Richard Marles’ master plan? US talks marred by chaos
MARLES ‘ON A SECRET MISSION’
Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles’ recent trip to the United States is continuing to generate headlines this morning, with the suggestion that the chaos over whether he actually held a meeting with his American counterpart is disguising some real master plan.
My colleague Bernard Keane yesterday wrote about the utter confusion caused by the Pentagon first saying there was no meeting between Marles and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — instead just a “happenstance encounter” — before seemingly realising the diplomatic problem with that statement and claiming actually yes of course there was a meeting.
This morning, The Australian leads with a report that claims Marles was actually on a “secret mission” and the focus of his trip was not in fact a meeting with Hegseth (even though that is literally what the government media statement said he was travelling to America for).
No, Marles actually “rushed to Washington for high-level talks with US Vice President JD Vance to reassure the White House that Australia would lift its defence funding and pave the way for a long-awaited first meeting between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump”, the newspaper claims.
The Australian cites multiple sources as saying the true purpose of the trip to the US was for “political meetings” with senior Trump administration figures. During the visit, Marles met with Vance, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.
With regards to the US defense secretary, the newspaper says it has also “independently confirmed that Mr Hegseth asked to join the meeting taking place between Mr Marles and Mr Vance. He did so, but did not stay for long — an account that explains the differing interpretations offered by the Pentagon”.
So that’s cleared all that up, right? It all makes perfect sense…
In a separate piece, The Australian’s political editor Geoff Chambers claims “after a seven-month pursuit, Albanese is within striking distance of his first in-person meeting with the US president”.
Chambers says Marles was laying the groundwork for the endlessly-discussed Albanese-Trump meeting and apparently talking to the American administration about potential topics of agreement and disagreement between the two leaders, such as AUKUS, Australia’s critical minerals and defence spending.
The report says Marles’ meeting with Miller in particular “indicates pre-Trump meeting preparations are finally underway”.
The newspaper points out US Republican Congressman Jason Smith was also in Canberra this week and was “wooed by Albanese in the Prime Minister’s Office and during question time”. It also claims Marles told Trump’s team during his visit that the Albanese government would increase defence spending “but it was unclear by how much, or when the increase would occur”.
Meanwhile, Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd has been keen to highlight his presence in the White House this week and the “excellent” meetings “covering critical minerals, defence and many other bilateral opportunities”.
Not one, but two Instagram posts from Rudd celebrated the occasion with pictures of him with the gang.
It’s a shame then that Marles decided not to reference the former PM in his much-discussed social media post — or indeed include any pictures that show Rudd present in the room. The Australian adds an extra dig this morning by saying it was Marles “who helped Kevin Rudd finally step foot in the West Wing”.
Elsewhere The Australian Financial Review, which also leads this morning on Marles’ trip actually being a lobbying effort to secure a Trump meeting, points out Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Trade Minister Don Farrell yesterday announced the scrapping of another 500 “so-called nuisance tariffs”.
Chalmers admitted the move was in part a message to the US. “We came at this primarily from the position of how can we help Australian businesses and Australian consumers, and no doubt it will be seen in the context of tariff developments in [Washington] D.C. and around the world,” he said.
IRAN’S AMBASSADOR LEAVES AUSTRALIA
Iranian ambassador Ahmad Sadeghi left Australia after a “dramatic press conference” last night following the Albanese government ordering him and his staff out of the country, the Nine papers report.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had “credible intelligence” to suggest the Iranian government was behind at least two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil.
As well as expelling Sadeghi, the government announced it would also be listing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist group, withdrawing its own ambassador from Iran and suspending operations in Tehran.
Speaking at Sydney Airport on Thursday evening, Sadeghi denied Iran had any involvement in the attacks last year against the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne and Lewis’ Continental Kitchen in Bondi, the Nine papers report.
Before the outgoing ambassador spoke to the media, men accompanying him accused the journalists present of blindly accepting the intelligence services’ statements, the article adds.
“You’re a pack of stenographers. That’s all you are, and it’s a disgrace,” one man reportedly said. “Is that really what you study? Is that really the pinnacle of your career? What a disgrace. What a disgrace.”
The Australian also covered Sadeghi’s departure and reports the ambassador said “with a large grin on his face”: “I love the Australian nation. I had a very wonderful time.” The paper says he responded when asked if he believed Iran was behind the attacks: “No Iran. Of course not.”
The ABC this morning has a feature on how the months-long investigation by the security services played out.
The national broadcaster reports: “After months of painstaking investigation, scrupulously tracking international cryptocurrency transactions and untangling a complex web of proxies and criminal networks, the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation last week unpicked the thread confirming a link between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and an antisemitic attack in Sydney and Melbourne.
“That evidence, which can’t be revealed for security reasons, enabled intelligence services to substantiate suspected Iranian interference with ‘high confidence’.”
