Lammy and Healey to sign bilateral Aukus deal during trip to Australia
David Lammy and John Healey will meet their counterparts at the annual Australia-UK ministerial meeting, or Aukmin, in Sydney, and then travel on to Melbourne to meet businesses involved in the Aukus submarine programme.
They will also visit Darwin as the Carrier Strike Group docks in the Northern Territory.
The Aukus partnership between the UK, US and Australia involves building nuclear-powered attack submarines – including Australia acquiring its first such fleet – and co-operating in other areas of defence.
It was agreed by the three countries in 2021, but the Trump administration has put it under review, raising fears it could pull out.
The deal now being signed by the UK and Australia sets out the bilateral aspects of the partnership and how the two countries will work together to deliver their Aukus submarine programmes over the next half century.
Defence Secretary Mr Healey said: 'Aukus is one of Britain's most important defence partnerships, strengthening global security while driving growth at home.
'This historic treaty confirms our Aukus commitment for the next half century.'
He said people 'not yet born' will benefit from jobs secured through the deal.
More than 21,000 people in the UK are expected to be working on the programme at its peak.
Foreign Secretary Mr Lammy said the UK-Australia relationship is 'like no other'.
He added: 'In our increasingly volatile and dangerous world, our anchoring friendship has real impact in the protection of global peace and prosperity.
'Our new bilateral Aukus treaty is an embodiment of that – safeguarding a free and open Indo-Pacific whilst catalysing growth for both our countries.'
The UK's Carrier Strike Group – an international formation of Royal Navy warships, submarines and aircraft – has been taking part in the Talisman Sabre military exercise hosted in Australia.
The Australia and US-led military exercise involves more than 35,000 military personnel from 19 countries.
Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: 'Aukus was a landmark achievement of the last Conservative government and it's essential that Labour keeps up the momentum, including on industrial collaboration.
'We welcome further progress but this must deliver in practice, both in terms of jobs and strengthened mutual security, at a time of heightened threats.'
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The Guardian
25 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Does Queensland have a crocodile problem or a people problem?
'We from the country have had enough.' So ends the submission of Kelvin Douglas John Bunyan to a Queensland parliamentary committee considering legislation that would allow for safari style hunting and the harvesting of eggs of the most fearsome apex predator of the tropical north: the saltwater crocodile. The 177 submissions lodged in response to Katter's Australian party's Crocodile Control and Conservation bill 2025 are penned by the kind of rich and colourful cast for which the far north is renowned. And, like the country itself, they are submissions full of surprise and contradiction. There is the bowhunter, spearfisher, ex-professional fighter and diesel trucks driver who writes with passion and erudition that the proposed crocodile cull is 'incredibly naive', unscientific and dangerous – and then there is the general practitioner and standup paddle boarder who believes crocodiles need to be 'kept in their place' so that young people can get off their phones and back into the fresh waterways. There is the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, which supports the bill 'overall' – though with the important caveats that Indigenous people play a more integral role in croc management and that the species' conservation be given greater emphasis. Then there is the Kunggandji Cultural Custodian to whom Kunjurra Kunggandji – or the saltwater crocodile in his language – is a totem, a spiritual guide, an ancestor and for whom the killing of this sacred animal is the killing of kin. Sign up: AU Breaking News email There are the tour guides who say they would be embarrassed to tell international visitors they lived in a state that slaughtered wild crocs and that removing salties would hurt their businesses. Then the charter boat operators and fishing guides who fear for their industries should the bill not pass. There is the houseboat resident who says she nearly lost her husband to a lunging croc a week after it took her dog. And the Daintree forest dwellers who say their swampy retreat is healthier with crocodiles in it. There is Bunyan, born in 1961, who grew up on a farm in the Innisfail region and who writes – almost entirely unburdened by punctuation – with echoes of the wild poetry of the Jerilderie Letter, that handwritten manifesto of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly. 