Kevin Rudd to announce Australia's biggest military build-up since World War II | National News | News.com.au * Defence white paper to be released
* Will be biggest boost to military since WWII
* Multi-billion-dollar investment in defence
KEVIN Rudd is set to announce Australia's biggest military build-up since World War II, led by a multi-billion-dollar investment in maritime defence, including 100 new F-35 fighters, a doubling of the submarine fleet, and powerful new surface warships.
The new defence white paper will outline plans for a fundamental shake-up of Australia's defence organisation to ensure that the nation can meet what the Prime Minister sees as a far more challenging and uncertain security outlook in Asia over the next two decades.
China's steadily growing military might and the prospect of sharper strategic competition among Asia's great powers are driving the maritime build-up, which will see new-generation submarines and warships equipped with cruise missiles, and a big new investment in anti-submarine warfare and electronic warfare platforms, including new naval helicopters.
The white paper will consider the emerging non-traditional threats to Australia, including cyber security, climate change and its associated risk of large uncontrolled people movements, The Australian reports.
Senior government sources say Mr Rudd has insisted that defence spending remain largely insulated from the Government's budget difficulties, but the Defence Department will still have to find at least $15 billion of internal savings over the next decade to help pay for the $100 billion-plus long-term equipment plan.
Mr Rudd said yesterday the delivery of the white paper was proving "acutely challenging as we work to defend ourselves from the global economic storm".
"It is the most difficult environment to frame the Australian budget in modern economic history. It is also the most difficult environment to frame our long-term defence planning in modern economic history as well," he told the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
"Nevertheless the Government will not resile even in the difficult times from the requirement for long-term coherence of our defence planning for the long-term security of our nation. This is core business for government.
"That is why we have forged ahead in our preparation of the defence white paper because national security needs do not disappear because of the global recession. If anything, those needs become more acute."
Funding pressures will mean the navy will not get a fourth air warfare destroyer, and the delivery of the first batch of the RAAF's F-35 joint strike fighters will slip by at least one year to 2014-15.
The huge cost of paying for the next-generation defence force, due to be detailed in the white paper and the forthcoming 10-year defence capability plan, will have little impact on the defence budget over the the next four years.
Apart from the air warfare destroyers and the F-35 fighters, most of the planned defence purchases will not have to be paid for until well into the next decade and beyond.
Mr Rudd and Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon are expected to release the long-awaited white paper as early as next week, with the more detailed 10-year defence capability plan due to published by mid-year.
The naval build-up will be led by a planned 12-strong submarine fleet expected to replace the Collins-class boats from 2025.
It will enable the RAN to deploy up to seven boats to protect Australia's northern approaches, including key maritime straits running through the Indonesian archipelago, at times of high threat.
The white paper will outline the requirement for a new class of eight 7000-tonne warships equipped with ballistic missile defence systems similar to the three air warfare destroyers already on order that will eventually replace the Anzac frigates.
A new class of 1500-tonne corvette-size patrol boats able to take a helicopter is slated to replace the Armidale-class vessels from the mid-2020s.
Australia should have a one-child policy, says lobby group | The Daily TelegraphAUSTRALIA should consider having a one-child policy to protect the planet, an environmental lobby group said.
Sustainable Population Australia said slashing population was the only way to avoid "environmental suicide".
National president Sandra Kanck wants Australia's population of almost 22 million reduced to seven million to tackle climate change.
And restricting each couple to one baby, as China does, was "one way of assisting to reduce the population".
"It's something we need to throw into the mix," the former Democrats parliamentarian said.
Australia was right to have no part of Durban II
BEFORE its second conference on racism opened in Geneva, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged the UN's reputation was on the line: "Let us recognise the difference between honest disagreement and mere divisiveness or, worse, sheer obstructionism. Let us lead by example, knowing that our own reputations are at stake."
The UN's integrity has been tarnished as the conference degenerated into bitter farce because of the pernicious, anti-Semitic tirade by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Singling out Israel as "the most cruel and racist regime" created "under the pretext of Jewish suffering" in World War II, the Iranian tyrant's 30 minutes of racist bile, a day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, vindicated the Rudd Government's decision not to attend.
Australia's non-participation could cost us heavily in our quest to be elected to a temporary seat on the UN Security Council in 2013-14. But the more important question the Rudd Government must consider is whether it is worth committing scarce resources to further that aim. Last month, the Lowy Institute reported that Australia's diplomats are overstretched, underfunded and ill-equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
As Greg Sheridan reported recently, Australia has 91 diplomatic missions across the world when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average is 150. The only OECD nations with fewer missions than Australia are Ireland, Luxembourg, the Slovak Republic and New Zealand, with populations no more than a quarter of ours.
On paper, the aims of the Geneva conference were laudable: eliminating racism and promoting tolerance. Such efforts deserve the support of all civilised nations. As a sequel to the 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa, however, the talkfest was always likely to be problematical. Far from decrying racism, the final declaration of the Durban I conference was highly racist, branding Israel a racist, apartheid state. And the attendance of Mr Ahmadinejad - who has called the Holocaust a myth and who wants Israel wiped off the map - made an anti-Semitic tirade inevitable.
Australia's decision, last weekend, not to attend Durban II came after US President Barack Obama made a similar call. Australia delayed its decision in the hope that organisers would improve the draft text, but the Government also, undoubtedly, had an eye on gathering support for its Security Council bid. This was also the point of Governor-General Quentin Bryce's 10-nation, 19-day lobbying tour through Africa.
