Australian news and politics live: McKenzie warns Australia must rely on allies amid global threats
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Former White House cost-cutting chief Elon Musk has taken aim at US President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax and spending package, calling it a 'disgusting abomination' as the Senate moves to pass the bill before July 4.
In a post on X, Mr Musk's social media platform, he wrote: 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it'.
Having left the Trump Administration last week, Musk described the measure as a 'massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.'
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Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff's shaky hold on government is in danger of collapsing, after the opposition flagged a no-confidence motion.
In his budget reply speech on Tuesday, Labor Opposition Leader Dean Winter said he would put forward the no-confidence motion in Mr Rockliff, challenging the crossbench to support it.
Key independent Craig Garland said he would support the motion, telling
The Australian
the Liberal government's state budget last week that doubled state debt, the controversial AFL stadium project and the TT-Line ferries fiasco were keys to his decision.
'I'll be supporting a no-confidence motion in the Premier. I'm just sick to death of the arrogance and ignorance,' he said.
Independent Kristie Johnston and Jacqui Lambie Network MP Andrew Jenner have also signalled support.
Read the full story here.
The UK is ramping up its military, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declaring the country must be in a state of 'war-fighting readiness' amid rising global threats.
Australia's government says it will not automatically follow the UK's lead, despite US calls for even higher defence spending.
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie has responded to whether Australia should be considering training up for war like the UK.
'Of course we should! I mean, we have two key allies globally, the United States and the United Kingdom. When you've got the Labour Party in the United Kingdom taking these sort of steps, when you have the United States saying we need to ramp up our investment in Defence, it's not for nothing,' she told Sunrise on Wednesday morning.
'We know we're in very challenging geopolitical times. It's not just the commentators. The threat is real. Other nations, other key allies, are taking that seriously.'
She added, 'And the reality is, if we wanted to go it alone and defend ourselves, we could increase our Defence budget five times and still be falling short of being able to defend ourselves. So we need to rely on our allies. We always have.'
'And so I think Richard Marles, the Defence Minister, made the right call when the United States made this an issue. Unfortunately, the PM tried to look tough. The reality is we can't do it alone. The threat is real. And we need to step up.'
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