News live: Bandt says Australia should cancel Aukus payments and leave pact; Albanese joins ‘coalition of the willing’ talks with Starmer and Zelenskyy | Australia news


Bandt says Australia should cancel Aukus payments and leave pact

Bandt says Australia should reconsider its relationship with the US and particularly the Aukus pact.

It is being led by a very dangerous man, and we should get out of Aukus. Now is not the time to be hitching Australia’s wagon to Donald Trump. It puts Australia at risk, and it is billions of dollars that is being spent on submarines that might never arrive, even the United States Congress has said that they’re not building the submarines at the rate that is needed to in order to abide by the Aukus agreement.

Bandt says that Aukus commits Australia to serving as “an attack force of the United States” and that any assumption the Trump administration is committed to standing with Australia if there was a security threat is a mistake.

Thinking that Donald Trump will ride to our rescue if there’s any security threat, is now absolutely wishful thinking.

Share

Updated at 

Key events

Bandt is asked about a proposal by the Greens to “Dutton-proof” certain policies by legislating policies to lock them in and ensure they are delivered regardless of the outcome of the election.

These include a promise to reduce student debt by a fifth, and triple the bulk billing incentive. Bandt says Greens would like to see dental and mental health get into medicare and more affordable homes built.

Asked about internal politics within the Greens – the suspension of Queensland Greens co-founder Drew Hutton over social media posts in 2022 that were allegedly transphobic – Bandt says internal party process within the Queensland Greens are being followed.

There’s a process that is going through. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on that.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *