Australia

Australia should be ‘exporting sunshine, not coal’, economist Jeffrey Sachs tells Q&A

US analyst criticises successive governments for defending coal in wake of alarming IPCC report on climate change Economist Jeffrey Sachs has criticised successive Australian governments for “defending a 19th or 20th century industry” rather than taking decisive action on climate change, saying Australia should be “exporting sunshine, not coal”. “Make a plan, make a timeline, tell the world how you’re ...

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The day an Aboriginal march stopped the miners and gave birth to a land council

The Kimberley celebrates the 40th anniversary of the influential Noonkanbah march hundreds of Aboriginal people from across the Kimberley have recreated the historic Noonkanbah march, to mark the 40th anniversary of the protest that led to the formation of the Kimberley Land Council, in the Fitzroy valley community of Ngumpan. Forty years ago, the Western Australian premier Sir Charles Court ...

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Australia stands ready to support Indonesia: PM

Australia stands ready to help Indonesia after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Sulawesi, the prime minister and foreign affairs minister said. Scott Morrison and Marise Payne expressed their condolences to the people of Indonesia in a joint statement late on Sunday. At least 832 people have been confirmed dead after a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami ...

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PM claims Australia will meet Paris target ‘in a canter’ despite emissions climbing

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise, but Scott Morrison seized on the silver lining, maintaining Australia would meet its Paris commitment, despite the government having no legislated instrument to help it get there. Figures released on Friday showed Australia’s emissions increased 1.3% in the year to March 2018, up all sectors – except land use and electricity, where renewable technologies were ...

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‘Institutional theft on massive scale’ by banks in Australia

hen entrepreneur Sean Butler bought the heritage National Hotel in Fremantle in Western Australia, he had ambitions to restore “a beautiful old hotel” to its former glory. The upmarket four-storey building had catered to affluent punters since the region’s gold boom of the 1880s, but had since fallen into disrepair. It was a big project, but Butler, the owner of ...

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Australia let Nauru block refugee medical transfers to preserve ‘relationship’

Australian authorities were unable to send an air ambulance to Nauru for a court-ordered medical transfer after the Nauruan government refused permission, because to do so would affect the “working relationship” on offshore processing, a senior official has said. At least twice in recent weeks the Nauruan government has refused to give permission for an air ambulance to land and take a ...

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Australia’s political parties got $62m in ‘dark money’ donations last year

Hidden sources gave major political parties more than $62m in so-called dark money last financial year, a new report will show. Preliminary findings from a Grattan Institute report show the origins of a huge chunk of money being handed to political parties remain secret. The findings, first reported by the ABC, show about 30-40% of donations to political parties in the ...

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Australia, Indonesia agree on stronger ties in grains sector

Singapore — Australia and Indonesia concluded negotiations for the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or IA-CEPA on Friday, which will allow Australian farmers to export 500,000 mt/year of tariff-free feed grains to Indonesia. Under the new agreement, Australia will gain access to the Indonesian feed grain market, with the ability to export duty-free feed barley, feed wheat and sorghum. Currently, Australia’s ...

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Steve Bannon: Australia is on ‘frontlines’ of economic war with China

Australia is on the “frontlines” of an economic war with China, a “totalitarian mercantilist” regime that must be confronted, according to former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. In a wide-ranging interview on ABC’s Four Corners, Bannon also said that the populist surge that swept Donald Trump to the US presidency and delivered the vote for Brexit in the UK ...

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‘Trump is checking out of Asia’: What Australia should do about it

Donald Trump is checking out of Asia. He’s cancelled a planned November trip to the continent’s two biggest annual summits. With them, he’s cancelled any prospect of a side trip to Australia. This just serves to confirm the impression from his various policy ventures into the region. His much-ballyhooed breakthrough meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un was a breakthrough all ...

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