Reynolds tells court she would ‘do the same thing today’ if a staffer suspected they had been sexually assaultedSarah Basford CanalesLinda Reynolds said she would “still do the same thing today” if a young staffer suspected they had been sexually assaulted in her office.Brittany Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, asked the former defence minister why she had never offered to listen to Higgins’ experiences of the night she was allegedly raped.Reynolds told the court she was “not a trained counsellor”.“I’m no way skilled or experienced to be having those sorts of conversations,” she said. “I was not the person to be asking those questions … I would still do the same thing today.”Reynolds said she felt “strongly” that Higgins should have gone to the police to see if they could help her remember.The hearing continues.ShareUpdated at 07.08 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureLinda Reynolds tells court ‘I wasn’t her counsellor’ as she defends actions following Brittany Higgins’ alleged rapeSarah Basford CanalesLinda Reynolds has become briefly teary on the witness stand after being asked under cross-examination why she didn’t ask Brittany Higgins how she was feeling on the campaign following her alleged rape.Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, asked Reynolds if she ever spoke to Higgins about her alleged rape again after 1 April 2019. Reynolds said “no”.Reynolds added she seemed “engaged” at functions and events during the 2019 federal election campaign and hadn’t thought she might be struggling with her mental health.Young asked: “You never took her aside, in a private space, to ask her ‘hi Brittany, how are you going?’”“I didn’t seek to be her counsellor,” Reynolds responded.Young asked, given Reynolds had her own traumatic experience during the Bali bombings, whether she had considered Higgins might be quietly struggling.Reynolds started responding but became emotional.“I tried to give her agency … but I wasn’t her counsellor,” Reynolds said.Young asked the senator whether she wanted to take a break. The senator responded: “I[’d] rather we just push through and get this done.”ShareUpdated at 09.24 CESTElias VisontaySydney airport left in dark over government tender, inquiry hearsThe Albanese government did not inform Sydney airport about changes to the way access to its runways are managed, with the airport’s leaders only learning of the changes the day the minister announced them, a Senate inquiry has heard.On Friday, a Senate committee hearing into aircraft noise included the CEO of Sydney Airport Corporation, Scott Charlton, as well as its head of public affairs, Joseph Dennis, who were asked about the strict rules that govern access to the airport’s take-off and landing slots.Access to Sydney airport slots have been a political hot potato for years, but have been the subject of intense debate in recent weeks following the collapse of Rex’s domestic jet operations between capital cities. Allegations have long swirled that the airline couldn’t launch services at peak times in the day to rival Qantas and Virgin flights due to loopholes in legislation that allow for anti-competitive behaviour such as slot hoarding.While Qantas and Virgin consistently deny they misuse slots, the broader industry, including Sydney airport, has long been calling for reforms to boost competition. The government had not acted on recommendations to fix the system since coming to office in 2022.However, following comments from former competition watchdog chair Rod Sims last week that government inaction had doomed Rex’s expansion ambition to fail, on Monday the transport minister, Catherine King, announced the government would adopt a key recommendation to boost competition by putting out to tender the role of managing Sydney airport’s slots. Currently, the third party that does this is majority owned by Qantas and Virgin.At Friday’s Senate hearing, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, who is the opposition’s transport spokesperson, asked when the airport was made aware of the government’s decision to tender the role for slot manager for the airport.Dennis said: “To be honest, we found out on the day … of the announcement.”Later, McKenzie told Guardian Australia: “Once again Labor acts only in response to political pressure rather than address the clear anticompetitive behaviour in the aviation sector.”ShareUpdated at 09.05 CESTSarah Basford CanalesReynolds returns to the stand in defamation caseLinda Reynolds has returned to the witness stand after the lunch break in her defamation case against her former staffer Brittany Higgins.Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, has shown the court notes from the AFP assistant commissioner, Leanne Close, written on 4 April 2019 during a meeting with Reynolds and her then chief of staff, Fiona Brown.The notes said Close thanked the minister for her time and read: “I said – there’s been an allegation of a sexual assault by a female member of her office against a male member”.The notes followed with Reynolds’ purported response: “She said ‘I thought that’s what is [sic] would be about. Can I bring in Fiona, my chief of staff, who has the specific details’.”Close noted Reynolds brought in Brown and wrote down that the then minister said “‘it’s about Brittany’ – we became aware on Tuesday that this had happened on Saturday night – on my couch there.” Close said Reynolds pointed toward the couch in her office where the rape allegedly occurred.Close’s notes indicated Reynolds then said “we found out through a DPS report”. That report was handed to Reynolds and Brown the week before on 27 March 2019.Reynolds on Friday said she did not point to the couch because she hadn’t yet been aware of details of the sexual assault allegation.Reynolds told the court the notes were incomplete and were just “four points of abbreviation of a longer conversation”.