Australia news live: Trump replies ‘what does that mean?’ when asked if he will discuss Aukus with Keir Starmer
‘What does that mean?’ Trump questioned on Aukus deal
The US president, Donald Trump, needed to be reminded what the Aukus deal was when asked a question about it during a meeting with the British prime minister in the Oval Office.
As broadcast by CNN, a reporter can be heard asking Trump if he would be discussing Aukus with Keir Starmer. Trump responded:
What does that mean?
The reporter then prompted him, reminding him it is “Aukus – the Australia-US defence alliance”.
Trump then said “we will be discussing that” and, pointing to Starmer beside him, said:
We’ve had another great relationship, and you have too, with Australia. We’ve had a very good relationship with Australia.
You can watch the full exchange below:
Key events
Watt says government is ‘working very hard’ to fix IT issues in mutual obligations system
Continuing to make the breakfast rounds this morning, the employment minister Murray Watt also spoke with ABC RN, where he was asked about reports that welfare payments have being wrongfully suspended amid IT issues with the mutual obligations scheme.
Watt said this was “this is something that we’ve been working on for several months now”, pointing the finger at the Coalition and saying they had introduced this and the government was trying to fix it.
It does have problems with it. We’ve been working very hard to fix it.
Watt said there had been a “number of different IT bugs in the system” that have “resulted, unfortunately, in some jobseekers having payments not made in the way that they should be.”
We’ve done everything we can to try to remediate those payments, but what we’re also trying to do is to fix the system. People shouldn’t be having this kind of thing happen to them, based on a government system.
We’re determined to try to fix it. We’ve got reviews underway in terms of the IT bugs, but also my department, which is responsible for this system. When it became clear that there was some legal uncertainty about the cancellation of people’s payments, they immediately paused those cancellations …
You know, I think we all accept that the community owes it to jobseekers to support them with income, and jobseekers owe it to the community to seek work, but we don’t need to have a punitive system like we had under the Coalition and that’s what we’re seeking to change.
Caitlin Cassidy
Senate estimates probes new definition of antisemitism adopted by universities
In Senate estimates yesterday, Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi questioned the education department over the adoption by Australia’s universities of a new definition of antisemitism, which closely aligns with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
The definition agreed to by universities notes that criticism of Israel is not in itself antisemitic but can be, including “when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel”.
Asked by Faruqi if the education department was concerned that by adopting the definition, “freedom of speech and academic freedom and critique of Israel and anti-racist research will be stifled”, deputy secretary Ben Rimmer said there was “nothing in what we’ve seen that gives us cause for concern”.
Universities have agreed that it is helpful for them to have a working definition of antisemitism as they increase their efforts to tackle antisemitism on campus … that seems like a very reasonable objective.
Asked if universities had a working definition as a collective on Islamophobia, Rimmer said they didn’t, but many universities had a working definition against racism that called out Islamophobia.
For more on the new antisemitism definition, read our explainer:
Dutton says ‘not everyone gets the acronyms’ amid Trump Aukus comment
Taking a final question, Peter Dutton was also asked about Donald Trump’s “What does that mean?” response to a question about Aukus.
Dutton, like Murray Watt, wasn’t too fazed:
Not everyone gets the acronyms, and all the rest of it, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the president strongly supports the alliance between our three countries and strongly supports Aukus.
He stated that previously and the submarine deal, which we negotiated when we were in government, when I was defence minister, will underpin the national security of our country for the next century. And it’s an important relationship.
Dutton says purchase of properties ‘aspirational’
After more back and forth, Peter Dutton again argued the prime minister is “in a desperate position” and “knows that he’s about to lose his leadership to Jim Chalmers or Tony Burke”.
Moving to his property purchases, the host asked about Dutton’s criticism to changes of family trusts and negative gearing – is that because he’s on the market for a 27th property?
Dutton responded that he’s “invested according to the laws and I’ve paid taxes according to the law”.
I’ve claimed deductions according to the law, and I’ve been aspirational in my life. I didn’t start with money. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. And I worked hard after school until I started university, and I was fortunate enough to buy a house when I was 20 years of age.
Unfortunately, tragically, under this government, young 20-year-olds and 25-year-olds [and] now 30-year-olds have lost the dream of home ownership. I want to restore it … I’ve worked full-time without, frankly, any absence out of the workforce whatsoever, and my wife’s worked hard.
