Key posts
- Both history and Liberal principle are on Leeser’s side
- Anthony Albanese to be a ‘no show’ at NATO
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
1 of 1
China bans on Australian barley under review
China agreed to fast-track a review of trade bans on Australian barley exports in a significant step towards the easing of restrictions on $20 billion worth of Australian products.
Ahead of Trade Minister Don Farrell’s first trip to China in the coming weeks, Australia has agreed to temporarily suspend its World Trade Organisation dispute while China spends the next couple of months reviewing the barley restrictions.
China has agreed to fast track a review of its high tarrifs on barley, as Australia pauses its WTO dispute over the embargo.Credit: Bloomberg
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said if China removes the up to 80 per cent tariffs from barley following the review, Australia expected a similar review and removal of restrictions on Australian wine would follow.
Here’s the full story on the potential easing of tariffs.
Both history and Liberal principle are on Leeser’s side
A brave act of personal conscience has just highlighted a foolish weakness in the Liberal Party over a policy it could have settled with wisdom and goodwill.
In stepping down on a point of principle, former shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser has highlighted that weakness with an act that is loyal to his party while breaking with its leader.
That is because his decision, one of the most difficult any politician can make in parliamentary life, was only needed because his leader, Peter Dutton, gave him no choice.
The opposition’s spokesman for Indigenous affairs Julian Leeser announces his resignation from the frontbench yesterday. Credit: Brook Mitchell
Dutton launched a crusade against the Indigenous Voice last Wednesday with a blunt and cynical argument at odds with what some of his colleagues thought they had agreed on at a party room meeting minutes earlier.
And he and other senior Liberals stubbornly insisted that their position was binding on shadow cabinet, rather than allowing all MPs the freedom to vote Yes or No on the Voice without consequences for their personal careers.
To their credit, Simon Birmingham and others argued for a free vote.
The full analysis by David Crowe can be found here.
Anthony Albanese to be a ‘no show’ at NATO
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will not attend this year’s NATO summit The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has learned.
It follows Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s decision to send a junior bureaucrat to last week’s foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, where NATO is headquartered, despite her Asia-Pacific counterparts attending to help coordinate the West’s responses to the war in Ukraine and China’s increasing aggression.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is not expected to attend the NATO summit in July. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In an interview with this masthead last week, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General, said the leaders of Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, the so-called AP4, would be invited for the second time to the trans-Atlantic bloc’s annual gathering.
The elite grouping was only invited for the first time to NATO’s summit last year in Madrid, Spain and the then-freshly elected Albanese attended.
But he will not travel to this year’s gathering set for mid-July in Vilnius, Lithuania which has been a key, albeit small European Union and NATO member state, in standing up to Chinese economic coercion, after it allowed Taipei to open a de facto embassy.
Read more on this exclusive story here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning, and thanks for your company.
It’s Wednesday, April 12. I’m Caroline Schelle, and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started:
- Australia’s defence chief braces for more war crime charges and warns there are uncomfortable days ahead for the country’s military.
- The International Monetary Fund warned the world economy faces feeble and uneven growth, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers is due to head to the US for discussions.
- Federal Liberal MP Julian Leeser quit the opposition frontbench over the Voice stance, and will give one of his first interview’s since his resignation this morning.
- Acclaimed Australian artist and Archibald prize-winner John Olsen has died at 95.
- A tropical cyclone off WA’s coast has been upgraded, and is expected to bring heavy rain, gale-force winds and potential flooding when it makes landfall tomorrow.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is not expected to attend NATO summit in Lithuania in July.
- Ukraine used AC/DC’s Back in Black to plead for Australian Hawkei military vehicles to use in its fight against the Russian invasion.
- In other overseas news, US President Joe Biden confirmed he plans to run for re-election in 2024, but cautioned it was not his official announcement.
1 of 1
Most Viewed in National
Source: Read Full Article