Australian prime minister bares self in campaign launch - Fox News

CANBERRA, Australia – Australia's prime minister has officially launched his conservative coalition's campaign less than a week before an election in an extraordinarily personal presentation.

Scott Morrison is his government's third prime minister in the administration's six years in office and still remains relatively unknown to many Australians. He is asking them for a third three-year term when they vote on Saturday next week.

The coalition's launch in the city of Melbourne on Sunday included recorded interviews with Morrison family members that covered his wife Jenny's diagnosis with endometriosis and their 14-year failed battle to conceive through IVF before having their two daughters naturally.

Morrison also outlined government policies including support for first-home buyers.

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https://www.foxnews.com/world/australian-prime-minister-bares-self-in-campaign-launch

2019-05-12 05:07:07Z
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Australia and the U.S. Are Old Allies. China's Rise Changes the Equation. - The New York Times

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A vineyard in Western Australia. Many winemakers in Australia are changing the kind of wines they grow to appeal to the Chinese export market, which has grown rapidly in recent years.CreditFrances Andrijich for The New York Times

SYDNEY, Australia — To understand why the Trump administration has struggled to build a global coalition of allies in its trade war with China, it helps to understand what is happening in the rolling hills and valleys of Australia’s southeast and southwest coasts.

Vineyards that once made many crisp white wines and fruity red ones popular with American buyers are now also producing more austere reds favored by a segment of a rapidly expanding market of Chinese drinkers. Since 2008, Australia’s wine exports to the United States have fallen 37 percent; exports to China have risen 959 percent.

Around the globe, longtime allies are planning for a world in which the United States is no longer the economic center. For all the frustrations of doing business with China, including opaque government action and allegations of intellectual property theft, the sheer logic of economic geography is proving more significant than historical alliances.

The tension is evident in many countries with deep economic ties to the United States, including South Korea, Japan and Germany. But perhaps nowhere is the tug more vivid than in Australia, long one of America’s closest allies, which now finds itself pulled in the opposite direction by China, its largest export market.

In national elections scheduled for May 18, both major parties have called for a balanced foreign policy, aimed at maintaining the country’s longstanding national security alliance with the United States — while also looking to nurture the relationship with China.

Neither party’s leaders have adopted the bellicose anti-China language of President Trump, nor the use of tariffs to try to force the Chinese to yield to Australian demands. (The Trump administration recently raised tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent and threatened to expand the tariffs to encompass all Chinese imports.)

Australia’s cultural affinity with the United States remains strong. Australian and American troops fought together in World War II, and more recently in Afghanistan and Iraq. The countries’ intelligence agencies share some of their deepest secrets. But in terms of cold hard (Australian) dollars, the nation’s business and political leaders now speak of the world’s two largest economies as equally important partners.

“Our interests are not identical to the U.S.,” Geoff Raby, a former Australian ambassador to China who advises companies doing business in the two countries, said in an interview. “That doesn’t mean we can’t have a close, warm relationship with the United States. But we cannot join the U.S. in a policy premised on China being a strategic competitor.”

Australia is essentially trying to navigate the world economy as a midsize country maintaining good relations with both superpowers. It is trusting the United States as an ally on national security matters but also knows that its economic future, and present, are tied to China. Australia and China have had a trade agreement since 2015.

China’s huge population and rapid growth will inevitably pull more countries into its economic orbit. But that strong pull also reflects recent steps by the United States to undermine institutions that Americans themselves helped create to guide the global economic system.

The Trump administration, for example, has levied steel and aluminum tariffs on close allies, ostensibly on national security grounds; walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, aimed at creating a trade bloc that could counter Chinese influence; and taken steps to undermine the World Trade Organization, which many smaller countries view as essential to getting a fair shake in global commerce.

The incumbent government, led by the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has sought to maintain close ties with both the United States and China. It has passed a law to try to reduce foreign influence in Australian politics, and is pledging increases in spending for defense and cybersecurity.

“Inevitably, in the period ahead, we will be navigating a higher degree of U.S.-China strategic competition,” Mr. Morrison said in a major foreign policy speech late last year.

Leaders of the Australian Labor Party, aiming to take power for the first time since 2013, are less friendly to the Trump administration; they embrace economic ties to China while appearing reluctant to be pulled too close in either direction.