Dutton again questioned on share purchases
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was also up on the Today show this morning, where he was again asked about his purchase of bank shares during the GFC and before a bank bailout – the topic of much discussion this week.
Dutton said the accusations were a “sign of a desperate government” and accused Labor of “smearing and throwing mud”.
The host said back “as if you don’t do the exact same thing”, which Dutton rejected:
Well, no, no, we don’t actually. I made no comment in relation to Copacabana and the prime minister renting out his rental properties. I didn’t make any judgment in relation to that whatsoever. It’s a private matter for the prime minister.
The host also referenced a report in the Australian Financial Review, claiming shadow ministers at the time heard whispers of the deal – was he among those in the know?
No … If the prime minister wants to make that claim, he should make it himself … I’ve been honest and transparent in every transaction I’ve done. If I was doing some sort of dodgy share deal, I wouldn’t put it up in lights on my parliamentary register.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Safety net for laid off fashion group workers
Workers out of a job after the collapse of fashion retailer Mosiac Group will be guaranteed their entitlements after the federal government fast-tracked access to its worker safety net scheme.
The owner of brands including Noni B, Millers, Rivers, Crossroads, Katies and Autograph went into voluntary administration in October, owing creditors almost $250m. All 666 stores are expected to shutter in mid-April after receivers failed to find a buyer for the chains.
The federal government is moving to protect about 2800 workers, allowing them to access the commonwealth’s Fair Entitlements Guarantee before the company is liquidated.
Eligible workers are able to claim up to 13 weeks of unpaid wages, unpaid annual leave and long service leave, payment in lieu of notice (up to five weeks), and redundancy pay (up to four weeks per full year of service) under the scheme.
The employment minister, Murray Watt, said the government was fast-tracking access to the scheme in recognition of the “stressful, drawn-out” process surrounding Mosaic Group’s collapse.
Staff are largely women, many balancing part-time employment with care responsibilities, and highly reliant on their pay, so we want to ensure they have as much certainty as possible around their finances going forward.
Watt on China’s live-fire drills – ‘they should have given us more notice’
Sticking with defence matters, Murray Watt was also asked about who knew what, when, in relation to the Chinese warships off the coast of Australia and the live firing exercises.
Watt said the defence minister, Richard Marles, had already stepped through the series of events as to what happened.
The most important thing is that we are not happy that China did not give advance warning of its live-fire drills and all of the appropriate representations have been made to China complaining about that. That’s really the issue here.
We’ve been working very closely with Air Services Australia and the airlines to try to provide information for people but the bottom line is that China should have given us more notice. And I think we were right to make those representations to them.
Minister not ‘too fazed’ on Trump’s Aukus slip-up
Let’s just circle back to that “What does that mean?” comment from Donald Trump on the Aukus deal.
The employment minister, Murray Watt, was asked about this on the Today show but said he wasn’t “too fazed”:
Obviously, President Trump has got a lot on his plate and lots to remember. And you’ll see that very quickly he was able to make the point about the strength of the relationship between Australia and the US.
We’ve already seen both the secretary of state and secretary for defence in the US talk about President Trump’s support for the Aukus arrangements, so that’s what really matters, rather than whether someone remembers an acronym in the middle of a meeting.
159 jobseekers convicted for debt that may have been incorrectly calculated
Cait Kelly
Last night in Senate estimates, Services Australia said 159 people have been convicted for debts that were calculated with income apportionment.
Income apportionment was the complex system used by Services Australia when it could not determine whether payslips that were relied on to calculate welfare debts aligned with the fortnightly income reporting periods, such as when a payslip did not show hours or days worked.
The legality of income apportionment has been questioned for years and is about to be the subject of a federal court case.
The deputy chief executive officer for payments and integrity in Services Australia, Chris Birrer, said:
So the 159 people … who had income apportionment use as part of their administrative debt and were under extended court orders at that point time, in late 2023, they’ve been convicted by a court and were under court orders.
Birrer said the department had contacted the 159 people who had been convicted:
We worked with the common director of public prosecutions … who then wrote to each of the convicted individuals or their legal representatives to inform them about what we knew about income apportionment at that point in time, and that there was legal uncertainty.
