
Australia news live: former ADF chief warns nuclear power plants could be war targets; Greens unveil arts policy
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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 100 kilometres 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. Share
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. Share
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The Independent
22 minutes ago
- The Independent
Independent Scotland would cut ties with Israel, says SNP Westminster leader
An independent Scotland would sever diplomatic ties with Israel, the SNP's Westminster leader has said. Speaking on the News Agents podcast, Stephen Flynn said he was 'deeply upset and angry' about what was happening in Gaza as he hit out at the UK Government's 'weak' position on the issue. The Scottish Government, under the leadership of both Humza Yousaf and John Swinney, has been outspoken on the conflict, consistently calling for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be able to enter Gaza. The Aberdeen South MP also said the UK Government should do something to catch the Israeli government's attention as it looks to ramp up pressure. Asked if an independent Scotland would close its embassies in Israel and break off relations with the country, Mr Flynn said it would. 'I've gone into the House of Commons on God knows how many occasions now and listened to David Lammy and Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, and they've told us how 'we're going to do this, or we're going to do that, and this is the latest thing we're going to do'. 'And then he stands up and says, 'but they're ignoring us'. 'Well, if they're ignoring you, then do something that captures their attention.' Mr Flynn's comments come as the Foreign Secretary announced the UK would be sanctioning two Israeli ministers. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's security minister and finance minister respectively, have been 'inciting violence against Palestinian people for months and months and months, they have been encouraging egregious abuses of human rights', David Lammy said. Both will be subject to a travel ban and asset freeze. The Westminster SNP leader went on to say that it would not be 'wise' for his party's MPs to visit Israel, claiming they were likely to be turned away from the country, as happened with Labour MPs earlier this year, owing to the party's outspoken opposition to the conduct of the war in Gaza. 'I'd be amazed if any of them did, because they're not daft, and they probably know that they would get turned around and stuck on a plane right back out Israel,' he said. 'Look, I'm deeply, deeply upset and angry about what's happened in Gaza, and what continues to happen in Gaza, and the fact that the UK position has been so weak for far too long in respect of this. 'I think it's important that you convey your views to people who are rational actors.'


Telegraph
23 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Hermer praised mosque where preacher urged Muslims to ‘spit on Israel'
Lord Hermer praised a mosque where a preacher urged Muslims to spit on Israel, The Telegraph can reveal. The Attorney General said he found the work of the Abdullah Quilliam Society 'inspiring', less than a year after it was named in a list of Islamic charities accused of harbouring 'hateful rhetoric'. The controversy stemmed from a talk at the mosque by Haroon Hanif, an Islamic scholar, roughly two weeks after the Oct 7 massacre in 2023. The nature of his affiliation with the mosque, if any, is unknown. In the sermon, livestreamed on social media, Mr Hanif told worshippers that Muslims should 'continue waging your war for Allah and his messenger, don't back down'. He added: 'We're large in numbers right now, two billion. If the two billion just marched on Israel it's all over, if you spat in the direction of Israel, two billion, it's all over.' He also said 'any Muslim who thinks the Palestinians are terrorists... you need to question your Imam' and 'no British Army can overpower you'. 'Fanning the flames of division' The comments prompted campaigners to refer the mosque, along with seven other Islamic charities, to the Charity Commission. In an open letter, they accused the organisations of breaching charity guidelines, which state that trustees should be alert to the dangers of 'extremist ideology' or 'extremist views'. Among the signatories were Gideon Falter, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, Maryam Namazie, from the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, Lord Young, a free-speech campaigner, and Prof Richard Dawkins. At the time, Megan Manson, the head of campaigns at the National Secular Society, which also signed the letter, said: 'The Charity Commission must take these concerns seriously. 'The Israel-Hamas war has caused serious tension between different communities around the world, including in the UK. The hateful rhetoric churned out by these charities is fanning the flames of division when we most need to promote cohesion and tolerance.' In response to the referral, Stephen Roake, the Charity Commission's head of compliance visits and inspections, said: 'The Commission acknowledges the concerns that you have raised about the charities. 