“Differences between our systems and values will inevitably affect the nature of our interactions,” said Penny Wong, a senator expected to be foreign minister if Labor prevails, in a recent appearance. “But those realities include the fact that China will remain important to Australia’s prosperity.”

The absence of a full-throated debate reflects a widespread acceptance that the economic relationship with China is too important to mess up.

“The silence during the campaign is almost eerie,” said Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute, a think tank in Sydney. “Neither party sees any overwhelmingly partisan advantage in taking the issue on. And both parties know that they could make life harder for themselves with China later because of things said in the heat of the battle.”

A look at the structure of the Australian economy shows why. The most economically consequential exports are commodities, including iron ore, coal and natural gas, which have helped provide raw materials for China’s economic surge over the last three decades. But these natural resource industries are only part of the picture.

There are about 165,000 Chinese-born students in Australian universities, a crucial revenue source.

Buyers from China helped fuel the housing market, at least until recently; tighter restrictions on Chinese citizens’ freedom to move money abroad have been a factor in the sector’s downturn.

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Since 2008, Australia’s wine exports to the United States have risen 959 percent.CreditFrances Andrijich for The New York Times

The Australian wine industry was once almost entirely focused on domestic production, then expanded to exporting to Britain and then the United States. But in the last 10 years, three forces have combined to make China the largest export market for Australian wine. The ranks of the Chinese middle class have grown astronomically. A 2015 trade agreement between the two countries reduced tariffs. And an extensive marketing campaign has helped ensure that many Chinese consumers would favor Australian labels.

Tony Battaglene, chief executive of Australian Grape and Wine, the industry’s trade group, said: “We don’t want either party to see us taking sides with the other party. It’s delicate political ground, and we don’t want to get caught up in the wash.”

In 1994, Catherine Cervasio started a company, Aromababy, that makes organic skin care products in Melbourne. She soon began exporting to Hong Kong and Singapore, and since 2008 has exported to the Chinese mainland, which now accounts for about half of the company’s revenue.

The company is not yet exporting to the United States, though she hopes to develop an American business eventually. “It’s a lot further geographically,” Ms. Cervasio said. She visited China seven times last year, and has taken lessons in the language.

“There is more synergy among Asian markets and Australia,” she said, especially around personal care products.

In effect, the combination of population and geography made an Australian shift into the Chinese economic orbit inevitable once China began opening its economy in the 1980s.

What has changed in the last couple of years is that the risk of a bifurcating world trade system has created new urgency in trying to keep options on both sides.

“There’s no need for Australian business or the Australian government to be hard and fast about allying with either China or the U.S. to the exclusion of the other,” said Adrian Perkins, a partner at the law firm King & Wood Mallesons, the merged product of a Chinese and Australian firm. “The sensible path is to keep all options open. We needn’t shut them down.”

What is sensible for Australia’s economy and geopolitics means that what was once a special relationship with the United States is no longer quite so special.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/11/upshot/australia-relationship-china-us-trade.html

2019-05-11 09:02:33Z
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Election Day Is Coming. Australia Says: 'Meh.' - The New York Times

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written by Isabella Kwai, a reporter with the bureau.

_____

When I ask Australians about their political opinions, from city-siders to region-dwellers, one answer dominates.

I even heard it in an interview with “egg boy,” the teenager who became an international star after throwing an egg at a far-right politician.

“I don’t know much about politics,” he said. Many Australians seem to want nothing to do with it; politics, they say, is confusing, tiring, boring, and while Americans often can’t stop talking about the subject (even before President Trump), many Australians seem to prefer disconnection.

But why are they feeling this way?

As the May 18 election looms, politicians are facing off for a chance to change the ideological balance of leadership for the next three years. And yet, in a country with compulsory voting, many Australians feel that overall, the system isn’t working.

According to a survey conducted just before last year’s change in prime minister, fewer than 41 percent of Australians are satisfied with the way democracy is working. It’s a stark drop from 2013, where 72 percent were satisfied with democracy.

More than 60 percent of respondents said that the integrity of politicians was very low, and experts say the turbulence of the last twelve years — which has seen the country hold five different leaders — has only amplified discontent.

It might make sense then, that Australians don’t feel a personal connection to politics.

But does that necessarily mean that people don’t care about what happens to the country?

