Australians ‘feel strongly' about Middle East conflict: Anthony Albanese
Mr Albanese's comments come after the large pro-Palestine protest in Sydney.
'Australians want people to stop killing each other.'
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ABC News
7 minutes ago
- ABC News
Netanyahu meets with security officials amid reports Israel's considering full takeover of Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with senior security officials to finalise a new strategy for the 22-month war in Gaza, his office said on Tuesday, with Israeli media reporting he is leaning towards a complete military takeover of the Strip. Despite intense international pressure for a ceasefire to ease hunger and appalling conditions in the besieged Palestinian enclave, efforts to mediate a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas have collapsed. Eight more people died of starvation or malnutrition in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said, while another 79 died in the latest Israeli firing. Israel disputes these figures but does not release its own to counter them. The prime minister's office said in a statement that Mr Netanyahu had held a "limited security discussion" lasting about three hours during which military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir "presented the options for continuing the campaign in Gaza". An Israeli official had earlier told Reuters that Defence Minister Israel Katz and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a confidant of Netanyahu, would also attend the meeting to decide on a strategy to take to a Cabinet meeting expected to take place on Thursday. Israel's Channel 12, citing an official from Mr Netanyahu's office, had said the prime minister was leaning towards taking control of the entire territory. Such a move would reverse a 2005 decision to withdraw from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, a move right-wing parties blame for Hamas gaining power there. It was unclear, however, whether Mr Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged occupation or a short-term operation aimed at dismantling Hamas and freeing Israeli hostages. The prime minister's office declined to comment on the Channel 12 report. "It is still necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, release our hostages and ensure that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel," Mr Netanyahu told new recruits at a military base. "We are not giving up on any of these missions." On Saturday, Hamas released a video of Evyatar David, one of 50 hostages still held in Gaza, appearing emaciated in what seemed to be an underground tunnel. The images shocked Israelis and sparked international condemnation. Throughout the war, there has been sustained international pressure on Hamas to release the remaining hostages, of whom Israeli officials estimate 20 are still alive. Most hostages have been released during ceasefires following diplomatic negotiations. Israel broke the last ceasefire. A Palestinian official told news agency Reuters the suggestion of a full takeover of Gaza may be a tactic to pressure Hamas into concessions, while the Palestinian Foreign Ministry urged foreign nations to take heed of the reports. "The ministry urges countries and the international community to treat these leaks with utmost seriousness and to intervene urgently to prevent their implementation, whether these leaks are meant to exert pressure, test international reactions, or are genuine and serious," the offical said. Israel's coalition government, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in its history, includes far-right politicians who advocate the annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank and encourage Palestinians to leave their homeland. Nearly two years of fighting in Gaza has strained the military, which has a small standing army and has had to repeatedly mobilise reservists. It has throughout the war pushed back against the idea of Israel fully occupying Gaza. In a sign of differences between some members of Israel's ruling coalition and the military, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on X challenged military head Mr Zamir to state he would comply with government directives even if a decision was made to take all of Gaza. The statement from Mr Netanyahu's office said the Israeli Defence Forces were "prepared to implement any decision that will be made by the Political-Security Cabinet". The war was triggered when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing 251 hostages. Israel's military response has devastated the tiny, crowded enclave, killing more than 61,000 people — mostly civilians — according to Palestinian health authorities. Israel's campaign has forced nearly all of Gaza's more than two million people from their homes and caused what a global hunger monitor called last week an unfolding famine. Some 188 Palestinians, including 94 children, have died from hunger since the war began, according to Gaza authorities. An Israeli security official, in a briefing to reporters, acknowledged there may be hunger in some parts of Gaza but rejected reports of famine or starvation. On Tuesday, Israeli tanks pushed into central Gaza but it was not clear if the move was part of a larger ground offensive. Reuters
