Australian nuclear-related news – week to 2nd May
News to 9th May
- The IDF Kidnapped and Assaulted an Australian Citizen in International Waters | Michael West media,
- Israel: The most dangerous nation on Earth.
- Toxic fantasy nuked; one year on from the Federal election.
Australians speak of violence, beatings and sensory deprivation in Israeli detainment
2 May 2026 AIMN Editorial, https://theaimn.net/australians-speak-of-violence-beatings-and-sensory-deprivation-in-israeli-detainment/
2.5.26 Global Sumud Flotilla Aussies Update
Australians who were held in Israeli custody for over 30 hours, have spoken out about threats, violence, beatings and abuse.
Six Australians were captured by Israeli Defence Forces in international waters west of Crete at approximately 10am AEST time on Thursday 30th of May, and were released in Crete late last night (AEST time).
The Australians were aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to get life-saving aid to Gaza.
Three Australians Ethan Floyd, Zack Schofield and Neve O’Connor were taken to Sitia General Hospital in Crete for injuries, including concussion, bruising and cuts. Cameron Tribe, Dr Bianca Webb-Pullman and one other, Surya McEwen have also been released, unharmed.
173 other global humanitarian volunteers were also released, 30 of whom also went to Sitia hospital for various injuries.
Of huge concern, two leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Thiago Ávila from Brazil, and Saif Abu Keshek from Spain, remain unaccounted for, with Israeli sources indicating they have been taken to Israel.
Ethan Floyd, Sydney student and Wiradjuri, Ngiyampaa and Wailwan man who is aboard the flotilla said: “We were transferred to another Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) and taken to a very large Israeli warship. From there we were held again in stress positions for 45 minutes to an hour, made to crawl along the floor before being thrown into an enclosure constructed from shipping containers.
“I witnessed people being shot with rubber pellets. I witnessed people being thrown to the ground, dragged along the ground by their limbs, people being forced to listen to the shouts and screams of people who were being beaten.
“We’ve been dumped in Greece without consular assistance. We were driven for hours through Crete with the promise that embassy officials would be there to meet with us, and when we arrived, there were none.”
Zack Schofield, climate activist from Newcastle: “We were surprised that they had gone 600 nautical miles away from Israel, with warships, a prison ship and special operations forces there to seize our boats, to kidnap us, to brutalise us and take us on board a prison ship with absolutely no charges being laid on us.”
“I was forced to sleep outside, and during the night, they flooded the deck with sea water, to wake people up and prevent them from sleeping.”
“The Australian Government has failed to stand up to Israel, despite the fact that Israel constantly violates every single international law that our nation claims to support, and has now just kidnapped six Australian citizens and tortured us because we are trying to get food to the people of Gaza.”
“Australians need to be really, really concerned that if we let Israel get away with these crimes with impunity, we are setting up such a dangerous world for ourselves.”
Neve O’Connor (from Melbourne): “We were 600 nautical miles from Israel, and being intercepted was not even on our minds. We saw flares go up. We saw people were sounding the alarms.”
“They threatened to shoot us if we didn’t move, and if we didn’t comply, they said they would open fire.”
“It was constant brutality and oppression, and then we tried to advocate for our rights, they just laughed at us.”
Senator Larissa Waters, Leader of the Australian Greens said: “This is yet another shocking breach of international law by Israel. In attempt to prolong its genocide in Gaza, Israel has seemingly kidnapped Australian citizens in international waters.”
“These flotilla participants are bravely trying to bring essential supplies to Palestinians under illegal blockade by Israel, and this act of piracy shows how far the Netanyahu Government will go to ensure the genocide continues.”
“The Australian government should be championing the actions of the brave flotilla participants, and must now strongly fight for them to be released.”
“Labor continues the two-way arms trade with Israel, has not put any sanctions on Netanyahu or his war cabinet, and invites their head of state to tour the country – even as they kidnap and kill Australian citizens.”
“Labor must stop ignoring Israel’s constant breaches of international law.”
Flotilla organisers and released Australians are calling a day of action on Monday 4th of May to put pressure on the Australian government to:
- Immediately and publicly condemn Israel for illegally kidnapping and detaining Australian citizens
- End Australia’s complicity in the genocide of Palestine, and support all efforts to deliver life-saving aid to Gaza
- Call for the immediate release of Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek
Vision: For live updates see the Instagram accounts of the Global Sumud Flotilla and Australian delegation of the Global Movement to Gaza.