To put the Security Council battle in perspective, its current non-permanent members are Austria, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Japan, Libya, Mexico, Turkey, Uganda and Vietnam. Membership would extend our influence temporarily, but joining would make no difference to Australia's status as a middle power. Australia's democratic values, stability and engagement with the world have given us the strength and status to hold our head high on the world stage.
Before Durban II, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said participants would "be judged harshly" if the conference failed. So they will be. Some nations, rightly, walked out as the Iranian President spoke. Whatever the cost of our non-participation in terms of votes for the Security Council, Australia was right to have no part of it.
Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens says Australia in recession | The Daily TelegraphRESERVE Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens has said today the Australian economy is in recession while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has promised more stimulus measures in the May Budget to combat rising unemployment.
Mr Stevens said it would be rare for Australia to escape an international downturn and there was no precedent for avoiding one the size being suffered by virtually all the nation's trading partners.
"Whether or not the next GDP statistic, due in early June, shows another decline, I think the reasonable person, looking at all the information available now, would come to the conclusion that the Australian economy, too, is in recession,'' Mr Stevens said.
Meanwhile, the prime minister has warned that unemployment will rise but said next month's budget would increase stimulus for the economy.
But Kevin Rudd's press conference ended minutes before he could be quizzed on Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens' declaration that Australia was now in recession.
Mr Rudd said it was necessary to act locally, nationally and globally to reduce the impact of the global recession on Australia.
"The truth is this - the global economic recession makes it inevitable that we'll have a recession in Australia which means that, as we frame the budget, we're going to have to make even stronger our economic stimulus strategy because unemployment will rise even further," Mr Rudd told reporters in Perth.
"As prime minister of Australia, I can't wish this global economic recession away."
Kevin Rudd: Recession is out of our control
The national accounts for the December quarter released last month showed gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.5 per cent in the final three months of last year, the first fall in economic growth in eight years.
The March quarter GDP figures are due on June 3 - and this was when the recession was expected to be confirmed officially before Mr Stevens made his comments today.
Mr Stevens said there wasn't a great deal Australians could do to improve international conditions.
"But we can maximise our chances of benefiting from a new international expansion,'' he said.
He said there are many reasons to be confident in Australia when compared to other countries.
Its political stability remained assured, the Federal Government had not had to give direct financial support to the banking system, and that public finances remained in "very sound'' shape.
"Sensible policy frameworks - both macroeconomic and microeconomic - remain in place; the financial regulatory system is strong and tested,'' he said.
"We remain open for trade and investment, and have the capacity to deploy both our own and other people's capital carefully and profitably.
"Finally, there is an exposure to, and engagement with, an Asian region that still has the most dynamic growth potential in the world, where hundreds of millions of people will for decades to come be seeking rising living standards.''
He said there are few countries that can offer such an attractive proposition.
Mr Stevens also called for perspective on banks passing on interest rate cuts.
Banks have come under fire for failing to pass on the latest 25 basis point interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) by the full amount.
"I won't bite too much at whether it is frustrating observing the pass-through issue but I think we should keep some perspective," Mr Stevens said.
"Since last August the cash rate has fallen 425 points and mortgage rates have fallen not quite that much but not all ... short of that," he told the Australian Institute of Company Directors in Adelaide on Tuesday.
"That is a very big decline and mortgage rates are now very low.
"It is not surprising that borrowing for housing is starting to pick up quite noticably and I think we will continue to see that."
"And I think in the greater discussion about these pass-through issues we ought to just keep our focus on that broader picture."
Mr Rudd said the federal government working with local communities could make a huge difference to the impact of the global recession on Australia.
"If we don't act together, then the impact of this recession will be greater than need be the case," Mr Rudd said.
Mr Rudd also rejected Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's claims he was shifting the focus from border protection issues to the global recession.
He said it was quite clear from the economic data from China and a range of other countries that a recession was inevitable in Australia.
"Australia is not an island, Australia is directly impacted by global economic factors in the first quarter of 2009," Mr Rudd said.
"Most of the economic data coming out of those economies which directly affect Australia were negative, therefore, as night follows day, it affects Australia," he said.
"Therefore, the global economic recession is making it inevitable there will be a recession (in) Australia."
Mr Rudd said his comments were made in anticipation of a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He said the federal government had maintained a consistent strategy of economic stimulus through payments since the end of 2008 and its focus would be on job creation through infrastructure projects including the national broadband network.
Teen's criminal case renews abortion law debate - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)Teen's criminal case renews abortion law debate
The first Australian doctor to legally dispense the controversial abortion drug RU-486 says she is appalled by the case of a Queensland teenager charged with organising the miscarriage of her child.
Pro-abortion activists rallied outside Parliament House in Brisbane today to support the 19-year-old, who is facing up to 14 years' jail for allegedly aborting her unborn baby with illegal drugs.
Cairns gynaecologist and James Cook University lecturer Caroline de Costa has told ABC Radio's PM program that abortion needs to be decriminalised.
"It's very unfortunate for the young woman herself, because abortion should be a private matter between herself and her doctor and her partner and other people she wishes to include," she said.
"The whole idea of punishing women for having an abortion is really contrary to the majority view in Australia I think."
