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The chair of fledgling airline Bonza leaves after three months
By Amelia McGuire
In business news, the executive chairman of fledgling budget carrier Bonza has departed three months after the airline’s first flight, as its financial backer prepares to launch new aviation projects overseas.
Former Virgin Australia executive and 777 Partners aviation investments principal Richard “Rick” Howell walked away from his role at Bonza on March 30, documents lodged with the corporate regulator show.
Bonza’s executive chairman Rick Howell has left, less than four months after the airline’s first flight
777 Partners is the Miami-based private equity firm backing Bonza, which launched its low-frequency, low-fare business in January after finally securing regulatory approval, following a 15-month wait.
Howell took on the role as executive chair to oversee the launch phase of the business.
Opposition pushes PM to attend NATO summit
By Caroline Schelle
The opposition’s foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham says reports the prime minister declined an invitation to attend a NATO security summit risks “weakening key Australian partnerships”.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was invited to take part in a security summit for the second consecutive year.
Shadow foreign affairs minister Simon Birmingham wants the prime minister to attend the NATO summit in July. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“[The prime minister] should be attending the NATO summit to demonstrate Australia’s 100 per cent commitment to the rules-based order, our democratic partners and the defence of Ukraine,” Birmingham said in a statement today.
The Liberal senator said NATO invited the AP4 group, which includes Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, to strengthen ties with the countries.
“It is unquestionably in Australia’s interests to turn their ambition into an enduring reality,” Birmingham said.
He said the prime minister should attend with a comprehensive, new package of military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine.
Wong won’t comment on PM’s travel plans
By Caroline Schelle
Earlier, Latika Bourke reported the prime minister would not attend the NATO summit in July, as the international security situation surrounding Russia’s war on Ukraine deteriorates.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong didn’t comment on the decision when she spoke on Nine’s Today show this morning.
“I will leave the prime minister’s diary to him,” she said.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong announce the Chinese were reviewing the ban on Australian barley.Credit: Rhett Wyman
“I’m sure we’ll make an announcement about his forthcoming trips in due course.”
The foreign minister also spoke about China’s decision to fast-track a review of trade bans on Australian barley exports, which she announced yesterday.
“We think it’s a good thing that China has offered to speed up its review of these tariffs, of these duties on Australian barley. And in return for that, we have suspended our current dispute before the World Trade Organisation,” Wong said this morning.
She said Australian barley growers would welcome access to the Chinese market again.
“It’s in both our countries’ interest for it [the barley tariff] to be removed,” she said.
AEC launches information campaign ahead of Voice referendum
By Caroline Schelle
Returning to news in Australia, where the country’s independent electoral service will launch an education campaign today ahead of the Voice referendum.
Australians have not voted in a federal referendum in almost a quarter of a century, with more than 6.4 million enrolled voters not of age when the previous referendum was held in 1999, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
Australian Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers says 6.4 million enrolled voters in Australia never voted in a referendum. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“The topic of the referendum is for others to debate but when it comes to the process, we’ll be running it, and we’re here to help inform Australian voters and answer any questions they might have,” commissioner Tom Rogers said today.
He said it was important for the AEC to explain the process that seeks to change a part of the Constitution, and a website had been created to help understand the role of a referendum.
“The Constitution plays an active, daily role in the lives of Australians, but it’s not on everyone’s coffee table at home, so it’s appropriate that ahead of a referendum we explain what it is, and the upcoming process that seeks to change a part of it,” he said.
A range of educative resources, including AEC TV videos, animations, graphics and fact sheets, will be distributed to help Australian voters understand the role of a referendum.
Airstrikes on Myanmar village feared to have killed 100
Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military have killed as many as 100 people – including many children – who were attending a ceremony held by opponents of army rule, said a witness, a member of a local pro-democracy group and independent media.
The military is increasingly using airstrikes to counter a widespread armed struggle against its rule, which began in February 2021 when it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
This photo provided by the Kyunhla Activists Group shows aftermath of an airstrike in Pazigyi village in Sagaing Region’s Kanbalu Township on Tuesday.Credit: AP
Since then, more than 3000 civilians are estimated to have been killed by security forces.
A witness told The Associated Press that a fighter jet dropped bombs directly into a crowd of people who were gathering at 8am on Tuesday (Myanmar time) for the opening of a local office of the country’s opposition movement outside Pazigyi village, in Sagaing region’s Kanbalu township.
