UN chief urges Australia to aim higher as it debates climate goals
Speaking at an event hosted by independent industry body the Smart Energy Council, Mr Stiell called the fresh 2035 target - due to be announced in September - a "defining moment" for Australia.Setting these targets, also known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), is part of the country's obligation under the Paris Climate Agreement. The 2015 pledge saw world leaders agree to keep global temperatures from rising 1.5C above those of the late 19th Century."Go for what's smart by going big," Mr Stiell said, warning that a failure to do so risks eroding regional stability and living standards."Consider the alternative: missing the opportunity and letting the world overheat," he added.Just a few hours earlier, former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce - who is known for his climate change skepticism - introduced legislation to wind back the country's current net zero goals, arguing that it would have "absolutely no effect on the climate whatsoever".Australia has in recent years grappled with successive natural disasters, and climate experts warn that the country - along with the rest of the globe - faces a future full of similar crises unless dramatic cuts to emissions are achieved.Joyce's bill is all but doomed to fail, as the Labor government has a large majority in the House of Representatives and members of the National MP's own party disagree with him.But it is likely to increase pressure on the coalition - made up of the Liberal and National parties - as they reassess their climate and energy policies following a bruising election defeat in May.Climate change has been a huge theme of the past few elections in Australia.Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to power in 2022, promising to take greater action, but his Labor government has been criticised for its continued support of coal and gas projects.The country is currently seeking to co-host the UN's COP31 climate summit with the Pacific next year.
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The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Chinese woman becomes third person charged under Australia's foreign interference laws
A Chinese citizen was charged Monday under Australia's recent foreign interference laws with covertly collecting information about an Australian Buddhist association, police said. The woman, an Australian permanent resident based in the capital Canberra, is only the third person charged since the laws were passed in 2018 and the first to be accused of interferring with the general population, Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt police said. She was charged in a Canberra court with covertly gathering information about a local branch of the Buddhist association Guan Yin Citta on behalf of the Public Security Bureau of China. The association is banned in China. Police have not detailed her alleged objectives. 'We allege the activity was to support intelligence objectives of the China's Public Security Bureau. This is the first time the AFP has charged a person with foreign interference that allegedly involves targeting members of the Australian community,' Nutt told reporters. 'Foreign interference is a serious crime that undermines democracy and social cohesion. It is a crime carried out by or on behalf of a foreign principal that involves covert and deceptive conduct or threats of serious harm or menacing demands,' Nutt added. The woman, who was arrested at her home Saturday, cannot be named publicly due to a court order. She was remanded in custody and faces a maximum 15 years in prison if convicted. The Chinese Embassy in Canberra did not immediately respond on Monday to a request for comment. She is the first foreign national to be charged under the sweeping laws that created a rift between Australia and China when they were first announced in 2017. Vietnam-born Melbourne businessman and local community leader Di Sanh Duong was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison last year over an attempt to influence a former federal government minister on behalf of China. Sydney businessman Alexander Csergo also was charged with foreign interference for allegedly accepting payments for information from two suspected Chinese spies. He pleaded not guilty to the charge. Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, said the nation's main domestic spy agency had made a signficant contribution to the latest arrest. 'Foreign interference of the kind alleged is an appalling assault on Australian values, freedoms and sovereignty,' Burgess said in a statement. The charge comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mends bilateral relations with China that plumbed new lows under the previous Australian administration over issues including foreign interference laws. Albanese traveled to Beijing last month to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping for the fouth time since the Australian leader was first elected in 2022.
