标签： Oceania

Nearly six months after the deadly December 14 terror attack at Bondi Beach that claimed 15 lives, most of them Jewish, the Albanese government has formally detailed a $604.2 million multi-year funding package in its 2026-27 federal budget, released on Tuesday, to boost Jewish community security, expand national counter-terrorism capacity, and combat rising anti-Semitism across Australia. The five-year allocation, which includes $8.1 million in permanent annual funding after the initial period, will be distributed across dozens of key stakeholders, from peak Jewish representative bodies and educational institutions to counter-terrorism police units and regulatory agencies. More than $120 million of the total package will be allocated over four years to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry to upgrade community-wide security infrastructure, with $22 million of that sum drawn from the Confiscated Assets Account established under the Proceeds of Crime Act over three years. An additional $46.7 million over the same four-year period will go toward upgrades for major Jewish communal and cultural sites, including the Hakoah Club and the National Jewish Memorial Centre, as well as a targeted non-competitive grant program for local projects led by Chabad of Bondi. Roughly $5 million in targeted support is earmarked for affected stakeholders including Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, a Jewish business that was firebombed in a separate earlier attack, Jewish youth camps across the state of Victoria, and directly impacted survivors and families of victims of the Bondi Beach attack. A further $42.9 million allocated over two years will fund immediate and accessible mental health support services for community members affected by the attack and rising hate violence. Ahead of the federal budget announcement, the government already revealed an $80 million two-year investment to establish a new national counter-terrorism center dedicated to addressing the growing crisis of online radicalization among young Australians. When combined with new allocations in the 2026-27 budget, total spending targeting anti-Semitism and violent extremism in this fiscal cycle tops $207 million. This allocation includes almost $70 million for the Australian Federal Police’s National Security Investigations teams, as well as sustained funding for cross-agency initiatives: a teacher resource hub managed by the Department of Education, and a hate group monitoring framework developed by the Department of Home Affairs. Another $32.6 million in 2026-27 will fund national public awareness campaigns designed to strengthen national security and reinforce social cohesion across diverse Australian communities. The long-running Together for Humanity interfaith education program will also receive a $20 million four-year investment to extend and expand its reach, while public broadcaster SBS will get $3 million over three years to continue its *SBS Examines* podcast series focused on hate and extremism. The newly launched Royal Commission on Anti-Semitism and Social Cohesion, which held its first public hearings last week, will also receive sustained resourcing, with more than $131 million allocated to the Attorney-General’s Department from the 2025-26 fiscal cycle to support the commission’s work. The budget also confirms continued funding for national firearms licensing reforms, though the government has declined to disclose the specific total amount, stating that public release would prejudice ongoing negotiations with state and territory jurisdictions over funding levels. In addition, the budget sets aside a contingency reserve for the stalled National Gun Buyback Scheme, which has faced significant delays and pushback from multiple state and territory governments since it was proposed. The scheme has already received partial funding, and the new contingency allocation aims to support its implementation moving forward.

In a controversial policy shift that has drawn sharp criticism from climate campaigners, New Zealand’s center-right government confirmed plans Tuesday to amend national legislation to block courts from holding private companies legally liable for climate change damage connected to their greenhouse gas emissions.

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced the change, pointing specifically to an ongoing high-profile lawsuit filed by Indigenous Māori climate activist Michael Smith, which targets six major New Zealand firms, including dairy industry giant Fonterra, over their contribution to climate-related environmental harm. Goldsmith argued that civil tort law—the legal framework under which such compensation claims are filed—is ill-equipped to address a systemic issue like climate change, which intersects with complex environmental, economic, and social priorities. He added that allowing such lawsuits to proceed would create crippling uncertainty that undermines business confidence across the country.

“The courts are not the right venue to resolve claims of climate harm,” Goldsmith said, confirming the amendment will explicitly bar courts from issuing findings of liability for climate damage tied to greenhouse gas emissions.

Smith, the activist leading the pending case, condemned the government’s move as a direct attack on democratic principles. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, he warned that if parliament can intervene to cancel an active court case simply because it has become politically inconvenient, no individual’s legal claims can ever be considered secure. The proposed law change is widely expected to pass parliament, as the ruling national coalition holds a clear majority of legislative seats.

The announcement is the latest in a series of rollbacks of climate-friendly policies by the current administration, which took office in 2023. Since assuming power, the government has scrapped a popular clean car discount designed to boost electric vehicle adoption, reversed a nationwide ban on new offshore oil and gas exploration, and implemented a streamlined fast-track approval process for new mining permits.

The government’s 2025 emissions target has also faced separate legal pushback. In January, officials announced a goal to cut carbon emissions 51% below 2005 levels by 2035—an almost negligible adjustment from the previous administration’s target of a 50% cut by 2030. In March, two major environmental legal groups, Lawyers for Climate Action and the Environmental Law Initiative, sued Climate Change Minister Simon Watts, arguing the weak, delayed target fails to meet the government’s legal obligations to cut emissions. New Zealand’s long-term legally binding target remains net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, excluding agricultural and waste methane.