“This is not a transcript of a conversation – this is pulling up, as police do, elements of a conversation,” Reynolds said.ShareUpdated at 08.47 CESTQantasLink axes 51 jobs at Tamworth maintenance facilityQantasLink has axed 51 maintenance jobs at Tamworth airport’s heavy maintenance hangar, which performed the midlife maintenance for the Q200 and Q300 Dash-8 aircraft.The company says that the new Q400 aircraft, which are replacing the older planes, have fewer maintenance requirements, so the facility is no longer needed. It will keep five roles at Tamworth, with other workers able to apply elsewhere within Qantas.The Tamworth mayor, Russell Webb, said it was “sad and disappointing” to see Qantas turn away from a community that supported it for many years.The NSW acting secretary of Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, Brad Pidgeon, said they were “saddened by the broader trends we’re seeing within the Australian airline industry, but we want to ensure our members at QantasLink and beyond that we are on their side”.State Nationals MP Kevin Anderson said he had spoke to the CEO of QantasLink about the decision, which had thrown the lives of the maintenance workers “into turmoil”:
We want to keep those skilled workers and their families in Tamworth. They should not be forced to move elsewhere to keep their jobs.
Photograph: Jenny Evans/Getty ImagesShareUpdated at 08.41 CESTAmy RemeikisAustralia denies joining US-led boycott of Nagasaki commemoration over Israel exclusionAustralian government sources have denied Australia joined a diplomatic boycott of a Nagasaki nuclear bombing commemoration.The United States’ ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, said he would not attend the event because it had been “politicised” by the Nagasaki’s mayor’s decision not to invite Israel. The British embassy took a similar stance to the US.The Associated Press reported Israel’s ambassador, Gilad Cohen, was not invited to the event in the southern Japanese city because of the risk of possible protests over the Gaza conflict.Envoys from the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the EU signed a joint letter expressing their shared concern about Israel’s exclusion, saying that treating the country the same way as Russia and Belarus – the only other countries not invited – would be misleading.While the Australian ambassador did not attend, an Australian government source said Australia was represented at the memorial event by an embassy official.The source said:
Media reporting linking Australia to the letter is incorrect.
As Daniel Hurst had previously reported, in November, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, disciplined a junior member of his cabinet who appeared to voice openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza. Netanyahu’s office said Israel was “operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents”.The minister, Amihai Eliyahu, defended his remark, insisting that it was “clear to anyone who is sensible that the nuclear remark was metaphorical” but adding that “a strong and disproportionate response to terrorism is definitely required”.ShareUpdated at 08.16 CESTPaul KarpCFMEU accuses Labor of ‘full-frontal attack’ after Watt confirms legislative push to appoint administratorsOn Thursday we reported that workplace relations minister, Murray Watt, would be pushing ahead with a law next week to gain the power to appoint administrators to the construction division of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union after accusations of criminal misconduct and bikie links.Watt confirmed this at a press conference today, as the deadline of Friday for the CFMEU to cooperate with the appointment elapsed.This afternoon the CFMEU national construction secretary, Zach Smith, has written to members advising the government has taken “unilateral action”, despite ongoing discussions with the Fair Work Commission about the process in the federal court to appoint an administrator, and despite the CFMEU’s own efforts to clean up.These include setting up an independent investigation by barrister Geoffrey Watson, commissioning a review of union governance, introducing a new code of conduct for delegates, and “removing individuals from the union” and standing others down pending investigation.Smith accused Labor of a “full-frontal attack on our union”, undermining the legal process and stripping the CFMEU of “our rights to a fair process”.Smith said the govt should have responded to organised crime “wherever it is”, claiming the union has been “attacked by criminals associated with the bosses and big business for years” including a former ACT secretary having shots fired into his home by “standover men and strike-breakers”.ShareUpdated at 08.11 CESTHelen DavidsonA quick primer to help you understand why Keating’s comments on Taiwan yielded that response from Taiwan’s ministry of foreign affairs:Taiwan (officially the Republic of China) operates as a de facto independent country with its own democratically elected government, currency, and military. Fewer than a dozen governments in the world recognise it as a country, often because Beijing doesn’t allow anyone to recognise both, so governments have tended to choose (or switch to) Beijing.China’s ruling Communist party