#Malcolm Turnbull

[dadsinsuits]

Malcolm Turnbull

[tomorrowusa]

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia describes the relationship between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as "really creepy".

Malcolm Turnbull says Donald Trump's 'creepy' embrace of Vladimir Putin a threat to Australian security

It certainly doesn't project an image of "America First" when people around the world think that we had a loudmouth president who is clearly a simpering lap dog for a Russian dictator.

^^^ That body language is quite revealing. In real life, Putin is about 16 cm shorter than Trump.

Republicans are the Party of American Weakness (PAW).

[tempting-seduction]

"Turnbull is a daddy because he’s a silver fox with good teeth who’d take care of you."

BuzzFeed.com, Oct 8, 2015

Born on October 24, 1954 (age 67 years) in Sydney, Australia, Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is a former lawyer, journalist, businessman and multi-millionaire. and also a former Australian politician who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia.

[alexanderpearce]

[ifreakingloveroyals]

11 November 2015 | Prince Charles, Prince of Wales shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at Government House in Canberra, Australia. The Royal couple are on a 12-day tour visiting seven regions in New Zealand and three states and one territory in Australia. (c) Mick Tsikas - Pool/Getty Images

[karingottschalk]

Independent Australia: Albanese Government hits the restart button on NBN

Independent Australia: Albanese Government hits the restart button on NBN

link “After a decade of inaction by the Coalition, Labor is set to put the NBN back on track…. The overarching policy at that stage was to build an NBN that would benefit Australian society and the economy. The focus was on families, communities and businesses — 94 per cent of the population would be linked to a first-class fibre-to-the-home network. This would provide people across Australia, in…

[kbanews]

Momen Anies Bertemu Mantan PM Australia, Bahas Iklim Hingga Pengelolaan Kota

JAKARTA | KBA – Bakal Calon Presiden (Bacapres) Koalisi Perubahan Anies Baswedan membagikan momen kedekatannya bersama mantan Perdana Menteri (PM) Australia Malcolm Turnbull dan istri Lucy Turnbull. Momen itu dibagikan Anies melalui Instagram resminya. Dia membagikan sepuluh foto saat melakukan kunjungan ke rumah mantan PM Australia tersebut di Sydney, Australia. Terlihat Anies ditemani sang…

[dadsinsuits]

Malcolm Turnbull

[batshit-auspol]

@shadowmasterthirteen submitted: You gotta do that time that Turnbull said the laws of mathematics didn't apply in aus

July, 2017: After proposing new laws that would make unbreakable encryption illegal, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was asked by a journalist “Won't the laws of mathematics trump the laws of Australia?”

Turnbull replied “Well, the laws of Australia prevail in Australia, I can assure you of that. The laws of mathematics are very commendable, but the only law that applies in Australia is the law of Australia.”

One journalist from the national broadcaster tweeted this in response:

[dcoglobalnews]

AUSTRALIA REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH France OVER SCRAPPED SUBMARINE DEAL

Australia’s new Labor-led government has reached a 555 million euro ($583.58 million) settlement over a controversial decision last year to scrap the French submarine deal, a move Canberra hopes will help repair the rift between the two countries.Australia last year cancelled a multi-billion-dollar order for submarines with French military shipyard Naval Group and opted instead for an alternative…

[capybaracorn]

Australia challenged on ‘moral failure’ of weapons trade with Israel

Regular protests have been taking place outside Australian firms making crucial components for the F-35 fighter jet.

Melbourne, Australia – Israel’s continued assault on Gaza has highlighted a hidden yet crucial component of the world’s weapons manufacturing industry – suburban Australia.

Tucked away in Melbourne’s industrial north, Heat Treatment Australia (HTA) is an Australian company that plays a vital role in the production of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters; the same model that Israel is using to bomb Gaza.

Weekly protests of about 200 people have been taking place for months outside the nondescript factory, where heat treatment is applied to strengthen components for the fighter jet a product of US military giant Lockheed Martin.

While protesters have sometimes brought production to a halt with their pickets, they remain concerned about what’s going on inside factories like HTA.

“We decided to hold the community picket to disrupt workers, and we were successful in stopping work for the day,” Nathalie Farah, protest organiser with local group Hume for Palestine, told Al Jazeera. “We consider this to be a win.”

“Australia is absolutely complicit in the genocide that is happening,” said 26-year-old Farah, who is of Syrian and Palestinian origin. “Which is contrary to what the government might have us believe.”

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its war in Gaza six months ago after Hamas killed more than 1,000 people in a surprise attack on Israel. The war, being investigated as a genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has left hundreds of thousands on the brink of starvation, according to the United Nations.

Nathalie Farah has been organising regular protests outside HTA’s factory [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

According to Lockheed Martin, “Every F-35 built contains some Australian parts and components,” with more than 70 Australian companies having export contracts valued at a total 4.13 billion Australian dollars ($2.69bn).

Protesters have also picketed Rosebank Engineering, in Melbourne’s southeast, the world’s only producer of the F-35’s “uplock actuator system”, a crucial component of the aircraft’s bomb bay doors.

Defence industry push

In recent years, the Australian government has sought to increase defence exports to boost the country’s flagging manufacturing industry.

In 2018, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Australia aimed to become one of the world’s top 10 defence exporters within a decade. It is currently 30th in global arms production, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute.

It is an aspiration that appears set to continue under the government of Anthony Albanese after it concluded a more than one-billion-Australian-dollar deal with Germany to supply more than 100 Boxer Heavy Weapon Carrier vehicles in 2023 – Australia’s single biggest defence industry deal.

Since the Gaza war began, the industry and its business relationship with Israel have come increasingly under the spotlight.

Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles insisted that there were “no exports of weapons from Australia to Israel and there haven’t been for many, many years”.