The Australian
4 hours ago
- The Australian
Chalmers' economic reform summit downgraded to red tape focus
Jim Chalmers has put a lot of effort into an economic reform roundtable that his government is now talking down as an ideas vehicle to cut red tape and drive housing productivity. Both the Treasurer and Anthony Albanese are lowering expectations to a point where major tax reform and proposals to rein in structural spending will be thrown in the 'too hard' basket. Chalmers can't be faulted for his energetic approach to the Prime Minister's productivity roundtable, which the Treasurer rebadged as an economic reform roundtable open to big tax, investment and growth policy ideas. By Friday, Chalmers would have met 75 chief executive and senior industry representatives. After meeting the Business Council of Australia this week, he would have met the BCA and ACTU twice since his June 18 National Press Club speech outlining Labor's priorities for 'economic reform in our second term'. From July 8 to August 15, Albanese government ministers will have held 41 ministerial roundtables that will feed in to Chalmers' three-day economic reform summit at Parliament House between August 19 and 21. There have been 900 submissions to Treasury ahead of the roundtable, which won't be publicly released. In addition to messaging the PM almost every day about the roundtable, Chalmers has also spoken with Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson for about 30 to 40 hours about ideas being floated to lift sluggish productivity. Despite Chalmers slaving away on what could have been a seminal moment for the second-term government's economic reform agenda, the roundtable is in danger of becoming a talkfest with generic promises of action. The 23 'core attendees', who include CBA chief executive Matt Comyn, former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey, ACTU secretary Sally McManus, BCA chief Bran Black and opposition Treasury spokesman Ted O'Brien, will be joined by 24 others invited to specific sessions. New invitees include ATO commissioner Rob Heferen, Tesla chair Robyn Denholm and Macquarie Group managing director Shemara Wikramanayake. At the end of three days of talks – which will not be subject to Chatham House rules, meaning participants can speak their minds – Chalmers is not expected to unveil a communique or secure broad agreement across a range of economic reform proposals. Instead, he will give the nation an update on the top issues and commit to going away and working on them. Major tax reform is expected to play second fiddle to a new primary focus: deregulation, cutting red tape, and sparking productivity in the housing sector. There is no doubt all levels of government need to axe red and green tape that is stifling productivity and stalling economic activity and investment. But that surely could be progressed without so much rigmarole. An alliance of up to 30 business and industry groups is calling for the government to match decisive action taken by British Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer and slash red tape by as much as 25 per cent by 2030. Without speeding up approvals, Labor's housing, renewables, emissions reduction and net zero targets will fall short. After one term of not moving aggressively enough, Chalmers must bring governments with him and rid the country of red tape and slow bureaucratic processes.
The Australian
4 hours ago
- The Australian
Economic reform roundtable: What Chalmers has planned revealed
Jim Chalmers is shifting the goalposts on his economic reform roundtable to focus outcomes on deregulation, cutting red tape and housing productivity – rather than major tax reform or reining in record government spending. Ahead of the Treasurer meeting the Business Council of Australia and other top chief executives this week, Anthony Albanese and Dr Chalmers are lowering expectations of significant reforms across a range of tax and economic policy issues. Drawing inspiration from the book Abundance, penned by progressive liberals working at The New York Times and The Atlantic, Dr Chalmers will seek consensus from business, union and community leaders on deregulation, productivity and lifting housing activity. The move away from more ambitious proposals to turbocharge Australia's sluggish economy comes amid rising anxiety in private-sector ranks about a unions ambush and the government using business leaders as cover to pursue tax crackdowns on employers and property investors. Despite the hype fuelled by the government over the potential for a contest of ideas at the three-day roundtable hosted by Dr Chalmers at Parliament House from August 19 to 21, The Australian understands there will not be a shared communique at the end of the summit suggesting unanimous agreement on contentious proposals. Instead, Dr Chalmers is expected to provide a wrap-up of the roundtable, and mention a handful of specific changes he will be tasked with implementing. Dr Chalmers, who will have met 75 chief executives and senior industry representatives before the roundtable, is expected to elevate the focus on what Labor describes as 'better regulation' to ramp up productivity and speed-up housing approvals. The Australian understands Treasury secretary Jenny Wilkinson, who will not