Globally, climate litigation has emerged as a key tactic for activists and affected communities to push for greater accountability from major emitters and governments. From South Korea to Germany, courts around the world have increasingly accepted climate liability cases, pushing both public and private actors to strengthen their climate action. New Zealand’s proposed law change marks one of the most explicit efforts by a national government to block this growing trend of climate accountability.

A 17-year-old Canberra resident, already in custody on earlier firearm and terrorism-related charges, has been hit with two new, historic charges in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) in connection to an alleged far-right extremist plot to carry out a deadly terror attack against random civilians. This development marks the first time any individual has been charged with terrorist act planning in the ACT’s history.

The teenager was first taken into custody by law enforcement in November 2023, when authorities executed a search warrant at his residential property. During that operation, investigators seized a cache of prohibited items: explosive precursor chemicals, gas masks, military-style tactical clothing, a replica imitation firearm, printed extremist ideological material, and the teen’s personal mobile phone. He has remained in detention ever since his initial arrest.

On Tuesday, the teen made a brief first appearance at the ACT Children’s Court to face the newly filed charges: one count of preparation and planning for a terrorist act, and a second count of transmitting violent extremist material. In a joint official statement, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), ACT Policing, and Australia’s national security agency ASIO confirmed that additional evidence uncovered during the ongoing investigation justified the expanded charges.

Authorities allege the planned attack was targeted at people unknown to the teenager, and was driven by ideological views aligned with violent nationalist and racist extremism. AFP Assistant Commissioner Peter Crozier, who leads the force’s counter-terrorism division, described the radicalization of young Australians by online extremist propaganda as a deeply alarming trend for the country.

“Violent extremist material is circulated deliberately by terrorist networks to sow violence, hate, and deep division within Australian society,” Crozier explained in his statement. He emphasized that the AFP and its national security and law enforcement partner agencies remain unwavering in their work to protect Australian communities. “It is our core mandate to defend and protect the Australian public, and we will relentlessly pursue any actor that seeks to undermine our democracy or fracture our social cohesion,” he added.

Crozier also highlighted the shared responsibility of non-law enforcement stakeholders in countering youth radicalization, saying: “We strongly emphasise the important role that parents, schools, social services and technology companies have in preventing access to violent extremist material by our youth.”

ACT Policing Deputy Chief Police Officer Richard Chin echoed this focus on prevention and early intervention, noting that community safety remains the top priority for the local Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT). “We are focused on limiting the accessibility of violent extremist material and promoting education and awareness for those in frontline protective roles, including parents, educators and health care providers in the ACT, to maximise prevention and early intervention options,” Chin said.

Chin pointed out that parents and teachers are often the first adults to notice warning signs of radicalization in young people. Strengthening awareness and building confidence within trusted, supportive community networks, he explained, is a core strategy to stop young people from being exposed to harmful extremist influences and stop radicalization before it leads to violence.

The Albanese government has introduced a suite of policy changes and targeted funding commitments in its newly released 2026-27 federal budget, headlined by a planned increase to Australia’s international departure charge for all outbound passengers.

From January 1 next year, the passenger movement charge applied to every person leaving Australia via air or sea — regardless of citizenship or future return plans — will rise by $10 to a total of $80. To avoid disrupting travel planning, a six-month transition period will be implemented, meaning passengers who purchased their tickets before the fee hike takes effect will not be required to pay the extra $10.

Government projections estimate the increased exit fee will generate approximately $755 million in additional revenue over the five-year period starting from 2025-26. Implementing the change will come with a one-off administrative cost of $700,000 for the Department of Home Affairs in the coming financial year. Alongside this departure fee increase, the government is also forecasting a significant jump in revenue from inbound visa application charges, predicting total earnings of $6.18 billion in 2026-27, up from the previous year’s projected $4.66 billion.

Beyond border charge adjustments, the budget allocates funding to a wide range of policy sectors spanning emergency management, renewable energy transition, public health, and cultural initiatives.

In emergency management, the government has committed $6 million to roll out AusAlert, a new national emergency warning system set to launch in October. The system will deliver geographically targeted emergency alerts to local communities and first responders during natural disasters and crisis events, improving early warning and response capacity.

For clean energy and sustainability, the federal government is continuing its support for a national solar panel recycling pilot scheme. The initiative, which first received $25 million in last year’s budget, aims to cut electronic waste as the country transitions to renewable energy, with plans to establish up to 100 dedicated solar panel collection sites across the nation. Separately, Australia Post will receive $40.5 million to speed up the electrification of its national delivery fleet, funding the purchase of new electric trucks, vans, and postal bicycles.

Public health and social services receive substantial new permanent and one-off funding in this budget. In a historic move, the government is committing $431 million in permanent ongoing funding to the Public Dental Services for Adults agreement, allocating $107.8 million annually to deliver accessible, critical dental care for eligible low-income and vulnerable adult patients.

