CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison denied that he lied to French President Emmanuel Macron while secretly negotiating a submarine deal with the United States and Britain, an accusation that has escalated a rift over Australia’s surprise cancellation of a French deal.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Sydney will end hotel quarantine for vaccinated passengers when scheduled international flights restart in Australia within two weeks, officials said on Friday, while maintaining some restrictions on foreigners entering the country.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday he has no regrets after canceling a multi-billion dollar contract with France for the construction of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
France has pulled out of a planned defence summit with Britain amid an ongoing row between Paris, London, Canberra, and Washington D.C. over submarines.
The French government is seething over Australia’s decision to drop a troubled multi-billion French submarine deal in favour of collaboration with Britain and America, describing it as “treason”.
Australia said Saturday it was noting with regret France’s recall of its ambassador over the surprise cancellation of a submarine contract in favour of a U.S. deal.
China said it was “highly irresponsible” for the U.S. and Britain to export nuclear technology. Morrison said Australia wants to boost peace.
U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to forget who he was talking to Wednesday night when he addressed Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison as “that fella down under” during a virtual joint call outlining a new joint security pact for the Indo-Pacific region.
Australia’s next submarine fleet will be nuclear-powered under an audacious plan revealed Wednesday that will see Canberra end a $90 billion program to build 12 French-designed boats.
A United Nations demand for Australia to accept coal’s days are numbered was comprehensively rejected Monday with a lawmaker in Canberra promising the future of the vital export and job creator will be “decided by the Australian Government, not a foreign body.”
Australian citizens trying to reach evacuation transports are apparently being forcibly turned away by Taliban fighters encircling Kabul airport.
Australia announced Monday it is despatching an “air bridge” to Afghanistan designed to combine military, customs, immigration and consular staff to extract hundreds of people from the volatile capital Kabul.
Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday he backs a pub’s plan to offer free beers to anyone who had just received their coronavirus vaccination nearby.
A new free trade deal between the UK and Australia was agreed Tuesday between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his counterpart, Scott Morrison, marking the first agreement to be built from scratch since the UK left the European Union.
The U.S. State Department approved a possible $3.5 billion sale of AH-64E Apache helicopters to Australia on Thursday, as Canberra continues to invest in its century-plus defense alliance with Washington.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) – Australia has reached a supply agreement for 25 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in a deal that the government hopes will ensure all Australian adults have access to inoculation this year.
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday rejected pressure to lift a temporary ban on inbound flights from India, saying any early resumption of arrivals from that coronavirus hot spot would erode Australia’s stretched quarantine capability.
The U.S. State Department has approved two potential arms deals for Australia totaling $1.94 billion which are destined to provide the key Indo-Pacific ally with new Abram main battle tanks and more helicopters.
Australia will invest $580 million to upgrade four of its northern military bases and expand “war gaming” exercises with the United States, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Wednesday. “Our focus is on pursuing peace, stability, and a free and
China warned Thursday “serious consequences” await Australia after it tore up a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) agreement between the two countries, cautioning “serious harm” to relations remain possible along with unspecified economic coercion against a country that refuses to be bullied.
Australia tore up a set of agreements Wednesday linked to the contentious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) deal with Beijing. The move is sure to provoke fury in China which has previously warned Australia it will become the “poor white trash of Asia” unless it stops pushing back against the ruling Communist Party.
(AFP) — Australia’s prime minister on Wednesday blamed restricted vaccine supply from Europe for his country’s halting coronavirus inoculation efforts, as he faced growing public frustration over the sluggish rollout.
Australian government officials fired an Parliament staff member Monday after photographs and videos appearing to show legislators performing sex acts inside Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra were leaked to Australian media outlets.
Australia’s finance minister has suggested that a “desperate” European Union is “tear[ing] up the rule book” after the European Commission backed Italy’s request to block a shipment of coronavirus vaccines.
In an extraordinary backflip, Facebook announced Tuesday it will reverse its block on Australian users sharing news on its site and accept proposed government media bargaining laws that force it to pay for content.
Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday other countries are lining up behind Canberra’s drive to regulate Big Tech companies and force them to pay for local news.
Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday hit back at Facebook’s move to block news in the country and called it ”arrogant,” warning against “Big Tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them.”
Facebook announced on Wednesday that “with a heavy heart” it will be banning Australian media outlets and censoring users within the country from sharing or viewing news articles on its service. The move comes in response to a potential Australian law that would force Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for their content.
For the second time in less than a month New Zealand’s left-wing Labour government has attacked key ally Australia, with an angry Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lashing Canberra on Tuesday for rejecting a dual national arrested in Turkey over links to the Islamic State terrorist group.
The demand by Australia’s conservative coalition government that Google and Facebook pay for news content is drawing results, with the tech giants revealing Monday they are close to deals with major news providers.
Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s call to Australian lawmakers for leniency over plans to regulate tech giants and force them to pay for news sourced from local media outlets has been roundly rejected by Canberra.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was publicly honored Monday evening by U.S. President Donald Trump, receiving a prestigious decoration for “leadership in addressing global challenges.”
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that his government won’t rush approval of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine because he wants people to have confidence in the product.
Chinese social media platform WeChat deleted a message posted by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday, accusing him of misleading the public with his words.
Twitter on Tuesday rejected Canberra’s calls to remove a Beijing official’s gruesome tweet targeting Australian troops, choosing instead to stand with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday demanded Beijing apologize after a top Chinese government spokesman posted a falsified image on Twitter on Sunday depicting an Australian soldier with his knife to a child’s throat, appearing to prepare to behead the child.
(AFP) — Biting new Chinese trade tariffs have stoked fears that Australia’s virus-weakened economy is being targeted for political retribution and the two countries may be sliding into a shadow trade war.
Chinese state media on Thursday derided the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance for daring to criticize China’s ugly crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, spraying extra venom at Australia, which the state-run Global Times sneeringly dismissed as a “vassal of the U.S.”
The Australian Defense Force (ADF) released a report on Thursday detailing the results of a four-year investigation into alleged abuses by Australian troops in Afghanistan. The report found 39 unlawful killings were committed between 2005 and 2016 by Australian special forces soldiers, 19 of whom will now face criminal investigation and the potential loss of military honors.
The new defense pact between Australia and Japan signed Tuesday in Tokyo has been dismissed as “dangerous” by Chinese state-owned media, which warns any resistance to Beijing is futile and will come at a heavy cost.