and its leader, Xi Jinping, claim Taiwan is a province of China, and have vowed to annex it under what they call “reunification”.The government and a large majority of the population in Taiwan overwhelmingly reject the prospect of Chinese rule. They want Beijing to respect the status quo – a vague but peaceful stance whereby Taiwan continues to operate independently without actively declaring independence (even though recent administrations have said they are already an independent country – yes, it’s complicated), and China doesn’t invade.Neither side wants a war – which would have global ramifications – but both are preparing for it.Taiwan’s supporters, the largest of which is the US but also include Australia, Japan and others, also want the status quo to stay in place.ShareUpdated at 08.06 CESTTaiwan condemns Keating’s comments referring to island as ‘Chinese real estate’Helen DavidsonTaiwan’s foreign ministry has blasted comments made by Paul Keating on 7.30 last night, in which he referred to Taiwan as “Chinese real estate”, (erroneously) compared its status in relation to China with that of Tasmania’s to Australia, and said it was “of no vital interest to Australia”.In a press statement sent out a few minutes ago, Taiwan’s ministry of foreign affairs (Mofa) rejected Keating’s characterisation, saying it didn’t match the status quo “generally recognised by the international community”.The statement continued:
Our country actively defends its democratic system and respects human rights and the rule of law. It will not accept intimidation or coercion from other countries, nor will it change its status as a sovereign country because of the biased speeches of a few international figures who ignore the current international situation.
It said Taiwan and Australia were like-minded partners with common strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific, a position that it said was shared by the current Australian government under Anthony Albanese:
Former Prime Minister Keating’s remarks are incompatible with the current geopolitical situation and completely fail to reflect the mainstream opinions of the international community.
Our government will continue to deepen cooperation with Australia in various fields, establish closer friendly relations, adhere to the democratic front, and actively work with countries with similar ideals to promote democracy, peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
ShareUpdated at 07.58 CESTKeating hits back at Albanese over criticism of former PM’s Aukus commentsFormer Labor prime minister Paul Keating has taken another swing at the current Labor prime minister, Anthony Albanese, after Albanese swung back at Keating for saying, overnight, that signing up to Aukus risks Australia becoming the “51st state of the United States”.Before we get to those (perhaps the Olympics should replace boxing with Labor PMs trading sledges?), if you’re just tuning in, you can read more about Keating’s original comments here:Albanese responded to those earlier today by saying that the world is different to what it was 30 years ago, and so the actions of his (that’s Albanese’s) government are also different.Keating has now said that “our geography has not changed” and “geography is the primary factor in geo-strategic settings”.Former prime minister Paul Keating in 2022. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAPKeating’s two-page statement continues:
The fact is, the Albanese government is returning to the Anglosphere to garner Australia’s security …
The strength and scale of the United States’s basing in Australia will eclipse Australia’s own military capability such that Australia will be viewed in the United States as a continental extension of American power akin to that which it enjoys in Hawaii, Alaska and more limitedly in places like Guam.
Such an outcome is likely to turn the Australian government, in defence and security terms, into simply the national administrator of what would be broadly viewed in Asia as a US protectorate.
Instead of recognising and celebrating the rise of China, twenty per cent of humanity, from the abject poverty of its past, and dealing with it diplomatically, Australia under the Albanese government, is dealing with what Defence Minister Richard Marles today called ‘a threat to the rules-based order’. An order he implies is under imminent threat. That is, under threat from China.
All this means that the Albanese government is now searching for Australia’s security ‘from Asia’ if Asia is to include its largest and most populous state, China.
So when the Prime Minister says of me, that as prime minister, I was dealing with an Asia of a different kind thirty years ago, it was not so different then that any rational understanding if it now would force us back to such a defensive, compliant posture as is required of an Atlantic supplicant.
ShareUpdated at 07.56 CESTSarah Basford CanalesWe’ve broken for lunch over in Perth in the defamation hearing by Linda Reynolds against her former staffer Brittany Higgins.Just before the break, there was discussion as to whether Reynolds might be able to seek leave from parliament on Monday to return to the witness stand if the cross-examination cannot be completed in time.Reynolds indicated it would be possible but inconvenient and would prefer the court sit late on Friday instead.After the lunch break, the cross-examination will continue before it is handed back to Reynolds’ lawyer, Martin Bennett, to re-examine parts of the senator’s evidence.We’ll update you once we return at 2pm Perth time/4pm AEST.ShareUpdated at 07.37 CEST