Australia is monitoring a Chinese naval flotilla that is travelling through the Philippine Sea with an unknown destination, Minister for Defence Richard Marles said.
“I want to confirm today that Defence is monitoring a Chinese PLA Task Group, which is currently in the Philippine Sea,” he said.
“We maintain constant maritime domain awareness in our geographic areas,” he said.
“We do not have a sense of where it is going, but we continue to monitor it as we monitor all movements.”
Minister for Defence Richard Marles is addressing reporters in Canberra to outline a major overhaul of the department.
“Since we’ve come to power, relative to what we inherited from the former government, we have increased defence spending by $70 billion over the decade,” Marles, who is Acting Prime Minister while Anthony Albanese is on his honeymoon, said.
“What comes with very significant increase in defence spending, the largest increase in defence spending in Australia’s peace time history, is an obligation to ensure that this money is spent well.”
Marles said the establishment of a defence delivery agency would ensure any challenges facing programs or projects are flagged and resolved sooner.
The Albanese government is poised to announce a major overhaul of the Department of Defence intended to reduce the multibillion-dollar cost blowouts and years-long delays that have marred recent major military projects.
The changes, to be announced as early as today, have been described by industry sources as a “wholesale reorganisation” of the defence bureaucracy and the most significant revamp in decades as Australia ramps up military spending.
The Department of Defence has a current budget of $56 billion a year, a figure that is set to rise to approximately $100 billion by 2034 amid growing regional tensions and pressure from the Trump administration for nations to spend more on their own defence capabilities.
Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles during question time at Parliament House.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Defence Minister Richard Marles flagged the changes in a speech in June in which he declared “everything is on the table, including bureaucratic reform of the Department of Defence, of the Australian Defence Force, and of defence agencies”.
“When we came to government, there were 28 different projects running a combined 97 years over time,” Marles said.
Read the full story by foreign affairs and national security correspondent Matthew Knott.
Thank you for following our national news live blog for Monday, December 1. Here are some of today’s headlines, at a glance.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley slammed the government for what she claimed had been a mismanagement of the energy transition, following warnings from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that the energy grid was not prepared for the closure of the Eraring coal-fired power plant in the Hunter Valley in 2027. “We don’t have the grid stability in the renewable energy grid, none of it is there. That’s why the energy market operator is calling out this warning, and that’s why this part-time energy minister needs to turn his attention to the part-time energy grid and get working,” she told reporters today.
Almost 1000 people are dead across Asia after the latest extreme weather events to hit the region, with hundreds more missing following floods, cyclones and landslides that devastated Indonesia and Sri Lanka over the past week. Read the most recent update from south-east Asia correspondent Zach Hope.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, to grant him a pardon from corruption charges, seeking to end a long-running trial that has bitterly divided the nation. Netanyahu submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President on November 30, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. Herzog’s office called it an “extraordinary request”, carrying with it “significant implications”.
Stay with us as we continue to bring you the latest live news updates from Australia and around the world this afternoon. I’m Emily Kaine, handing over now to Jack Gramenz, who will helm your coverage for the rest of the day.
A Canberra-based florist says she unknowingly arranged the prime minister’s wedding flowers, and only found out when a friend sent her a photo of Jodie Haydon and her bouquet.
Loulou Moxom had arrived home after a day of arranging flowers for several weddings, not knowing the roses she’d prepared earlier that morning were for Anthony Albanese and Haydon’s nuptials, The Canberra Times reported.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon walk down the aisle after getting married on Saturday in Canberra.Credit: Mike Bowers
“My brief was, I was doing flowers for Marie and Matthew, that’s who I thought my bride and groom were,” Moxom said. “I’ve not stopped smiling, let’s put it that way”.
In a post on Instagram on Monday, Moxom said: “I truly did not know that’s who my bride and groom were … ain’t life grand?”
Albanese and Haydon got married in a Saturday ceremony at The Lodge in Canberra with around 70 guests present.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is speaking to reporters in Melbourne, spruiking the Coalition’s energy plan while slamming the government’s management of the energy transition amid warnings from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
“Australians deserve affordable energy and responsible emissions reduction, and under the coalition’s plan, we believe, we know that you can have both, but affordable energy must be a priority… with this government’s policy, unfortunately, we’re seeing unaffordability at every step of the chain, and this government is setting targets it can’t meet at costs that Australians cannot afford,” she said.
AEMO this morning warned that the energy grid was not prepared for the closure of the Eraring coal plant in the Hunter Valley, set for the end of 2027, flagging that Aussies could expect widespread blackouts if the closure went ahead.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Following the warnings, Ley slammed the government for what she claimed had been a mismanagement of the energy transition.
“The extension of Eraring in New South Wales … what is very clear now is that this government’s energy policy has not recognised that you need baseload generation in the system for as long as it takes to transition to affordable renewable alternatives, and that’s just not happening.
