Politics live news Australia: Defiant WA Premier ups the ante on flight caps
WA Premier Mark McGowan says he won’t lift the international arrival cap in May unless the commonwealth steps in to assist with quarantine.
- Defiant Premier ups the ante on flight caps
- War with China ‘can’t be discounted’
- Diggers spend last Anzac Day in Afghanistan in 20 years
- Crowds turn up, despite fencing, crowd limits
- Football crowd double standard a sore spot
- Row escalates over WA lockdown, travel
- Anzac Day events: what’s on today and where
Welcome to The Weekend Australian’s live rolling coverage of the day’s political events and coronavirus response.
WA has threatened a state revolt if Prime Minister Scott Morrison does not permanently reduce the number of returning overseas travellers allowed into Perth or provide commonwealth facilities for quarantine. Defence Minister Peter Dutton has said a war with China over Taiwan “should not be discounted”, but it’s not an outcome “anyone wants to see.” As Anzac Day Dawn Services are held across the country, a three-day coronavirus lockdown in Perth and Peel has forced their cancellation there, with West Australians instead asked to mark the day at home.
Charlie Peel 9pm:Palaszczuk demand is a whole new Games
The head of Sydney’s Olympics bid says the 50/50 funding split demanded by Annastacia Palaszczuk of the federal government to host a potential 2032 Brisbane Games is way beyond the deal for the 2000 event.
Rod McGeoch, who led the Sydney Olympic bid, said there was little “direct supplementation in infrastructure spend” for the 2000 Games and the bulk of the infrastructure costs was borne by the NSW government.
The funding arrangement is in stark contrast to the 50 per cent contribution being sought by Ms Palaszczuk, who last week said time was running out to meet a deadline on Monday to provide assurances to the International Olympic Committee, which has identified Brisbane as its preferred bidder.
Joe Kelly 8.15pm: Business urges Frydenberg to bring forward tax cuts
Josh Frydenberg is being urged by business to consider bringing forward stage three of the government’s personal income tax cuts aimed at middle to higher income earners to help drive economic activity as the nation emerges from the pandemic.
Under the government’s plan, about 95 per cent of taxpayers are expected to pay a marginal rate of tax of 30 per cent or less by 2024-25. Stage three would flatten the system by imposing a 30 per cent tax rate on all income earned between $45,000 and $200,000 while incomes over this threshold would be taxed at 45 per cent.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott told The Australian it was worthwhile for the government to consider accelerating the stage three tax cuts from their scheduled start date of July 1, 2024.
“Bringing forward stage three tax cuts will need to be carefully considered through the budget process but moves that see Australians keep more of their hard-earned income are good for workers, good for businesses and good for the economy,” she said.
“We support any measures that put money back in people’s pockets, drive economic activity and let business do the heavy lifting on job creation as we recover.
“The government’s comprehensive income tax plan is big reform, it stops people falling into higher tax brackets and it means workers are already keeping more of their pay packet.”
Alistair Dawber 7.30pm: Bush reborn as his nation’s grandfather
If you are a friend of George W. Bush, chances are he has painted your portrait. It’s what he does now.
Since leaving office, the 43rd president has eschewed the traditional career path of a statesman put out to grass and, inspired by Churchill, he says, has taken up art to while away his retirement.
In his absence from the public consciousness he has gained a once-improbable reputation as something akin to a grandfather of the nation.
At a visit to a primary school near his home in Crawford a few years ago when he asked the children who they thought he might be, one replied “George Washington”.
This may be no accident. A leading member of one of America’s most powerful political clans was never going to simply walk off into the Texan sunset. The Bush family’s influence, money and appetite for power is too great, say those that know it well.
“The Bush family is a very carefully constructed political dynasty, a political machine,” says Bill Minutaglio, Bush’s biographer and an expert on Texan politics.
“I have no doubt that he is perhaps kinder and gentler but I also think there is a careful rollout of that narrative by the family. They are about the business of politics, they plan well in advance and they pave the way for others to come through.”
His father, George HW Bush, also left the White House an unpopular president . “And in time they began the same friendly media narrative with him being portrayed as a warmer and fuzzier kind of guy than we had known before.”
Shaun Tandon, Maryam Harutyunyan6.45pm: Biden defies Turks on 1915 Armenian killings
US President Joe Biden has recognised the 1915 killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, a watershed moment for descendants of the hundreds of thousands of dead.
