Clausen accuses Newcastle lord mayor of 'rewriting history' over deleted airport posts
NEWCASTLE Labor councillor Declan Clausen has accused Ross Kerridge of "quietly re-writing airport history" after a series of posts raising concerns about its financial position were deleted from the lord mayor's Facebook page.
Cr Clausen said this week that, over the past few days, several of the lord mayor's "most inflammatory posts" about Newcastle Airport, including one where he "boasted" about writing to the Minister and Office of Local Government, have "quietly disappeared".
"Every major decision about the airport was made lawfully, responsibly, and with proper controls and oversight, including from a professional board and external auditor," Cr Clausen said.
"But instead of correcting the record or apologising to the airport and our fellow shareholder, Port Stephens Council, lord mayor Kerridge is quietly deleting the evidence. This isn't leadership."
Cr Clausen said that following the Davidson Business Advisory review, which was released last month, he went looking to confirm "false claims" in one of Cr Kerridge's past posts when he noticed they had been deleted.
The lord mayor said there were differing opinions about how to handle past Facebook posts.
"I was getting messages from the airport indirectly and advice that I should take them down," he said.
"Other people think, 'No, hang on, you should leave them up because you're trying to change history, ' but I made a decision to take them down, and coincidentally, almost immediately, criticism started that I'd taken them down."
The lord mayor's posts were made following a Newcastle Herald investigation revealing the airport faced significant financial pressures. Cr Kerridge also wrote to the NSW Office of Local Government calling for an investigation of the "true" financial position of Newcastle Airport, a move he raised in one of his now-deleted posts.
The airport, which in recent days has announced a new route to Perth and its first year-round international flights, has repeatedly denied any financial issues.
Cr Clausen said deleting social media posts "doesn't undo the damage" to the airport or ratepayers and said the community deserves public accountability from the lord mayor, "not revisionism".
He said the outcomes of the Davidson Business Advisory review confirmed there "was no financial mismanagement" or "governance failures" at the airport.
The Davison review into the council's policies, processes and procedures did not conduct a detailed financial analysis of Newcastle Airport's financial positions and operations.
However, the review report said it is "considered unlikely" that any significant financial risks will be transferred to the City of Newcastle and said the appointment of board directors was carried out with the "necessary governance and council approvals"
The review found enhanced oversight by the council's Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) will be beneficial and has been established with annual reporting and, from December 2024, quarterly reporting.
Asked whether an apology or correction, as requested from his fellow councillors, would be forthcoming, Cr Kerridge said he thinks it's time to "move on".
"I think some people are getting a little bit heated and emotive and trying to prolong this discussion," he said.
"I think the rights and wrongs of this argument are going to go on for a long time, and I think it would be far better if we moved on.
"Not only that, I think the general community is getting distressed by watching all this behaviour, and I think we need to move on."
NEWCASTLE Labor councillor Declan Clausen has accused Ross Kerridge of "quietly re-writing airport history" after a series of posts raising concerns about its financial position were deleted from the lord mayor's Facebook page.
Cr Clausen said this week that, over the past few days, several of the lord mayor's "most inflammatory posts" about Newcastle Airport, including one where he "boasted" about writing to the Minister and Office of Local Government, have "quietly disappeared".
"Every major decision about the airport was made lawfully, responsibly, and with proper controls and oversight, including from a professional board and external auditor," Cr Clausen said.
"But instead of correcting the record or apologising to the airport and our fellow shareholder, Port Stephens Council, lord mayor Kerridge is quietly deleting the evidence. This isn't leadership."
Cr Clausen said that following the Davidson Business Advisory review, which was released last month, he went looking to confirm "false claims" in one of Cr Kerridge's past posts when he noticed they had been deleted.
The lord mayor said there were differing opinions about how to handle past Facebook posts.
"I was getting messages from the airport indirectly and advice that I should take them down," he said.
"Other people think, 'No, hang on, you should leave them up because you're trying to change history, ' but I made a decision to take them down, and coincidentally, almost immediately, criticism started that I'd taken them down."
The lord mayor's posts were made following a Newcastle Herald investigation revealing the airport faced significant financial pressures. Cr Kerridge also wrote to the NSW Office of Local Government calling for an investigation of the "true" financial position of Newcastle Airport, a move he raised in one of his now-deleted posts.
The airport, which in recent days has announced a new route to Perth and its first year-round international flights, has repeatedly denied any financial issues.
Cr Clausen said deleting social media posts "doesn't undo the damage" to the airport or ratepayers and said the community deserves public accountability from the lord mayor, "not revisionism".
