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Japan vowed to bolster military ties with Australia during a high-ranking visit on Sept 5, with Tokyo’s top diplomat saying the “like-minded” partners must stick together to combat shared regional threats.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara met their Australian counterparts at an old army fort outside Melbourne, striking deals on greater air force cooperation and expanded military exercises.

They also agreed to jointly help the Philippine Coast Guard, which is locked in an escalating tussle with Chinese ships in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Interesting article in relation to the media pile-on of Elle Macpherson earlier this week. According to the authors, her decision to avoid chemotherapy may have been completely normal and sensible given her circumstances. We don't actually know because no one from the ABC or any other outlet bothered to check before running their stories citing her former relationship with an anti-vaxxer, or claiming that she ignored centuries of medical advice. The authors conclude that Australians have missed a great opportunity here to discuss the current state of non-invasive breast cancer research and treatment.

Workers who leave the head office to buy a cup of coffee are costing an Australian mining firm too much money, according to its boss.

Managing director of Mineral Resources Chris Ellison said during a financial results presentation on Wednesday he wants to "hold staff captive all day long".

"I don't want them leaving the building," he said.

The head office in Perth has a restaurant, nine staff psychologists, a gym, and other facilities designed to encourage staff to stay in the office. "We have a lot of different benefits that we have brought on," said Mr Ellison, whose company has a strict "no work from home policy". "Why have I done that? Because when I get them first thing in the morning, I want to hold them captive all day long. I don't want them leaving the building.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2310833

Australia said Pacific Island leaders meeting at a summit in Tonga endorsed a contentious regional policing plan Wednesday, a move seen as trying to limit China's security role in the region.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said leaders had agreed to establish up to four regional police training centres and a multinational crisis reaction force.

Under the plan, a corps of about 200 officers drawn from different Pacific Island nations could be dispatched to regional hot spots and disaster zones when needed and invited.

"This demonstrates how Pacific leaders are working together to shape the future that we want to see," said Albanese, hailing the agreement.

He was flanked by leaders of Fiji, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Tonga -- a symbolic show of unity in a region riven by competition between China and the United States.

[...]

China's regional allies -- most notably Vanuatu and Solomon Islands -- had voiced concern that the policing plan represented a "geo-strategic denial security doctrine", designed to box out Beijing.

[...]

Australia and New Zealand have historically been the region's go-to security partners, leading peacekeeping missions in Solomon Islands and training in Nauru, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Policing, however, has increasingly become a cornerstone of Beijing's efforts to build Pacific influence.

China tried and failed to ink a region-wide security pact in 2022, but has since been plying some under-resourced Pacific police forces with martial arts training and fleets of Chinese-made vehicles.

Australia and longtime ally the United States were caught napping in 2022 when China secretly signed a security pact with Solomon Islands -- the details of which have not been made public.

China now maintains a small but conspicuous police presence in Solomon Islands, sending a revolving cadre of officers to train locals in shooting and riot tactics.

The new theme seems deadset on replacing content with whitespace, driving my father in particular mad (he's having more luck finding Australian news on DW than the ABC right now; and he is sore that he has to hunt for the "Science" news category now in menus).

Not sure how long they'll keep the ?future=x flag available, but for now it gives you about double the number of articles per page.

Up! Up! Coles' annual profits are up to $1.1 billion.

And to think the Reserve Bank still acts as though inflation and the cost of living crisis is due to wages (below the rate of inflation) or consumer spending, rather than corporate profiteering.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/27/coles-reports-8-surge-in-annual-profit-to-11bn-amid-cost-of-living-crisis

@australia #news #politics #finance #business #auspol #coles #woolworths #capitalism #auspol

We were dismayed to see no Australians on the New York Times Best Books of the 21st Century – so, with the help of 50 experts, we created our own, all-Australian list. You can have your say, too!

Former staff members at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) have accused the rights group of mistreating them over their pro-Palestine views.

"In one instance, I was informally cautioned by a senior official for using the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ on my personal social media," said Badge's letter.

"Similarly, I was informally reprimanded for summarising a UN press release on the situation of women and girls in Gaza."

Since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza in October there has been a public outcry from pro-Palestine campaigners over what they say is "censorship" across Australia's institutions.

On Sunday August 23rd 1851 a hard fought riot broke out in Sydney. Whilst such disturbances were common place at the time this particular riot is interesting in that it was sparked by the arrest of a sailor for wearing women's clothing, was led by military men and involved attacks on a number of police watch-houses. Despite police and newspaper reports of the incidents being confused and often contradictory the riot tells us much about attitudes of Sydney's population towards cross dressing, police and the law.

Now why they ask people like Gina Rinehart to present a 'defence and economic blueprint' is anyone's guess.

Until late last month, beekeepers who sold the rare native honey, which retails for up to $500 per kilogram, were operating in a grey area and did not have the law on their side.

On July 22, it finally gained Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) approval.

"Originally our honey didn't meet the current standard that was written for honey bee honey. It was more watery, the pH was different," committee chair Dean Haley said.