Defying decades of pressure by Turkey, Mr Biden on Sunday AEST became the first US president to use the word genocide in a statement on the anniversary, a day after informing Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the decision and seeking to limit the furore from the NATO ally.
“We remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring,” he said. “We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated.”
The statement is a massive victory for Armenia and its extensive diaspora. Starting with Uruguay in 1965, nations including France, Germany, Canada and Russia have recognised the genocide, but a US statement has been a paramount goal that proved elusive under previous presidents.
Mr Erdogan, in a statement to the Armenian patriarch in Istanbul, said debates “should be held by historians” and not “politicised by third parties”.
AFP 6pm:Armenia PM resigns ahead of snap polls
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Sunday announced his resignation while retaining interim duties, formalising a parliamentary vote to be held June 20 in an effort to defuse a political crisis sparked by last year’s war with Azerbaijan.
“I am resigning from my post as prime minister today” to hold the vote, he said in an announcement broadcast on his Facebook page on Sunday, adding he would “continue to fulfil all the duties of the prime minister”.
READ MORE:Strap in, we’ll be on this rollercoaster ride for years
AFP5.20pm: New Delhi extends lockdown as India hits new record
India’s capital, New Delhi, has extended its lockdown as the country’s COVID-19 crisis grew with infections and deaths hitting record highs.
The vast nation of 1.3 billion people recorded 349,691 fresh cases and 2767 deaths — the highest since the start of the pandemic.
The northern megacity — home to 20 million people and the worst-hit in India — had imposed a weeklong lockdown on Monday as hospitals beds and oxygen supplies ran out.
“We have decided to extend the lockdown by one week,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said in a video statement on Sunday.
“The havoc of corona(virus) continues and there is no respite. Everyone is in favour of extending the lockdown.”
The announcement came as the healthcare system struggled to cope with the huge spike in cases, with reports of overwhelmed hospitals, severe oxygen and medicine shortages, and patients’ families pleading for help on social media.
There has been growing criticism of the government over allegations that it was caught underprepared ahead of the surge.
On Sunday, Twitter confirmed it had withheld dozens of tweets critical of the unfolding crisis at the request of the Indian government.
The social media giant said the tweets were blocked in India after a legal demand from New Delhi, months after similar action was taken against comments critical of the government’s new agriculture laws that had sparked violent protests.
Some tweets involve remarks, including from regional opposition lawmakers, about the overwhelmed healthcare system, which has seen patients die from oxygen shortages.
“When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law,” Twitter said in a statement.
“If the content violates Twitter’s rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only.”
In the past seven days, India has recorded more than two million cases — an increase of 58 per cent on the previous week, according to data compiled by the news service Agence France-Presse.
Other Indian cities under lockdowns, night curfews, or other restrictions to contain the spread of the virus include the financial hub Mumbai.
The government has stepped up its efforts to provide oxygen supplies through special trains and airlifts of containers from other countries.
READ MORE:Modi leads India out of lockdown…and into a viral apocalypse
Terry McCrann 4.37pm:China the elephant in climate change room
I hesitate to reference Crikey — giving it, in the process, some seeming legitimacy by recognition and exposure in the sunlight of media reality and indeed the world of just basic above-ground sanity that it so desperately craves from its cellar-sewer padded cell.
But a piece by its Bernard Keane — someone who in the famous words of British writer Kitty Muggeridge has risen unspectacularly (my gratuitous addition) “without trace”; and shows he knows and bitterly resents it, in virtually every bilious sentence he excretes — so perfectly, exactly and totally captures the utter delusional dishonesty of the climate change hysterics, that it would be remiss of me to leave his spewings to the oblivion that is their due and their usual destination.
For Keane managed to write an entire piece about “Australia’s climate criminal status” — ah, nothing that the Keanes of padded cells of the mind like better, than to stew in self-hatred — by refusing to commit to much more savage 2030 emissions cuts, without writing at any point one five-letter word: China.
Olivia Caisley 3.54pm: Australia commits $5m to Myanmar amid deepening crisis
Foreign Affairs Minister Marine Payne has committed $5m in government funding to provide humanitarian assistance in Myanmar amid escalating security crackdowns against protesters by the country’s military junta.
Following an ASEAN leaders meeting on Saturday Senator Payne condemned the horrific use of lethal force against civilians, including women and children, and committed funds to ASEAN’s Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management.
The group agreed to send a special envoy of the ASEAN chair to Myanmar to help mediate the situation, as well as provide humanitarian assistance.
“Australia sees ASEAN at the core of an open, stable and resilient Indo-Pacific. It has a critical role to play in charting a course out of the current crisis,” she said.
Senator Payne said Australia would continue to work closely with its regional partners to de-escalate the situation in Myanmar and support regional efforts towards a resolution.
“Australia’s policy settings on Myanmar, including options for sanctions, will continue to be revised in support of the Myanmar people,” she said.
READ MORE:Australia must take a greater role in tackling Myanmar crisis
Paige Taylor3.42pm:Premier threatens revolt over flight caps
Western Australia has threatened a state revolt if Prime Minister Scott Morrison does not permanently reduce the number of returning overseas travellers allowed into Perth or provide Commonwealth facilities for quarantine.
WA premier Mark McGowan told reporters in Perth, where residents are locked down after a coronavirus outbreak from hotel quarantine, that Mr Morrison had agreed to temporarily reduce the number of returned overseas travellers the state takes from 1025 a week to 512. The reduction starts on Thursday and ends on May 30.
Mr McGowan is in public disagreement with Mr Morrison over quarantine arrangements. He says hotels are not fit for quarantining and the Commonwealth should use its facilities such as immigation detention centres or the Curtin air base in the far north Kimberley region, which has previously operated as an immigration detention facility for families.
Mr McGowan said that he was reluctant to return to the cap of 1025 a week after May 30 “if the Commonwealth is unable to assist” by making a Commonwealth facility available for quarantine.
“That weekly number of returning residents is not sustainable without proper quarantining facilities being used,” he said.
Mr McGowan said he would be talking to other premiers about “a more appropriate cap number”.
Paige Taylor3.32pm: No new cases in WA amid snap lockdown
West Australian health authorities have reported no new cases of coronavirus from the outbreak that began when the virus escaped the hotel room of a couple who were quarantining at the Mercure after travelling to India for a wedding.
The outbreak has now infected two Perth residents who were never in hotel quarantine, but came into contact with a 51-year-old man who was infected while quarantining at the Mercure on his return from China.
A pregnant mother and her four year old child were also infected while quarantining at the Mercure.
There are now 359 confirmed contacts of infected people. Those people include parents and children who attended a childcare centre in the northern Perth suburb of Landsdale.
READ MORE:Toddler tests positive after India trip
Paige Taylor 3.02pm: Man tasered after ‘pulling knife, refusing to wear mask’
A man has been tasered by police after he allegedly refused to wear a mask and pulled a knife outside a Perth supermarket on the first day of lockdown in Perth.
The man is alleged to have produced the folding knife after police on patrol saw him without a mask outside a supermarket in Nollamara Avenue in Perth’s north about 4.05pm on Saturday, the first day of a three-day lockdown resulting from a coronavirus outbreak from hotel quarantine. Police say they saw the man not wearing a mask, which is compulsory throughout the lockdown except for during vigorous exercise, and asked him to wear one. He allegedly became abusive and repeatedly threatened the officers with the knife while members of the public were close by. That is when they say they tasered him.
West Australian police commissioner Chris Dawson has instructed his officers to use common sense when instructing people to wear masks. Police have been issued with masks to give to members of the public for free, and Mr Dawson has told them that if they see a person not wearing a mask they should offer the mask to that person and ask them to put it on.
“When officers asked the man to put a mask on he swore at them and pulled a folding knife from his pocket,” WA Police claimed in a statement to newsrooms.
“The man refused numerous requests to put the knife down and continued shouting and abusing officers with the knife held by his side.
“It is further alleged the man continued to threaten the officers with the knife and as there were numerous members of the public close by, officers deployed a Taser causing the man to fall to the ground and he was taken into custody.
The 55-year-old man from Nollamara was due to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court charged with being armed in a way to cause fear and disorderly behaviour in a public place.
Hannah Moore 3.01pm: Kindy added to growing WA virus venues list
A kindergarten has been added to the growing list of venues of concern in Western Australia after the state recorded another new local case of coronavirus.
