Marles condemned the ‘offensive’ comments left on media sites
The conversation continued on Stan Grant and if Richard Marles agreed with some of the comments ABC news boss Justin Stevens was made about the criticism Grant experienced from organizations such as News Corp and its “relentless campaign”.
Marles was asked if he had read some of the comments under articles about ABC staff that appeared in newspapers such as the Australian.
Patricia Karvelas:
Should newspapers deal with consequences and commentary? I read some of it I read some of it about myself, too. They can resist.
marles:
Look, I mean, they revolted. It’s a place in an age of social media where – where there are comments posted, well – anyone who’s engaged in social media, I think we all have to do better.
And the answer to the question of why I haven’t read them all is because of the effect it has on one when you read them all.
You know, I’m … very worried, is the short answer to the question. And I think it’s a moment of Stan Grant’s decision for all of us to think about this a lot.
Main events
NEED Anthony Albanese Will the invitation to visit Beijing be accepted if China has not lifted the trade sanctions?
Richard Marles:
What we’re trying to do in China and really, this is the whole conversation – it’s complicated, and it’s difficult.
If people want to try and make something too complicated and difficult, too simple, it’s not.
What we are trying to do is stabilize the relationship. And as I said, we will work in China where we can we do not agree with them where we have to that is the philosophy that we have taken to stabilize I think it is a little more stable and it was a year ago it’s dramatic. therefore, but it cannot be strengthened by the complete vision that you have of where you want to be.
The Australia-China relationship is ‘complex’ but ‘a huge opportunity’, says Marles
Richard Marles gave a speech overnight in which he said Australia “needs to face the ugly truth about China”.
What does he mean by that?
Well, the point I’m making is that China is a very complicated country, and our relationship with China is obviously complicated.
And this is not a relationship that can be explained by simple jokes.
I think if you turn the clock back a year or so, you know, we have a debate in this country, which is a little simplistic and doesn’t take into account all the nuance of what is a complex situation. And we have to accept everything, you know, we really have to look at the whole picture.
I mean, China is a great opportunity for our country and remains our biggest trading partner. Those facts have been central to our economic growth for decades.
But should Australia raise its concerns?
Richard Marles:
Well, I mean, we have a deep and open relationship with India, but I won’t go into all the elements.
Now. I am sure there will be a full conversation that the two prime ministers will have tomorrow, but we want to emphasize that India is a democracy.
This is a country that shares our values and we want to see greater progress in the way we interact with each other and [cooperate]both at the military level and in terms of our trade.
Marles dodged the question of whether the PM would address India’s treatment of Muslims and other minorities to Modi
Carry On Anthony Albanese address the treatment of Muslims and other minorities by Modi, he said Joe Biden planning to do when the pair meet later in the year?
marles:
I will not discuss everything that will be discussed when the prime minister, our prime minister, meets Prime Minister Modi tomorrow.
I think the fundamental point we want to make is that we have a strategic alignment based on a sense of shared values. I mean, in the end, we are both democracies.
And that emphasizes the way in which we see the world and why we have an interest in building relationships.
Marles is confident of India’s shared alignment despite Russia’s silence
India did not condemn Russia. the Richard Marles confident that India is strategically aligned with Australia?
marles:
We are confident that India is strategically aligned with Australia and that India is a democracy that shares our values. That is the basic principle, and we have an interest in having a free and open Indo-Pacific.
India and Australia share ‘greater strategic alignment … than they have at any point’: Marles
The Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, spoke to ABC radio RN Breakfast about Narendra Modivisit by The prime minister of India arrived around 8 pm last night. He and Anthony Albanese will attend a community event in Sydney tonight, with a bilateral meeting planned for tomorrow morning.
marles:
I think we have a greater strategic alignment with India today than we’ve actually had at any point in both our countries’ histories, and it really provides an opportunity to take the relationship to the next level, as as Prime Minister Modi said…
This is a real opportunity for us, because this year India has become the largest country in the world by population. It is a growing, large economy. There are many opportunities for us.
And in a sense of security, we share the same values and share strategic alignment; we have a real investment together with the rules of international trade, the global rules based on order; we share an ocean, we want to see open trade happen in all of that. And so we really have a common interest in working together.
For those who enjoyed last night, Stan Grant signed off from public life for some time, receiving ongoing racial abuse for doing his job:
Snowy Hydro expects to restart the stuck tunnel borer within weeks
Peter Hannam
Snowy Hydro’s tunnel borer, which has been stuck since December 12 with only 70 meters of its work, should resume operations soon, Dennis Barnes, Snowy’s boss, told the senate estimates on Monday night.
Dubbed “Florence”, the 211 meter long machine hit the soft rock soon after it started the 17 km-long tunnel that will be a key part of the giant Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme.
Work was delayed while crews reinforced the rock around a sink hole that opened in front of the borer and reached the surface. A separate plant that will treat slurry instead of hard rock should be built sooner than expected, and should be commissioned by the end of May. Barnes says:
Then we should be able to push forward with Florence a little after that.
After that, the borer will take “on the order of three years” to complete the tunnel.
Barnes said earlier this month that Snowy 2.0 could be delayed by up to two more years. The commercial start-up date could be in 2029 or later, compared to the original target of July 2025.
Barnes said the effects of the delays and additional costs, and repair efforts to speed up the work, will be calculated later this year.
Official costs – excluding transmission lines to connect the plant to the main grid – are now estimated at $5.9bn and critics expect them to exceed $10bn (assuming there are no other major challenge).
Good morning
Amy Remeikis
Welcome to the second day of parliament sitting – and estimates – as the house continues to be dominated by the debate on the referendum law. Liberal MP Julian Leeser is still seeking support to remove ‘executive government’ from the question, but the government has shown no sign that it believes any transfer is necessary.
There were more than 70 speakers on yesterday’s list – although not many Coalition MPs. A Liberal MP who made a splash was Bridget Archer who directly contradicted the claims made by his party leader, Peter Dutton who said the vote would divide Australia along racial lines.
No, the voice does not have the power to veto or act as a third chamber … To claim that it is not is a deliberate and harmful misrepresentation of the facts, and I am disappointed to see this deliberate which continues to some.
Nor is the argument that this referendum divided the country by race.
Anthony Albanese had a busy day – he was in parliament in Canberra for most of the day, but headed to Sydney for a 6pm community event with Narendra Modi in what will be the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Australia since 2014.
Landed in Sydney to a warm welcome from the Indian community. Looking forward to various programs in the next two days. pic.twitter.com/gE8obDI5eD
Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 22, 2023
There are also party room meetings, more budget debate and of course, estimates where Coalition senators do their best to bring a couple of headlines.
We bring you all the news as it happened to me, Amy Remeikison the blog. Paul Karp, Daniel Hurst and Josh Butler continues in the Canberra office breaking everything you need to know, while the rest of the Guardian’s brain trust brings you news from outside Capital Hill.
It’s at least two coffees in the morning.
Ready?