On a recent reporting trip, I received the same answers from Australians on feeling ambivalent about politics. But as the conversation continued, that ambivalence seemed to mask deeper concerns. One university student worried about the environment. Another woman wondered whether there would be enough funding to afford school supplies for her two children. Others said they brooded over the rising cost of living.

Since the 19th century, Australians “have always been fairly skeptical about their politicians in general as a class,” said Judith Brett, an emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University and author of the book “From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage: How Australia Got Compulsory Voting.”

Still, even if voters aren’t entirely plugged in, the compulsory voting system on the whole makes for a “engaged electorate,” Professor Brett said. “They may not know who their member is, but they’ll have some view of parties.”

Not only does the system add legitimacy to the elected officials, she added; it also means that unlike the United States, Australia’s political parties are less tempted to run highly emotive campaigns to motivate people to vote.

While it may make for a calmer election, perhaps it’s that lack of emotion, coupled with a distaste for the culture of Canberra, that will send many Australians to the polls next weekend with a sense of duty rather than pride.

So where do you stand on this? Are you feeling lackluster about voting next week? If so, why? What could help you feel more engaged?

Write to us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com and or share your thoughts in our NYT Australia Facebook group.

Also, in the lead-up to Election Day, we’re excited to bring you “Voter Snapshots” — a special series of daily Australia Letters, running Monday to Friday next week, in which we’ll get to know five Australians across the political spectrum.

Yes, we’re asking them who they’re voting for — but we’ll also discover what keeps them up at night, what kind of Australia they dream of, and what a good life means. It’s an intimate insight into five different slices of this country’s vast electorate.

Look out for the first edition in your inboxes on Monday!

If you’re catching up on the basics, here’s an explainer on the Australian election, one on compulsory voting, and an overview of the issues at stake this election.

Now, on to the biggest stories of the week.

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Australia and Asia Pacific

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Watermelon-rose trifle.CreditBobby Doherty for The New York Times. Food stylist: Maggie Ruggiero. Prop stylist: Rebecca Bartoshesky.

Stories from our region of the world this week:

• Toxic Speech Floods Australian Campaign. Here’s Why Some See Signs of Hope: Hateful commentary, mostly dug up from politicians’ social media feeds, has toppled at least six candidates for Parliament. Shameful? A sign of progress? Or both?

• Australia’s Politics May Be Changing With Its Climate: As elections approach in a country that bears the brunt of climate change, its politicians are trying to figure out how to manage the anxiety of voters.

• At Site of Bali Bombings, a Fight Brews Over Money and Memorials: In 2002, Islamic extremists killed 202 locals and tourists on Indonesia’s main resort island. A local family wants to revamp the site for business, but survivors are opposed

• Deconstructing Australia’s Most Instagrammed Dessert: An at-home version of Sydney’s prized strawberry, watermelon and rose cake.

• Australian Taxi Drivers Sue Uber Over Lost Wages in Class-Action Lawsuit: In a class-action lawsuit, more than 6,000 taxi, limousine and other types of drivers claim that they were hurt financially by Uber’s 2012 arrival in the country.

• Uber Drivers’ Day of Strikes Circles the Globe Before the Company’s I. P. O: On the other side, Uber drivers from Australia to San Francisco protested the employment practices of ride-sharing apps.

A note to readers: We often open the discussions on these stories and more in our NYT Australia Facebook group. It’s a chance to directly interact with Times journalists from around the world.

This week Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter, reflected on travels through dry New South Wales before the election and Rick Paddock, a South East Asia correspondent, dug into a dispute over the site of the Bali bombings. (And our bureau posts regularly too!) Join us here.

____

Around the Times

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Lady GagaCreditLandon Nordeman for The New York Times

A few of our most popular stories from all over The Times:

• Trump Tax Figures Show Over $1 Billion in Business Losses: In a new Times investigation, tax information reveals that from 1985 to 1994, Donald J. Trump’s businesses were in the red for decades.

• A Rare View of the Met Gala: For most of us, fashion’s party of the year ends with the red carpet. But our reporter got a look inside.

• It’s Time to Break Up Facebook: It’s been 15 years Chris Hughes co-founded Facebook at Harvard. But in this opinion article, he writes that he feels a sense of anger and responsibility.

