Australia news live: business council plan to cut ‘$110bn red tape' including building codes and environmental assessments
Date: 2025-08-14T20:30:12.000Z
Title: Welcome
Content: Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I'm Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories to get you started.
Before next week's economic summit, the Business Council of Australia has outlined a vision to relieve business owners from what it calls the country's '$110bn red tape burden' as the federal government hunts for a solution to the nation's withered productivity. More coming up.
The war in the Pacific ended 80 years ago and a ceremony at the Australian War Memorial later today will remember the service personnel who gave their lives fighting the Japanese. We have more coming up.
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The Independent
11 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ukrainian defenses face a challenge as Russian troops make gains ahead of the Putin-Trump summit
Days before the leaders of Russia and the U.S. hold a summit meeting in Alaska, Moscow 's forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of infiltrations in the country's industrial heartland of Donetsk. This week's advances amount to only a limited success for Russia, analysts say, since it still needs to consolidate its gains before achieving a true breakthrough. Still, it's a potentially dangerous moment for Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin will likely try to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to pressure Ukraine by arguing the 3 1/2-year-old war is going badly for Kyiv, said Mykola Bieleskov, a senior analyst at CBA Initiatives Center. 'The key risk for Ukraine is that the Kremlin will try to turn certain local gains on the battlefield into strategic victories at the negotiating table,' he said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that Putin wants Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30% of the Donetsk region that Kyiv still controls as part of a ceasefire deal, a proposal the Ukrainian leader categorically rejected. After years of fighting, Russia still does not fully control all of the Donetsk region, which it illegally annexed in 2022, along with the Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Infiltration by small groups of Russian forces Attention has been focused on Pokrovsk — a key highway and rail junction that once was home to about 60,000 and now is partially encircled — but Russian forces have been probing for weaknesses north of the city, according to battlefield analysis site DeepState. The forces found a gap east of the coal-mining town of Dobropillia, and advanced about 10 kilometers (6 miles). Zelenskyy noted its clear significance to the summit: 'To create a certain information backdrop ahead of Putin's meeting with Trump, especially in the American information space, suggesting that Russia is moving forward and Ukraine is losing ground.' Small groups of Russian troops are slipping past the first defensive line, hiding and trying to build up their forces, said Dmytro Trehubov, spokesman for Ukraine's 'Dnipro' operational-strategic group. Ukraine's military has been repelling these attempts, he said, although DeepState said the situation has not been stabilized. Analysts described the breach near Dobropillia as a localized crisis that could escalate if the Russians are not neutralized and their main forces can widen the gap. Exploiting an absence of Ukrainian infantry The breach of the defensive line has seemed inevitable for months, according to a drone pilot in the area, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly. Moscow's forces have been exploiting the lack of Ukrainian infantry, a problem tied not only to the country's stalled mobilization but also to poor management, the pilot said. 'We pay with territory and lives to fix mistakes — and we can keep fixing mistakes only as long as we have even a scrap of land left,' the pilot said. Ukrainian forces have tried to plug the gaps by extensive use of first-person-view drones — remotely piloted devices loaded with explosives that allow operators to see targets before striking. These FPVs have turned areas up to 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the front into deadly zones on both sides of the line. But because the Russians attack with small groups, it's hard to counter with drones alone. 'We can't launch 100 FPVs at once," the pilot said, noting the drone operators would interfere with each other. With tactics and technology roughly equal on both sides, the Russians' superior manpower works to their advantage, said Bielieskov, the Kyiv-based analyst. 'They have no regard for human life. Very often, most of those they send are on a one-way mission,' he said. Stopping the infiltrations and assaults by armored vehicles requires different defenses and leadership structures — changes that have yet to appear on Ukraine's side, he said. Ukraine's military said Thursday additional troops have been moved to affected areas, with battle-hardened forces like the Azov brigade being deployed to the sector. However, the Deepstate map doesn't show any changes in favor of the Ukrainian army. Russia's focus on cutting supply routes Michael Kofman, a military analyst for the Carnegie Endowment, said in a post on X that it was too early to assess if the front line was collapsing, Russia is focused on expanding the breach of the front line into a corridor to support its ground forces, Bieleskov said. The strategy avoids direct assaults on heavily fortified urban centers, instead pushing through open terrain where Ukraine's troop shortages and large settlements make defense harder. If successful, such a move could bypass Russia's need to storm Kostiantynivka — once a city of over 67,000 people and now significantly ruined and on the verge of falling. That would complicate defending the region's last big cities of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka, posing a serious challenge for Ukraine's military. Cmdr. Serhii Filimonov of the 'Da Vinci Wolves' battalion of the 59th brigade, warned that Kostiantynivka could fall without a fight if Russia severs supply routes. With few major roads, maintaining logistics for the large number of Ukrainian forces in the area would become 'extremely difficult,' Filimonov said. Turning to the summit, Filimonov decried what he described as ongoing Russian killings and atrocities. 'And then the civilized world comes to them and says, 'Fine, let's make a deal.' That's not how it should be done,' he said. ___ Associated Press reporters Vasilisa Stepanenko, Evgeniy Maloletka and Dmytro Zhyhinas in the Donetsk region and Volodymyr Yurchuk and Alex Babenko in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.
Scotsman
11 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Readers' letters: Scottish Government's reaction to Gers figures stretches credulity
A reader criticises the SNP for blaming the UK Government for Scotland's soaring public spending deficit Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Shona Robison states: 'Gers reflects the fact that the current UK Government has continued with the economic mismanagement of its predecessors.' She also blames the reduction in revenues from the North Sea. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad After 18 years of utter fiscal incompetence from the SNP, perhaps some of the dosh which has disappeared down the plug-hole needs stating. Stop all exploration in the North sea, destroying revenues, massive redundancies and huge losses in tax revenue. Free prescriptions, free university for the limited number of Scottish students allowed to enroll, free baby boxes, £400 million overspend on two ferries, free bus passes for under-22-year-olds, free school meals – the list is never ending. It would appear that the magic money tree (£2,699 of additional public spending compared to the UK average) is losing its leaves. The time has come to get rid of this SNP government. We have another nine months of financial incompetence to endure before the 2026 elections – what state will the nation's finances be in by then? I dread to think. When our pre-eminent national newspaper states with regard to Ms Robisons comments, 'In other words, the magic wand of independence will make our problems disappear', it is nothing short of a huge indictment of this government's ineptitude and utterly deluded means of governing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad No wonder Nicola Sturgeon is thinking of jumping Hadrian's Wall – she won't be the only one should these indie zealots get their way. David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders Business as usual The publication of the latest GERS (Government Expenditure and Revenue for Scotland) figures has triggered a now traditional feeding frenzy. A black hole in Scotland's finances is heralded by unionist politicians as validating the continuation of the Union. The killer phrase for me from the GERS report is: 'The report is designed to allow users to understand and analyse Scotland's fiscal position under different scenarios within the current constitutional framework.' GERS is therefore a measure of the public finances under the current Union, hardly the greatest endorsement for how the economy has been managed on the UK's watch. Indeed, major economic levers required to stimulate economic growth are still currently reserved to Westminster. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Contrast this with our near neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, which has run budget surpluses totalling over £34 billion since 2022, with another forecast this year. Despite having considerably less in the way of natural resources than Scotland, the government there has announced a 'transformational' plan to spend over £183bn over the next decade on infrastructure. The point of independence is not to do everything in the same way as it has been done within the current constitutional framework, but to move away from this one-size-fits-all fiscal straitjacket to a tailored approach that prioritises stimulating economic growth. Alex Orr, Edinburgh Service sector The closing of churches (Letters, 14 August) is the business equivalent of sacking the sales force because business is bad. In both cases the answer is an updating of the product to make it more attractive to the customer. Malcolm Parkin, Kinnesswood, Perth & Kinross Covid claims I have to disagree with Martin O'Gorman's suggestion (Letters, 13 August) that Nicola Sturgeon 'weaponised Covid'. He gives no justification and for many she did the opposite. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Evidence suggests that she went out of her way to keep Scotland informed in her clear communicative style with press conferences daily to hold her and her government to account. This is a far cry from Boris Johnson, who flagrantly breached his own rules on several occasions and blustered through occasional press conferences with lies and, it transpired, put the economy before human life on occasion. In her candid interview with Julie Etchingham she covered at least as many misjudgments as successes. While there were the eight election victories, Sturgeon chose to talk about the dark and difficult realities in her troubled political life. The usual political answers were replaced by a frank admission that she had got things wrong in four key areas. Misjudging the mood of the nation in 2017 when 'caught off guard' by the scrutiny of a second referendum, feeling partly responsible for Covid deaths, losing her friendship with Alex Salmond and gender reform. Her reluctance to mark her performance out of ten may be because it is not for her to judge. Often we are quick to praise ourselves before others. I agree with Mr O'Gorman about a lack of political