What we learned; Sunday 10 August
We’re going to wrap the blog up for today.
Here are the day’s key events:
The deputy prime minister Richard Marles repeated the government’s denials it does not supply weapons to Israel when appearing on the ABC’s Insiders on Sunday morning.
The Greens foreign affairs spokesperson David Shoebridge responded saying the government was “actively choosing to continue the two-way arms trade with Israel” and “international law is crystal clear, parts of weapons are weapons”.
Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, discussed the Middle East war and Israel’s plans to take control of more of Gaza in coming days. The PM said Australia would make its own decisions about recognising Palestinian statehood, likely ahead of the United Nations general assembly in New York next month.
Albanese also said Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy must be a party to Donald Trump’s upcoming ceasefire talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The two leaders are set to talk about the invasion of Ukraine in Alaska this week.
The Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff announced the Tasmanian Liberals would phase out funding for greyhound racing by 2029 – effectively ending the sport in the state – in a bid to secure the support of crossbenchers in minority government.
The NSW government released CCTV footage taken onboard the state’s light rail network of near-misses involving pedestrians, cars and cyclists.
Thanks for joining us. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and we’ll see you again on Monday.
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The lethal legacy of Aukus
For Australia’s proposed nuclear-powered submarine fleet there is, at present, nowhere for that radioactive spent fuel to go. As a non-nuclear country – and a party to the non-proliferation treaty – Australia has no history of, and no capacity for, managing high-level nuclear waste.
But Australia is not alone, writes my colleague Ben Doherty: there is no operational site anywhere on Earth for the permanent storage of high-level nuclear waste.
Read the full feature here:
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Mortgage holders anxiously await some relief ahead of this week’s RBA meeting
Australia’s central bank appears set to offer mortgage holders some repayment relief a month on from its shock decision to keep interest rates on hold, AAP reports.
The Reserve Bank of Australia board, which meets on Monday and Tuesday, is widely tipped to shave 25 basis points off the official cash rate, taking the figure to 3.6%.
Each 25 basis point cut to interest rates shaves about $90 off monthly repayments on a $600,000 mortgage, assuming banks pass on the reduction in full.
The cash rate was last at 3.6% in April 2023. A surprise jump in unemployment combined with inflation data within the RBA’s target zone should make a cut on Tuesday almost inevitable, Westpac Group chief economist Luci Ellis said, adding:
Further cuts in November, February 2026 and May 2026 also look increasingly likely.
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Marles’ comments on weapons exports to Israel ‘excruciating’, Shoebridge says
David Shoebridge, the Greens’ foreign affairs spokesperson, released a strong statement after Marles denied Australia is supplying weapons to Israel this morning.
Shoebridge said two years of “hollow talking points from the Albanese government aren’t washing with the public anymore”, accusing the Labor government of “actively choosing to continue the two-way arms trade with Israel”. He went on:
Watching defence minister Richard Marles refuse to answer basic questions about Australia’s export of weapons parts and defence material to Israel is excruciating … International law is crystal clear, parts of weapons are weapons.
Germany has stopped weapons exports to Israel, so why on earth won’t Labor stop Australia sending them?
Australia is a key part of the F35 fighter jet program. We are the only place in the world that makes parts like the bomb bay doors and we operate as one of the few regional distribution hubs.
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WA business lobby says more public holidays could cost more than $100m a year
AAP reports that more public holidays in Western Australia could cost in excess of $100m a year, according to claims by the state’s business lobby.
The WA government is taking submissions into the addition of two public holidays to its calendar.
WA already has the second-fewest number of public holidays in the nation with 11, two behind Victoria and the ACT, which have 13. NSW and Queensland both have 11, Tasmania 10, while South Australia and the Northern Territory have 12
Adding two additional days off could cost employers $115.42m every year, calculations from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA indicate.
A rise in public holiday wages for Easter Saturday would amount to $67.87m and the addition of an undecided weekday public holiday, $47.55m.
Small and family-owned business would be hit hardest off the back of already increasing costs, the chamber claims.
“It’s clear that WA businesses can’t afford another two days where they’re paying someone $65 an hour to wash dishes,” acting co-chief executive and chief economist Aaron Morey said.
Environmental benefits of NSW Return and Earn scheme
Around 14bn bottles and cans have been returned since Return and Earn scheme started in New South Wales, according to the organisation that coordinates the container deposit scheme.
Exchange for Change said the milestone meant more than $1.4bn in container refunds had been issued since the scheme’s launch in December 2017.
The organisation said the environmental benefits of returning 14bn bottles and cans for recycling instead of making new containers with virgin materials included:
Water savings equivalent to 32,840 Olympic swimming pools
Energy savings equivalent to powering 191,100 homes for an entire year
Carbon emission savings equivalent to taking 1,017,400 cars off the road annually.
