Australia news live: Marles says release of defence review before Anzac Day is coincidental | Australia news

A US citizen has faced court on customs charges after allegedly being caught with an unregistered gold-plated handgun in her luggage at Sydney airport, AAP reports.

The woman, 28, was charged after Australian Border Force (ABF) officers allegedly found the undeclared 24-carat gold-plated handgun on Sunday, the agency said in a statement.

The gun was allegedly unregistered and authorities claim the woman, whom they say travelled from Los Angeles, did not hold an Australian permit for it.

ABF officers charged the woman with breaches of the Customs Act that carry a maximum term of 10 years in prison, the border protection agency said.

ABF commander Justin Bathurst said the agency’s team, helped by sophisticated detection technology, were able to stop the gun reaching the community:

We have seen just how good ABF officers are at targeting and stopping illegal, and highly dangerous, goods from crossing Australia’s border.

The traveller fronted Downing Centre local court on Monday and was granted bail, according to the ABF statement.

The ABF said the woman remained subject to visa cancellation and removal from Australia, depending on the outcome of the court proceedings.

Paul Karp

‘Cruel’ if Labor restores single-parent payment only until children reach high school, advocates say

Advocates have warned the Albanese government against adopting a “half measure” of restoring single-parent payments only until children reach high school age.

The women’s economic equality taskforce recently recommended reversing a Gillard government-era decision that reduced the age of children whose parents qualify for single-parent payments from 16 to eight.

Under the current scheme, single parents, most of whom are women, receive about $961 a fortnight, but are shifted to jobseeker when their child turns eight, receiving about $176 less a fortnight.

The Albanese government has promised to support the most vulnerable and is understood to be preparing to raise the eligibility age, although the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has said it “can’t do everything at once”, hinting the changes may be phased in or the threshold restored to an intermediate age.

The chair of the taskforce, Sam Mostyn, has said such a move would see “families falling back into poverty”, while the chief executive of Single Mothers Australia, Terese Edwards, has said it would be “cruel and demeaning” to reduce payments once children reach 12 years old.

Read the full story here:

Daniel Hurst

Marles plays down cuts to infantry fighting vehicles in defence overhaul

The defence minister, Richard Marles, has played down criticism over cuts to infantry fighting vehicles, insisting that the government wants to “reshape the army” to have a greater ability to project power.

The army had planned to acquire up to 450 infantry fighting vehicles, at a cost of up to $27bn, to replace Australia’s Vietnam war-era armoured personnel carriers.

But in line with a recommendation from yesterday’s defence strategic review, the government has cut this number to just 129 vehicles, enough for one mechanised battalion. Instead, the government plans to accelerate and expand numerous other projects, including a land-based anti-ship missile system and new landing craft for the army.

The shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, said yesterday the army would be “diminished by the review” because “without infantry fighting vehicles we go back to a light infantry army”.

When asked by 2GB to respond to this criticism, Marles said he wanted to acknowledge Hastie’s service as “a very brave soldier in his time in the defence force”. Marles also referenced Anzac Day, saying he was “obviously mindful of the day and the dignity of the day so I’m keen not to get into a contest”.

But Marles added:

I’d simply say it’s only one category of fighting vehicle. What we are seeking to do is to reshape the army so that we have a greater ability to project. What we announced yesterday involved not just providing the army with longer range strike capability missiles, but also a greater capability to operate in a littoral environment – that is around coasts – which means we are trying to reimagine an army which is more mobile and can project. And that’s really in the context of a set of very challenging circumstances which we see in the world today.

Rafqa Touma

‘We are all one’: Australians of different backgrounds attend Anzac march

For Phoebe Alexander, who is part of the Taiwanese diaspora community in Australia, attending Sydney’s Anzac Day March is “our way of being part of Australia”.

She is part of a volunteer group from the Global Federation of Chinese Business Women. The group are raising funds with the Rotary International BBQ in Sydney’s CBD as the Anzac march continues towards Hyde Park.

My father was part of the veterans from the second world war against the Japanese.

She says she hopes to see more Chinese people contribute to Anzac Day.

This is an important day for our association to help with the volunteering and to be part of Anzac Day. This is our way of being part of Australia.

She is glad to see people from different backgrounds applaud the March along Elizabeth St.

It’s wonderful because it reminds us we are all Australian. We are all one.

Marles says release of defence review before Anzac Day is coincidental

Daniel Hurst

Richard Marles was also asked about the defence strategic review, given that the government chose to release it yesterday, the day before Anzac Day. At a few points in various interviews today Marles tried to avoid getting dragged into a political back and forth, saying he was “very mindful of the day”.

The 3AW host, Neil Mitchell, asked why the government had decided to release it yesterday. Marles replied:

We said quite a while ago, actually, that we were going to release the report in the first part of the year, and it was two months ago that I said it would be released in April. So, that it was going to happen in this week has been really on the cards for quite a while, and that’s the reason why.

Mitchell asked whether that meant the timing was “coincidental”.

Yeah, it is. And I think it’s possible to do that work on Monday and I’ll be doing it again tomorrow and through the week, whilst at the same time taking today to honour those who have engaged in the sacrifice of our nation.

‘That’s not what we’re seeking to do’: Marles responds to China’s ‘hype’ comment

Daniel Hurst

On 3AW, Richard Marles pushed back at comments from China’s foreign ministry overnight that Australia should not “hype up the so-called China threat narrative”.

Asked for his reaction, the deputy prime minister said:

Well, obviously, that’s not what we’re seeking to do. As we spoke about Australia’s posture going forward and the mission of the Australian Defence Force in the future, at the heart of it is providing or making our contribution, along with our partners, to the collective security of our region, of the Indo-Pacific. And that’s really where Australia is coming from. What we want to do as a nation is to provide and to make our contribution to the collective security of our region, understanding that that’s really where the defence of Australia lies.

The interviewer, Neil Mitchell, asked Marles a very direct question:

Do Australians have to come to terms with the possibility of another war?

Marles replied:

I’m not going to speculate about that. I’m certainly not going to do it today. But even if you ask me that question tomorrow, I wouldn’t be speculating about that. I think really what we need to be doing is just making sure that we have a defence force which provides for the greatest strategic space for our country and which also provides for the collective security of our region. And our focus as a government is to achieve that.

(The then defence minister, Peter Dutton, attracted attention for saying on Anzac Day last year that “the only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war”.)