In a video message taken from Sitia hospital in Crete, Neve, Zack and Ethan allege that they were “beaten and tortured” whilst on an Israeli prison ship. They say they are on hunger strike. The full video can be found here.
Two leaders of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Thiago Ávila from Brazil, and Saif Abu Keshek from Spain, remain unaccounted for, with Israeli sources indicating they have been taken to Israel.
Zack Schofield: “Two of our comrades, Thiago and Saif, have been identified as leaders in the movement and remain upon that prison ship. We believe that they are being taken to Israel and likely beaten and tortured. We all three decided not to take any food from the Israelis as they continued their starvation of the Palestinian people, and until we know more about the health and whereabouts of Thiago and Saif we’re also continuing not to eat.”
It is understood that all other 173 global activists were released and are in Crete. Approximately 30 activists are at Sitia hospital after sustaining various injuries. They include: Australia 3, Canada 2, Hungary 1, Netherlands 2, New Zealand 4, Spain 2, Ukraine 1, Germany 2, France 1, Poland 1, UK 2, Colombia 2, Italia 3, USA 3, Portugal 1.
Unconfirmed reports are indicating that many of the activists are resisted deportation by plane.
Zack Schofield closed the video with a message for their loved ones: “We want our families to know that we are all well, and free Palestine, that’s why we’re here.”
Families of the released Australians are reporting their distress. Joanne Jarowski, Zack’s mother said: “In the wee hours this morning, we were greatly relieved to get a voice message from our son Zack, one of the 175 hostages held in an Israeli prison ship for two days, to say he was at Sitia Hospital in Crete for medical review. Israeli forces illegally detained him and the other aid volunteers for trying to bring food and medicine to the sick and the starving in Gaza. This is not a crime: in fact, International Humanitarian Law mandates rapid, safe and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians. The real crime is keeping aid from civilians who are sick and starving to death.
“Zack was on a borrowed phone, and only had a few seconds to tell us he was in hospital for medical review and that he loves us. We want to know his complete medical assessment, and we really bloody want to know why our government hasn’t publicly condemned the kidnapping of our son and detaining him illegally on international waters – and also, when in heaven’s name our government will break their silence and business-as-usual as the genocide of Palestinians is perpetrated by our so-called ally, Israel.”
Families have been in contact with DFAT where they have been told that Australian Consular support workers are in Greece and attempting to get support to the Australians who have been released.
Juliet Lamont, Head of the Australian Delegation, who is organising from ports in Europe: “We are relieved our people are free. But let’s be clear about what happened – Israel abducted unarmed humanitarian volunteers to stop aid reaching the people of Gaza.”
“Children in Gaza are still starving. Aid is still being blocked. Israel is still killing Palestinians.”
“The Australian Government must support all attempts to ensure food, medicine and baby formula can reach the people of Gaza.”
“We call on Australians to join mass-mobilisations. Apply direct pressure on Wong and Albanese to ensure the safety of our humanitarians and the delivery of their life-saving aid.”
“Let Palestinians Live. Let aid flow. Cut ties with Israel!”
Text by Alexa Stuart, Subhi Awad, Jane Salmon for Rising Tide, Global Sumud Flotilla Australian Delegation.
The IDF Kidnapped and Assaulted an Australian Citizen in International Waters | Michael West media,
2 May 2026 The West Report playlist
Australian activist Zack Schofield recounts the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla, seized on the high seas roughly 600 nautical miles from Israel while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. He describes detention aboard a prison ship, allegations of violence by Israeli forces, and the broader legal and political implications of the operation. The account raises serious questions about maritime law, the treatment of civilians, and Australia’s ongoing support for Israel, as pressure builds on the government to respond.
19 May – Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Go to https://actionnetwork.org/events/webinar-no-nuclear-weapons-in-australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
Event Type: Virtual
A virtual link will be communicated before the event.
Host Contact Info: australia@icanw.org
No Nuclear Weapons in Australia: Webinar
As plans advance for Australia to host US nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and potentially nuclear-armed submarines, there are increasing concerns about the potential for Australia to unknowingly host American nuclear weapons in future. This is particularly concerning against a backdrop of Australia accepting US policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons.
Recently, over 150 civil society organisations across Australia and the Pacific launched the ‘No Nuclear Weapons in Australia’ Declaration calling on the Albanese government to push back on these policies of nuclear ambiguity and to reject Australia having any role in nuclear war. This declaration underscores that the security of a nation cannot be bought at the risk of the survival of humanity and the planet’s ecosystem, and that our region’s nuclear-free status is too precious to risk.