They said an additional 3.8bn drink containers had been returned through yellow kerbside bin collections and two out of every three eligible drink containers supplied in NSW were recycled through the scheme.
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Guardian investigation appears to show Israeli pattern of firing on Palestinians seeking food
A Guardian investigation analysing visual evidence, bullets, medical data and patterns of injuries from two hospitals, as well as interviews with medical organisations and surgeons, across approximately 50 days of food distribution, appears to show a sustained Israeli pattern of firing on Palestinians seeking food.
You can read the full investigation by Manisha Ganguly here:
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We reported in an earlier post that the NSW government had released footage taken from onboard the state’s light rail network of near-misses involving pedestrians, cyclists and motorists. Here is some of the footage taken from the Sydney light rail:
Man overdue from Tasmanian hike found safe and well
A man in his 60s has been rescued and is safe and well after he was reported overdue from a day hike in Tasmania late yesterday.
The man was reported overdue from his walk just before 10:30pm. Tasmanian police said while the man’s exact walking plans weren’t known, police commenced a search of likely locations and overnight found his car in the carpark for a trail to Bradys Lookout, near Poatina in the Central Highlands.
Police were able to contact the man this morning and a ground search and rescue team and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter were dispatched to locate him. He was found safe and well just before 9:30am.
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Doubts remain on Marles' claim that Australia not supplying weapons to Israel
The defence minister, Richard Marles’ statements this morning on exports to Israel are contested.
Marles told Insiders on ABC TV that there was “misinformation” around Australian exports in the context of the war in Gaza, and said “we are not supplying weapons to Israel”.
He said Australia was one of the countries signed up to contribute armoured steel used in the F-35 stealth fighter aircraft.
Israel has previously confirmed the planes were being used to bomb targets in Gaza, but Australian officials say the country is contributing to a “global supply chain” that is “directed by the United States”.
The Greens and human rights campaigners have pointed to export supply chains from Australia, and called for anything that could be contributing to the ongoing war to be stopped.
Guardian Australia reported in November that Australia had amended or lapsed at least 16 defence-related export permits to Israel. A spokesperson said all of the 16 permits were approved before the conflict began and none of the permits related to weapons or ammunition.
The ABC reported in April that a remote weapon system designed and built by Australian company Electro Optic Systems was one of dozens of counter drone technologies tested by the Israel Defence Forces earlier this year.
It cited a defence industry source claiming the Australian-made components were first sent to an entity connected to the company in the United States for assembly, before being shipped to Israel without an Australian export approval.
The Australian Centre for International Justice, a non-profit legal centre, is among organisations questioning the government’s claims that Australia does not export weapons to Israel.
Executive director Rawan Arraf said earlier this year that the government and Australian companies were “complicit” and called for the exports, including via third countries, to end.
Greens senator David Shoebridge has also raised doubts about the government’s statements.
He says Australia stopped arms trade with Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine and that the government should do the same with Israel.
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Key event
Marles says Australia is not supplying weapons to Israel. Is it true?
Back on Marles, Guardian Australia looked at the government’s claims denying it supplies weapons to Israel last year when defence officials confirmed in Senate estimates Australian businesses continued to contribute to the supply chain for items used in F-35 aircraft and the Greens pressed officials to confirm F-35 fighters were being used to bomb targets in Gaza.
You can read that fact check here.
Australian officials insisted at the time Australia was contributing to a “global supply chain” that was “directed by the United States” and that they “can’t speak for the IDF and how it engages in force deployment”. That prompted Greens senator David Shoebridge to tell the Senate committee there was “a moral vacuum at the heart of our export weapons scheme”.
In November last year, my colleague Sarah Basford-Canales also reported on at least 16 defence-related export permits to Israel that had either been amended or had lapsed.
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Footage shows near-misses on NSW light rail network
The Minns government has released footage of near-misses on the NSW light rail network.
The transport minister John Graham said the CCTV footage from onboard light rail vehicles in Sydney, the Eastern Suburbs, Parramatta and Newcastle showed the vulnerability of pedestrians, bike riders and people on mobility scooters around trams.
The government urged passengers and pedestrians to prioritise their safety by staying alert, putting down phones, not rushing and observing road rules and signs. Motorists were reminded that, unless signed otherwise, U-turns were not permitted at traffic lights and “illegally turning across light rail tracks puts everyone at risk”.
The vision includes footage of cars and bikes crossing in the path of trams, which Graham said could have easily ended in injury or worse:
These moments are hard to watch because in some cases there is just centimetres or milliseconds from the result being so much worse.
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Marles is asked a final question about tax reform in the context of the Albanese government’s forthcoming productivity roundtable.
He says “the tax policies that we have are what we took to the election but we need to be lifting productivity in this country”.