Family-owned business Landsdale Early Learning and Enrichment Childcare was added to the list on Sunday, with health authorities providing three dates when anyone who went there may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Affected families have been contacted and ordered to get a test immediately then spend 14 days in home quarantine, regardless of their test result.
Philip Sherwell2.43pm:Modi leads India into a viral apocalypse
Narendra Modi could not hide his delight as he surveyed his cheering supporters. “I’ve never seen such huge crowds,” the Indian prime minister declared at an election rally in West Bengal last Saturday. But as Modi’s followers massed, the health authorities recorded another grim milestone: India had hit 230,000 new coronavirus infections in 24 hours, an unenviable world record.
By yesterday, the daily figure had topped 340,000, another global high. Hospitals are turning away the sick because there are not enough beds, oxygen or staff to treat them. It is likely to get much worse.
Dr Shahid Jameel, a virologist and director of biosciences at Ashoka University near Delhi, said the peak of this second wave was still two weeks away and could see up to half a million cases a day. “That’s what some virus models suggest,” he told The Sunday Times.
Yet just two months ago India appeared to have a strikingly low infection count: 11,000 recorded cases per day, in a country of 1.4 billion. What went so terribly wrong? A virulent new double-variant mutation has played its part, though scientists dispute the size of its footprint. India has also been felled by a cocktail of hubris, complacency and nationalist politics, all exacerbated by a slow domestic vaccine roll-out, an ill-equipped health system, lax protection, pandemic fatigue and promotion of the economy over containment. This is the story of how it all went so horribly wrong.
Rebecca Le May2.23pm:Confusion as quarantine rules tighten
The McGowan government scrambled to amend rules for Perth’s snap three-day lockdown after initially telling people who raced to the regions that they only needed to wear a mask, now insisting they need to stay indoors.
On Friday afternoon before the midnight curfew kicked in, West Australians were told they could proceed with long weekend plans to travel beyond the metropolitan and Peel region.
Roads were jam-packed as people made the exodus, particularly to the popular South West region, where pubs and restaurants were swamped by the visitors.
A statement announcing the lockdown read: “Anyone who has travelled outside of the Perth metropolitan area and Peel region since Saturday, April 17, must wear face masks in public from 6pm tonight.”
But at a press conference on Saturday afternoon, the state government said those who had flocked to the countryside had to stay inside their holiday accommodation and could only go outside for the same four reasons people in Perth and Peel can, including one hour of exercise.
Alan Howe1.58pm: King of Pop’s Vietnam role cost him dearly
In February 1969, Normie Rowe arrived at the busiest airport in the world. As he stood on the throbbing tarmac with planes taking off and landing every few seconds, he realised that his life was about to change. And within 24 hours it had.
The French had built a landing strip in the village of Tan Son Nhat, outside Saigon, in the 1930s. The Japanese expanded it during its occupation of Vietnam, and later American funding extended it for the jet age, just in time for the Vietnam War.
Australia’s biggest star, our reigning King of Pop, who had been called up for national service, had landed in the heart of the conflict that would kill 504 Australians and injure 3000. But no one came home unwounded.
Less than three hours after landing at Tan Son Nhat, Rowe and the other soldiers — some of whom had never been in an aircraft before leaving Sydney early that morning — boarded Caribous and were transferred 380km north to the Australian Army base at Nui Dat.
The next day at 6am, Rowe was atop an armoured personnel carrier headed to fire support base Julia, troops from which, the day before, had been ambushed. Rowe was to return soldiers to the site to count the dead, collect enemy weapons and search for food stores — the sombre bookkeeping of war.
Dead Vietcong littered the landscape. Rowe had never seen a dead body. Nor what was about to happen to them. The enemy corpses were piled up and given an “engineer’s burial” — blown to fragments with explosives. The memory of this was immediately filed away in a part of his mind marked “never to be opened”.
Rowe shouldn’t have been in the field that day. Indeed, he shouldn’t have been in Vietnam.
Heath Parkes-Hupton1.11pm:Toddler tests positive after India trip
A young child has tested positive for COVID-19 after returning to Australia from coronavirus-ravaged India.
The Northern Territory government announced in a statement on Sunday the boy, 2, has returned a positive result for the virus after flying in from New Delhi earlier this month.
He is currently in the territory’s quarantine facility at Howard Springs, and has been since his arrival in the country.