The Guardian
4 hours ago
- The Guardian
Afternoon Update: PM seeks call with Netanyahu after march; second Queensland DNA lab bungle; and a coffee rave
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Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Youngest Australian senator, 21, deletes 'cringe' video
Australia's youngest-ever senator has deleted a 'cringeworthy' video documenting a day in her life at Parliament, which was posted just a day after she outlined her bold agenda for the country's future. Charlotte Walker, 21, who made headlines last week after trading barbs with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, shared a reel on Instagram documenting the final day of her first week in Parliament on July 24. The video, which was set to the Black Eyed Peas song 'Imma Be', featured time-stamped clips of the Senator for South Australia as her day unfolded. These included a clip under her duvet after waking up at 5.27am, various interviews with multiple broadcasters throughout the morning, footage of her running through the halls of Parliament to vote at 4pm, and flying home to SA at 6pm. 'Day in my life, first week done,' the senator, who earns $233,660 a year captioned the 16-second clip. But it was met with a chorus of ridicule and anger on social media, with many users branding it 'cringe,' 'embarrassing,' and evidence of taxpayers' money being wasted. 'An inexperienced young woman who's never held a real job as an adult is now a federal government Senator with the responsibilities of lawmaking in the federal Parliament,' one said. 'Why do Aussies keep electing unelectable people to Parliament? You won't trust a 21-year-old to a company's board of directors or to a Supreme Court justice bench as they don't have the capabilities, experience, and depth to handle it, but they can be elected to Parliament? This is so wrong. Parliament isn't some instagram hangout place, it's where the laws of the nation are discussed and legislated impacting an entire country's citizenry.' The criticism seems to have stung as the short clip has now vanished from Senator Walker's Instagram profile. The Daily Mail approached Senator Walker for comment over its removal. The clip was originally posted the day after Senator Walker's maiden speech in parliament where she pitched herself as a voice for the younger generations. The Senator for South Australia said that Labor's landslide election win in May was the expression of 'the core Australian value of a fair go'. She said that Labor would deliver a 'fair go' for Australians in the areas of housing, education and climate change - underlining the government's commitment to net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 as a key pledge. It was on this issue that Senator Walker clashed with Pauline Hanson (pictured), who had tabled a motion in the upper house to abandon the target altogether, claiming it will 'destroy jobs and the Australian economy.' 'Power bills are out of control. Manufacturing is being wiped out. And ordinary Australians are paying the price, while out-of-touch politicians and inner-city idealists push fantasy policies they'll never have to live under,' Hanson said. But Senator Walker slammed the move, accusing the One Nation founder - who is 50 years her senior - of lacking knowledge of the subject. 'All I can say is, are you kidding?' Senator Walker said. 'The motion put forward on net zero indicates a severe lack of knowledge and a complete disregard for the future of our generation, the future of our country. 'Without a net zero target, there will be no Australian farmers, businesses or industries to support us. Net zero is waking up to a reality that Senator Hanson has not been able to grasp. In fact, Senator Hanson seems to be hellbent on exacerbating all of the consequences of climate change.' In turn, Senator Hanson lashed her younger colleague, claiming it was she who failed to understand what net zero really means. 'She's no sooner out of bloody university and out of her nappies than she's telling me I don't know what the hell I'm talking about when I've been on the floor of parliament for the last nine years,' Senator Hanson told Sky News. 'I don't take any notice of her, who's just trying to make her place in this parliament - and congratulations. But don't come in thinking that you're going to tell me what I know or what I don't know when I have been dealing with this for many years.' Senator Walker underlined her unwavering commitment to tackling climate change in her maiden speech, claiming that she spoke for the younger generation who would be most affected by a heating planet. 'The vast majority of young Australians do not talk about climate sceptics versus climate believers,' she said. 'To us, climate change is not a matter of faith or belief; it is purely a matter of hard fact, and this government is determined to do everything we can to meet our goals of the Paris Agreement, including holding the increase in average temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius of warming. This government's net zero plan is delivering on the legislated target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.' She also outlined how Labor planned to tackle the 'cost-of-living monster that everyone my age talks about housing' by allowing people to buy a home with just a five per cent deposit. 'Saving a 20 per cent deposit to get into homeownership whilst paying rent is an unscalable mountain for most of us,' she said. 'The median home price in Australia today is $820,000. Five per cent of that is $41,000. The last time $41,000 covered the 20 per cent deposit for a median home was in 2002. I wasn't even born in 2002.
