PM nominates Greg Moriarty to be next US ambassador
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has revealed that veteran public servant and former chief of staff to Malcolm Turnbull, Greg Moriarty, will be recommended to the governor general to be Australia’s ambassador to the US, replacing the outgoing ambassador, Kevin Rudd.
Albanese told ABC’s Insiders:
He is I think an outstanding Australian public servant. He served as an ambassador to Iran and to Indonesia. He’s played a role in Papua New Guinea as well. He was the first, appointed the first counter-terrorism tsar if you look in 2015. He’s been a former chief of staff to a Liberal prime minister. He has served both Labor and Coalition governments and he’s been of the secretary of the Department of Defence and the Aukus deal is central to our relationship with the US. And he’s in a very strong position to be on top of all of that detail.
Albanese said Rudd will finish his role on 31 March, and “can look back with real pride” at taking Aukus from “an idea into a reality” as well as critical minerals deals, and superannuation investment in the US.
Moriarty was one of those touted as taking the role earlier this month, and was seen as a strong choice.
Key events
Trump comments on non-US soldiers in Afghanistan ‘completely unacceptable’, PM says
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says Donald Trump’s comments that Nato-aligned soldiers, including Australians “stayed a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan was “completely unacceptable”.
Albanese told ABC’s insiders that the US president had walked back some of the comments on Saturday, with a statement praising British soldiers after outrage from the UK government.
He said the families of 47 Australians killed in Afghanistan would be hurting from the comments.
They deserve our absolute respect, admiration, the bravery that was shown by 40,000 Australians who served in Afghanistan.
They were certainly on the frontlines. In order to, along with our other allies, to defend democracy and freedom. And to defend our national interest.
He said he’s not going to be running commentary on all of Trump’s comments, but he said those comments were not appropriate.
That’s completely unacceptable.
PM nominates Greg Moriarty to be next US ambassador
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has revealed that veteran public servant and former chief of staff to Malcolm Turnbull, Greg Moriarty, will be recommended to the governor general to be Australia’s ambassador to the US, replacing the outgoing ambassador, Kevin Rudd.
Albanese told ABC’s Insiders:
He is I think an outstanding Australian public servant. He served as an ambassador to Iran and to Indonesia. He’s played a role in Papua New Guinea as well. He was the first, appointed the first counter-terrorism tsar if you look in 2015. He’s been a former chief of staff to a Liberal prime minister. He has served both Labor and Coalition governments and he’s been of the secretary of the Department of Defence and the Aukus deal is central to our relationship with the US. And he’s in a very strong position to be on top of all of that detail.
Albanese said Rudd will finish his role on 31 March, and “can look back with real pride” at taking Aukus from “an idea into a reality” as well as critical minerals deals, and superannuation investment in the US.
Moriarty was one of those touted as taking the role earlier this month, and was seen as a strong choice.
Albanese ‘worried’ about Coalition split
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is on ABC’s Insiders, and is asked whether he is loving or worried about the split in the Coalition after the hate speech laws debate last week.
Albanese said he is worried:
It does worry me. I think what the country needs is more unity and less division. The Liberal and National party have always been focused in recent times on trying to divide Australians and now they’re dividing themselves. You can’t fight for the national interest if you’re too busy fighting yourselves and that’s what we’re seeing on the right of politics at the moment.
He said that the Liberal part wants Australians to forget what they have said previously. They demanded parliament to be recalled after the Bondi terror attack, he said, and wanted the special envoy’s report on antisemitism implemented in full.
Albanese said there was a “politicisation of this issue” from the very first days after the Bondi attack.
He said:
When the Coalition got what they asked for – which was for parliament to be resumed and legislation to be moved – they then started to break up. They were so determined to make division, they ended up dividing themselves.
40-year-old man charged over allegedly religiously-motivated assault in Sydney
A 40-year-old man was charged over an assault that was allegedly religiously motivated in Bankstown, in Sydney’s south west on Saturday.
A 51-year-old man was handing out religious flyers in Bankstown on Saturday morning, and allegedly became involved in an argument with another man about the flyers.
Police allege during the argument, the 51-year-old man was allegedly assaulted by the man.
Shortly after midday, a 40-year-old man approached officers at Bankstown railway station, where he was placed under arrest, and later charged with common assault, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He was granted bail to appear in court on 26 February.
70-year-old man charged over allegedly sending a threatening letter to a Sydney mosque
NSW police have charged a 70-year-old man after he allegedly posted a threatening letter to a mosque in Sydney’s south west last week.
Officers were called to a mosque on Wangee Rd Lakemba at 4pm on Thursday after reports a threatening letter had been received by staff.
The counter-terrorism unit of the NSW police commenced an investigation and at 6pm on Saturday executed a search warrant at an address on Burwood Rd, Burwood.
Police say more than 100 letters, stamps, notepads, and several electronic devices were seized.
The 70-year-old man was arrested and charged with three counts of send document threatening death or grievous bodily harm. He has been refused bail to appear in court on Sunday.
‘Challenging’ conditions for firefighters in Victoria’s south-west
As residents in Gellibrand in Victoria’s south-west have been told it is too late to leave with a bushfire at Carlisle River just one kilometre from the town, forest fire management Victoria chief fire officer Chris Hardman said yesterday’s extremely hot day in the state made it challenging for firefighters.
He told ABC’s Weekend Breakfast:
That fire is right on the edge of Gellibrand and that fire will continue to move today. And the conditions are a little bit milder, so firefighters will do everything they can to protect the community assets in and around Gellibrand.
He said residents should also keep an eye on the Walwa fire in the north-east, as it was likely to move further to the south on Sunday.
That’s not necessarily going to threaten communities in the days ahead but that fire could significantly increase in size and continue to challenge firefighters for many weeks to come.
He said in the north of the state, it’s hot and dry and really challenging conditions.
These fires can continue to grow and challenge us. This is very early in the season, this is the peak of the fire season now. We have had some terrible fires but it’s not a time to turn our gaze away from the challenges ahead.
Around 1,700 firefighters had been deployed in the state on Sunday morning, he said.
Good morning
Hello, and welcome to the Sunday live blog.
Victorian emergency services have said a bushfire at Carlisle River, in the south-west of the state, is not under control, and may impact homes in Gellibrand.The fire is travelling east from the west of Gellibrand, and is now within a kilometre of the town.
The warning level is at take shelter now, with anyone in the area advised it is too late to leave safely.
It follows a hot day in the state, where temperatures topped 40C in Melbourne. This morning, a haze of smoke can be seen and smelled in inner Melbourne.
And NSW police will hold a press conference at 11am today from the NSW regional town of Lake Cargelligo, as a manhunt for a gunman suspected of killing his pregnant former partner and two others continues.
More soon, let’s get into it.
