Defence minister affirms need for long-range nuclear submarines despite expense
Australia faces a looming capability gap as our ageing fleet of Collins-class submarines are retired and before a new fleet of still-hypothetical nuclear submarines is delivered.
The deputy prime minister and minister for defence, Richard Marles, is speaking to ABC Radio. He says the government doesn’t yet have an answer on the total cost of a new fleet of nuclear submarines but “we do know it’s going to be more expensive.”
However, he said the state of global affairs means “what we do need is a highly capable long-range submarine”.
As for the safety side of nuclear subs, Marles says the government is “pleased” the international atomic agency (IAEA) is satisfied for now, that Australia can operate nuclear submarines without violating commitments but says he “want[s] to make clear this is early days.”
” what absolutely matters is that if we’re handling, receiving nuclear material, which we will be.. that there is complete accountability for every single gram of that material and transparency about it as well”
– @RichardMarlesMP (pt 2)
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) September 20, 2022
Key events
Students in school bus roll were on their way to the airport for a trip, coming from Ballarat area
We brought you the news earlier that a teenage girl and a driver were seriously injured when a school bus collided with a truck and rolled down an embankment west of Melbourne.
The crash happened near an intersection on the Western Highway at Bacchus Marsh about 3.15am, AAP reports.
A Victorian police spokeswoman has told 3AW radio station the bus was coming from a school in the Ballarat area and the students were on their way to the airport for a trip.
Hawthorn Racism review
The ABC has this morning reported that AFL club Hawthorn’s racism review will allege the club was involved in separating First Nations players from families and demanded a pregnancy termination.
Russell Jackson writes:
Hawthorn had more than 20 First Nations players in the period of the review. Three families involved told ABC Sport about incidents in which club staff allegedly bullied and removed First Nations players from their homes and relocated them elsewhere, telling them to choose between their careers and their families.
But the gravest accusations relate to the club’s alleged intimidation tactics to separate couples at the earliest stages of pregnancies and parenthood, and the alleged demand that one player should instruct his partner to terminate a pregnancy — actions the families say created multi-generational traumas.
Vision has come through of that collision between a school bus and a truck, which sent the bus with 28 students rolling down an embankment in Bacchus Marsh north-west of Melbourne.
The truck driver and one female student suffered serious injuries while another 31 people were rushed to hospital following a terrifying truck and school bus crash.https://t.co/1ZUI0E3ZtU
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) September 20, 2022
Paul Karp
Morrison responds to latest revelations about secretive committee of one
Scott Morrison has responded through a spokesperson to revelations his cabinet subcommittee of one appears to have met hundreds of times.
Despite the cabinet office policy committee having only one permanent member (Morrison), the former prime minister now disputes this characterisation by citing other ministers who were “co-opted” onto the body (that is, had an automatic right to participate).
His spokesperson said:
The Cabinet Office Policy Committee (COPC) process succeeded the previous process for conducting ‘deep dive’ policy discussions. Ministers, officials, experts and members of parliament were co-opted to these meetings in an inclusive process, as appropriate, to participate in deep dive policy discussions to assist frame the government’s policy responses to significant issues, consider strategic policy direction and to assist in the early stages of preparing cabinet submissions, including budget submissions. Numerous meetings were held across the full spectrum of federal government policy responsibilities.
The COPC process proved very effective and practical in working though complex policy issues. The process was modelled on the NSC and ERC process, where officials and experts join these discussions to assist with discussion of policy development. The process proved far more targeted, effective and dynamic than more rigid cabinet sub-committee processes and complemented those processes where appropriate.
The deputy PM, treasurer and finance minister were standing co-options to all COPCs, with the exception of national cabinet … They were co-opted onto all meetings of any COPC – ie – an automatic participation.
Defence minister affirms need for long-range nuclear submarines despite expense
Australia faces a looming capability gap as our ageing fleet of Collins-class submarines are retired and before a new fleet of still-hypothetical nuclear submarines is delivered.
The deputy prime minister and minister for defence, Richard Marles, is speaking to ABC Radio. He says the government doesn’t yet have an answer on the total cost of a new fleet of nuclear submarines but “we do know it’s going to be more expensive.”
However, he said the state of global affairs means “what we do need is a highly capable long-range submarine”.
As for the safety side of nuclear subs, Marles says the government is “pleased” the international atomic agency (IAEA) is satisfied for now, that Australia can operate nuclear submarines without violating commitments but says he “want[s] to make clear this is early days.”
” what absolutely matters is that if we’re handling, receiving nuclear material, which we will be.. that there is complete accountability for every single gram of that material and transparency about it as well”
– @RichardMarlesMP (pt 2)
— RN Breakfast (@RNBreakfast) September 20, 2022
School bus crash in Victoria
Thirty three people are in hospital after a school bus collided with a truck north-west of Melbourne earlier this morning,
One teenage girl and a driver were seriously injured while four adults, 27 other students and the bus driver taken to hospital as a precaution.
The crash occurred near an intersection on the Western Highway at Bacchus Marsh about 3.15am, and sent the school bus rolling down an embankment.
Melbourne-bound highway lanes will remain closed for several hours as emergency services clear the scene.
The students’ parents were asked to stay away from the crash and contact Ballarat police station.
– with AAP
Police are investigating a collision between a truck and school bus in Bacchus Marsh.
One teenage girl has been airlifted to hospital with serious injuries.
Parents seeking info are asked not to attend the scene – pls call Ballarat police on 5336 6000.https://t.co/NqLfVq1dvr pic.twitter.com/YHqqBu2oNZ— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) September 20, 2022
Good morning!
The former prime minister Scott Morrison is under pressure yet again as a Guardian Australia exclusive sheds new light on the secret ministries saga.
Freedom of information documents reveal Morrison’s secretive cabinet committee of one permanent member appears to have met hundreds of times in the last term of parliament.
It has sparked fresh warnings from the former senator Rex Patrick that the body was an “abuse of process”, and prompted calls to release its documents, or to expand the inquiry into Morrison’s multiple ministries, as proposed by the Greens.
Away from politics, wet weather is expected in north-east Victoria, inland New South Wales and southern Queensland, which could exacerbate flooding of inland rivers.
The worst of the rain for central NSW is expected today with six-hourly totals up to 70mm in the Central West slopes and plains and Riverina region. The area of concern stretches from south-west of Dubbo through Parkes to Young and out to Narranderra.
This morning, the finance minister, senator Katy Gallagher, has told the ABC the audit the government is carrying out will be ongoing beyond the October budget because of the deficit, but also because it is good practice.
Also today, the Reserve Bank of Australia’s deputy governor, Michele Bullock, will speak at noon in Sydney following the bleak preview presented last week by the governor, Philip Lowe.
The disability royal commission hearings continue, and Cate Campbell will address the National Press Club.
Let’s kick off!