“A two-year-old male who arrived on the repatriation flight from New Delhi on 17 April 2021 has tested positive for COVID-19,” the government’s statement said.
“The child is asymptomatic and in the care of the AUSMAT team at the NT Centre for National Resilience.”
Evin Priest 12.25pm: Virus find puts 225,000 on alert
More than 225,000 people in the Newcastle area have been urged to monitor for potential symptoms of COVID-19 after fragments of the virus were found in a wastewater treatment plant.
A sample taken on April 21 showed fragments of the virus that causes COVID-19 in the sewage system at Burwood Beach Sewage Treatment Plant.
The Burwood Beach catchment services about 225,000 people and takes in the Newcastle City area.
It also services Dudley, Charlestown, Jesmond, Lambton, New Lambton, Mayfield, Elermore Vale, Wallsend, Kotara, Garden Suburb, Adamstown Heights, Kahibah, Highfields, Merewether, Waratah West, Georgetown and Carrington.
NSW Health officials are concerned because it is not clear whether there are cases in the community or whether the fragments are from historical cases.
“These positive sewage results may indicate the presence of people who have recently recovered from COVID-19, as they can continue to shed fragments of the virus for several weeks after recovery,” NSW Health said in a release.
Residents in greater Newcastle should monitor for symptoms and get tested if any develop.
Paige Taylor 12.01pm: Government rejects McGowan’s quarantine demand
The Morrison government has rejected West Australian Premier Mark McGowan’s claims that commonwealth-owned detention centres should be used to quarantine returning Australians, saying the facilities are already full of people including serious criminals awaiting deportation.
Mr McGowan on Saturday lashed the commonwealth for not helping states deal with the cost and risks of quarantining returning Australians. WA has been quarantining 1052 arrivals a week in nine Perth hotels, three of them with ventilation systems deemed high risk. On two occasions since January, coronavirus has escaped from a hotel room - most likely when the door was opened into the hall - and infected others.
“The commonwealth, states and territories agreed at national cabinet in March last year that as quarantine arrangements were determined under state and territory health orders, those jurisdictions would manage hotel quarantine,” a government spokesperson said.
“The commonwealth has contributed to the effort by continuously expanding the Howard Springs facility in the NT since the Halton Review to 850 people a fortnight, and this will expand to 2000 people a fortnight from May.
“As the Premier has been advised, and as Health, Defence and Border Force officials have detailed to the Parliament, Defence bases and immigration centres are unsuitable for quarantining returning Australians.”
The spokesman said this was because defence bases were operational facilities and the risk to critical defence personnel was not acceptable.
Joseph Lam11.30am:Drinks kick off after dawn service
The beers began early on Sunday. At the White Rabbit Cafe on O’Connell street in the Sydney CBD, beers, whiskies, coffee and espresso martinis were served up from 5.30am following the dawn service.
Thousands of soldiers and their families lined the streets, pub and cafes ahead of the 9am march.
When it began, those as young as four and as experienced as 105 marched proud along Sydney’s Elizabeth Street.
Soldiers who served in conflicts from Vietnam to Cyprus, Borneo, Malaya, Korea and Papua New Guinea donned their medals and marched to the sound clapping hands and beating drums.
Their experiences diverse, their backgrounds too. The Australian flag rustled in the wind alongside flags of India, Vietnam, Serbia, Korea, Greece, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Nepal, Poland and China.
As the day continued, diggers, their families and Australians who gathered to celebrate our heroes’ sacrifice have begun to trade their coffee mugs for middies, pints and schooners of beer.
In the pubs, bars and restaurants across Sydney, the sound of glasses clinking can be heard as soldiers trade stories and meet up with old friends while simultaneously making new ones. The queue for the bathroom has begun to grow as ties have begun to loosen, jackets are starting to be unbuttoned and shirts are slowly beginning to crease as diggers celebrate their annual day.
It’s a slightly gloomy day in Sydney, but indoors the polished medals of diggers past and present are still shining brightly.
Hannah Moore10.56am:Hotspot list grows after new WA case
A Malaysian restaurant, a BP service station and a bakery have been listed as venues of concern in Western Australia after the state recorded another new local case of coronavirus.