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A cat owner has been fined €110 (A$200) because her pet was apparently miaowing too loudly on a train in France.
The Times reports the alleged loud miaowing occurred as Monet the cat travelled with its owner Camille between Vannes in Brittany and Paris on a high-speed train.
Camille told the BFM news channel Monet had “miaowed a bit at the start” of the journey, adding “after a passenger complained, the conductor came and fined us €110”.
The SNCF rail operator claimed Camille had been asked by the conductor to take Monet to a largely empty coach but that she apparently turned down the offer. The miaowing reportedly caused “acute tensions” with other passengers, the operator added.
The Times notes those on social media mainly came out in support of Camille, pointing out the disruption that others cause on public transport.
Say What?
His baseless and offensive accusation of racism is an irresponsible attempt to shut down a legitimate line of questioning and warrants a public apology from Mr Katter.
Fiona Dear
Channel Nine’s executive director of news and current affairs has called for federal MP Bob Katter to apologise after he threatened journalist Josh Bavas with his fist after being asked about his Lebanese heritage.
CRIKEY RECAP
Reynolds’ victory over Higgins the latest chapter in a very public fight with no winners
By the time we come to the posts, the outcome isn’t a surprise. Higgins, the judge found, imputed that Reynolds had pressured her not to pursue a police complaint, is a hypocrite in her advocacy of gender equality, had engaged in a campaign of harassment of Higgins, had mishandled the rape allegation, and had engaged in questionable conduct during Lehrmann’s criminal trial (by being cosy with the defence counsel and having her husband sit through the whole thing).
Since all these allegations were untrue (the judge found), Higgins had no defence, and the damage to Reynolds — reputation and very hurt feelings — was profound. Thus, the big slug of damages. With legal costs, Higgins is looking at seven figures easily.
Fair? I have no idea. Only the antagonists know what really went on in the days and months after the rape. They all chose, for reasons good or bad, to have the fight in public, and it’s burned them all to varying degrees. Literally nothing good has come from any of it.
How one dark day unravelled Australia’s narrative on terrorism
A favoured lie of Western governments about Islamist terrorism was always “they hate us for who we are, not what we do” — a necessary fiction because it absolved Western governments of any responsibility for the fact that they were themselves perpetuating the war on terror.
But what was demonstrably false about Islamist terrorism is clearly true about “sovereign citizens” and other violent right-wing extremists. They hate us for who we are — a society that no longer reflexively awards status and economic certainty to white males, that insists they’re no different to everyone else, that they’re subject to the same laws and same obligations as women, migrants, brown people and even (heaven help us) Muslims.
While the media and politicians continue to play political games and peddle racialised clichés of violent extremism, Australia’s security officials — from the young constable serving a warrant on a country property right up to the ASIO director — have to deal in a far uglier and more lethal world than the rest of us.
Trump’s firing line, #auspol’s Swift engagement farming, and bootleg Wiggles mascots
Australian politicians love to use Taylor Swift as a lazy way to signal they “get” voters. So how was Swift’s engagement to NFL player Travis Kelce clumsily shoved into #auspol content this week?
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Challenges arise in manhunt for accused fugitive killer (AAP)
‘White Australians’ and neo-Nazis: Who’s behind anti-immigration rally (The Sydney Morning Herald) ($)
Over 11 gruesome kilometres, teams fill bag after bag of marine life killed by SA’s stubborn algal bloom (Guardian Australia)
European leaders outraged after Russian strikes kill 21 and damage EU’s HQ (BBC)
ANZ restructure goes off-piste as staff accidentally learn of job cuts (AFR) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
For the Coalition, it’s back to ground zero on net zero — Phillip Coorey (AFR): Another reason Dutton kept the peace was, according to one Liberal who asked not to be named, the extra authority he carried as a conservative.
“We’re not talking about net zero,” he instructed his partyroom early into his leadership.
Ley, a woman and a moderate, is not being afforded the same obedience. Some insiders attribute it to misogyny, others because she is a moderate and some, both.
Either way, the party has wound back the clock to where the Nationals and the conservatives are simply not going to toe the line, regardless of whether theirs is the majority or minority view among colleagues.
Mike Burgess, the spycatcher who gives ASIO a very public face — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): One fascinating question in ASIO’s Iran operation is what help it might have had from Israel. Sky has reported it was assisted by a “tip-off from Israeli intelligence” (while emphasising the vast majority of the work was done by ASIO). Albanese has declined to be drawn, beyond saying, “the basis of the intelligence and the operation was ASIO here, and the work that they have done”.
Burgess has referred to liaising with “foreign partners”. We may have to wait for his next appearance at Senate estimates for any Israeli role, however minor, to be acknowledged. Or not. Over the years, Australia has had a strong, albeit sometimes contested, relationship with the Israeli intelligence establishment.
