Lambie labels Trump a ‘bloody sociopath’
Continuing with Jacqui Lambie’s colourful judgment of Donald Trump’s attack on Iran and Anthony Albanese’s response, the independent senator told the ABC:
My goodness, it is the lamb following the lamb here. What Trump did was wrong … You are bending over to Trump already. I find it shameful. Start standing up to the man, he is a bloody sociopath.
Lambie went on to say the PM should attend this week’s Nato summit:
The prime minister should be going onto Nato to deepen friendships with other countries. What he needs to do is get into the boys’ club and continue to attend these things. He should have worked on deepening relationships with other countries and other leaders.
Go for it – you have a platform, a huge majority. Everyone is looking up to you so this is a perfect opportunity, do not waste it.
Key events
Lambie says Trump ‘has not played by the rulebook’
It’s been a busy Afternoon Briefing session. Jacqui Lambie is not holding back on her criticism of both Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese’s handling of the Australian response to the US attack on Iran.
The independent senator told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that Australia “should not be supporting action because [Trump] has not played by the rulebook”.
The government “should be saying that ‘you do not play by rulebook’. As soon as somebody else breaks the rulebook, [Trump] is straight down their throat. This is a trust thing with the Iranian people.”
She went on:
What he said to those people was ‘you have two weeks’. What he does is give a warning to the rest of the world with citizens in that country to get them out. That was taken away from us. Not only was that taken away from us, he took the trust away from the Iranian people.
Right now they are very vulnerable citizens. The last thing you want is driving them back into the arms of terrorists, because that is what they are doing.
Lambie also likened Trump to a gamer:
You know what else is so stupid? What sort of president, what sort of man gets out there and puts everything out on social media? He is not playing on a game console – this is real life stuff.
Somebody please tell him he is not running a TV show. My God, this is shocking.
Trump seeking Albanese meeting at Nato summit – report
Donald Trump is reportedly seeking a meeting with Anthony Albanese and the leaders of Japan, South Korea and New Zealand during the Nato summit.
According to a report by Nikkei Asia, the meeting is provisionally to be held in The Hague and would include Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte.
Nikkei Asia reported that sources said Trump “regards this meeting as an opportunity for the US and European members of Nato to expand security cooperation, as Russia and China pose growing threats in areas such as cyberspace and space development”.
Albanese was not due to attend the summit.
Guardian Australia has not confirmed the report and will bring you more updates as soon as we learn more.
Labor says what’s important now is ‘where we go from here’
Matt Thistlethwaite says the US attack on Iran, which the Australian government supports, was “very targeted and tight”.
Responding to Hastie’s accusation that Anthony Albanese acted too slowly when addressing reporters today rather than yesterday, the assistant minister for foreign affairs told Patricia Karvelas:
We are a government that takes serious issues such as this and relies on important information from our intelligence and defence agencies and we make proper decisions. That is the responsible thing to do. Nonetheless, we issued a statement yesterday, the foreign minister did a dozen interviews this morning and the prime minister held a press conference to make clear Australia’s position.
But what is now important, Patricia, is where we go from here and what we believe is important is that the parties now negotiate. We want to see a peaceful resolution that ensures that Iran abides by its obligations and is something that is negotiated rather than through conflict.
Hastie urges higher spending on defence
Andrew Hastie says that he believes Australia should increase its defence expenditure “so we are in the best possible position to secure our own interest and have as much agency as possible”.
Speaking with the ABC, the shadow foreign minister said:
We have seen in the last five to 10 years countries like Russia and Iran and China in our own region challenge the US rules-based global order. Those countries are revisionist – they want to revise the rules and bend them through their own rules – and expansionist as well, as we have seen with Russia and Ukraine. This is just the world as it is not as we wish it to be and we have to respond.
He also said the opposition was “Australia first” and that Anthony Albanese should attend the Nato summit and seek a meeting with Donald Trump:
The US is our closest security partner, that is why we are troubled Anthony Albanese has not been able to establish a personal relationship with President Trump.
I think that is a problem – President Trump has been elected for more than several months now and that is why I would encourage the prime minister to go to Nato: not send the deputy prime minister but go himself and seek a meeting with Donald Trump and build a deeper relationship with our allies.
Hastie calls Albanese’s response to US strikes on Iran ‘too slow and too passive’
Andrew Hastie says the people of Australia deserved a more prompt statement from Anthony Albanese regarding the US attack on Iran on Sunday.
The shadow foreign minister told Afternoon Briefing on Monday that he thought the prime minister “has been too slow and too silent and too passive”.
Speaking with the ABC’s Patricia Karvelas, he said:
Yesterday we only heard from a spokesperson from the government, which was a very ambiguous statement, and only heard from the prime minister today. He called NSC [national security committee] this morning, not yesterday, and we saw his press conference with Penny Wong a little earlier.
The question I have is: is this a question of confidence or competence on his part?
Whale untangled off Sydney beach and moving ‘much more freely’
In a piece of good news, we have just heard the humpback whale off Palm Beach has been disentangled.
“It’s a really successful end of the day considering we’re about to lose light,” an Orcca spokesperson said.
The whale is moving “much more freely”, with Orcca members staying close to it to assess its health.
Whale entangled in rope off Sydney beach
A whale has become entangled off Sydney’s northern beaches.
In a Facebook post, Orrca marine rescue group said the sub-adult humpback whale off Palm Beach was 10 to 11 metres in length and was trailing about 150m of rope.
The line goes through the whale’s mouth, partially wrapping its body and potentially also its left pectoral fin, according to Orcca. The trailing end of the line is marked by four white buoys equally spaced along the last 10 metres.
NSW National Parks is leading a disentanglement attempt, an Orcca spokesperson confirmed on Monday afternoon.
“It seems to be tired, but that’s to be expected from an entangled whale that is carrying something like a buoy that is slowing it down,” the spokesperson said.
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Weather warnings issued for SA and Tasmania
A quick look at a couple of weather alerts issued by the Bureau of Meteorology.
Parts of South Australia will be hit by abnormally high tides on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the bureau.
In a post on X, it said tides above normal high tide marks were likely, which may lead to seawater flooding of low-lying coastal areas.
Damaging winds were forecast for northern Tasmania on Tuesday.
Australia needs new regulations to protect people from tech giants, ACCC finds
Australia needs new laws and regulations to prevent significant harm to consumers and businesses from the exploitative practices of US tech giants, AAP reports.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued the warning in its final digital platform services report on Monday after five years of monitoring social networks, online marketplaces, app stores and search engines.
The report issued six recommendations but also raised future areas of concern including a lack of competition in cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) services, and risky behaviour involving online video games.
Gina Cass-Gottlieb, chair of the ACCC, said existing laws were not equipped to protect Australians:
While these services have brought many benefits, they have also created harms that our current competition and consumer laws cannot adequately address.
This is why we continue to recommend that targeted regulation of digital platform services is needed to increase competition and innovation and protect consumers in digital markets.