Anyone who dined at Kung Fu Kitchen in Morley on April 21 between 5pm and 7pm has been ordered to get a Covid test immediately and spend 14 days in home quarantine, regardless of their test result.
Patrons of the TS Bakery at Willeton on April 21 from 3:03pm to 3:06pm and the BP service station between 11am and noon on April 19 must also quarantine at home until their test returns negative.
The update came after a man in his 40s contracted the virus at the Kitchen Inn in Kardinya – where the Victorian man whose positive result plunged the state into a snap three-day lockdown dined last weekend.
Olivia Caisley10.04am:War with China ‘can’t be discounted’
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has said a war with China over Taiwan “should not be discounted”, but it’s not an outcome “anyone wants to see.”
Mr Dutton told ABC Insiders on Sunday Australians needed to be realistic about China’s increasing militarisation across the region, but nobody wants to see conflict between “China and Taiwan or anywhere else.”
“I don’t think it should be discounted,” he said. “I think China has been very clear about the reunification and that’s been a long-held objective of theirs and if you look at any of the rhetoric that is coming out of China... particularly in recent weeks and months... they have been very clear about that goal.”
Mr Dutton said it was important Australia continue to work with its allies in the region to try and maintain peace.
“For us we want to make sure we continue to be a good neighbour in the region, that we work with our partners and with our allies and nobody wants to see conflict between China and Taiwan or anywhere else,” he said.
Mr Dutton also called on WA Premier Mark McGowan to not become the “next Dan Andrews” when it comes to the state’s handling of hotel quarantine after a Victorian man unwittingly contracted COVID-19 in quarantine at the Mercure Hotel in Perth before spending four days in the community.
“Mark McGowan has made a mistake with the Mercure Hotel,” he said. “Nobody is being critical of him for that. He doesn’t need to be defensive. He doesn’t want to be the next Dan Andrews where they had significant problems.”
Mr Dutton said the Morrison government would work with Mr McGowan to ensure there are no further “blips”.
Asked whether Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne should reconsider the Port of Darwin lease after the Morrison government ripped up two Belt and Road agreements over national sovereignty concerns, Mr Dutton was tight-lipped.
“I’m not pre-empting or suggesting that she’s looking at it,” he said. “I think it is a question for Marise to look at these individual cases. If it is not in our national interests then obviously she will act.”
READ MORE: ‘Our satellites will see what China is doing on climate change’
Angelica Snowden9.39am: Small crowd shows up for Anzac Day march
Under 2000 have registered to march in Melbourne’s Anzac Day parade, RSL Victoria says, despite the march being capped at 8000.
Small groups are gathering along St Kilda Road to watch the march. After being encouraged to commemorate locally, the number of spectators is significantly down on previous years.
Some veterans and descendants said they were frustrated at the need to register and defied instructions bringing banners they intend to march under.
Others raised issue with other states allowing marches to go ahead as normal without caps, while all events had been cancelled in Perth amid a COVID-19 scare.
READ MORE: PM’s solemn tribute
Olivia Caisley 9.11am:Veterans’ Affairs Minister’s pledge on suicide rate
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Darren Chester has paid tribute to the ANZACs as he warned it’s not time to pre-empt any further inquiries into alleged war crimes as the ADF deals with the fallout of the Brereton Report.
Mr Chester also paid tribute to army personnel that had lost their lives to suicide, telling Sky News Agenda on Sunday he hoped the suicide rate could be driven down to zero.
“Anzac Day is really all about respect,” he said. “It’s respect for the fallen and respect for the families who support them and love them in their service, but respect also for the serving men and women that serve for us today.”
As the Morrison government announced a royal commission into veteran and serving ADF personnel suicides, Mr Chester said far too many people were still taking their own lives.
“My ambition is to continue to drive the suicide rate down to zero, there’s no acceptable number for me in terms of suicide evictions and serving members so we need to keep making sure we are working every day to achieve that,” Mr Chester said.
“There are so many people doing some amazing work every day so let’s not pretend we’re starting from scratch in this regard.”
He reflected on war being “an ugly, dirty and horrible business for people who are caught up in it” and warned that while there have been some atrocities committed by Australian troops,”the overwhelming majority have served with great distinction.”
“But if there have been cases where people have acted illegally or committed war crimes they will be found to be convicted at some other point in the future,” he said. “It’s not time to preempt that process.”
