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China lifts trade restrictions on hay as relationship improves
Daniel Hurst
The federal government says China is clearing the way to resume imports of Australian hay, another step in the improvement of the trading relationship.
But the government will continue to press for the removal of other remaining trade blockages, including tariffs on Australian wine and restrictions on lobster.
The government says the deal follows ongoing talks between Australia’s Department of Agriculture and the General Administration of Customs China’s (GACC), and involve the registration of establishments for import into China.
According to official figures, Australia’s exports of hay and chaff to China were valued at $78m last year, down from $160m in 2020, meaning China was Australia’s third biggest market for the product.
The Australian trade minister, Don Farrell, said:
This is another positive step forward, but there is more work to do.
I will continue to persevere and press for all outstanding impediments to be removed as soon as possible.
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said:
Following the resumption of the trade of timber and barley, this is more good news for Aussie farmers. The department has been working tirelessly on a resolution for many months in the lead-up to today’s announcement.
We are working hard to remove the existing impediments and restrictions on other important commodities like beef, wine and lobster.
Key events
Three men in their early twenties, including two brothers, have been killed in a car crash south of Perth, AAP reports.
Kody, 24, and William Bell, 21, and 24-year-old father-of-two Jaziah Thomas all died when their Audi crashed into a Kia on Sixty Eight Road in Baldivis at 5pm on Wednesday.
A fourth man in the Audi is in a serious condition while the driver of the Kia was treated for minor injuries.
Detective Senior Sergeant Adam Matson said investigations were ongoing into what caused the crash.
“The loss of one life on our roads is a tragedy, to lose three … from the one crash including two brothers, is incomprehensible,” he said on Thursday.
Tributes have begun flowing for the three young men, with Thomas’ partner saying she had been left broken by the news.
“It still doesn’t feel real and I keep waiting for you to just walk through the door and it breaks me apart to know you’re not going to,” she posted on Facebook.
“I don’t know how I can live without you, I just want you to come home.”
The fatalities bring WA’s road death toll to 124.
Yes leader Thomas Mayo says he will only be fighting ‘with words’ after Mundine comments
Prominent yes campaigner Thomas Mayo says he was shocked to be challenged to a boxing match by boxer and former rugby league player Anthony Mundine, saying it should never descend into violence.
Mundine opposes the Indigenous voice to parliament.
Mayo told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing he is “absolutely not” a boxer, and he’s only fighting for his fellow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to get better results in education, employment and health.
That is what I am fighting for and I am doing it with words and with [messages] of solidarity with other Australians. We should never descend into violence and some of the awful things we have seen.
I want this to be respectful. I want this to be amicable and civilised and I hope we don’t see it as anything other than that.
He said it was shocking to see the challenge, and he is focused on having respectful discussions with Australians up until the referendum date.
Mayo said he was disappointed to see prominent no campaigner Warren Mundine to seemingly endorse the proposed fight on social media.
You would think he would not condone such threats of violence but again, I think it is too important for Australians to see just what the no campaign is about there, it is chaotic, it is dishonest, I am just going to continue on.
Fair Australia told the ABC that Warren Mundine’s tweet was lighthearted.
You can read our earlier story below.
Government guidelines needed on facial recognition at stadiums, Choice says
Consumer group Choice says the decision by Melbourne’s AAMI Park to use facial recognition technology to identify and eject people banned from the venue showed the need for government guidelines on the use of the technology
Choice spokesperson Jarni Blakkarly told AAP that fans should be informed when it is in use at venues.
We would hope to see this information also being prominently displayed at (AAMI Park) for people who might not be reading press releases.
Victoria police or authorised officers would eject banned people from AAMI Park if they were detected through the technology, football club Melbourne Victory said.
Education minister not ‘hung up’ on falling uni rankings ‘because it is all dependent on methodology’
The education minister, Jason Clare, is on ABC’s Afternoon Briefing and is asked about the global ranking of universities and Australia’s universities falling in the rankings.
Clare says Australia punches above its weight in terms of universities, but he says the rankings are aligned with international student numbers, which plummeted during Covid and are only now just back at 2019 numbers.
If there is a direct correlation between rankings and student numbers then you would expect you would see a difference next year. It really all depends on the different ranking companies and the methodology they use.
I don’t want to get hung up on the rankings per se, because it is all dependent on methodology.
I want us to get hung up on making sure we make university more affordable, for Australian students, we tackle cost of living issues that a lot of students face.
Marles on Timor-Leste’s China ties: ‘We are focusing on our own bilateral relationship’
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is asked about the Timor-Leste comprehensive strategic partnership with China, and whether it undercuts Australia’s role as a security partner with Timor-Leste.
Marles says Australia has a long history with Timor-Leste and various defence exercises have been conducted and there’s a military relationship with the country that will continue. But he notes that Timor-Leste is a sovereign nation and they have the right to have a talk with any country they want to.
He said:
What we need to be making sure is that we are focusing on our own bilateral relationship. We’re investing in it and we are confident about that in respect to Timor-Leste.
China lifts trade restrictions on hay as relationship improves
Daniel Hurst
The federal government says China is clearing the way to resume imports of Australian hay, another step in the improvement of the trading relationship.