“And the Australian energy market operator has warned over summer the possibility of blackouts and the need for further intervention, and highlighted that that will bring further costs. This is unacceptable to Australians who are already doing it tough in the lead up to Christmas,” Ley told the press.
“We don’t have the grid stability in the renewable energy grid, none of it is there. That’s why the energy market operator is calling out this warning, and that’s why this part-time energy minister needs to turn his attention to the part-time energy grid and get working.”
The Australian sharemarket has started trading for the day despite a technical issue hitting the market operator this morning.
The S&P/ASX 200 was up 7.5 points to 8621.6, while market operator ASX continues to look into an issue with publishing market-sensitive announcements. A number of companies have been placed in a trading halt due to the problem.
Financial stocks are mixed, with Commonwealth Bank (up 0.3 per cent) and National Australia Bank (up 0.1 per cent) higher while Westpac was flat and ANZ Bank shed 0.6 per cent.
Wall Street edged higher to extend its winning streak.Credit: AP
Mining stocks are stronger, with iron ore giants BHP (up 0.6 per cent), Rio Tinto (up 0.3 per cent) and Fortescue (up 0.2 per cent) advancing. Gold miners are higher as the price of the safe haven strengthened over the weekend, with Northern Star up 2.1 per cent and Evolution Mining up 0.4 per cent.
Australia’s biggest winemaker Treasury Wines slumped 4.1 per cent after announcing a non-cash impairment in its US business, with all $687.4 million of goodwill to be written off by the Penfolds maker in response to slowing growth.
Read the full markets wrap here.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has stressed the dangers of new tech being weaponised by perpetrators of family and domestic violence against their victims, following warnings issued by eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant that connected cars were becoming sophisticated surveillance devices for abusers.
“New tech, things that we take for granted as being really convenient have actually been weaponised by perpetrators of family and domestic violence to harass, intimidate, stalk, follow, even locate to attack victims, former partners, partners or former partners of the abuser,” Plibersek told Sky News this morning.
It is not only connected cars that pose a risk, Plibersek said, but a range of devices that enable the tracking of victims by perpetrators.
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“We even heard of things like cat feeders having cameras activated remotely so an ex can see who’s in the house and kids being given gaming consoles with cameras, so again, the ex can be watching what’s going on in the home. Obviously, telephones have often had tracking devices installed. Kids being given iPads so that the ex can spy on mum. It is really quite alarming.”
Plibersek also called on companies making connected products to consider inbuilt safety mechanisms to prevent the tech being misused by abusers.
“The message is also to the companies that are making these products, that they have to think about how they can be misused. I mean, they’re very convenient, they’re great in most circumstances, but you have to build in a sort of safety fallback in case they’re being misused like this,” she said.
The death toll has mounted to over 500 from floods and landslides caused by torrential rains across Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, officials say, as relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced people continue. See the flood damage, in photos.
A youth carries an elderly man as they wade through a flooded street after heavy rainfall in Wellampitiya on the outskirts of Colombo yesterday. The death toll from floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah has risen to at least 334 people across Sri Lanka, with nearly 400 still missing.Credit: AFP
People stranded by floods wait in their submerged neighbourhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Saturday.Credit: AP
People carry their belongings as they wade through the water at a flooded village in Bireun, Aceh province, Indonesia on Saturday.Credit: AP
People ride on a boat belonging to Sri Lanka’s army on a flooded street after heavy rainfall in Wellampitiya on the outskirts of Colombo yesterday.Credit: AFP
Army personnel ride a truck carrying boats to rescue stranded people as they wade through a flooded road after heavy rainfall in Wellampitiya on the outskirts of Colombo yesterday. Credit: AFP
As forensic workers continued the grim process of retrieving bodies from the blackened towers in Hong Kong yesterday, mourners arrived in their thousands with white flowers to pay tribute to the victims of the city’s deadliest fire in decades.
Some whispered prayers, others stood in silence, staring at the burnt-out husks of the towers, tears streaming down their faces.
Officials report the death toll of the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex fire that burnt for two days has reached 146.
Huge crowds lay flowers to pay tribute to the victims of the Tai Po fire.Credit: Daniel Ceng
Indonesian domestic helper Alidia weeps as she mourns the passing of fire victims.Credit: Daniel Ceng
The blaze has been compared to the Grenfell Tower fire in London – which killed 72 people in June 2017 – and it has triggered similar accusations of lax safety standards and corruption.
For more than a year, bamboo scaffolding draped in green mesh had covered the facade of the Wang Fuk towers. The site had been inspected 16 times for safety and authorities had issued six improvement notices.
The cause of the fire has not been confirmed, but Hong Kong authorities have arrested 11 people involved in the towers’ renovation, amid suspicion that the mesh and the use of styrofoam in the renovation materials accelerated the blaze.
Read the full report from North Asia correspondent Lisa Visentin.
