Progressive patriotism underpinning defence strategy: Conroy
Tom McIlroy
The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, says strong national defence and a strong industry to provide the equipment required for protecting Australia is part of the government’s “progressive patriotism”.
Conroy will address the National Press Club in Canberra today, making the case that Labor, and not the Coalition, is the true party of defence and national security.
The speech will coincide with the release of the 2026 Defence Industry Development Strategy and details of the government’s defence reform process. Already it has been reported that Conroy will point to nearly $30bn in wasteful spending on defence projects. An audit found the average cost of a small sample of projects increased by nearly 40%, or $29bn, before contracts were finalised.
Conroy will say.
Progressive patriotism, in the eyes of the Albanese government – and the great labour movement – is confidence in, and celebration of, what our national project has built
It is confidence in how it is evolving, and confidence in the future. Strong defence of our country – including the need to invest in our defence industry, people and systems – is a critical part of understanding what Australian progressive patriotism looks like today.
Building our defence industry, delivering the capabilities we need, is an investment in our country and offers the further dividend of deterrence to protect what our great national project has built.
We will bring you more on the speech at lunchtime today.
Key events
Wells slams Coalition and Greens for punting social media bill to inquiry
Anika Wells is having a crack at the opposition and Greens, accusing them of delaying the social media bill to an inquiry for examination.
A quick reminder – the bill doubles the penalty for platforms that breach the ban for under-16s and gives the eSafety commission more powers to compel documents from the companies.
Speaking Sunrise earlier this morning, Wells accused the opposition leader, Angus Taylor of siding with the big tech companies over kids and parents.
It is a craven and trivial decision for Angus Taylor to push this off for eight weeks … Until yesterday this was a bipartisan measures proudly vetted across the world and it’s on Angus Taylor to explain why a 500 word, 4 page bill needs eight weeks of inquiry.
Government makes concession on controversial aged care tool with no human oversight
The government has done a partial U-turn on its controversial aged care integrated assessment tool that critics said had no human override capability, and was being reviewed.
The IAT involves an assessor asking an older person questions about their physical, social and personal circumstances to determine how much government-funded home support they are eligible to receive.
Ahead of the IAT’s launch, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing quietly added an algorithm to classify IAT responses and determine a funding classification. The department’s user manual states that assessors must accept the IAT’s classification outcome when assigning home support.
This has caused hundreds of complaints and requests for internal review.
This morning, the aged care minister, Sam Rae, who has been in hot water over the issue, has told the ABC that in limited circumstances the system will now allow some human oversight for complex cases.
In some limited circumstances, people’s complex circumstances don’t necessarily fit neatly into a framework. And in those small number of circumstances, we want the system governor to be able to make the necessary decisions to get the most appropriate outcomes for older people …
We’ve listened and we’ve done the policy work to make sure that we get the best outcomes for older people.
Australia to give $2m in humanitarian assistance to Venezuela
The government has announced it will send $2m in humanitarian assistance to Venezuela, after it was struck by earthquakes last month.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says the full scale of the tragedy is still emerging, and the death told, which is already in the thousands, is expected to increase in coming days.
The funding, the government says, will be delivered through partners including the Red Cross and UN and will be contributed alongside other nations including the US and the UK, to provide emergency food, shelter, water, hygiene and psychosocial support.
In a statement, Wong said:
Our thoughts are with the people of Venezuela, the Australian-Venezuelan community, and all those affected by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela. Australia’s humanitarian assistance will support access to food, shelter, medical care and other essential services.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you. Thanks to Martin Farrer for getting us started.
It’s the final sitting day of the week, but after a big Midwinter Ball last night there might be a few wearier-than-usual eyes gracing the chambers (and the press gallery corridors).
The main legislative game for the government today will be gambling – with its reforms being introduced to the House today. They currently don’t have anyone to pass it through the Senate, but yesterday the opposition suggested they were working with Labor and hoping to “get the balance right”. The Greens have also suggested they could be in talks with the Coalition to try and force Labor’s hand into making the bill stronger. We’ll see how that shakes out today.
Let’s get cracking!
Best dressed at Canberra’s Midwinter’s Ball
It was Canberra’s night of nights last night with the staging of the press gallery’s Midwinter’s Ball.
As is customary, the political classes got dressed up in their best outfits and headed out where photographers were on hand to record their fashion efforts for posterity.
The glamorous gathering took place under the critical eye of our own Caitlin Cassidy, who judged Labor’s Anne Aly to be best on ground among the women. Aly posted to social media that she actually crocheted her own dress!
Tanya Plibersek’s husband Michael Coutts-Trotter took out Caitlin’s award for the men with his defiantly non-black jacket.
Check out our gallery here:
Taiwanese man charged over people-smuggling operation
A Taiwanese man has been charged over a failed people-smuggling operation that left campers startled when they saw a boat carrying foreign nationals land on a remote beach, Australian Associated Press reports.
The newly arrived group stunned holidaymakers when they were spotted on a far north Queensland beach before visiting a local bakery and being apprehended near a pub, the Cook MP, David Kempton, said.
About 12 people – believed to Chinese – arrived by boat at a remote camping spot before travelling to nearby Weipa on the Cape York Peninsula early on Tuesday.
A 34-year-old Taiwanese national was arrested in a supermarket car park at Weipa on Tuesday after a report of suspicious activity in the area.
Police have since charged the man with one count of aggravated offence of people-smuggling involving at least five people.
He was remanded in custody after facing the Cairns magistrates court on yesterday before his next appearance today.
The man faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment if found guilty.
Another man, 30, was also detained by police pending further inquiries.
Progressive patriotism underpinning defence strategy: Conroy
Tom McIlroy
The minister for defence industry, Pat Conroy, says strong national defence and a strong industry to provide the equipment required for protecting Australia is part of the government’s “progressive patriotism”.
Conroy will address the National Press Club in Canberra today, making the case that Labor, and not the Coalition, is the true party of defence and national security.
The speech will coincide with the release of the 2026 Defence Industry Development Strategy and details of the government’s defence reform process. Already it has been reported that Conroy will point to nearly $30bn in wasteful spending on defence projects. An audit found the average cost of a small sample of projects increased by nearly 40%, or $29bn, before contracts were finalised.
Conroy will say.
Progressive patriotism, in the eyes of the Albanese government – and the great labour movement – is confidence in, and celebration of, what our national project has built
It is confidence in how it is evolving, and confidence in the future. Strong defence of our country – including the need to invest in our defence industry, people and systems – is a critical part of understanding what Australian progressive patriotism looks like today.
Building our defence industry, delivering the capabilities we need, is an investment in our country and offers the further dividend of deterrence to protect what our great national project has built.
We will bring you more on the speech at lunchtime today.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
We’ll wrap up some of the overnight news before Krishani’s on deck, and also bring you a preview of today’s press club speech from the defence industry minister, Pat Conroy.
He’s arguing that Labor, these days, is the natural party for defence thanks to an ideal he describes as “progressive patriotism”. More on this soon.
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