'At those times there was no crocodiles however eventually after 10 or so years we suspected that they're crocodiles and sure enough on New Year's Day in about 1983 several young children on the side of the river we're going down for a swim when a crocodile took their pet dog my father warned me that at some point that would be the case making one of the children but fortunately Oh well unfortunately for the dog he was the victim in that case … ' And there is the University of Queensland's crocodile expert, Prof Craig E Franklin. A global authority on Crocodylus porosus, Franklin is the scientific lead for the world's largest and longest active tracking program of crocodiles, which is done in collaboration with Australia Zoo on the saltwater crocs of far north Queensland. Franklin recommended the bill be rejected outright, describing it as 'foolish, misguided and dangerous'. In the end, it was by the likes of Franklin that the parliamentary committee tasked with reading through these submissions – and attending several public hearings as well as travelling through croc country – was swayed when they handed down their recommendations on the crocodile bill in late July. The Health, Environment and Innovation Committee recommended the bill not be passed and was, Franklin says, 'quite damning' of the proposal. The Gold Coast-based Liberal National party chair, Rob Molhoek, began his forward to the report by noting more Australians are 'injured or killed by everyday incidents like accidental falls, choking, drowning or homicide than by crocodiles'. In 2023 one Australian was killed by a crocodile, compared with six people by dogs, while accidental falling accounted for 4,105 deaths, choking 1,427 and drowning 204, he wrote. Molhoek cited Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service's croc expert, Simon Booth, who argued that even if crocodiles could be removed from the state's waterways, the stealthy ambush predators would still migrate in from afar. And the International Union on the Conservation of Nature's Crocodile Committee co-chair Charlie Manolis, who continued, with more than a hint of sarcasm, that making waterways safe in Queensland was 'simple'. 'You have to make crocodiles extinct entirely – remove every single one of them – and then put a fence up between the Northern Territory and Queensland, to stop them swimming across, put up another fence between Papua New Guinea and us to stop them coming down, and then you will be able to guarantee safety,' Manolis wrote. Finally, Molhoek signed off with a nod to those who said that crocodile attacks were often a result of people engaging in risky behaviour – and that the key to avoiding human fatalities was to encourage 'crocwise' behaviour. 'Throughout this inquiry, many submitters told the committee that fundamentally Queensland does not have a crocodile problem; Queensland has a people problem,' he wrote. For the man who tabled the bill, KAP's Shane Knuth, the 'people problem' line adds insult to injury. 'That is the biggest woke, insulting statement that I've ever come across since I've been in the parliament, 21 years,' he tells the Guardian. Knuth says his bill – which also called for the creation of a Queensland Crocodile Authority based in Cairns and the creation of 'zero-tolerance' crocodile zones – would help take the fresh waterways of the north back to the 'good old days' of the '70s, 80s, 90s and even early 2000s' when swimming the creeks and waterholes carried an 'acceptable risk'. He cites the example of the Tully River in his electorate of Hill, south of Cairns. 'That river, 20 years ago, was full of families camped on the sands, kids snorkelling,' he said. 'Now it is completely taken over by crocs'. Knuth rejects the evidence submitted by scientists which showed crocodile numbers were stable or still gradually recovering from being hunted to near local extinction. 'Just tell 'em to come swim across the North Johnstone River or the Tully,' he says. 'That's the true science of whether there is an explosion in croc numbers or it's an illusion'. The LNP defector from Tully laments that there were no north Queenslanders on the parliamentary committee, and that they 'wouldn't have a clue of the reality of what's going on here in the north'. Brisbane-based Franklin bristles at that criticism, which he says is frequently directed at him. 'I've spent well and truly more than a year of my life living under canvas in north Queensland catching crocodiles – and I do that safely,' he says. 'It is easy to live alongside crocodiles. It is just following common sense and some simple rules'. The crocodile researcher left Brisbane on Friday for a month of crocodile field work on the Wenlock River north of Weipa. Knuth's bill will probably be debated in parliament in coming weeks. If, as the parliamentary committee recommends, it is rejected, Knuth promises it won't be the last word on a croc cull. This is the fifth similar bill he has tabled since 2017. 'I will keep tabling and putting in bills until north Queensland is heard and action is taken'.