Life Education Australia, a not-for-profit that delivers school-based health education across the country, will receive $1.7 million to develop new learning modules covering mental health and wellbeing, online safety, and respectful relationships. The Maggie Beer Foundation, a group focused on improving nutrition for aged care residents, will get more than $7 million to upgrade food quality in aged care facilities across Australia. Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital will receive a $2 million boost for its Good Friday Appeal, which supports preventative health projects and expands access to pediatric healthcare in regional areas. Additionally, the government has set aside more than $68 million over three years to support Australia’s goal of eliminating HIV transmission by 2030, with funding focused on expanding access to HIV treatment for people who do not qualify for Medicare coverage.

Cultural and civic initiatives also receive targeted support. A total of $10 million has been allocated to fund Australia Day celebrations across the country, including a $4.5 million community events stream that supports local councils and not-for-profit organisations to host local activities on January 26. Additional funding is specifically reserved for events in regional and remote areas, where residents often face barriers to attending large celebrations in capital cities. Canberra’s Museum of Australian Democracy will also receive $3 million to plan and host national commemorations for the centenary of the opening of Old Parliament House, scheduled for 2027.

As U.S. President Donald Trump prepares for his first visit to Beijing as U.S. president since 2017, set to run from Wednesday to Friday, the upcoming summit has emerged as a defining test of bilateral relations between the world’s two largest economies, with long-simmering tensions over Taiwan, trade and Iran policy taking center stage. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump addressed one of Beijing’s most contentious flashpoints: U.S. arms sales to the self-governing island, which China claims as part of its sovereign territory. When asked whether Washington would continue its longstanding policy of selling defensive weapons to Taipei, the president declined to give a direct answer, saying only, “I’m going to have that discussion with President Xi. That’s one of the many things I’ll be talking about.” Drawing on his personal rapport with the Chinese leader, Trump expressed confidence that a Chinese military incursion into Taiwan was unlikely, despite growing regional anxiety. “I don’t think it’ll happen. I think we’ll be fine. I have a very good relationship with President Xi. He knows I don’t want that to happen,” he said, though he acknowledged China’s geographic proximity to the island far outpaces that of the United States. Ahead of the visit, China has struck a conciliatory yet firm tone, framing the high-level meeting as an opportunity to anchor bilateral ties amid global volatility. “China is willing to work with the United States in the spirit of equality, respect, and mutual benefit, to expand cooperation, manage differences, and inject more stability and certainty into a volatile and intertwined world,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters Monday in Beijing. In response to Trump’s comments, Taiwan’s foreign ministry reaffirmed its commitment to deepening security cooperation with Washington, Taipei’s primary international security backer, and advancing robust defensive capabilities. “We will continue to strengthen cooperation with the United States and build effective deterrence capabilities in order to jointly maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the ministry said. U.S. policy on Taiwan is rooted in longstanding frameworks: Washington officially recognizes only Beijing, but domestic law requires it to provide defensive arms to Taiwan, and the 1982 Six Assurances bar Washington from consulting Beijing on arms sales to the island. Ahead of Trump’s trip, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators led by Jeanne Shaheen, top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is pressing the president to immediately approve a $14 billion arms package for Taipei, emphasizing in a letter that “American support for Taiwan is not up for negotiation.” The call came days after Taiwan’s parliament approved a $25 billion defense spending bill – a step that aligns with Trump’s longstanding push for global allies to increase their own defense spending, though the final budget fell short of the Taipei government’s original proposal. Beyond Taiwan, the visit will also tackle long-running frictions over trade and Iran policy. Trump originally delayed the trip amid the ongoing U.S.-Israel campaign against Iran, which has so far rejected Trump’s appeals for a new nuclear agreement. The United States has imposed unilateral sanctions aimed at halting all global purchases of Iranian oil, and China – Tehran’s largest international oil customer – has emerged as a flashpoint on this issue. On Monday, just days ahead of the Beijing summit, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting 12 individuals and entities it accuses of facilitating the shipment and sale of Iranian oil to China. The sanctions move comes as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent prepares to lay groundwork for the presidential talks during a scheduled meeting with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, Beijing’s top trade negotiator, in Seoul this Wednesday. The meeting will mark a key follow-up to the last face-to-face encounter between Trump and Xi, which took place in October on the sidelines of a regional summit in South Korea. At that meeting, the two leaders agreed to a one-year truce in the bruising U.S.-China trade war that had pushed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of bilateral goods above 100 percent. The upcoming summit is expected to place heavy focus on Trump’s goal of expanding U.S. trade access to the Chinese market, and the president will travel to Beijing accompanied by a cohort of top American business leaders, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk – once a public critic of Trump – and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already added another layer of tension to the talks, saying in a Sunday interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes that he is dissatisfied with Beijing’s transfer of missile technology to Iran. On the Iran issue, China has reiterated its longstanding position, with Guo saying Monday that Beijing’s stance on the country is “consistent” and that it will continue to play a “positive role” in pushing for a ceasefire and diplomatic peace talks.