progress, Sturgeon cited only the child payment along with election successes as achievements. Ultimately she failed to deliver independence and that is how many will judge her. Neil Anderson, Edinburgh Stalinist tendencies Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Joanna Cherry accuses Nicola Sturgeon of having a Stalinist leadership style (Scotsman, 14 August).There seems little doubt that the SNP was run in an authoritarian style under Nicola, but to be fair, she inherited this from the previous leader Alex Salmond, in his drive for independence. William Ballantine, Bo'ness, West Lothian Orwell's critique In his defence of Nicola Sturgeon, Robert Menzies uses the term Orwellian (Letters, 14 August). I suggest that he reads Orwell's 'Notes on Nationalism', written in 1945. Orwell's wide-ranging critique starts by saying that nationalism assumes that human beings can be classified like insects, that whole blocks of millions or tens of millions of people can be confidently labelled 'good' or 'bad', and that the nationalist habit of identifying oneself with a single nation and placing it beyond good or evil recognises no other duty than advancing its interests. He goes on to say that the abiding interest of every nationalist is to secure more power, not for himself, but for the nation in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality. Of course Orwell's binary phraseology was written long before the gender wars had broken out, but I am sure that he would have fulminated against censorship and no-platforming with great vigour as matters of principle. Hugh Pennington, Aberdeen Never too late Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Murdo Fraser's throwaway sentence towards the end of his article about the 2025 Highers examinations (Scotsman, 13 August) stated that 'Young people get only one chance at education'. As one who spent 32 years in various further education colleges this does seem rather disrespectful to the sector. My favourite class over the years was a group of, mainly, 35-45-year-old housewives responding to an urgent invitation to train as teachers. I do not think that the school system had failed them; rather they were probably too immature at that time to gain full benefit. Often I was told by them that they had never understood Hamlet until they were given this second chance. Not my teaching, but their greater maturity and experience of life was what made the difference. Their lack of ego about their own ability was touching but led to my being asked frequently: 'Do you think I'll scrape a C pass?' There was never any doubt. And that's what those of us working in the sector always saw as its main priority – giving people a second chance. I even saw this in my own family when one my daughters, who had been pursuing City and Guilds qualifications in catering, took a government-sponsored basic computing course in my own college and progressed from there to a degree in computing at university and a very successful career. Bill Greenock, Netherlee, East Renfrewshire Forgotten Fleet National events are being held to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day today. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad For VJ Day 80, the government's website mentions the Fourteenth Army – the Forgotten Army – but not the British Pacific Fleet (BPF), the Forgotten Fleet. By VJ Day in 1945, the BPF consisted of 190,000 men and women, some 273 ships, more than 750 naval aircraft and bases ashore. The largest ever British fleet, it was supported by peoples of the Commonwealth in Australia, New Zealand, India and Ceylon. Sailors from many more nations served in Merchant Navy ships in the 'Fleet Train', and some foreign nationals were at sea with the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, all supporting America's huge Pacific naval forces. After Japan's surrender, the BPF was the only force immediately available to safeguard British and Commonwealth interests in the Pacific, carrying out humanitarian work, particularly with prisoners of war. My father's destroyer, HMS Wager, returned home after 18 months away in January 1946. In All Hell Let Loose, Sir Max Hastings suggests that 'the Royal Navy and the United States Navy were their countries' outstanding fighting services' of the war. Indeed, the Royal Navy was the only service in the world engaged from the first to the last day of the Second World War. Not just the Forgotten Fleet, today's sea-blind Britain has forgotten the importance of the sea and ships to our nation's livelihood. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lester May (Lieutenant Commander, Royal Navy – retired), London Write to The Scotsman
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
This is the most dangerous moment of the war for Zelensky
