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Ben PackhamForeign affairs and defence correspondent

Ben Packham is The Australian’s foreign affairs and defence correspondent. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years and is the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Lowy Institute Media Award.

@bennpackham

Ben Packham

Latest

Politics

Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud after making a ministerial statement on disaster risk reduction in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, February 26, 2020. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING

New jobless pressed to work on land

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has urged newly unemployed Australians to consider going to work on the land.

Ben Packham

CORONAVIRUS CRISISNation

Flattening the curve: How our window of opportunity is closing.

‘We’ve got to go hard, our window is closing’

Australia’s coronavirus health crisis will mirror Italy and the US within weeks and will get even worse without extreme social distancing measures, biosecurity expert warns.

Ben Packham

Aviation

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 10: A Qantas Airways jet lands at Sydney Airport on March 10, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Qantas has cut almost a quarter of its international capacity for the next six months as travel demands fall due to fears over COVID-19. The airline today announced it was altering routes to London and would be parking eight of their 12 A380 aircraft. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Rescue plan for stranded tourists

Cabinet’s national security committee will consider a rescue plan to help Australians trapped overseas in partnership with Qantas.

Ben Packham

DEFENCE PROBEDefence

A screengrab of the footage aired on the ABC's Four Corners program. Picture: Screengrab/ABC

Soldier suspended over ‘execution’

SAS soldier seen killing an unarmed Afghan man in leaked video footage has been suspended and referred to Australian Federal Police.

Ben Packham

NEW RESTRICTIONSPolitics

Prime Minister Scott Morrison with the Treasurer Josh Frydenberg during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Gary Ramage

Scramble to get home as border closes

Australia’s borders will be closed to foreign arrivals from 9pm on Friday in a dramatic move to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Ben Packham and MARK SCHLIEBS

Politics

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, February 12, 2020. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) NO ARCHIVING

Consular staff recalled after travel edict

At-risk Australian diplomats, non-essential embassy staff and the families of overseas-posted personnel have been offered voluntary evacuations back to Australia.

Ben Packham

Defence

Screengrab from a video which shows an Australian SAS soldier shooting and killing an unarmed man at close range in Afghanistan. Source: FourCorners

SAS killing morally repugnant: Hastie

Andrew Hastie has condemned as ‘morally repugnant’ the conduct of an SAS soldier seen killing an unarmed Afghan in leaked video.

Ben Packham

Defence

Virtual conference as RAAF cancels

The RAAF has cancelled its 2020 Air Power Conference in Canberra due to the coronavirus.

Ben Packham

exclusiveDefence

Federal Defence Minister Linda Reynolds is seen during a visit to the Naval Group in Adelaide, Friday, February 28, 2020. The federal government has vowed to hold a French company to account after it pledged to spend 60 per cent of its $80 million submarine contract within Australia. (AAP Image/David Mariuz) NO ARCHIVING

Subs contract run-off to rile industry

The $80bn Future Submarine program is facing a fresh industry backlash, as Adelaide company PMB Defence is forced into a run-off with a Greek competitor.

Ben Packham

Companies

Huawei Canberra Raiders sponsorship announcement in Canberra. Huawei CEO Hudson Liu at the event in Canberra.Picture Gary Ramage

Huawei not state-owned: CEO

Huawei’s Australian CEO says claims the company is owned by the Chinese government are laughable.

Ben Packham

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/ben-packham/page/198