• Harry and Meghan Name Their Son: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor: The baby, wrapped in a cream-colored blanket and wearing a knit cap, slept through his first interview.

____

And Over to You

We asked you for your favorite stories in honor of our second birthday last week...

“I’d have to say the one I enjoyed the most was the article: “Has Australia Abandoned the Salad Sandwich?”

It had never occurred to me that the salad sanger was something uniquely Australian (or at least our own specific take on it).

Just the thumbnail image with the article made me both hungry and nostalgic for the ridiculously stuffed salad sangers mum would send me to school with.”

— James Tapscott

... And one of you noticed an odd usage of phrasing — odd at least to Australians — at the end a section in our evening briefing that focused on tree rings. “Have a rooted night,” the text wished readers.

“In Australia, to have a root has the colloquial meaning of to have sex. To be rooted is to have had sex. Or it can be exhaustion from a good root or a tiring activity. To root all night is a great night of passion. Or a tremendous one.

It would be awkward to say ‘have a rooted night’.”

— Peter Wilson

I guess that would be awkward. Maybe we should just embrace it as a new saying.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/world/australia/election-politics-voting-boring.html

2019-05-10 01:23:32Z
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Australia printed a typo on 46 million new $50 banknotes, misspelling the word 'responsibility' - Business Insider

Australia's new $50 bank note, as seen in a promotional video from the Reserve Bank of Australia, and its misspelling.AP Photo/Rick Rycroft//YouTube/RBAInfo/INSIDER

• Australia made a spelling mistake on 46 million of its new AU$50 banknotes.
• It misspelled the word "responsibility" in an extract from the speech given by the country's first female member of parliament in 1921. It spelled the word "responsibilty" with a final "i" missing.
• The text is small, but the Reserve Bank of Australia said it would fix the error in the next print run.
• The newly designed note was introduced in October 2018, with the RBA highlighting that the most widely used note in the country was now more secure.
• Visit INSIDER's homepage for more stories.

Australia printed 46 million of its new AU$50 banknotes with a spelling mistake.

The new design of the notes was billed as part of the "next generation of banknotes" when it was introduced in October 2018 by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which touted new security features and a durable material. 

But the RBA confirmed on Tuesday that the 46 million notes — worth AU$2.3 billion — have a spelling mistake, the UK's The Guardian newspaper reported.

The error is contained in an extract of a speech given by Australia's first female member of parliament as she entered office.

Read more: Australia is the most popular destination in the world for migrating millionaires

The bank note includes the text "It is a great responsibilty [sic] to be the only woman here, and I want to emphasize the necessity which exists for other women being here" from Edith Gowan's 1921 in speech — misspelling "responsibility" as "responsibilty."

The world "responsibility" was printed with a missing "i" in Australia's $50 note.AP Photo/Rick Rycroft/INSIDER

The text that contains the error is small, and most people would need a magnifying glass to see it. But an RBA spokeswoman told The Guardian that it would correct it "at the next print run."

The error is tiny, contained in the note's micro-text. Reserve Bank of Australia/INSIDER

Australian radio station Triple M shared a close-up image of the mistake on Thursday, claiming that they had been tipped off to the error.

The AU$50 note — worth around US$35 — is the most widely circulated banknote in Australia, according to the RBA. It includes portraits of Gowan on one side and of David Unaipon, an Aboriginal writer and inventor, on the other. It displays extracts from Cowan's speech and from Unaipon's book: "Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines."

The notes also include a number of security features to "prevent counterfeiting," including clear windows and parts that appear to change color in certain lighting.

It has raised bumps that allow people with impaired vision to distinguish it from other bank notes.

The RBA described its introduction as a "milestone in the upgrade of Australia's banknotes." It is printed on polymer, which is more durable than paper, and is harder to counterfeit.

Den Originalartikel gibt es auf INSIDER. Follow INSIDER on Facebook. Copyright 2019. Und ihr könnt INSIDER auf Twitter folgen.

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https://www.businessinsider.com/australia-spelling-mistake-46-million-50-banknotes-2019-5

2019-05-09 10:28:17Z
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Australia's A$50 note misspells responsibility - BBC News

Australia's latest A$50 note comes with a big blunder hidden in the small print - a somewhat embarrassing typo.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) spelled "responsibility" as "responsibilty" on millions of the new yellow notes.