To a degree, Vladimir Putin has already won. Securing a one-on-one summit with a US president is something he has long coveted. American leaders rarely meet pariahs. Sitting down with Donald Trump cloaks Putin in legitimacy, flatters his great-power pretensions and delivers a propaganda coup to burnish his domestic standing – a prize won not for a tangible concession, just the merest hint of one. Having banked a symbolic victory, Putin will hope Friday's summit in Alaska yields a far greater one: the legitimisation of his Ukrainian land grab. For Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's leader, this is arguably the most perilous moment of the war – one in which his country's fate could be decided at a meeting he wasn't invited to. If the worst happens, he and his European allies fear, it would amount to a betrayal on the scale of history's great power carve-ups. Parallels are already being drawn with Yalta in 1945, when Stalin coerced Churchill and Roosevelt into redrawing Poland's borders and consigning it to Soviet overlordship, and Munich in 1938, when Chamberlain ceded the Sudetenland to Hitler – decisions taken without the countries concerned being present. To prevent a repeat, Mr Zelensky and his European allies have been locked in frantic diplomacy ever since Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's golfing partner turned peace envoy, emerged from a Moscow meeting last week heralding a surprise breakthrough. Putin, he said, was ready to halt hostilities in return for a territorial swap in eastern Ukraine. The claim so impressed the White House that Mr Trump dropped plans to impose new sanctions on Russia and instead agreed to a grand summit. European officials scrambled to find out what Putin had actually offered – a task that reportedly required three telephone calls with Washington because, embarrassingly, Mr Witkoff seemed unsure of the details. 'What became apparent in time was that the Russian offer was much less substantial than initially understood,' said one European official briefed on the talks. Mr Witkoff appeared to believe Putin had offered to surrender Russian-occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in exchange for territory in Luhansk and Donetsk under Kyiv's control – a potential concession. In reality, Putin demanded all of Luhansk and Donetsk in exchange for a ceasefire and freezing the frontlines in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, in effect attempting to secure at the negotiating table what his forces had failed to seize in battle. European leaders were aghast and alarmed that Mr Trump seemed willing to entertain the idea. They pressed their case directly with the president and his deputy, catching JD Vance during a busman's holiday in the Cotswolds. The pressure worked – to a point. Mr Trump began playing down expectations, calling the Alaska meeting a 'feel-out' session. His press secretary described it as a 'listening exercise.' Mr Trump promised: 'I'm going to call President Zelensky and the European leaders right after the meeting. I'm not going to make a deal.' Yet reassurance goes only so far. Diplomats say Mr Trump is often swayed by the last person he speaks to – a risk magnified when that person is Putin. In 2018, Mr Trump emerged from a two-hour meeting with Putin in Helsinki openly dazzled, accepting the Russian's denial of election interference over the findings of his own intelligence agencies and embracing his proposal for a joint US-Russia cyber task force. John McCain, the late Republican senator, called it 'one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory'. This time, the stakes are far higher – and the US has even fewer Russia hands in place. Many senior specialists at the State Department and National Security Council have been purged in the Trump administration's drive to gut the federal workforce. The US lacks a serving ambassador in Moscow and Kyiv. Ironically, it has fallen to European leaders, rather than US diplomats, to prepare Mr Trump for the summit – leaders who will not be present when he faces Putin, a former KGB officer renowned for his guile. 'The question is who will be in the room to help Trump see through Putin when he bulls----,' a Western diplomat said. 'And I fear the answer is: no one.' Putin is likely to flatter and cajole. He may revive his claim that Ukraine has provoked its own invasion – an argument Mr Trump has shown sympathy for – or even invoke Alaska's 1867 purchase from Russia as proof of border fluidity. He could also win Mr Trump's favour by backing his territorial claims IN Greenland. If he succeeds, the summit could end with Mr Trump echoing Kremlin talking points and endorsing a carve-up of Ukraine – driving a wedge into the Western alliance. Mr Zelensky would then face an invidious choice: accept an unfavourable deal or reject it and be cast by Washington as the aggressor, risking the loss of vital US support. European leaders hope they have done enough to avert the worst. If their diplomacy has succeeded, Mr Trump might even see through Putin and revert to his threat of harsher sanctions and energy tariffs — measures that could push Moscow towards a genuine ceasefire. It is a slender hope. But from such inauspicious beginnings, it is still possible that the two presidents could stumble on common ground to revive a peace process that Ukraine, battered and bloodied, urgently needs.
