ACT

CANBERRA, Jun 4 (NNN-AAP) – Foreigners who have lived in Australia for at least 12 months will be eligible to join the nation’s armed forces from 2025, the federal government announced.

Richard Marles, the minister for defence and deputy prime minister, and Defence Personnel Minister, Matt Keogh, announced the initiative today in Canberra, saying, it would help grow the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

27 March 2024; MEMO: Internal communications at Australia’s national broadcaster reveal staff warnings about the Gaza war coverage, indicating an overreliance on Israeli sources and language “favouring the Israeli narrative over objective reporting.”

Tehran, IRNA – Over a hundred Australian lawyers have endorsed a move to refer prime minister Anthony Albanese to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for being an “accessory to genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

According to reports, the lawyers argued that Albanese has provided the Israeli regime with “rhetorical support in their public statements, their press conferences, their speeches” as well as material assistance.

Albanese was referred to the ICC in a communiqué presented to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan KC on Monday.

31 October 2023; MEMO: Australia has expressed concerns over increasing attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by Jewish settlers, amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated that “Australia is deeply concerned by reports of ongoing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, Such violence threatens to only inflame tensions and those responsible must be held accountable”.

11 August 2023; MEMO: Aboriginal Australian Senator, Lidia Thorpe, has urged the Australian government to acknowledge the sovereignty of the State of Palestine and the territories that have been illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.

She additionally requested that the Australian government encourage Israel to put an end to its illegal occupation and colonisation of Palestinian land.

06 June 2023; MEMO: A group of Australian women and children trapped in detention camps in northeast Syria are taking the Australian government to court to try and secure repatriation.

The women argue that their detention is arbitrary, that Canberra has the power to free them and that they have a legal right to return to Australia.

Roughly 38,000 foreign nationals are held in two camps in northeast Syria – Roj and Al-Hawl.

05 May 2023; MEMO: Expressing "frustration" over continued incarceration and the US pursuit of whistleblower, Julian Assange, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said the case "needs to be brought to a conclusion", Anadolu News Agency reports.

17 October 2022; MEMO: The Australian government has seemingly walked back on its decision to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, four years after its initial announcement that it would move its embassy to the city.

In a report by the Guardian newspaper, it was revealed that Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) deleted two sentences from its website within the past few days which proclaimed the move, indicating a decision to quietly cancel it.

11 October 2022; MEMO: Sixteen Australian women who will be repatriated from camps in northeast Syria will be detained immediately on arrival in Australia.

The women and 42 children, who will also return to Australia, are wives and children of former Islamic State members and have been kept in camps since March 2019.

According to the WSWS, some of the women will appear in court, others will be charged with terrorism-related offences.

Canberra, Oct 4 (AP) Australia's central bank on Tuesday boosted its benchmark interest rate for a sixth consecutive month to a nine-year high of 2.6 per cent.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's increase of a quarter percentage point to the cash rate was smaller than those at recent monthly meetings.