But the government will continue to press for the removal of other remaining trade blockages, including tariffs on Australian wine and restrictions on lobster.
The government says the deal follows ongoing talks between Australia’s Department of Agriculture and the General Administration of Customs China’s (GACC), and involve the registration of establishments for import into China.
According to official figures, Australia’s exports of hay and chaff to China were valued at $78m last year, down from $160m in 2020, meaning China was Australia’s third biggest market for the product.
The Australian trade minister, Don Farrell, said:
This is another positive step forward, but there is more work to do.
I will continue to persevere and press for all outstanding impediments to be removed as soon as possible.
The agriculture minister, Murray Watt, said:
Following the resumption of the trade of timber and barley, this is more good news for Aussie farmers. The department has been working tirelessly on a resolution for many months in the lead-up to today’s announcement.
We are working hard to remove the existing impediments and restrictions on other important commodities like beef, wine and lobster.
ADF shake-up to provide an incentive for people to join and stay in defence, Marles says
The defence minister, Richard Marles, is on ABC’s afternoon briefing to discuss the announcement of moving ADF troops and equipment up to Townsville.
As Daniel Hurst reported this morning, Townsville is set to become “the home of our armoured vehicles and army attack and medium lift aviation” and the army’s overall presence there will grow.
Marles says the move will see “much more focused and effective results”.
Asked whether it would lead to people leaving the ADF because they do not want to move, Marles says it provides an incentive for people to join and stay in the defence force.
He said:
What we are going to do is make sure that we have three world-class combat brigades with clear tasks defining what those combat brigades are about and that is really the best thing we can do to provide an incentive to people to pursue a career in the army and also to stay in the army for their careers.
… By having a focus of heavy armour here in Townsville, by having in Darwin a light and agile brigade, and in Brisbane having a brigade that is halfway between those two.
Here’s the full report on the derailment at Cockington Green Gardens, from my colleague Christopher Knaus.
Tamsin Rose
NSW premier says bowls club rent hikes will benefit walking trails
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has defended the government’s decision to jack up the rent for a number of bowling clubs operating on crown land, saying the extra revenue would help repair fire trails and walking tracks across the state.
Asked about rent at Bondi Bowling Club jumping from $22,000 to $95,000 per year, the premier said the club’s rent was last reviewed in 2009 and the government needed to fund important work on other public land.
He said:
This is government land. It’s owned by the taxpayers of NSW. All the money that’s generated as a result of rent goes to government services. It goes to the management of walking tracks … as well as fire trails and all of the important and necessary work that’s required to prepare NSW for a bushfire season.
The eastern suburbs club was one of 360 of 11,000 crown land leaseholders to have their rent increased more than $2000 per year.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, accused the government of a “shameful money grab” that could affect the viability of clubs.
Amanda Meade
ABC says no threat to headquarters when man broke glass and speedstile
The ABC said there was no risk to the Ultimo headquarters when a man broke some glass and a speedstile trying to get into the foyer on Wednesday evening.
And an unrelated IT upgrade at the ABC’s Melbourne site resulted in some staff not getting into the building.
“A person damaged a speedstile while trying to get through the foyer,” an ABC spokesperson said. “He was immediately monitored by security and arrested by police and did not pose a threat to the site.
“An unconnected issue that emerged overnight during routine IT maintenance meant some staff swipe cards weren’t recognised. Security was not compromised.”
University of Melbourne staff to go on strike for a week
University of Melbourne students will be without their tutors for a week as a dispute over pay and conditions ramps up, AAP reports.
Staff who are members of the National Tertiary Education Union will go on strike from midday on Monday until midnight on Sunday next week.
The university’s union members last went on strike in August, when some staff stopped work for half a day and others took a week or more off, the union said.
“Victoria is seeing unprecedented strike action in universities because staff have had enough of being denied fair pay, secure jobs and safe workloads,” the union’s national president Alison Barnes said.
University of Melbourne acting union branch secretary Chloe MacKenzie said there were still too many areas management had failed to engage constructively on, despite some progress since staff last went on strike.
The university had also failed to budge on members’ demands for cultural awareness and safety training, with all the unions’ qualms culminating in staff taking the drastic step to go on a week-long strike, Mackenzie said.
Union members working at RMIT would also strike for a half-day on Thursday and hold a rally, before linking up with their University of Melbourne peers, who were planning to march, the union said.
The University of Melbourne and RMIT have been contacted for comment.
Lisa Cox
Bob Carr warns environment movement ‘in danger of fading’
The former New South Wales premier Bob Carr has warned the environment movement is “in danger of fading” in the face of massive challenges protecting habitats from population pressures and climate change.
The state’s longest serving premier made the statement as he backed an alliance of conservation groups calling for tougher environmental protections and an overhaul of the state’s land-clearing laws.
Read more below:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/sep/28/australia-news-live-richard-marles-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-shane-drumgold-woodside-employment-voluntary-assisted-dying-army-qatar-airways Australia news live: China lifts trade restrictions on hay as relationship improves; crane collapses at new Sydney fish market site | Australia news