He said the outcomes of the Davidson Business Advisory review confirmed there "was no financial mismanagement" or "governance failures" at the airport.
The Davison review into the council's policies, processes and procedures did not conduct a detailed financial analysis of Newcastle Airport's financial positions and operations.
However, the review report said it is "considered unlikely" that any significant financial risks will be transferred to the City of Newcastle and said the appointment of board directors was carried out with the "necessary governance and council approvals"
The review found enhanced oversight by the council's Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) will be beneficial and has been established with annual reporting and, from December 2024, quarterly reporting.
Asked whether an apology or correction, as requested from his fellow councillors, would be forthcoming, Cr Kerridge said he thinks it's time to "move on".
"I think some people are getting a little bit heated and emotive and trying to prolong this discussion," he said.
"I think the rights and wrongs of this argument are going to go on for a long time, and I think it would be far better if we moved on.
"Not only that, I think the general community is getting distressed by watching all this behaviour, and I think we need to move on."
NEWCASTLE Labor councillor Declan Clausen has accused Ross Kerridge of "quietly re-writing airport history" after a series of posts raising concerns about its financial position were deleted from the lord mayor's Facebook page.
Cr Clausen said this week that, over the past few days, several of the lord mayor's "most inflammatory posts" about Newcastle Airport, including one where he "boasted" about writing to the Minister and Office of Local Government, have "quietly disappeared".
"Every major decision about the airport was made lawfully, responsibly, and with proper controls and oversight, including from a professional board and external auditor," Cr Clausen said.
"But instead of correcting the record or apologising to the airport and our fellow shareholder, Port Stephens Council, lord mayor Kerridge is quietly deleting the evidence. This isn't leadership."
Cr Clausen said that following the Davidson Business Advisory review, which was released last month, he went looking to confirm "false claims" in one of Cr Kerridge's past posts when he noticed they had been deleted.
The lord mayor said there were differing opinions about how to handle past Facebook posts.
"I was getting messages from the airport indirectly and advice that I should take them down," he said.
"Other people think, 'No, hang on, you should leave them up because you're trying to change history, ' but I made a decision to take them down, and coincidentally, almost immediately, criticism started that I'd taken them down."
The lord mayor's posts were made following a Newcastle Herald investigation revealing the airport faced significant financial pressures. Cr Kerridge also wrote to the NSW Office of Local Government calling for an investigation of the "true" financial position of Newcastle Airport, a move he raised in one of his now-deleted posts.
The airport, which in recent days has announced a new route to Perth and its first year-round international flights, has repeatedly denied any financial issues.
Cr Clausen said deleting social media posts "doesn't undo the damage" to the airport or ratepayers and said the community deserves public accountability from the lord mayor, "not revisionism".
He said the outcomes of the Davidson Business Advisory review confirmed there "was no financial mismanagement" or "governance failures" at the airport.
The Davison review into the council's policies, processes and procedures did not conduct a detailed financial analysis of Newcastle Airport's financial positions and operations.
However, the review report said it is "considered unlikely" that any significant financial risks will be transferred to the City of Newcastle and said the appointment of board directors was carried out with the "necessary governance and council approvals"
The review found enhanced oversight by the council's Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) will be beneficial and has been established with annual reporting and, from December 2024, quarterly reporting.
Asked whether an apology or correction, as requested from his fellow councillors, would be forthcoming, Cr Kerridge said he thinks it's time to "move on".
"I think some people are getting a little bit heated and emotive and trying to prolong this discussion," he said.
"I think the rights and wrongs of this argument are going to go on for a long time, and I think it would be far better if we moved on.
"Not only that, I think the general community is getting distressed by watching all this behaviour, and I think we need to move on."
NEWCASTLE Labor councillor Declan Clausen has accused Ross Kerridge of "quietly re-writing airport history" after a series of posts raising concerns about its financial position were deleted from the lord mayor's Facebook page.
Cr Clausen said this week that, over the past few days, several of the lord mayor's "most inflammatory posts" about Newcastle Airport, including one where he "boasted" about writing to the Minister and Office of Local Government, have "quietly disappeared".
"Every major decision about the airport was made lawfully, responsibly, and with proper controls and oversight, including from a professional board and external auditor," Cr Clausen said.
"But instead of correcting the record or apologising to the airport and our fellow shareholder, Port Stephens Council, lord mayor Kerridge is quietly deleting the evidence. This isn't leadership."
Cr Clausen said that following the Davidson Business Advisory review, which was released last month, he went looking to confirm "false claims" in one of Cr Kerridge's past posts when he noticed they had been deleted.
The lord mayor said there were differing opinions about how to handle past Facebook posts.
"I was getting messages from the airport indirectly and advice that I should take them down," he said.
"Other people think, 'No, hang on, you should leave them up because you're trying to change history, ' but I made a decision to take them down, and coincidentally, almost immediately, criticism started that I'd taken them down."
The lord mayor's posts were made following a Newcastle Herald investigation revealing the airport faced significant financial pressures. Cr Kerridge also wrote to the NSW Office of Local Government calling for an investigation of the "true" financial position of Newcastle Airport, a move he raised in one of his now-deleted posts.
The airport, which in recent days has announced a new route to Perth and its first year-round international flights, has repeatedly denied any financial issues.
Cr Clausen said deleting social media posts "doesn't undo the damage" to the airport or ratepayers and said the community deserves public accountability from the lord mayor, "not revisionism".
He said the outcomes of the Davidson Business Advisory review confirmed there "was no financial mismanagement" or "governance failures" at the airport.
The Davison review into the council's policies, processes and procedures did not conduct a detailed financial analysis of Newcastle Airport's financial positions and operations.
However, the review report said it is "considered unlikely" that any significant financial risks will be transferred to the City of Newcastle and said the appointment of board directors was carried out with the "necessary governance and council approvals"
The review found enhanced oversight by the council's Audit, Risk and Improvement Committee (ARIC) will be beneficial and has been established with annual reporting and, from December 2024, quarterly reporting.
Asked whether an apology or correction, as requested from his fellow councillors, would be forthcoming, Cr Kerridge said he thinks it's time to "move on".
"I think some people are getting a little bit heated and emotive and trying to prolong this discussion," he said.
"I think the rights and wrongs of this argument are going to go on for a long time, and I think it would be far better if we moved on.
"Not only that, I think the general community is getting distressed by watching all this behaviour, and I think we need to move on."
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In the Dnipropetrovsk province further south, two women aged 45 and 88 were injured, according to local Governor Serhii Lysak. Russian shelling also killed a couple in their 50s in the southern city of Kherson, close to the front lines, local Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said its forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight, over the country's south and west, including near the capital. Drone debris injured two civilians in the suburbs of Moscow, local Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported. On Friday, Russia struck six Ukrainian territories, killing at least six people and injuring about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. A US-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, although the negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs. The sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands. US President Donald Trump said this week that Putin told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack on Russian military airfields last Sunday. Trump also said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia "fight for a while" before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signalled he might be giving up on recent peace efforts. A large Russian drone-and-missile attack has targeted Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least three people and injuring 21, local officials say. The barrage - the latest in almost-daily, widescale attacks - included aerial glide bombs that have become part of a fierce Russian onslaught in the three-year war. The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine in the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon - especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight on Saturday, and Ukrainian air defences shot down and neutralised 87 drones and seven missiles. Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. "To put an end to Russia's killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine," he said. The Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday said its forces carried out a night-time strike on Ukrainian military targets, including ammunition depots, drone assembly workshops, and weaponry repair stations. There was no comment from Moscow on the reports of casualties in Kharkiv. Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the strikes also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Terekhov said it was "the most powerful attack" on the city since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kharkiv's regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said two districts in the city were struck with three missiles, five aerial glide bombs and 48 drones. He said two children, a baby boy and a 14-year-old girl, were among the injured. In the Dnipropetrovsk province further south, two women aged 45 and 88 were injured, according to local Governor Serhii Lysak. Russian shelling also killed a couple in their 50s in the southern city of Kherson, close to the front lines, local Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said its forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight, over the country's south and west, including near the capital. Drone debris injured two civilians in the suburbs of Moscow, local Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported. On Friday, Russia struck six Ukrainian territories, killing at least six people and injuring about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. A US-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, although the negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs. The sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands. US President