Brandis says Rudd must have bipartisan support as ambassador despite Trump’s ‘wild’ comments
The former UK ambassador and Coalition minister George Brandis is speaking to ABC radio and he is being very critical of his former colleagues over the Kevin Rudd mini storm, sparked by Donald Trump’s comments.
Brandis says the resulting storm has all been a bit much:
I think this has been rather overinterpreted. Donald Trump is infamous for making rather wild and off-the-cuff claims that don’t in the end amount to very much, so it’s obviously something that the government should keep an eye on but I wouldn’t overinterpret it.
Asked about how Trump’s answer came about, Brandis says:
I know Nigel Farage – he’s a charming charlatan who’s building a reputation as a broadcaster in the United States, obviously.
He is interested in attracting as much importance to his interviews as possible, but I don’t think Nigel Farage has views on this matter.
I think it’s very important that Australia’s senior diplomatic representatives, whether they be career diplomats or political appointees, should have bipartisan support because, if they don’t, it diminishes their authority, and therefore diminishes their influence in the country to which they’re accredited. And that’s plainly not in Australia’s national interest. Now, when the appointment of Dr Rudd was announced in December of the year before last, it wasn’t criticised on a party basis in Australia.
Key events
Turns out James Paterson takes a different view on the Rudd question:
I want Kevin Rudd to succeed as Australia’s ambassador to Washington. It is in our national interest that he does well for our country. And in fact, I visited Kevin in DC as ambassador. And what I observed that he is diligently applying himself to that task. He’s obviously a capable person.
Unfortunately, he was also, prior to accepting this role, a prominent political commentator in the United States from his position as president of the Asia Society. And he said some very undiplomatic things about former President Trump.
Now, that’s his right as an Australian living in America or an Australian living here to say whatever he likes.
But if you’re going to be an ambassador to a country or you anticipate you might be, you have to be a bit more circumspect about what you say. And let’s remember, Kevin Rudd was Anthony Albanese’s captain’s pick for this job, over the objections of other ministers in the government, including, apparently, Penny Wong, which is why the appointment took so long and they had to extend Arthur Sinodinos in the role.
And so if he does have to come home because he can’t work with the Trump administration, that will reflect on one person and one person only, and that’s Anthony Albanese and his poor judgement.
Liberal senator James Paterson, who has carved out a place for himself as a security hawk, has had a bit to say on Sky News this morning.
First, on Paul Keating’s meeting with China’s foreign minister Wang Yi, Paterson said:
Paul Keating is Australia’s most prominent critic of Aukus. Paul Keating is Australia’s most prominent advocate of a closer relationship with China.
He is the most prominent defender of the Chinese government when it comes to their human rights abuses and other activities. And for him to agree to meet with Wang Yi and for the Chinese government to make a request for him to meet with Wang Yi, is a calculated humiliation of the government here in Canberra, because every time Paul Keating says what he says, it causes total internal grief for this government, it fires up their branch members and their supporters in the community.
And he has been incredibly unprofessional and undiplomatic in the way in which he has commented about the Foreign Minister in particular. But not just the foreign minister, our dedicated, professional, impartial public servants in the intelligence community as well. And so, this is, make no mistake, something which is deeply unwelcome here in Canberra in the Labor Party, but none of them have had the courage to say that publicly. None of them have the courage to explain why they don’t think it’s in the national interest for Paul Keating to be running down our country with a foreign dignitary while they’re visiting.
Given those fairly strong comments, what does he think about Donald Trump’s criticism of US ambassador Kevin Rudd (following a very leading question from Nigel Farage, and Trump not seeming to know who Rudd was)?
Stay tuned…
Natasha May
Peak medical bodies are calling on all MPs to back the government’s vaping legislation being introduced today as the only way to stop the “national health crisis.”
The Australian Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners are urging all MPs to support the laws which include a ban on the domestic manufacture, supply, advertising and commercial possession of non-therapeutic vapes.
AMA President Prof Steve Robson said:
This is a national health crisis that must be stopped in its tracks, and the only way to do that is to stop the retail sale of vapes and give people the help they need to kick this dangerous habit by moving to a prescription only model.
The federal government should make absolutely no apology with their tough but necessary legislation to be introduced today, and we call on federal parliament to support these changes.”
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins also urged all MPs to back the bill:
Vaping is taking hold of more and more people, and the health dangers are significant. No one can be 100% sure of the long-term impacts so you are playing with fire, and we do know they contain chemicals that cause serious respiratory issues and lung damage. It’s been reported that some teenagers are learning they have the lungs of a 70-year-old and that the damage may be permanent.”
The health minister, Mark Butler, this morning told ABC News:
I can’t think of a public health group that has not supported the measures I’m introducing to Parliament today. Frankly, the only groups that are seeking to raise the white flag and encourage parliamentarians simply to accept this as now a part of Australian life are those who are profiting from it: Big Tobacco and tobacco retailers.”
Australia is in a ‘per capita recession’ which is an economic term to say that GDP per person fell over two consecutive quarters. Overall, growth is being propped up by migration, which is why it’s not being considered a recession-recession – technically, the country’s productivity is still in the positive (albeit barely – 0.4% in the last reported quarter)
Things in New Zealand are worse, AAP reports:
New Zealand is enduring a double-dip recession, with GDP figures confirming another quarter of contraction to close out 2023.
The country’s official data agency, Stats NZ, revealed on Thursday that New Zealand’s economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in the quarter to December, and 0.7 per cent in per capita terms.
Following a 0.3 per cent contraction in the September quarter, that fulfils the technical definition of a recession – New Zealand’s second contractionary event in the past 18 months.
New Zealand has returned negative GDP figures in four of the last five quarters.
Annual growth is currently running at an anaemic rate of just 0.6 per cent.
“Wholesale trade was the largest downwards driver this quarter, led by falls in grocery and liquor wholesaling; and machinery and equipment wholesaling,” Stats NZ’s Ruvani Ratnayake said.
“Retail trade activity also fell, driven by furniture, electrical, and hardware retailing; and food and beverage services.”
The results are even worse in a per capita context: with all five of the last quarters heading backwards.
In essence, New Zealand is curently being propped up by record migration, which hit a record peak of 141,000 in 2023, more than 100,000 above 2022.
The parliament sitting has begun and the legislation which will establish the Administration Review Tribunal (the replacement for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal) is about to pass the House.
Penny Wong to meet with David Cameron
Penny Wong will also meet with her UK counterpart, David Cameron (who I believe was also a guest at The Lodge), as part of the bilateral talks ahead of the Australia-United Kingdom ministerial consultations or Aukmin chats.
The morning is going to be a series of meetings and briefings, which defence and foreign affairs corro Daniel Hurst is all over for you, so we will bring you the results of those talks as soon as we are able.
UK secretary of state for defence welcomed in Canberra
The UK part of Aukus will be discussed today, with the British secretary of state for defence, Grant Shapps, in Canberra for meetings with the defence minister, Richard Marles.
Mike Bowers headed out to the defence department this morning, where Shapps was being formally welcomed:
The independent senator Lidia Thorpe is leading a crossbench push to have the government act on death in custody and Indigenous child removal reforms.
Sarah Basford Canales reports on that here:
Mark Butler was asked about it this morning and said:
Tomorrow all of the health ministers of the country, including me obviously, will be conducting a roundtable of Indigenous health leaders to talk about a range of things that we can do to continue to close the gap. And I’m sure one of the agenda items on that I know will be a discussion about outstanding recommendations from the royal commission, particularly around culturally safe healthcare in prisons. That’s something I’ve been talking to Indigenous health leaders about during my entire time as the health minister. So, I think that is a recognition from the crossbench as well, that there is outstanding business from that royal commission which is now more than three decades ago. But certainly, as health ministers, as Indigenous health leaders, we’re already in a discussion about how we can catch up on those recommendations.
Emergency management minister says Borroloola facing record flood levels
The flooding has been more intense than expected and the weather conditions have hampered some of the evacuation efforts.
Murray Watt:
We are facing the some potentially very dangerous flooding in Borroloola near the Gulf of Carpentaria. In fact, the water levels there could rise as high as 18m, which would make it a record flooding level, and, even if it doesn’t get that high, it does look likely to be record flooding and, of course, as this weather system moves across the Northern Territory, it’s dumping very large amounts of rain across a range of other communities, many of which have had flooding in the last few months already.
So it is a dangerous situation. We do need people to listen to warnings, follow instructions from emergency officials, but we’re obviously supporting the Northern Territory government in this effort as well including through evacuations by the ADF.
Murray Watt says about 200 people evacuated from Borroloola to Darwin due to NT cyclone
The emergency management minister, Murray Watt, has given the ABC an update on the cyclone that has hit the Top End:
The latest figures that I have is that it’s around 200 people who have been evacuated from Borroloola to Darwin. The priority at this stage is to remove the most medically vulnerable people. Obviously, the emergency officials will make decisions on the ground as to whether the number of evacuations needs to be expanded or whether people can safely stay in Borroloola. But as I say, we have also approved a request from the Northern Territory government to provide ADF personnel and aircraft to evacuate people from other communities such as Timber Creek, Pigeon Hole, Kalkarindji. We expect that will begin later in the day subject to weather conditions.