READ MORE: Dutton reveals Australian troops’ new mission
Heath Parkes-Hupton8.30am:Afghan Diggers ‘bravest of this generation’: Morrison
Australia’s impending withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan marks the closure of “another chapter” in the Anzac legacy, Scott Morrison has said.
Delivering a solemn Anzac Day address at a Dawn Service held at Canberra’s Australian War Memorial on Sunday morning, the Prime Minister gave thanks to all whose selflessness had helped make their country “what it is today”.
As the nation woke to watch and attend services across Australia, Mr Morrison made special mention of those men and women who served throughout the nation’s “longest war” in the Middle East, the last of whom will soon be coming home.He said they were “the bravest of this generation”.
“This Anzac Day another chapter in our history is coming to a close, with the announcement last week of our departure and that of our great friend and ally, the United States, from Afghanistan,” he said.
“Australia has been a steadfast contributor to the fight against terrorism. It’s been our longest war.
“The world is safer from the threat of terrorism than when the twin towers were felled almost 20 years ago. But we remain vigilant.
Read the full story here.
Christine Kellett 8.10am:Veterans Affairs Minister accuses Lambie of sowing division
Veterans Affairs Minister Darren Chester has defended his department’s role in helping to set the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into veteran suicides, calling it “absolutely appropriate”, despite objections from the defence community.
Mr Chester’s department for Veterans Affairs is leading the consultation period to decide the terms of reference, a move independent Senator Jacqui Lambie says has left veterans angry.
“In the last two royal commissions in Australia, the disability and aged care royal commissions, the portfolio minister, the minister responsible for the portfolios, worked on the draft terms of reference, the consultation work and then you have an independent process where the Attorney-General does the terms of reference with the Prime Minister and Cabinet,” Mr Chester told the ABC on Sunday.
“I won’t be writing the terms of reference, I’m doing consultation and catching up with veterans, their families, serving men and women, hearing their concerns and providing feedback to the Attorney-General. Then that’s my job done, I’ll be out of it as far as that’s concerned.”
Mr Chester accused Senator Lambie of creating division.
“This is a real opportunity to unite our veteran community,” Mr Chester said of the royal commission.
“Jacqui’s approach, unfortunately is to divide our veterans. When I meet our veterans, they come forward with practical ideas. I have not met a single person in the last four days who hasn’t wanted to work constructively with me.
“We all want to save lives, achieve good things for veterans and families and keep up the good work, but build on it. Let’s not pretend we’re starting from scratch. There is a lot of good work being done by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the RSL and other ex-service organisations to help veterans and their families.”
READ MORE:PM announces royal commission into veteran suicides
Jack Paynter7.30am:Anzac Day events: what’s on and where
Many services and marches across the country exhausted their ticketed allocation within days of going online, while Queensland events have proceeded without crowd limits.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was at the dawn service in Canberra that began at 5.30am and will attend the national ceremony and veterans’ banner parade at the Australian War Memorial from 10.30am.
The Prime Minister had planned to travel to Tasmania after the dawn service but travel restrictions enforced due to Western Australia’s COVID-19 lockdown forced a change in itinerary.
The NSW Anzac Day Dawn Service at the Martin Place cenotaph began at 4.30am, while up to 10,000 people have been allowed to attend the Anzac Day march organised by the RSL NSW in Sydney’s CBD from 9am.
The Melbourne Dawn Service kicks off at 6am while the CBD march to the Shrine of Remembrance involving a maximum of 5500 veteran participants starts at 9.30am.
Brisbane’s Dawn Service started at 4.28am at the Shrine of Remembrance with a parade through the CBD held between 10am and midday.
Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin will also hold Dawn Services and marches throughout the morning, with varying limits on numbers allowed to attend.
In Perth, all events have been cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown
READ MORE:Row escalates over hotel quarantine
Christine Kellett7.10am:Football crowd double standard a sore spot
As well as honouring service, CEO of veterans charity Soldier On Ivan Slavich says Anzac Day is also an opportunity to remember the suffering that continues for many veterans when they return from active duty.
“More than 100,000 people have made the ultimate sacrifice — 41 in Afghanistan and ten times that number have taken their own lives,” Mr Slavich told the ABC.
“And there are many, many people that are suffering as a consequence of their war service.”
