Latest news with #Downer
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
'Australia is surprisingly defenceless': Former foreign minister Alexander Downer urges government to boost essential military spending to avoid 'free riding' America
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer fears Australia's lack of defence spending could give the impression the country is "free riding" America like "Europeans have been doing for a long time". The claims come after the United States called on Australia to boost its military budget to 3.5 per cent of GDP 'as soon as possible', but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to succumb to the pressure. In a US Department of Defence readout released on Sunday, the figure requested of Australia was revealed, with the key focus areas being advancing defence industrial base cooperation, creating supply chain resilience and accelerating US force posture initiatives in Australia. The US has been telling allies around the world, in Europe and across the Indo-Pacific, to increase defence spending instead of relying on the American military. On Wednesday evening, Mr Downer appeared on Sky News to discuss the latest debate on defence spending and labelled Australia a "surprisingly defenceless" country. "At the moment, Australia is surprisingly defenceless as we divert more and more of our defence budget into our ambition, apparently, to build submarines in Adelaide," he told Sky News host Chris Kenny. "And so that money is being increasingly diverted into that task and away from essential military equipment we need to defend Australia and possibly quite soon." Mr Downer also drew lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war and suggested Australia should not find itself in a position where the country is dependent on America for its military resources during times of conflict. "Europe, if you like, is at war, and they are totally dependent on the Americans," he said. "So on the one hand, they criticise the Americans and don't like President Trump, but on the other hand, they're dependent on them." Mr Downer urged Australia to make a "serious contribution" to defence and the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region to avoid dependency on America when it comes to global threats. "That means investing substantially in things like missile defence, submarines of course, drones, other forms of new technology, as well as traditional technology," he added. However, Sky News Sunday Agenda revealed Mr Albanese would not bend to the US request and stood by Labor's existing policy of increasing defence funding to 2.33 per cent of GDP by 2033. 'What we'll do is we'll determine our defence policy, and we've invested just across the forwards, an additional $10 billion in defence,' Mr Albanese said on Sunday. 'What we'll do is continue to do is continue to provide for investing in our capability but also investing in our relationships in the region.' Mr Albanese's highly-anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump appears likely to occur at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada from June 15 to 17, 2025.
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘Free riding': Australia must increase defence spending to strengthen its position
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer argues Australia should not create the impression of 'free riding' off the US amid calls to increase defence spending. 'Well, we don't want to give the Americans the impression that we're free riding as the Europeans have been doing for a long time,' Mr Downer told Sky News host Chris Kenny. 'What's happened to Europe is that Russia has invaded Ukraine; Europe, if you like, is at war, and they are totally dependent on the Americans."
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- Business
- Sky News AU
‘You can never win': Former foreign minister weighs in on Russia-Ukraine war
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer discusses the role of the United States and Europe in the Russia-Ukraine War. 'The other thing is the Europeans and the Americans are now starting to give still more support to Ukraine in particular, providing them with long-range missiles,' Mr Downer told Sky News host Chris Kenny. 'So, what's the big picture here? The picture is that President Trump and the Europeans want a ceasefire, and that's a good ambition to have; then they have to convince the Russians that the Russians can never win. 'If I were the President of the United States, that'd be my message to President Putin, look mate, you can never win this war, and I'm going to make sure you never can, so let's have a ceasefire.'
Sky News AU
2 days ago
- General
- Sky News AU
Russia, Iran, and China work together to ‘undermine the West'
Former foreign minister Alexander Downer urges Australians to 'understand the linkages' between the wars in Europe and the Middle East, and the roles of Russia, Iran, and China. 'Understand the linkages between the wars that are happening in Europe and the Middle East, the role of Iran, the relationship between Iran and Russia, and of course, the ATM for Iran and Russia, that's China,' Mr Downer told Sky News host Chris Kenny. 'The risks of these three, working together, which they are doing, to undermine the West. 'The worst thing that could happen would be a war between the United States and its allies, and China, over Taiwan.'
The Citizen
2 days ago
- Business
- The Citizen
NPA 'vindicated' by Zuma corruption loss, but will he appeal again?
Zuma has been accused of engaging in Stalingrad legal tactics with legal battles, challenges and appealls to avoid his day in court. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it hopes the judgment against corruption accused former President Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales will pave the way for a speedy trial, which has been marred by delays. On Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court threw out Thales and Zuma's application to have their arms deal corruption trial dismissed. Zuma loss Zuma and Thales applied to be summarily acquitted of the arms deal corruption and racketeering charges on the basis that unreasonable delays had resulted in the deaths of crucial witnesses, Thales representative Alain Thétard and Pierre Moynot. Judge Nkosinathi Chili ruled that the court does not have the authority to withdraw the charges and that the corruption trial will now proceed as previously planned. ALSO READ: Zuma and Thales applications for summary acquittals dismissed NPA vindicated NPA spokesperson Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga said the prosecuting body welcomed the judgment. 'We hope that this paves the way for the resumption of the protracted trial, which has been plagued by many interlocutory applications that had the undesirable effect of delaying the trial. 'The NPA feels vindicated by the dismissal as we held the view that the application had no merit in view of the matters having been previously pronounced upon by the same court,' Mhaga said. The matter was postponed to December 4th, when the state will apply for the trial against Zuma and Thales to proceed regardless of any appeals lodged by the former president or the French arms company. Stalingrad strategy Zuma and Thales indicated that they would consider appealing the ruling made by the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Zuma has been accused of engaging in Stalingrad legal tactics with legal battles, challenges and appeals to delay his arms trial and avoid his day in court. The former president filed a series of appeals in a two-decade-long cycle of challenges, crusading to prosecute his arms deal prosecutor, Billy Downer, and journalist Karyn Maughan privately. However, the cases were invalidated as an 'abuse of process' by multiple courts. Corruption The former president tried but failed to privately prosecute Downer and Maughan for alleged breaches of the NPA Act. This is in connection with the leaking of his confidential medical information from one of the former president's military doctors in August 2021. Zuma is accused of 18 charges of corruption, racketeering, fraud and tax evasion. The arms deal case was declared trial-ready three years ago but has been delayed by his repeated failed efforts to force the removal of Downer. NOW READ: Zuma's point man touted to replace Shivambu as MK party SG