However, between 2016 and 2023 the Australian government approved some 322 export permits for military and dual-use equipment to Israel.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s own data – available to the public online – shows that Australian exports of “arms and ammunition” to Israel totalled $15.5 million Australian dollars ($10.1m) over the same period of time.

Officials now appear to be slowing the export of military equipment to Israel.

In a recent interview with Australia’s national broadcaster ABC, the Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy insisted the country was “not exporting military equipment to Israel” and clarified this meant “military weapons, things like bombs”.

However, defence exports from Australia fall into two categories, items specifically for military use – such as Boxer Heavy Weapons vehicles for Germany – and so-called ‘dual use’ products, such as radar or communications systems, that can have both civilian and military uses.

[See the video embedded in the article]

Australia’s Department of Defence did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests about whether the halt to defence exports to Israel also included dual-use items.

What is certain is that companies such as HTA and Rosebank Engineering are continuing to manufacture components for the F-35, despite the risk of deployment in what South Africa told the International Court of Justice in December amounted to “genocidal acts“.

In the Netherlands – where parts for the jet are also manufactured – an appeal court last month ordered the Dutch government to block such exports to Israel citing the risk of breaching international law.

The Australian government has also come under scrutiny for its lax “end-use controls” on the weapons and components it exports.

As such, while the F-35 components are exported to US parent company Lockheed Martin, their ultimate use is largely outside Australia’s legal purview.

Lauren Sanders, senior research fellow on law and the future of war at the University of Queensland, told Al Jazeera that the “on-selling of components and military equipment through third party states is a challenge to global export controls.

“Once something is out of a state’s control, it becomes more difficult to trace, and to prevent it being passed on to another country,” she said.

Sanders said Australia’s “end use controls” were deficient in comparison with other exporters such as the United States.

“The US has hundreds of dedicated staff – with appropriate legal authority to investigate – to chase down potential end-use breaches,” she said.

“Australia does not have the same kind of end-use controls in place in its legislation, nor does it have the same enforcement resources that the US does.”

The protesters say they will continue their action until manufacturing of F-35 components is stopped [Ali MC/Al Jazeera]

In fact, under legislation passed in November 2023, permits for defence goods are no longer required for exports to the United Kingdom and the US under the AUKUS security agreement.

In a statement, the government argued the exemption would “deliver 614 million [Australian dollars; $401m] in value to the Australian economy over 10 years, by reducing costs to local businesses and unlocking investment opportunities with our AUKUS partners”.

International law

This new legislation may provide more opportunities for Australian weapons manufacturers, such as NIOA, a privately owned munitions company that makes bullets at a factory in Benalla, a small rural town in Australia’s southeast.

The largest supplier of munitions to the Australian Defence Force, NIOA – which did not respond to Al Jazeera for comment – also has aspirations to break into the US weapons market.

At a recent business conference, CEO Robert Nioa said that “the goal is to establish greater production capabilities in both countries so that Australia can be an alternative source of supply of weapons in times of conflict for the Australian and US militaries”.

Greens Senator David Shoebridge told Al Jazeera that the government needed to “publicly and immediately refute the plan to become a top 10 global arms dealer and then to provide full transparency on all Australian arms exports including end users.

“While governments in the Netherlands and the UK are facing legal challenges because of their role in the global supply chain, the Australian Labor government just keeps handing over weapons parts as though no genocide was happening,” he said. “It’s an appalling moral failure, and it is almost certainly a gross breach of international law.”

The Dutch government has faced legal action over the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel [File: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters]

Elbit has come under fire for its sale of defence equipment to the Myanmar military regime, continuing sales even after the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup, was accused of gross human rights violations – including attacks on civilians – by the United Nations and others.

Despite a recent joint announcement between the Australian and UK governments for an “immediate cessation of fighting” in Gaza, some say Australia needs to go further and cut defence ties with Israel altogether.

“The Australian government must listen to the growing public calls for peace and end Australia’s two-way arms trade with Israel,” Shoebridge said. “The Albanese government is rewarding and financing the Israeli arms industry just at the moment they are arming a genocide.”

Protests have continued both at the HTA factory in Melbourne and their premises in Brisbane, with organisers pledging to continue until the company stops manufacturing components for the F-35.

[aggravateddurian]

So apparently we're not good enough for consistent Internet in Regional Australia. If you're wondering why I've been radio silent for the past three days, this is why.

I would like to thank Malcolm Turnbull and his mates in the telco industry for ensuring our internet is worse than most 'developing' countries.

Thanks, Malcolm, you're batting a thousand...

[karingottschalk]

Pearls and Irritations: NBN write-down confirms its national importance and Coalition failure – Commentary

Pearls and Irritations: NBN write-down confirms its national importance and Coalition failure – Commentary

https://johnmenadue.com/nbn-write-down-confirms-its-national-importance/ The previous Coalition Government under the Minister for Communication Malcolm Turnbull promised: ‘a cheaper, good quality NBN, faster delivered’. It failed on all counts. However, since it became clear that his government was unable to deliver on this promise, I knew that eventually something had to give. Instead of costing…

[mirrorofliterature]

like I hear about republican policies and I'm like ah yes. that's america's one nation/cliver palmer party.

but one nation and palmer are fringe far-right parties but republicans are mainstream like what the fuck

not to say that peter dutton isn't on the same level as republicans - that man is a ghoul and I hate him - but there are a lot of centrist liberals who are more similar to biden then trump, like malcolm turnbull.

like.

the right-wing shift that's happened in american politics is unbelievable

[dadsinsuits]

Malcolm Turnbull

[identitty-dickruption]

not Malcolm Turnbull being unironically called “a champion of women’s empowerment”. I guess we’re all just supposed to forget that he was still a member of the very misogynistic Liberal Party