'I can confirm that we are currently assessing all of the information available to us, in order to determine what regulatory action, if any, may be required for each of the charities identified.' It is understood that the watchdog's assessment is ongoing. Lord Hermer went on to visit the Abdullah Quilliam Society in August 2024, where he discussed ways to keep the Muslim community safe in the wake of the riots triggered by the Southport killings. He said it had been 'truly wonderful' to hear about the community's response to the protests, which affected the mosque directly, and said he had come away with 'many ideas'. In a video posted on the Abdullah Quilliam Society's Instagram account, he said: 'It's been inspiring learning about the work of this mosque... It has been a huge, huge pleasure.' The mosque posted pictures of the trip, adding: 'Thank you for your visit Attorney General Sir Richard Hermer.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Abdullah Quilliam Society (@aqsociety) The revelation has prompted further questions about Lord Hermer's judgment in light of recent headlines. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'This is a complete collapse of standards at the very top of our justice system. 'How on earth are the British people supposed to trust Labour to protect them when their top law officer is applauding mosques allegedly linked to extremism? 'If Starmer had a spine, Hermer would be out by now. But instead of upholding justice, he's upholding his old mate.' The charity's stated purpose is 'to promote correct knowledge and understanding of Islam and its true spirit faith for the benefit of all' and it has previously received around £8,000 in government grants. Earlier this month, The Telegraph revealed the Attorney General declined to review 'unduly lenient' sentences given to a rapist, a paedophile and a terrorist fundraiser despite signing off on the prosecution of Lucy Connolly. He was also forced to apologise over comparing calls for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights to the rise of Nazism.


The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Who are Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli ministers facing sanctions?
The two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers facing sanctions from the UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway are critical to the political survival of Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2022 Netanyahu formed the most rightwing government in Israel's history, brokering a coalition with Bezalel Smotrich, whose Religious Zionism party has 14 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Jewish Power party has six seats. They account for just 20 of his coalition's 67 seats in parliament but carry outsize influence because if they quit – which both repeatedly threaten to do – the government will fall. Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption and fending off calls for an official inquiry into the 7 October 2023 attacks, and keen to avoid early elections. Here are short details of both men's lives and careers before entering government. Smotrich is a messianic settler who was born in the occupied Golan Heights in 1980, now lives in the occupied West Bank and has repeatedly called for Israeli settlers to return to Gaza. He believes Jews have a divine right to all land that made up biblical Israel. A commitment to expanding the area controlled by Jewish Israelis – both in de facto terms and through legal annexation – runs through his personal and political life. In 2005, he was arrested by the Shin Bet security services and questioned for weeks about his role in protests over Israel's plans to withdraw from Gaza, allegedly on suspicion of planning to block roads and damage infrastructure to try to block the withdrawal. He was released without charges being brought, set up an influential rightwing NGO focused on control of occupied land and won his first parliamentary seat in 2015. Homophobic and accused of racism, he backed segregated maternity wards separating Jewish and Arab mothers, called for government reprisal attacks on Palestinians and once organised an anti-gay 'Beast Parade' protest against Gay Pride. Ben-Gvir embraced extremism so young that Israel's domestic security forces barred him from serving in the country's army as a teenager. Born in 1976 to a family of Iraqi heritage in a small town outside Jerusalem, he became a far-right activist while still at school, and continued while studying law. By his early 30s he had been convicted of incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organisation. Those convictions did not stop him from becoming a lawyer, and he specialised in representing Jewish Israelis charged with terrorism-related offences. For years his living room was decorated with a portrait of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein, who gunned down 29 Palestinians in a Hebron mosque in 1994. Goldstein, like Ben-Gvir, was an admirer of the extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. Having spent most of his life as a figure on Israel's political fringe, Ben-Gvir was given the security portfolio when he joined Netanyahu's government. He now controls the police forces that once arrested him, and the jails where he was once held.