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Anthony Albanese
Families of victims of the recent Sydney massacre that targeted a Jewish festival released an open letter on Monday calling for more federal action to investigate a rise in antisemitism and the security failures behind Australia's worst mass shooting in three decades. Two gunmen are accused of shooting 15 people dead and wounding another 40 in an attack on a Hannukah festival on Bondi Beach on Dec. 14. In an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, 17 families of the dead and wounded called for a federal inquiry known as a royal commission to investigate a rise in antisemitism in Australia since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023 and consequent security agency failures. Royal commissions are the most powerful form of public investigation in Australia and witnesses can be jailed for deliberately withholding evidence. We need to know why clear warning signs were ignored, how antisemitic hatred and Islamic extremism were allowed to dangerously grow unchecked, and what changes m
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Thursday for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted the worst of evil during an antisemitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation's holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harms way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram are accused of perpetrating Australia's worst massacre since 1996. Speaking at a press conference after a Christmas Day lunch at a charitable foundation in Sydney, Albanese described a Christmas defined by a sharp contrast between extremist violence and the best of humanity. This Christmas is a different one because of th
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he discussed Australia's critical-minerals deal with the United States and the hostile maneuvers of a Chinese warplane during a positive meeting on Monday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. Albanese and China's second-most senior leader held a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' summit. Once again, it was a positive meeting, Albanese told reporters of his seventh meeting with Li. This is a relationship that has improved; that is stabilising, Albanese added. China has removed a series of official and unofficial trade barriers since Albanese's center-left government was first elected in 2022. The barriers imposed in 2020 when Beijing banned minister-to-minister bilateral contacts had cost Australian exporters up to USD 13 billion a year. Albanese said he and Li had discussed the Australian leader's visit to the US last week during which he and US President Donald Trum
President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed a critical-minerals deal at the White House on Monday as the US eyes the continent's rich rare-earth resources when China is imposing tougher rules on exporting its own critical minerals abroad. The two leaders described the agreement as a USD 8.5 billion deal between the allies. Trump said it had been negotiated over several months. In about a year from now we'll have so much critical mineral and rare earth that you won't know what to do with them," said Trump, a Republican, boasting about the deal. "They'll be worth USD 2. Albanese added that the agreement takes the US-Australia relationship to the next level. This month, Beijing announced that it will require foreign companies to get approval from the Chinese government to export magnets containing even trace amounts of rare-earth materials that originated from China or were produced with Chinese technology. The Trump administration says this gives Chin
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese accused Iran of directing at least two antisemitic attacks in Australia and said the country is expelling the Iranian ambassador on Tuesday. Albanese said that Australian intelligence services had connected Iran to attacks on a Sydney restaurant and a Melbourne mosque. There has been a steep rise in antisemitic events in the two cities since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023. ASIO has gathered enough credible intelligence to reach a deeply disturbing conclusion. The Iranian government directed at least two of these attacks. Iran has sought to disguise its involvement but ASIO assesses it was behind the attacks, Albanese told reporters, referring to the main domestic spy agency.
Australia will recognise a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday, joining the leaders of France, Britain and Canada in signalling they would do so. His remarks followed weeks of urging from within his Cabinet and from many in Australia to recognise a Palestinian state and amid growing criticism from officials in his government over suffering in Gaza, which Albanese on Monday referred to as a humanitarian catastrophe. Australia's government has also criticised plans announced in recent days by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu for a sweeping new military offensive in Gaza. Albanese told reporters after a Cabinet meeting Monday that Australia's decision to recognise a Palestinian state will be formalised at the United Nations General Assembly in September. The acknowledgement was predicated on commitments Australia has received from the Palestinian Authority, Albanese said. Those commitments included no role for Hamas in a Palestinian government, ...