Labor sticking with ‘main selling point' of health in final week of campaign
Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell says Labor is sticking with its 'main selling point' heading into the final week of the election campaign – health.
Labor is doubling down on health, promising Australians will have access to free, after-hours telehealth services if re-elected.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is planning on rebranding into Healthdirect to '1800 MEDICARE'.
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ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
Defence minister concedes Australia's military spending may need to rise after meeting US counterpart Pete Hegseth
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has urged Australia to increase military spending, a day after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blasted a leading security think tank which warned this country was poorly prepared for the growing risk of regional conflict. Ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Defence Minister Richard Marles has told his US counterpart that the Albanese government is willing to have a 'conversation' about lifting expenditure. Australia is on track to reach defence spending levels of 2.33 per cent of GDP by 2033-34, up from its current level of 2.02 per cent, but for months the Trump Administration has pressured the government to get to at least three per cent of GDP. 'I wouldn't put a number on it, the need to increase defence spending is something that he definitely raised,' Mr Marles told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing program following his meeting with the Pentagon boss. 'You have seen the Americans in the way in which they have engaged with all of their friends and allies asking them to do more and we can completely understand why America would do that.' 'What I made clear is that this is a conversation that we are very willing to have, and it is one that we are having, having already made very significant steps in the past.' 'But we want to make sure that we are contributing to the strategic moment that we face, that we all face, and what Pete Hegseth said is entirely consistent with in the way that the Americans have been speaking to all their friends'. 'We understand it and we are very much up for that conversation. On Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lashed out after a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warned Australia could be left with a "brittle and hollowed defence force" if military funding was not increased. "Well, that's what they do, isn't it, ASPI? I mean, seriously, they need to … have a look at themselves and the way they conduct themselves in debates," Mr Albanese told the ABC following the report's release. "We've had a defence strategic review. We've got considerable additional investment going into defence — $10 billion," the Prime Minister said while insisting his government was acting. Mr Marles is due to meet with counterparts from a range of other countries on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, which brings together leaders, army chiefs, defence ministers and analysts from across the globe. On Saturday the Defence Minister will use a speech at the event to warn 'we also have to counter the grim, potentially imminent, possibility of another wave of global nuclear proliferation as states seek security in a new age of imperial ambition.' China has been rapidly building up its own nuclear arsenal, while Russia has repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons since its invasion of Ukraine. The Defence Minister is expected to call that behaviour a 'profound abrogation of (Russia's) responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council,' warning that the behaviour of states like Russia, Iran and North Korea could drive nuclear proliferation around the world. 'Not only does this work against states disarming their own nuclear arsenals, as Ukraine responsibly did in 1994, the war is prompting some frontier states most exposed to Russian aggression to consider their options,' he will say. 'And this has dire consequences for our region too. Russia has agreed a strategic partnership with North Korea to access the munitions and troops Moscow needs to continue its war.' 'The probability that Russia is transferring nuclear weapons technology in payment for Pyongyang's support places intolerable pressure on South Korea.' The Defence Minister will also once again criticise China for undertaking the 'largest conventional military build-up since WWII', saying it's doing so 'without providing any strategic transparency or reassurance.' 'This remains a defining feature of the strategic complexity that the Indo-Pacific and the world faces today,' he's expected to say. Mr Marles's speech comes in the wake of a series of meetings this week between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a host of Pacific counterparts in the southern city of Xiamen. Officials from Australia, the US, New Zealand and Japan have all monitored the gathering closely, while China has hailed it as a major milestone in its ties with the Pacific. Beijing didn't unveil any major initiatives at the meeting. And while Pacific nations backed Beijing's claim over Taiwan, they didn't issue a direct endorsement of China's commitment to 'reunify' the self-ruled island with the mainland. But one Pacific government source told the ABC that China's criticisms of the Trump Administration's sweeping 'Liberation Day' tariffs, as well as its move to slash aid and dump the Paris Agreement on climate change, resonated with the Pacific countries at the meeting. Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Matt told the Financial Times that 'the Trump administration's economic policies have created some uncertainty' in the Pacific. But Mr Marles declined to say if he raised Australia's concerns about US aid cuts with Pete Hegseth, simply saying the Trump Administration 'understood' the importance of the Pacific region.
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Brisbane Olympics is becoming a ‘spendathon'
Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman says spending for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics will be "out of control". 'I am going to say something that isn't very popular, but this is all a bit out of control – we're heading for at least a 15 billion bill for the Olympics, 'Mr Newman told Sky News host Steve Price. 'Now we are off on the spendathon of all spendathons.'
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Allan government urged to legislate two-year jail sentences for anyone caught with machete on the streets in Victoria
Premier Jacinta Allan is being urged to introduce two-year jail terms for anyone caught on Victorian streets carrying a machete ahead of a total ban in September. The state government used "extraordinary powers" to fast track a total ban on sales of machetes on Wednesday following two scary public incidents last weekend. On May 24, police were called to South Melbourne to reports a man was armed with a machete. While officers apprehended the man, a woman drove at them in a car. Police shot into the vehicle, fatally hitting a 34-year-old woman. While on Sunday, officers were called to Northland Shopping Centre in the city's north to reports a group of youths were fighting which allegedly saw machetes produced. Shoppers could be seen running for their lives in scenes reminiscent to the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack in Sydney that claimed the lives of six people. Victoria's shadow police minister David Southwick said the Liberal Party had pushed to ban machetes five times in the past 15 months, which the government knocked back. He also argued the ban put in place was on sales and not possession. "So you can still carry one around," Mr Southwick told Sky News host Steve Price. The Caufield MP also raised concerns about the days leading up to the ban, claiming retailers were selling machetes for $4 to get rid of stock. "When the ban finally comes into play... are they hoping the $4 machetes that have been sold off will be handed into a police station in four month's time?" he asked. There has also been confusion around the description of a machete. Prior to the ban, the Victorian government said a machete is "broadly" classified as a "cutting edge knife with a blade of more than 20 centimetres". But on the day the restriction came in place, director of Consumer Affairs Victoria Nicole Rich said there were no particular lengths of the banned knives. The government has previously shown examples of machetes. Mr Southwick said he could not define the banned weapon and questioned how the government and police will encourage people to hand them in. He pushed for jail terms for anyone caught on the street with them. "What we've been calling for is pretty plain and simple: if you carry one on the street you should face a jail term of two years and the government won't legislate that until September. So between now and September people have got a holiday to carry them around on the streets, they just can't buy them from a retail store," he said. The government said an amnesty will begin from September 1 to November 30 where people can dispose machetes into bins at safe locations and police stations. In a statement, Ms Allan said community safety was her priority. "We must never let places we meet become places we fear," she said. 'I hate these knives and I will keep introducing as many laws as it takes to get them off our streets, out of our shops and out of our lives.'