The Sun
25 minutes ago
- The Sun
Starmer's gesture politics on Palestine and why a vote for Corbyn's new party will put Nigel Farage in Downing Street
JEREMY Corbyn's party hasn't even launched yet and it is already calling the shots with this government – starting with the recognition of Palestine. Keir Starmer is terrified Jeremy and his band of pro-Gaza MPs will hoover up the Muslim vote and cost Labour the next election. 6 6 So in a jaw-dropping speech on Tuesday, he announced the UK will recognise an independent state of Palestine unless Israel signs up to a ceasefire and long-term peace process. It was an astonishing change in position from Keir, who just days earlier dismissed the stance as gesture politics. So what changed? The grim facts on the ground in the Middle East remained the same. Hamas is still refusing to release the Israeli hostages kidnapped on October 7 and held in cold, dank tunnels buried deep underneath Gaza. They have been there for more than 660 days. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu still shows no signs of being willing to accept a two-state solution. And innocent civilians in Gaza are paying the price for Hamas' reign of terror. Appalling images of starving children desperately queuing for food have haunted our TV screens and newspaper pages. The only thing that has changed is the news Corbyn is launching a new party to challenge Labour. No10 denies Keir is tearing up 75 years of foreign policy because he is running scared of Jezza. Moved by appalling images of emaciated children, he is launching a last-ditch bid to get Netanyahu to re-engage with the peace process, they say. But recognising the state of Palestine will not put food into the belly of a single hungry child in Gaza. It will not release a single hostage snatched by Hamas as they slept in their beds or danced at a music festival. And it will not bring the Middle East a single step closer to peace. It is the very essence of gesture politics Keir Starmer claims to despise. Biggest danger There is no doubt the new Corbyn party poses a massive challenge for Keir. They plan to target seats with big Muslim populations. There are fears inside Labour that 'London could fall'. Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner are being targeted. Zarah Sultana — a former Labour MP who has switched to Corbyn's party — will run against Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood in Birmingham Ladywood. The loss of all three of these Cabinet big beasts would be a catastrophe for Labour. Sources close to Jeremy say the party could win around ten seats at the next election. Others reckon the number could be higher — more like 20. But the biggest danger to Labour is not the number of seats the party takes, but the number of votes. Pollsters More In Common say the new party could get ten per cent of the vote, mainly from current Labour and Green supporters. By nibbling at Labour's vote, Corbyn and his crew could hand Nigel Farage's Reform Party a seven-point lead — and a majority in Parliament. So vote Jeremy, get Nigel Farage in No10. Labour Party chiefs are expected to hammer this attack line on a Corbyn-led party. Keir Starmer was also under huge pressure from his own party and base to recognise Palestine. Over 100 Labour MPs had signed a letter demanding he do it. A large chunk of the Cabinet had urged him to do the same. But Keir has spent years painting himself as morally upright and principled standing loftily above the self-interest that motivates others. Now the Prime Minister looks like he is recognising Palestine to save his own political skin. As one party insider put it: 'Keir used to say country first, party second. Where does this decision leave that?' How Ozzy helped Jacob to rock up on reality TV AT first glance Jacob Rees-Mogg and Ozzy Osbourne do not have much in common. 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Judging by the rocker's hell-raising antics, I reckon that will take quite a few Hail Marys, Jacob. CUT OFF PHONE THEFTS STRICTLY dancer Michelle Tsiakkas has become the latest victim of mobile phone thieves to go public. The ballroom dancer was walking through London's Covent Garden in June when a thug on an e-bike snatched her phone. 