Donald Trump said this week that Putin told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack on Russian military airfields last Sunday. Trump also said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia "fight for a while" before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signalled he might be giving up on recent peace efforts. A large Russian drone-and-missile attack has targeted Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least three people and injuring 21, local officials say. The barrage - the latest in almost-daily, widescale attacks - included aerial glide bombs that have become part of a fierce Russian onslaught in the three-year war. The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine in the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon - especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight on Saturday, and Ukrainian air defences shot down and neutralised 87 drones and seven missiles. Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. "To put an end to Russia's killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine," he said. The Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday said its forces carried out a night-time strike on Ukrainian military targets, including ammunition depots, drone assembly workshops, and weaponry repair stations. There was no comment from Moscow on the reports of casualties in Kharkiv. Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the strikes also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Terekhov said it was "the most powerful attack" on the city since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kharkiv's regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said two districts in the city were struck with three missiles, five aerial glide bombs and 48 drones. He said two children, a baby boy and a 14-year-old girl, were among the injured. In the Dnipropetrovsk province further south, two women aged 45 and 88 were injured, according to local Governor Serhii Lysak. Russian shelling also killed a couple in their 50s in the southern city of Kherson, close to the front lines, local Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said its forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight, over the country's south and west, including near the capital. Drone debris injured two civilians in the suburbs of Moscow, local Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported. On Friday, Russia struck six Ukrainian territories, killing at least six people and injuring about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. A US-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, although the negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs. The sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. 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The intensity of the Russian attacks on Ukraine in the past weeks has further dampened hopes that the warring sides could reach a peace deal anytime soon - especially after Kyiv recently embarrassed the Kremlin with a surprising drone attack on military airfields deep inside Russia. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russia struck with 215 missiles and drones overnight on Saturday, and Ukrainian air defences shot down and neutralised 87 drones and seven missiles. Several other areas in Ukraine were also hit, including the regions of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, and the city of Ternopil, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. "To put an end to Russia's killing and destruction, more pressure on Moscow is required, as are more steps to strengthen Ukraine," he said. The Russian Defence Ministry on Saturday said its forces carried out a night-time strike on Ukrainian military targets, including ammunition depots, drone assembly workshops, and weaponry repair stations. There was no comment from Moscow on the reports of casualties in Kharkiv. Kharkiv's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, said the strikes also damaged 18 apartment buildings and 13 private homes. Terekhov said it was "the most powerful attack" on the city since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kharkiv's regional governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said two districts in the city were struck with three missiles, five aerial glide bombs and 48 drones. He said two children, a baby boy and a 14-year-old girl, were among the injured. In the Dnipropetrovsk province further south, two women aged 45 and 88 were injured, according to local Governor Serhii Lysak. Russian shelling also killed a couple in their 50s in the southern city of Kherson, close to the front lines, local Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported in a Facebook post. Meanwhile, Russia's defence ministry said its forces shot down 36 Ukrainian drones overnight, over the country's south and west, including near the capital. Drone debris injured two civilians in the suburbs of Moscow, local Governor Andrei Vorobyov reported. On Friday, Russia struck six Ukrainian territories, killing at least six people and injuring about 80. Among the dead were three emergency responders in Kyiv, one person in Lutsk and two people in Chernihiv. A US-led diplomatic push for a settlement has brought two rounds of direct peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine, although the negotiations delivered no significant breakthroughs. The sides remain far apart on their terms for an end to the fighting. Ukraine has offered an unconditional 30-day ceasefire and a meeting between its President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to break the deadlock. But the Kremlin has effectively rejected a truce and hasn't budged from its demands. US President Donald Trump said this week that Putin told him Moscow would respond to Ukraine's attack on Russian military airfields last Sunday. Trump also said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia "fight for a while" before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Trump's comments were a remarkable detour from his often-stated appeals to stop the war and signalled he might be giving up on recent peace efforts.
