Here’s a recap of the major stories in Australia last week:
Mining firm Rio Tinto has apologised for destroying a 46,000-year-old site, considered sacred to Aboriginal people. The mining giant has apologized to Indigenous people in Western Australia saying it is urgently reviewing plans for other sites in the area.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has not apologized for the faults of the robo-debt welfare scheme that forced thousands of Australians to wrongly pay back benefits, citing continuing legal action. About $720 million will be refunded to around 470,000 welfare debts.
Australia is closer to having no new COVID-19 cases. Victoria is the only state to record new cases of coronavirus this weekend, bringing closer the day when Australia records zero additional cases.
West Australian Member of Parliament Andrew Hastie has called the Beijing-backed music app
TikTok an “attractive database” for the Chinese communist regime to collect data on the “habits, psychology, and personal preferences” of over one million young Australians. Hastie said there were “serious concerns about how the data TikTok collects may be used.”
The regime’s tariffs on Australian barley has not scared off Chinese buyers who want high-quality barley for the production of premium beer. Earlier this week Australian cargo ships were rerouted to other countries as China’s tariff came into effect, however, a select few are finding their way into the Chinese market because of demand.
Student activist Drew Pavlou has been handed a two-year suspension from the University of
Queensland after speaking out about the institution’s ties to China. Drew Pavlou faced a disciplinary hearing on May 20 at the
university over 11 allegations of misconduct, detailed in a confidential 186-page document, after he sought the
court’s protection in another case for threats he received linked to his on-campus activism supporting Hong Kong and criticising the Chinese Communist Party.
After 35 years of radio commentary, Alan Jones has signed off from the airwaves on a tender note, saying he hoped his breakfast show had provided “stepping stones” for listeners.
Prime Minister
Scott Morrison has stated that Australia is not considering sanctions against Beijing in response to the Chinese communist regime’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC) approving security laws targeting
Hong Kong.
A coalition of democratic nations including Australia, the United States, the UK, and Canada have combined to condemn Beijing as it formally passed a new security law targeting
Hong Kong.
The Australian government is not letting recent trade troubles with China or the COVID-19 pandemic stop it from finding new avenues for trade markets. Trade minister Simon Birmingham said that he’s confident demand for Australian goods and services will be even stronger when the country comes out the other side of this pandemic, and the government is committed to helping businesses develop export opportunities and connections.
A knife-wielding man was shot dead by police during a stand-off on Melbourne’s Monash Freeway, with police calling for any dashcam or phone footage. The man was shot dead by police after advancing on officers who tried to calm him down during a stand-off on a Melbourne freeway.
News Corp Australia has announced that the majority of its regional and community papers will go digital-only from June 29, and some will cease entirely.
Federal Member of Parliament Bob Katter said that newspapers could resurrect themselves on an “owner-operator basis” following News Corp
Australia’s announcement that over 100 regional and community titles will be digital-only from June 29. Katter said that “decentralisation of newspaper ownership is a positive” and there is an opportunity for the state and federal governments to provide finance to support owner-operators.
The
economic downturn from
COVID-19 may not be as severe as predicted,
Reserve Bank boss Philip Lowe says. Lowe has told a Senate inquiry Australia’s recovery largely depends on when the public regains its confidence in their health and finances.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on May 27 a draft blueprint on safely starting
travel between New Zealand and Australia will be presented to both governments in early June.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison challenged the reasoning of state premiers for keeping internal borders closed as the country begins to reopen the economy. He warned that the border closures risk destroying tourism and the economy, particularly as the mid-year school holiday period approaches.
The director of a Belt and Road Initiative lobby group in Victoria who worked closely with the state government has been found praising Chinese leader
Xi Jinping’s handling of the
CCP virus pandemic in an interview with a state-run national daily newspaper in China. Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative (ACBRI) CEO Jean Dong’s praise came around the same that
Australia was coming to grips with the news that two Chinese-backed companies had shipped tonnes of critical medical equipment from Australia to China.
Locals found thousands of dead fish washed ashore on Lake Wyangan in New South Wales’ (NSW) Riverina region on May 23. Among the thousands of fish kills were the native murray cod, yellow belly perch, and bony bream. Griffith City Council promptly alerted the NSW Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Primary Industries (DPI) for an investigation.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has unveiled the government’s “JobMaker” plan to get the country out of “intensive care” by focusing on job creation that is driven by comprehensive reforms. Top of the prime minister’s agenda is focussing on skills and industrial relations. Speaking at the
National Press Club on May 26, Morrison said: “We need Australians better trained for the jobs businesses are looking to create because that’s important.”
Iconic Australian TV programs, including Neighbours, MasterChef, The Voice, and 60 Minutes will soon be accessible in Pacific countries on local free-to-air channels, as the Federal government steps up Australia’s engagement with its Pacific neighbours amidst China’s rising influence in the region. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Fiji are the first of the seven countries to receive the screen content through the PacificAus TV initiative delivered by Free TV Australia.
And that was the recap of last week’s news. Be sure to subscribe to The Epoch Times for quality, independent journalism.