“And over the longer-term, we need to have a clear eye as to how best to do that. We’re not seeking to constrain the ideas that are put forward at the roundtable next week.”
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Marles reiterates Australia not supplying weapons to Israel
Richard Marles also repeated the government’s position that “we are not supplying weapons to Israel”.
He was asked by host David Speers if the government would block the sale of armoured steel and F-35 components to Israel. Marles said:
Let’s be clear we don’t supply weapons to Israel.
We’re an F-35 country and we have been that for a couple of decades. That is a multi-lateral arrangement with supply chains that are organised by Lockheed Martin in the United States and have multiple supplies in respect of all of those supply chains. So really that is a very different question. We are a part of that process.
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More on Insiders, Marles is asked if he is concerned that any attempt by Israel to take control of Gaza City would be a violation of international law.
Marles says the government is “opposed to this decision and we urge Israel not to take this step” and “we need to see an end to hostilities and we need to see that now”.
We have got a humanitarian catastrophe playing out in Gaza. We need to see humanitarian assistance flow to the people in Gaza and we obviously need to see a return of the hostages from Hamas that are being held in Gaza and a return of those hostages to their families in Israel.
He says the government is “worried” about whether Israel occupying Gaza City would represent a breach of international law, “but our fundamental point here is that food and aid being prevented is a breach of international law”.
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'No role for Hamas' in future Palestinian state, Marles says
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, is appearing on the ABC’s Insiders. He is asked if he agrees with statements by US secretary of state Marco Rubio that announcements by countries including France to recognise a Palestinian state had “encouraged Hamas to abandon ceasefire talks”.
Marles said:
If you support a two-state solution, what that means is that you support the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people to a state but also you understand that the only enduring pathway to peace is to have two states living side by side with each’s security mutually assured.
Asked the same question again, he adds:
I think recognition is a separate question … it is important to talk about the factors that are part of recognition and we have articulated as we have discussed this question that there can be no role for Hamas in a future Palestinian state.
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Australia will make its own decisions on Palestinian statehood, says Albanese
Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart, Christopher Luxon, have discussed the Middle East war and Israel’s plans to take control of more of Gaza in coming days.
The PM said Australia would make its own decisions about recognising Palestinian statehood, likely ahead of the United Nations general assembly in New York next month.
On Saturday, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, joined with ministers from New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany to issue a new statement condemning the plans and warning the moves risk breaching international law and putting the lives of hostages and civilians in renewed danger.
Albanese said there were no immediate plans for additional sanctions on Israeli government figures but Australia took the suffering in Gaza very seriously.
We called for an immediate ceasefire. We called for the release of hostages and we called for the unimpeded entry of aid into Gaza,” he said in Arrowtown on Sunday morning.
We have a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding there. And the idea that it can just be continued is completely unacceptable.
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Zelenskyy must be included in Trump-Putin talks, says Albanese
Anthony Albanese says Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy must be a party to Donald Trump’s upcoming ceasefire talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The two leaders are set to talk about the invasion of Ukraine in Alaska this week. Trump has flagged “swapping of territories” between both sides but is unclear if the Ukrainian leader will be invited to attend.
Speaking during his visit to New Zealand on Sunday, the prime minister said Ukraine must be included in any discussion about the war. He said:
We must remember that it is Russia and Vladimir Putin who is the aggressor here, who has breached international law, who has engaged in an illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine, who has taken action, which has resulted in death and destruction in Ukraine.
And Vladimir Putin can end all this tomorrow. He can just withdraw behind his boundaries of Russia.
It’s also had a huge impact, of course, on the global economy. It’s one of the factors that fed into global inflation that had consequences on supermarket shelves right around the world.
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Tasmanian premier signals 'orderly exit' from greyhound racing
The end of Tasmanian government support for the greyhound racing industry would coincide with the end of the current funding deed.
Premier Jeremy Rockliff said on Sunday:
It’s time to draw a line in the sand and ensure an orderly exit from greyhound racing in Tasmania.
He acknowledged the news would be “extremely disappointing” for many in the greyhound industry, but said it had become increasingly clear it didn’t align with community expectations.
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Good morning
It’s Lisa Cox with you to bring you up to speed as we start the day.
AAP is reporting that the Tasmanian Liberals would phase out funding for greyhound racing by 2029 – effectively ending the sport in the state – in a bid to secure the support of crossbenchers in minority government.
The Tasmanian premier, Jeremy Rockliff, who is looking to shore up the support of progressive independents, said the time had come to make a call on the future of greyhound racing in the state.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, will appear on the ABC’s Insiders this morning, while Anthony Albanese has been meeting his counterpart, Christopher Luxon, in New Zealand.
We will bring you all the latest as it happens.
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