He said it was great to see so many people allowed to return to crowd-capped Dawn Services around the country but permission for tens of thousands to attend sporting matches was a sore spot.
In Melbourne of example, 1400 were allowed at the Shrine of Remembrance this morning, compared to 85,000 at the MCG for the AFL’s traditional Anzac Day match.
I think that there is some concern that we can have lots of people at football matches and not as many at our services right across the country. So there’s certainly some animosity around that, but look, I think that it doesn’t matter where one is - whether it’s at a Cenotaph or the War Memorial.”
READ MORE:Last troops to withdraw from Afghanistan
Christine Kellett6.55am:PM’s nod to Diggers’ last Anzac Day in Afghanistan
Scott Morrison has acknowledged the last Diggers to spend Anzac Day in Afghanistan in 20 years, during his speech at a Dawn Service in Canberra.
Australian War Memorial dirctor Matt Anderson said it was an emotional return this year, after people were asked to stay away in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
“It feels wonderful to be able to be at a place where people can gather. Last year, we asked them to gather in spirit instead of in person, and this year, we were honoured to welcome back over 4,000 people; veterans, families, loved ones and the Canberra public, to honour all those who have served over the past century,” Mr Anderson said.
“It was just wonderful to be here and to watch dawn rise over Canberra and a sea of faces.
“Listening to the Prime Minister’s words saying that this will be the last year after 20 long years that we’ll have soldiers deployed in Afghanistan... that that was a moment of reflection for all of us. Of course, acknowledging the proud Indigenous tradition of the Australian Defence Force was another powerful moment. But for me, it’s just the ability to gather with veterans here in the heart of the nation to acknowledge their service and sacrifice as a community.”
READ MORE:Scott Morrison confirms troops will leave Afghanistan
Angelica Snowden6.45am:Melburnians turn out despite fences, limits
Temporary fences erected to manage crowds at Melbourne’s dawn service have not deterred those who missed out on tickets from gathering outside the service area.
Members of the public have encircled commemorations at the Shrine despite pleas from authorities to “light up the dawn” at home.
Although there was ample space inside the forecourt of Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance, many stood watching from outside the fenced off area.
READ MORE: Fences, crowd limits ‘an insult to Diggers’
Christine Kellett6.30am:Larger crowds in Brisbane
Larger crowds have gathered in Brisbane for the Dawn Service there:
Christine Kellett6.25am:Dawn Service in Sydney
Some scenes from the Dawn Service at Sydney’s Cenotaph now, which was a ticketed event:
Angelica Snowden 6am:Small audience gathers at fenced-off Shrine of Remembrance
A small audience has gathered at Melbourne’s Shrine or Remembrance to commemorate Anzac Day.
The Dawn Service in Victoria was limited to 1400 attendees amid COVID-19 restrictions. In 2019 it’s estimated about 25,000 attended.
Although ticket allocation for the 2021 service was exhausted, there was ample space in the forecourt of the Shrine which was controversially fenced off on Friday to manage crowd numbers.
Victoria’s acting premier James Merlino and opposition leader Michael O’Brien have attended the service.
Women’s economic security minister Jane Hume also attended, representing Scott Morrison at the service.
Formal commemorations started at 6:00am as the Last Post sounded across a small crowd.
Paige Taylor5.45am: Row escalates over hotel quarantine scheme
WA Premier Mark McGowan has laid blame for the state’s latest lockdown at the feet of the federal government, urging it to take responsibility for quarantine and limit overseas travel to Covid-ravaged countries.
More than two million West Australians were locked down for three days from midnight on Friday after coronavirus escaped the sixth floor room of a couple who had returned from India on April 10 and had quarantined at Perth’s Mercure Hotel.
At least one case of community transmission linked to the outbreak has been detected, as residents of Perth and Peel are urged to come forward en mass to get tested.
Mr McGowan expressed his shock and frustration that the federal government was continuing to allow travel to countries crippled by Covid for non-essential reasons including athletics carnivals in Africa.
He said the infected couple at the centre of the latest outbreak had recently been to India to attend a wedding, with the husband testing positive to coronavirus during a standard Day 2 quarantine swab. The man’s wife tested positive three days later. The virus also spread to other occupants of the hotel, including a tourist from China who later travelled around Perth and on to Melbourne while infected, triggering the three-day lockdown.
Read the full story here.
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