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‘Progressive patriot' prime minister faces his call to arms
'In today's Australia, the new default should be that patriotism is a love of country that is democratic and egalitarian. It is something that includes those of different races and backgrounds,' he wrote in this masthead a couple of weeks ago. 'With his political authority unquestioned, Albanese has an opportunity to craft a nation-building agenda. The significance is more than just national. At the moment, parties of the centre-left are struggling to find compelling alternatives to Trumpist populism.' Albanese's defiance of America doesn't come out of nowhere. It rings a Labor bell. It resonates with the decision by Labor's celebrated wartime leader, John Curtin, to defy Australia's great and powerful friend of his time, Britain. 'I'm conscious about the leadership of John Curtin, choosing to stand up to Winston Churchill and say, 'No, I'm bringing the Australian troops home to defend our own continent, we're not going to just let it go',' Albanese said last year as he prepared to walk the Kokoda Track, where Australia and Papua New Guinea halted Imperial Japan's southward march of conquest in World War II. Defiance of allies is one thing. Defeat of the enemy is another. In a moment of truth-telling, the Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral David Johnston, this week said that Australia now had to plan to wage war from its own continental territory rather than preparing for war in far-off locations. 'We are having to reconsider Australia as a homeland from which we will conduct combat operations,' Johnston told a conference held by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. 'That is a very different way – almost since the Second World War – of how we think of national resilience and preparedness. We may need to operate and conduct combat operations from this country.' He didn't spell it out, but he's evidently contemplating the possibility that China will cut off Australia's seaborne supply routes, either because it's waging war in the Taiwan Strait or South China Sea, or because it's seeking to coerce Australia. 'The chief of the defence force is speaking truth,' says Professor Peter Dean, co-author of the government's Defence Strategic Review, now at the US Studies Centre at Sydney University. 'There's a line in the Defence Strategic Review that most people overlook – it talks about 'the defence of Australia against potential threats arising from major power competition, including the prospect of conflict'. And there's only one major power posing a threat in our region.' History accelerates week by week. Trump, chaos factory, wantonly discards America's unique sources of power and abuses its allies. China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin are emboldened, seeing America's credibility crumbling. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, alarmed at the rising risks, this week declared a campaign to make Britain 'battle ready' to 'face down Russian aggression'. Loading Starmer plans to enlarge the army, commission up to a dozen new nuclear-powered submarines jointly built with Australia under AUKUS, build six new munitions factories, manufacture 7000 long-range weapons, renew the nuclear warheads on Britain's strategic missiles, and put new emphasis on drones and cyberwar as war evolves daily on the battlefields of Ukraine. Starmer intends to increase defence outlays to the equivalent of 2.5 per cent of GDP with an eventual target of 3 per cent. Ukraine's impressive drone strike on Russia's bombers this week knocked out a third of Moscow's force, with AI guiding the drones to their targets. The Australian retired major-general Mick Ryan observes that Ukraine and Russia are upgrading and adapting drone warfare weekly. 'The Australian government has worked hard to ignore these hard-earned lessons and these cheaper military solutions,' he wrote scathingly in this masthead this week, 'while building a dense bureaucracy in Canberra that innovative drone-makers in Australia cannot penetrate in any reasonable amount of time.' At the same time, the FBI charged two Chinese researchers with attempting to smuggle a toxic fungus into the US. It's banned because it can cause mass destruction of crops. A potential bioweapon, in other words. What would John Curtin do today? 'Curtin, like Albanese, was from the left of the Labor Party,' says Dean. 'He was not an internationalist, he was very domestic focused.' Indeed, he was an avowed Marxist who believed that capitalism was in its late phase and bound to fail, leading to world peace. He abandoned his idealism when confronted by the reality of World War II. 'He realised that a leader has to lead for his times. He had to bend his interests from the domestic sphere to the international.' Curtin famously wrote that, after Britain's 'impregnable fortress' of Singapore fell to the Japanese in just a few days, Australia looked to America as its great and powerful friend. 'Albanese can't repeat that,' observes Dean, 'because there's no one else to turn to.' 'A modern John Curtin,' says the head of the National Security College at ANU, Rory Medcalf, 'would take account of the strategic risk facing the unique multicultural democratic experiment of Australia. He'd unite the community and bring the trade unions, industry, the states and territories together in a national effort. 'It's certainly not about beating the drums of war, but we do need a much more open conversation about national preparedness. Australia might be directly involved in war, but, even if we aren't, we will be affected indirectly [by war to our north] because of risks to our fuel security, risks to the normal functioning of the economy and risks to the cohesion of our society. Is there scope to use national cabinet' – which includes the states and territories – 'to talk about these issues?' And the defence budget? Albanese is dismissive of calls to peg spending by set percentages of GDP. Apply that to any other area of the budget and you'd be laughed out of the room. The prime minister prefers to decide on capability that's needed, then to fund it accordingly. How big a gun do you need, then find money to pay for it. Medcalf endorses this approach of deciding capability before funding, but says that risk should come before both. 'And if you look at risk first, it will push spending well above 2 per cent of GDP and much closer to 3 or 4 per cent.' Regardless of what the Americans say or do. Do they turn out to be dependable but demanding? Or uselessly absent? 'Australia will need to spend more either way,' says Medcalf. 'The only future where we don't need to increase our security investment is one where we accept greatly reduced sovereignty in a China-dominated region.'
Sky News AU
6 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Victorian Labor government to spend $81 million on economic and policy advice
Victoria Shadow Treasurer James Newbury discusses the prediction of the Victorian Labor government to spend $81 million in the current budget on economic and policy advice. 'The government is hiring an executive on $220,000 a day,' Mr Newbury told Sky News host Steve Price. 'For $81 million, I don't think we're getting very good advice because the government doesn't seem to be getting any better. 'What's this $81 million going towards?'