publicly release the 900 roundtable submissions her department has received, has been involved in 30 to 40 hours of discussions with Dr Chalmers about proposals put forward. On the back of those discussions, the government has decided that deregulation and speeding up approvals across all tiers of government will now be the roundtable's central plank. The Treasurer, who does not believe all regulation is negative, is recalibrating the summit away from tax reform amid tax policy clashes between unions, business and the Productivity Commission. The return to prioritising productivity follows the Prime Minister initially referring to the post-election gathering as the 'productivity roundtable' before Dr Chalmers dubbed it the 'economic reform roundtable'. Mr Albanese, who shut down Dr Chalmers' signalling that GST changes could be on the table for discussion, said on Monday: 'This is a roundtable … just that … it is not more than that, it's not a replacement of the cabinet.' In June, Dr Chalmers said he was open to most ideas on tax at the roundtable, including the GST. 'I suspect the states will have a view about the GST,' he said. 'It's not a view that I've been attracted to historically, but I'm going to try not to get in the process of shooting ideas between now and the roundtable.' The roundtable, to be officially launched by Mr Albanese, will focus on 'resilience' on day one, 'productivity' on day two and 'budget sustainability' on day three. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock, Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood and Ms Wilkinson will deliver presentations ahead of formal discussions on each day. Ms Wilkinson will outline some of the big spending areas in a budget Dr Chalmers has described as unsustainable. She will reinforce the Treasurer's criteria that any reforms need to be budget-neutral at a minimum, in the national interest, and specific and practical. Ms Wood, who has already provided recommendations to the Treasurer on tax, energy and AI, has suggested a cashflow tax that would have been neutral to the budget in the medium term but was immediately rejected by big business. The Board of Treasurers, chaired by NSW's Daniel Mookhey, met last week and will finalise state and territory government positions ahead of the roundtable at a meeting late next week. Mr Mookhey is the only state and territory government representative at the roundtable, which has excluded local government officials despite a deregulation push across all tiers of government. Housing Minister Clare O'Neil, who met industry and union bosses on Tuesday, will hold talks with local government representatives in a separate roundtable on Wednesday as she seeks to achieve Labor's target of 1.2 million new homes by mid-2029. Between July 8 and August 15, ministers will have held 41 separate roundtables with stakeholders. Ms O'Neil said: 'It takes much longer to approve a home than to build one … this needs to change. Building regulations need to be simpler, environmental approvals faster and new technologies easier to adopt.' Housing Industry Australia chief executive Simon Croft who attended Ms O'Neil's roundtable said he was encouraged to see this level of government engagement. Dr Chalmers has met business executives including Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn, Westpac's Anthony Miller, HSBC's Antony Shaw and Barrenjoey's Matthew Grounds, as well as BHP's Mike Henry, Woodside's Meg O'Neill, Rio Tinto's Kellie Parker, INPEX's Bill Townsend, Fortescue's Dino Otranto, Shell Australia's Cecile Wake, Wesfarmers boss Rob Scott, Google chief Mel Silva, Telstra's Vicki Brady and AustralianSuper chief executive Paul Schroder. Invitees to Dr Chalmers' roundtable, who will not be forced to sign confidentiality agreements and can speak publicly about discussions, include Tech Council of Australia chair Scott Farquhar, ACTU secretary Sally McManus, BCA chief executive Bran Black, ACOSS chief Cassandra Goldie, IFM Investors chair Cath Bowtell, Australian Retirement Trust chair Andrew Fraser, Woodside board member Benn Wyatt and Mr Comyn. Opposition Treasury spokesman Ted O'Brien, who has been meeting business leaders, will attend but is unlikely to push any major reforms given the Coalition is working through a policy review. The Australian can reveal that a business alliance working together ahead of the roundtable has swelled to 30 industry groups and is preparing a pre-summit joint statement outlining their priorities for outcomes. BHP Australia president Geraldine Slattery on Tuesday warned that any 'meaningful conversation about productivity' must focus on making tax settings more globally competitive to help unlock new investment and growth across the private sector. Amid calls from unions for the Albanese government to hike taxes for the country's biggest companies, Ms Slattery said 'proposals to increase the tax burden on Australian businesses would be counter-productive'. Labor's too hard basket piles up ahead of roundtable Politics The Productivity Commission has proposed giving tech giants free access to Australian content for AI training, sparking fears creators will miss out on compensation. Economics New regulation risks $116bn in economic gains at risk, Productivity Commission warns Jim Chalmers.
