been happening here for a long time,” said Matilda House, an elder of the Ngambri-Ngunnawal family group who are the traditional owners of the Canberra region.

A demonstrator who interrupted House, arguing that the rally’s focus should be on “what’s happening in the United States” rather than Australia’s colonial history, was shouted down in a heated confrontation with several protesters. The demonstrator eventually followed the crowd’s advice to leave.

Indigenous Australians make up 2% of the Australian adult population but 27% of the prison population. They are also the most disadvantaged ethnic minority in Australia and have higher-than-average rates of infant mortality and poor health, as well as shorter life expectancy and lower levels of education and employment than other Australians.

Associated Press writer John Pye and photographer Rick Rycroft contributed to this report.

Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news content

April 20, 2020

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Global digital platforms Google and Facebook will be forced to pay for news content in Australia, the government said Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic causes a collapse in advertising revenue.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission would release in late July draft rules for the platforms to pay fair compensation for the journalistic content siphoned from news media.

Frydenberg said he believed that Australia could succeed where other countries, including France and Spain, had failed in making Google and Facebook pay. “We won’t bow to their threats,” Frydenberg told reporters. “We understand the challenge that we face. This is a big mountain to climb. These are big companies that we are dealing with, but there is also so much at stake, so we’re prepared for this fight.”

The ACCC had attempted to negotiate a voluntary code by which the global giants would agree to pay traditional media for their content. But the parties couldn’t agree on “this key issue of payment for content,” Frydenberg said.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said Australia would take a different approach to Europe, relying on competition law rather than copyright law. Google and Facebook said they had been working to the ACCC November deadline to negotiate a voluntary code.

“We’re disappointed by the government’s announcement, especially as we’ve worked hard to meet their agreed deadline,” Facebook Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand Will Easton said in a statement.

“COVID-19 has impacted every business and industry across the country, including publishers, which is why we announced a new, global investment to support news organisations at a time when advertising revenue is declining,” he added, referring to a $100 million investment in the news industry announced in March.

Google said said it had engaged with more than 25 Australian publishers to get their input on a voluntary code. "We have sought to work constructively with industry, the ACCC and government to develop a code of conduct, and we will continue to do so in the revised process set out by the government today,” a Google statement said.

ACCC Chairman Rod Sims played down the prospect of Google shutting down its Australian news platform rather than pay for content as it had done in Spain. “Around 10% of search results are media stories. This will seriously affect the usefulness, for example, of Google Search, so I think we have to understand that there's value both ways here and I think it will be hard for Google and Facebook just to say we won't have any contact with news media at all,” Sims told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Michael Miller, Executive Chairman Australasia of News Corp. Australia, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, said, “We are looking for a fair payment and at the same time a substantial payment.” Frydenberg declined to estimate how much Google and Facebook would pay news media, other than to say it would amount to millions of dollars.

Google was netting 47% of online advertising spending excluding classified ads in Australia, and Facebook was claiming 24%, he said. Media companies have stopped printing dozens of newspaper mastheads across Australia because the pandemic shutdown has caused advertisers to stop spending.