Mike Pezzullo beats the war drum theuknews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theuknews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Australian treasurer reveals economic and political uncertainty
After claiming for months to have generated a strong economic “recovery,” despite the resurging global COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government performed another anxious backflip this week.
In a speech that reversed the seven and a half-year-old Liberal-National government’s fiscal policy ahead of the May 11 annual federal budget, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delayed plans to slash government spending to pay for the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into corporate coffers over the past year.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in conference with the Business Council of Australia [Credit: @JoshFrydenberg, Twitter]
“We won’t be undertaking any sharp pivots towards austerity,” the treasurer told a big business audience at an Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry luncheon on Thursday.
Protesting foreign nationals living in Bellville say they won t move The government has given them two options - either repatriate or reintegrate into communities. Foreign nationals living at the Paint City Bellville site on 30 April 2021. Picture: Kaylynn Palm/Eyewitness News.
CAPE TOWN - Protesting foreigners living at Bellville site said they would not move - despite Friday’s deadline.
The government has given them two options - either repatriate or reintegrate into communities.
Hundreds were moved to tents in Bellville and Wingfield last year after they had occupied a church in Cape Town’s CBD following a protest at the UN Refugee Agency in October 2019.
Upgrade looms for submarines, frigates amid rising regional tensions
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A major review into Australia’s submarine warfare capability is likely to recommend bringing forward upgrades for the navy’s frigates and Collins class submarines in light of the deteriorating strategic environment confronting the region sparked by China’s rise.
Amid warnings from the government over the growing risk of conflict, defence sources have told
AFR Weekend the review, led by one of the navy’s most senior officers, will focus on short and medium improvements to the naval fleet.
A review is expected to recommend upgrading Australia’s Collins class submarines.
Australian government upgrades northern military bases following “drums of war” call
Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday announced a revamped $747 million package to overhaul four strategic military facilities in the Northern Territory, clearly in preparation for a US-instigated war against China.
The announcement came just two days after Home Affairs Department secretary Michael Pezzullo issued an extraordinary public warning that the “drums of war are beating” and the country must be prepared “to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight,” as in World Wars I and II.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter and an Australian Defence Force MRH90 land at Sam Hill Airfield in Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area in Central Queensland (Source: Australian Department of Defence)