Key events
Nationals MP says welcome to country is generally a ‘good part’ of ceremonies
Nationals MP Michael McCormack said he thinks welcomes to county were generally a “good part” of ceremonies after the opposition leader, Angus Taylor, said this weekend he thought they were oversized.
Taylor made the comments after booing incidents at some of Saturday’s Anzac Day dawn services. McCormack said he believed that booing seemed to be almost “orchestrated” and was unacceptable. But when he was asked if he agreed with Taylor’s view on welcome to countries, McCormack told RN Breakfast:
I can if you have several speakers and every one of them takes a lot of their speech time to do welcomes to country when it’s already been done. If you do it at the start, you do it appropriately, I think most people find that to be a good part of the ceremony, and then you get on with what the actual event is all about.
And I think that’s probably appropriate.
Wong to visit Japan, China and South Korea to secure fuel supplies
Krishani Dhanji
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will travel to Japan today as part of another diplomatic tour to secure Australia’s fuel and energy supply chains.
The government has said Australia has more fuel now than before the Iran war, after underwriting several additional shipments, but Wong is on her way across Asia to make sure the supplies keep coming.
Wong will travel to China on Wednesday and Korea on Thursday, and said Australia will “continue working with international partners to help secure the supplies we need – including diesel, petrol and fertiliser – and ensure Australia is prioritised as a reliable energy partner”.
The Middle East conflict and closure of the strait of Hormuz continue to disrupt global energy markets, with Asian refineries and the Indo-Pacific region disproportionately affected. Direct, in-person engagement with counterparts across our region will help ensure we are coordinating effectively as these disruptions continue to unfold.
Earlier this month Wong travelled to Singapore, after the PM, who also visited Malaysia and Brunei.
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Good morning, Nick Visser here to guide you through the day’s news. Here’s what’s on deck:
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, will travel to Japan today, part of a diplomatic trip to secure fuel supplies that will also include visits to China and South Korea. She said the effort will help “ensure Australia is prioritised as a reliable energy partner”.
The government will spend three-quarters of a billion dollars on 268 new armoured vehicles over the next seven years, which will be built in regional Victoria. Defence minister Richard Marles also announced $450m in funding upgrades towards protected mobility vehicles.
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