Richard Marles, the Defence Minister, has launched a new National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program.
Marles spoke today at the National Press Club. A full transcript of his speech appears below.
Watch Richard Marles at the National Press Club (72m):
So weighed down have Americans become by student debt, and so potent a political issue has it become in the US, that President Biden plans to waive interest or write off money owing by 30 million of them.
The terrorism incident in Sydney last night saw the government, Federal Police and ASIO speaking out today in an attempt to calm Australians already unsettled by the Bondi shopping centre murders on Saturday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has today become Australia’s 22nd longest-serving prime minister, overtaking Harold Holt’s term of 1 year, 10 months and 23 days.
Harold Holt was prime minister in 1966-1967. He disappeared on December 17, 1967 at Cheviot Beach, Portsea, whilst swimming. His body was never found.
Albanese became the 31st prime minister on May 23, 2022, following the ALP’s victory in the election of May 21.
On May 20, 2024, Albanese will overtake Tony Abbott’s term of 1 year, 11 months and 28 days.
Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court has found that on the balance of probabilities Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins.
In so finding, Lee found in favour of Network 10 and its truth defence. Lehrmann’s defamation claim has been rejected. Lee said: “Mr Lehrmann is not entitled to the vindication of his reputation. The respondents, however, are entitled to vindication by the entry of judgment on the statement of claim.”
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has issued a statement on Iran’s attack on Israel.
The statement was supported by the Acting Foreign Minister, Senator Katy Gallagher.

Australia’s top economists overwhelmingly want Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to scrap a special deal with Western Australia that’s set to deliver it an extra A$40 billion in Commonwealth funding by the end of the decade.
Albanese pledged to maintain the special treatment for Western Australia in a visit to Perth in February. He even signed a promise on a newspaper front page and on a reporter’s arm with a marker pen.
Generative AI has created a gold rush today, but that rush has not yet grown into either a productivity boom or a financial bubble. There are good reasons to think this rush could become either one.Which one is just around the corner? Could it be both? In case you forgot, we did live through a productivity bonanza that morphed into a financial bubble during the commercialization of the Internet. That alone makes it plausible to forecast that history will repeat itself a quarter of a century later. You may also have more self-centered reasons to pay attention.
A knife attack at the Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre in Sydney has resulted in the deaths of seven people, including the killer.
The dead include four women and one male who died at the shopping centre. The mother of a nine-month old baby subsequently died in hospital. The baby was also stabbed in the attack.
The killer, a lone 40-year-old male, known to police, was shot dead by a NSW Police Inspector who was the first police officer to arrive on the scene.
This page shows the heads of government and opposition leaders in Australia from April 10, 2024.
There are nine parliaments in Australia. There is one Federal Parliament in Canberra, six State Parliaments (New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia & Tasmania) and two Territory Parliaments (Northern Territory & Australian Capital Territory).
There are just five weeks until the budget, and the usual lists of winners and losers.
Among last year’s winners were said to be single parents, renters and first home buyers. Among the losers were said to be vapers, truckies and consultants.
Samantha Mostyn, a lawyer,business-woman and gender equality campaigner, has been appointed the 28th Governor-General of Australia.
The appointment was announced this morning by the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. The vice-regal appointment is made by King Charles III on the advice of the prime minister.
Mostyn will take up the 5-year appointment on July 1, 2024.
Watch the Albanese-Mostyn press conference (26m):
Who’d want to go back to the days before Uber? The days in which you could never be certain you could get a taxi, the days of long wait times trying to order one on the phone, and the days in which you would never know for sure how your driver would treat you.