6 When will this criminal scourge end? As a Londoner, I'm appalled to see how muggers are terrorising the capital on their green e-bikes. A phone is stolen in London every six minutes. That is a shameful statistic. When victims call the police they are just fobbed off and told officers are too busy to investigate – even when the phone has a tracker on it. Within days these mobiles are sold on by criminal gangs and end up around the world in places like China. Enough is enough. Police must take a zero-tolerance approach to these phone snatchers. I don't mind the rental e-bikes which have popped up all over the capital. But they are too easy for thugs to fiddle so they can ride them without paying – and to carry out their muggings. These businesses must step up and improve security. And if London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants a legacy he should hurry up and clean up the streets of our capital. Or his time in City Hall will go down in history as one of failure. MENUS JABBED HESTON BLUMENTHAL has revealed he is on the fat jab, and he's not the only one. The celebrity chef says so many Brits are on Ozempic and Wegovy it risks wrecking the restaurant trade. The days of charging diners through the nose for giant tasting menus might be over, he warns. It costs £395 per person to tuck into the 11-course tasting menu at Blumenthal's own restaurant, The Fat Duck. Looks like the fat jab will shrink Heston's bank balance as well as his waistline. POPE'S BLACK MAGIC Pope Leo XIV is said to have toasted St Patrick's Day this year with a pint of the black stuff. 6 Perhaps the pontiff's love of Irish stout should come as no surprise. He is a Yank after all – and they are known to be huge fans of the Irish tipple. We were always big fans of Guinness in my family. My grandad, Jim O'Sullivan (no awards for guessing where he came from), swore by the medicinal qualities of a pint of Guinness. Whenever me or my brother were feeling sick when we were kids he would suggest taking a long glug of Guinness. It is packed full of iron and would get our strength up, he said in his thick Cork accent. It sounds like The Pope agrees. Drinking Guinness is God for you! The mega-rich Brits are said to be part of a consortium trying to take over the controversial porn site. The property tycoons are considering pumping hundreds of millions of pounds in the project. Well, no one ever became poor overestimating our interest in sex. CHEAP AS LIPS CLOBBERED by the cost-of-living crisis, us girls are turning to small treats like lipstick to give ourselves a little lift. Britain's 'prestige lip market' has grown by 16 per cent in the past six months, according to the market research company Circana. I never leave my flat without a full face of make-up. But last time I bought a lippy it set me back £30, which isn't exactly cheap as chips. Although I guess it's cheaper than a week in Marbella.
The Sun
25 minutes ago
- The Sun
Signs for a migrant hotel should not have been covered up & Govt must be open about crisis
Why such secrecy at hotel for migrants? BRITAIN'S migrant hotel crisis gets more bizarre by the day. It is outrageous that signs for a four-star Hilton Hotel have been covered up after asylum seekers moved in. Is it to deter protests from a furious local community or to hide the embarrassment of offering luxury lodgings beyond the reach of many taxpayers to all-male illegal arrivals? The turreted Doubletree by Hilton in West London was converted into migrant accommodation in November as part of a deal with the Home Office. Its website shows pictures of luxury rooms which in other Hiltons could go for up to £260 a night and boasts of a gym and top-class restaurant. But of course they are no longer available to the public. Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to close down migrant hotels, used by roughly 32,000 asylum seekers, by the end of the current Parliament in 2029. The policy, first introduced by the Tories, has caused national outrage, as yesterday's protests up and down the country showed. But the Government needs to be open about this crisis. Peter Kyle complained to social media firms about posts critical of asylum hotels. Now we see hotel signs being covered. Secrecy is never the right policy in the face of enormous costs to the taxpayer. And the legitimate concerns of voters footing the £4million-a-day bill cannot be covered up as easily as a hotel sign. Moment bus full of asylum seekers are 'snuck into' 4-star London hotel under cover of darkness despite UK-wide protests 1 Glorifying terror This is the grim reality of the war-torn territory that Sir Keir Starmer is proposing to recognise as a state — without even insisting Hamas disarms. These fanatics are not only entrenched in Palestinian life but they are bringing up the next generation to revere Israeli-hating terrorists. They are determined to wipe their neighbour off the map. Why should Britain give them sovereign status? Think again, Sir Keir. Our goalden girls OUR Lionesses have been a beacon of light amidst the summer's economic gloom. The PM is right to hint at honours for their stunning Euros triumph. Last week they each got a winner's medal. Now give them some bling from the King.