The area is about 110 kilometres north of Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city.
Latest updates on the airstrikes are available here, courtesy of wire service AP.
Defence chief braces for more war crime charges
By Matthew Knott
Australian Defence Force chief General Angus Campbell has warned of uncomfortable days ahead for the nation’s military as it braces for further prosecutions of former soldiers for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.
Campbell, the nation’s most senior military official, also described an apparent major intelligence leak from the United States Defence Department as a serious incident that could have damaging consequences for America and its allies.
General Angus Campbell said he was not focused on protecting his reputation or that of the nation’s military over war crime allegations.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz last month became the first Australian serviceman or veteran to be charged with the war crime of murder over the alleged killing of an Afghan man in Uruzgan province in 2012.
Let Liberals and Nats fight each other, a Victorian MP says
By Annika Smethurst
A Victorian Liberal MP is calling on the Coalition parties to consider competing against each other in more seats in a strategic move that he says will boost the conservatives’ chances of winning elections.
Under the plan, the Coalition agreement would be rewritten to allow for three-cornered contests when there is a strategic advantage.
Mornington MP Chris Crewther wants the Liberal and National parties to consider updating the Coalition agreement to allow more three-cornered contests.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
Former federal MP Chris Crewther, who now represents the seat of Mornington in state parliament, told The Age Labor had been “smart and strategic” with preferencing, which had allowed it to hoover up support from left-leaning minor parties.
NSW Labor wants a drugs summit
By Lucy Cormack
The NSW Labor government’s plan to host another drugs summit could risk repeating the work of an $11 million ice investigation that has already produced expert evidence needed for urgent drug reform.
In comments echoed by the NSW legal fraternity, former ice inquiry commissioner Professor Dan Howard, SC, urged the government not to “reinvent the wheel” with another summit, which could result in further delays to address problems he identified three years ago.
The prospect of another drugs summit has been described as “a superfluous and unnecessary public expense”.
“I understand it’s been part of Labor’s policy to hold a drug summit, but I have serious doubts whether this could achieve anything more than has already been achieved by the inquiry,” Howard said.
Cyclone Ilsa gathers strength off WA’s coast
In state news, evacuations are under way in Western Australia’s north-west as tourists, miners and pastoralists flee the projected path of a strengthening cyclone.
Tropical Cyclone Ilsa is expected to become the first category-four system to strike the region in more than a decade when it hits the coast between Broome and Port Hedland.
This morning, the category-two cyclone was moving south from its position about 350 kilometres north-west of Broome.
It is forecast to move to the south-east tomorrow, crossing the coast near Eighty Mile Beach later in the day or early on Friday.
Heavy rainfall and destructive winds are expected to hit the western Kimberley region, with storms possibly extending into the Pilbara and northern interior.
Department of Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said remote Aboriginal communities, pastoral stations, mines and tourism operators in the cyclone’s path had been contacted.
Workers at Wallal Downs cattle station, Newcrest’s Telfer mine and caravan parks are being evacuated, along with non-critical workers at BHP’s sites across the region.
People living in structures not built to withstand a category-four weather event have been told to move out of the area.
“It’s been 10 years since we’ve had a category-four cyclone impact the coast of WA and so many people up in the Pilbara and the Kimberley wouldn’t have experienced that sort of impact,” Mr Klemm said.
AAP
Ley won’t speculate on Leeser replacement
By Caroline Schelle
Earlier, deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the party’s frontbench would be tied to the No vote, adding that the stance of former shadow-attorney general Julian Leeser was an exception.
Ley was on Seven’s Sunrise this morning, where she said the party was united in its opposition to the Voice in the Constitution.
Deputy Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley says Julian Leeser was in a “unique” position on Voice. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“Julian is in a unique position because of his history with the Voice,” she said this morning.
“The overwhelming view of our party room is one that has been put forward right now by Peter Dutton and me, and that’s important.
“We know that to get the best outcomes for Indigenous Australians, we do not want the divisive model that Anthony Albanese has put forward.”
She said the party believed in a local and regional voice, rather than the government’s proposal.
“We want this to be, if you’d like, bottom-up, not top-down,” Ley explained.
The MP would not speculate on a potential replacement for Leeser, who resigned yesterday.
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2023-04-12 02:11:20Z
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