Only one person out of 159 of those convicted has asked Services Australia to recalculate the debt, Services Australia said.
‘What does that mean?’ Trump questioned on Aukus deal
The US president, Donald Trump, needed to be reminded what the Aukus deal was when asked a question about it during a meeting with the British prime minister in the Oval Office.
As broadcast by CNN, a reporter can be heard asking Trump if he would be discussing Aukus with Keir Starmer. Trump responded:
What does that mean?
The reporter then prompted him, reminding him it is “Aukus – the Australia-US defence alliance”.
Trump then said “we will be discussing that” and, pointing to Starmer beside him, said:
We’ve had another great relationship, and you have too, with Australia. We’ve had a very good relationship with Australia.
You can watch the full exchange below:
Good morning
Emily Wind
Hello, and welcome back to the Australia news live blog this Friday – I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our rolling coverage for most of today.
If you have any questions, tips or feedback, you can get in touch via email: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s get started.
Greens call for scalps over dumping of biennale artists
Creative Australia’s chief executive should be sacked and its board spilled with a comprehensive review of the funding body, the Greens say.
As AAP reports, the party’s arts election policy released today states the dumping of Australia’s Venice Biennale entrants threatens artistic freedom of expression, brought Creative Australia into disrepute and left the nation’s creative workers in crisis.
Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino had been invited to the prestigious biennale but their invitation was quickly revoked once Sabsabi’s early artworks featuring the September 11 terror attacks on the United States came to light.
The Creative Australia chief executive, Adrian Collette, acknowledged its selection process for the biennale had fallen short and would be subject to an external review, but said the board was compelled to exercise its judgment given the circumstances. Collette told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday:
As public debate intensified and scrutiny was applied to some of the artist’s prior works it became very quickly evident to the board that the organisation was confronting significant risks to its future mission.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the “ongoing scandal” at Creative Australia is a “reminder that freedom of artistic expression must be defended with vigilance”.
Greens unveil arts policy
The Greens are today launching their policy package for the arts, which includes a capital works fund, an artists in residence program and investment in telling Australian stories.
Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens’ spokesperson for the arts, said the sector was “in turmoil” as a result of the Creative Australia and Venice Biennale saga, years of underfunding and broken promises, and festival and event cancellations.
The key policies include to pilot a living wage program for up to 10,000 artists and legislate a $250 minimum performance fees for musicians and live performers at publicly funded events.
It would also channel $2bn into the sustainability and future of the arts over a decade, including support for festivals, live performance, youth arts and arts administration.
Hanson-Young said:
The Greens plan will ensure more artists are paid, more venues stay open and more audiences enjoy world-class work. Artists need funding for their work, freedom of artistic expression and protection from political interference.
Former ADF chief warns nuclear power plants could be war targets
Australian nuclear reactors could become a target of war if the federal Coalition was to go ahead with plans to build them, AAP reports.
The Australian Security Leaders Climate Group, a group of former defence leaders, has warned that the plan to build seven small nuclear reactors across five states on the sites of coal-fired stations could leave Australia vulnerable to missile warfare and sabotage.
One of its members, former ADF chief Chris Barrie, said modern warfare was increasingly being fought using missiles and unmanned aerial systems.
Every nuclear power facility is a potential dirty bomb because rupture of containment facilities can cause devastating damage. With the proposed power stations all located within a 100km of the coast, they are a clear and accessible target.
Former defence department director of preparedness and mobilisation Cheryl Durrant cited the Ukraine-Russia war where both sides have prioritised targeting their opponents’ energy systems.
Australia would be no different.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer, bringing you the best of the overnight stories, and then it will be Emily Wind to take you through to the weekend.
Our lead story this morning is a report into the third-party groups campaigning to reduce “Green and teal growth” at the federal election. Third-party groups are preparing federal election campaigns that include accusations that the Greens and teal independents threaten “Australia’s economic and social stability”, and also focus in part on their views on the Israel-Gaza war. More to come.
Creative Australia’s chief executive should be sacked and its board spilled with a comprehensive review of the funding body, the Greens have said. The party, which releases its arts election policy today, said the creative sector was in turmoil after the biennale fiasco, job cuts and festival cancellations. More coming up.
And a group of senior defence experts have warned that proposed nuclear power plants in Australia could be targets in case of war. More on that too soon.