The RBA confirmed the typo on Thursday and said the error would be fixed in future print runs.

But for now, around 46 million of the new notes are in use across the country.

The bills were released late last year and feature Edith Cowan, the first female member of an Australian parliament.

What looks like a lawn in the background of Ms Cowan's portrait is in fact rows of text - a quotation from her first speech to parliament.

"It is a great responsibility to be the only woman here, and I want to emphasise the necessity which exists for other women being here," is repeated several times over in microscopic print.

Alas, it's printed each time as "responsibilty" - with a missing i.

It took more than six months for someone with a good magnifying glass to spot the typo.

The A$50 note is the most widely circulated in Australia, and the most commonly given out by cash machines. The other side of the note features distinguished Indigenous author David Unaipon.

• Julia Robert' impressive 'holes' and other typos that we love
• Prankster pits Giuliani against Trump

When the latest batch emerged in October, new security features were embedded in the design to improve accessibility and prevent counterfeiting.

And for anyone wondering - yes, the "typo note" is still totally valid as currency.

Phew. Now let's just hope we didn't make any typos in this artilce.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48210733

2019-05-09 05:54:48Z
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Australia PM Scott Morrison egged on campaign trail - BBC News

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been egged by a protester while campaigning ahead of the nation's general election.

The egg grazed Mr Morrison's head but did not break, local media said. The incident also knocked an elderly woman to the ground.

Footage showed a 25-year-old woman being restrained at the scene. Police later said she had been arrested.

Mr Morrison described the egg thrower as "cowardly".

The incident happened at a Country Women's Association event in Albury, about 330km (200 miles) south-east of Canberra. No-one was injured.

Mr Morrison later praised his security staff for intervening quickly and expressed concern for the elderly woman, identified in media reports as Margaret Baxter.

Skip Twitter post by @ScottMorrisonMP

My concern about today’s incident in Albury was for the older lady who was knocked off her feet. I helped her up and gave her a hug. Our farmers have to put up with these same idiots who are invading their farms and their homes.

— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) May 7, 2019

End of Twitter post by @ScottMorrisonMP

Farmers in Australia have faced protests by vegan activists in recent times. Police did not immediately speculate on a motive for Tuesday's incident, nor whether it was suspected of being linked to other protests.

• Animal rights protests 'un-Australian', PM says

Ms Baxter told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that she had recently had stomach surgery, but did not feel pain after the fall.

"My main concern was holding my stomach to make sure it didn't get hit," she said.

Mr Morrison is not the first Australian politician to be targeted by an egg-wielding protester this year.

In March, far-right Senator Fraser Anning was egged after making heavily criticised comments about the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.

A 17-year-old boy was later cautioned by police over Mr Anning's egging.

• Australia MP cleared over 'egg boy' clash

Australians are due to vote in a general election on 18 May.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48182184

2019-05-07 11:16:00Z
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Australia PM Scott Morrison egged on campaign trail - BBC News

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been egged by a protester while campaigning ahead of the nation's general election.

The egg grazed Mr Morrison's head but did not break, local media said. The incident also knocked an elderly woman to the ground.

Footage showed a 25-year-old woman being restrained at the scene. Police later said she had been arrested.

Mr Morrison described the egg thrower as "cowardly".

The incident happened at a Country Women's Association event in Albury, about 330km (200 miles) south-east of Canberra. No-one was injured.

Mr Morrison later praised his security staff for intervening quickly and expressed concern for the elderly woman, identified in media reports as Margaret Baxter.

Farmers in Australia have faced protests by vegan activists in recent times. Police did not immediately speculate on a motive for Tuesday's incident, nor whether it was suspected of being linked to other protests.

• Animal rights protests 'un-Australian', PM says

Ms Baxter told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that she had recently had stomach surgery, but did not feel pain after the fall.

"My main concern was holding my stomach to make sure it didn't get hit," she said.

Mr Morrison is not the first Australian politician to be targeted by an egg-wielding protester this year.

In March, far-right Senator Fraser Anning was egged after making heavily criticised comments about the mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand.

A 17-year-old boy was later cautioned by police over Mr Anning's egging.

• Australia MP cleared over 'egg boy' clash

Australians are due to vote in a general election on 18 May.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48182184

2019-05-07 10:05:03Z
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