Tag: Penny Wong

Shadow Indigenous Minister Quits Cabinet Over Liberal’s Voice Stance

An Australian Liberal shadow minister has resigned from his position to support The Voice referendum. On April 11, Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Julian Leeser announced that he had quit the shadow cabinet to campaign for a “yes” vote on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. This comes after the Opposition Leader Peter…


Leaders Must Work to Foster Peace: Australian Foreign Minister Responds to Latest Attacks in Middle East

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called on Middle Eastern leaders to foster peace and tolerance following deadly attacks that resulted in the deaths of European tourists. The move comes after the European Union and the United Kingdom also called for calm after British and Italian citizens were killed in two separate attacks in the region….


Fiji Backs AUKUS Deal as Albanese Takes ‘Family First’ Approach With Island Nation

Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni ­Rabuka has assured Australia that the AUKUS deal has his country’s backing following efforts by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to ease regional concerns over the security pact. The meeting, which occurred on March 15 during a diplomatic visit in Fiji’s capital Nadi, comes a day after Indonesia and Malaysia issued statements…


Beijing Should Stop Supplying Weapons to Russia and Lift Australian Trade Bans: Foreign Minister

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with her new Chinese counterpart and again urged for the lifting of trade barriers, as well as calling on the regime to stop supplying weapons to Russia. Following her visit to Beijing in December, Wong met Foreign Minister Qin Gang on the sidelines of the recent G20 summit meeting…


Senior Official Plays Down Minister’s Comments on Britain’s Colonial Past

Penny Wong’s controversial comments on Britain’s colonial history have caused “no sense of discomfort or diplomatic tension,” a senior official within the Australian foreign minister’s department said. In a Senate Estimates Committee hearing on Feb. 16, Jan Adams, the most senior official at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said that while Wong’s comments in…


CCP Will Lift Trade Ban on Australia as It Failed: Former Australian PM

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Beijing will lift its trade ban on Australia as it looks for a way out of the failure of its trade sanctions. The 29th Australian prime minister was speaking at an online forum on “Responses to China’s Economic Coercion” hosted by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation on Feb….


The Victim Card Has No Place in Diplomatic Poker

Commentary Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has discovered that while playing the colonial guilt card might work well with left-wing audiences, the use of such finger-wagging on the international stage may be a diplomatic failure. Why Wong thought publicly shaming Britain over colonialism in London would be diplomatically sound is unclear. But unsurprisingly her call…


Australia to Keep Engaging With Beijing, Foreign Minister Says US Should Do the Same

Following the downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon by the U.S. military, Australia’s foreign minister says that while there are concerns of international laws being violated, her government would continue engaging with Beijing. “We have come to government with a very clear view about the importance of stabilising the relationship with China and we’ve taken…


Australian Foreign Minister Calls on Britain to Confront Its ‘Colonial Past’

The United Kingdom must deal with its colonial past so that it can strengthen ties with countries in the Indo-Pacific region, says Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong. As part of her visit to the UK, the centre-left Wong delivered a speech to the King’s College in London where she spoke of how Australia eventually developed…


All Nations Must Collaborate to Avoid ‘Catastrophic’ Conflict in Indo-Pacific

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong has called on every country to consider what it can do to stop a “catastrophic” war in the Indo-Pacific. Speaking at King’s College’s Centre for Grand Strategy in London, Wong said the region mattered to everyone because it was where the “reshaping of our world” is being centred. “We must…