Join to hear eminent voices on nuclear policy, disarmament, advocacy and international humanitarian law in relation to Australia’s role in the global nuclear landscape. Together we’ll explore what the Declaration is asking for, what it means for Australia’s place in the Pacific, and what we can do together keep the pressure on.
The humanitarian consequences of even a single detonation, whether accidental or intentional, cannot be understated as it would be catastrophic and irreversible. No health system or humanitarian agency has the capacity to respond to the aftermath of a nuclear explosion; there is no “cure” for a nuclear catastrophe, only prevention. Beyond the immediate blast that would incinerate surrounding areas, the resulting radiation would inflict multi-generational health crises.
Speakers include:
- Janet Craven, Director, ICAN Australia
- Dr Emma Shortis, Director of International & Security Affairs Program, The Australia Institute
- Joey Tau, Coordinator, Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and Chair of the Pacific Regional NGO (PRNGO) Alliance.
- Prof Richard Tanter, Senior Research Associate at the Nautilus Institute, and Honorary Professor at the School of Political and Social Science, University of Melbourne.
- Vince Scappatura, Sessional Academic in the School of International Studies at Macquarie University, and author of ‘The US Lobby and Australian Defence Policy’.
- More to be announced
This event is co-hosted by ICAN Australia and the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG).
‘Critical time’: Minister’s ominous nuclear warning as US looks to resume tests
Australia has delivered a message on nuclear weapons that could put Canberra at odds with the US and Donald Trump.
Benedict Brook in New York, April 29, 202 https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/military/critical-time-ministers-ominous-nuclear-warning-as-us-looks-to-resume-tests/news-story/2f432583102962402e8b922db84eeb8e
Australia has said “all nations” – including the US – should refrain from nuclear weapons testing after Donald Trump announced plans to potentially start exploding nukes for the first time in more than three decades.
Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Matt Thistlethwaite said the globe was entering a “critical time” where limits on weapons of mass destruction are being eroded
He is in New York this week representing Australia at a United Nations review of efforts to stop the spread and use of nuclear weapons.
Mr Thistlethwaite also told news.com.au that on the sidelines of the meeting he had held “frank conversations” with nations such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore to get “assurances” on fuel supplies to Australia.
‘Critical time’ for stopping nuclear weapons
The UN’s Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) entered into force in 1970 and now has 191 signatories, with notable exceptions being nuclear nations India, Pakistan and Israel.
The aim of the treaty is to stop the spread of nuclear arms and push for disarmament.
But New START, the last agreement to prevent the US and Russia from building more bombs, expired in February.
There are now concerns that a global nuclear arms race could be on the cards.
On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the New York meeting, “for too long, the treaty has been eroding.”
“The drivers of (nuclear) proliferation are accelerating.”
There’s little expectation the conference will notably change that gloomy outlook.
Critical time’
Asked if Australians should be concerned about the threat of nuclear weapons, Mr Thistlethwaite told news.com.au the New York review “does occur at a critical time.”
“We’ve got increasing uncertainty in the global geostrategic situation, particularly around the Middle East and Ukraine, and there’s increasing tension within the Asia Pacific region.
“We’re going to make sure that Australia plays a role in de-escalation, supporting peaceful outcomes and upholding the international rules.”
“We want to see a world where the spread of nuclear weapons is prevented … and we’ve been a loud voice in ensuring that nations shouldn’t be involved in testing nuclear weapons anymore.”
No nation should test nukes – including US
But one louder voice doesn’t seem to be on the same page as Australia.
In October, Donald Trump said the US would resume nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis” with other nations.
“That process will begin immediately,” he said.
Mr Trump’s comments have led to confusion about what new US nuclear testing might involve.
The last country to explode an actual bomb was North Korea in 2017. The US and Russia haven’t tested nuclear weapons since the early 1990s. But Vladimir Putin claimed recently that Russia had tested a nuclear-powered torpedo that was capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Would Australia be against the US resuming tests with actual nuclear bombs?
“We’re against all nations testing nuclear weapons,” Mr Thistlethwaite said, who did not mention the US by name.
“We know Maralinga (the UK’s 1950s nuclear weapons testing site in Australia) had a lingering effect on the Indigenous community.
“We want to make sure that we don’t see those situations in our region again, or indeed anywhere in the world.”
Iran nuclear role ‘not appropriate’
There was uproar at the UN NPT conference when Iran was announced as one of 34 vice presidents of the event.
Assistant Secretary for the US Bureau of Arms Control and Non-proliferation Christopher Yeaw told the conference it was an “affront” that Iran had been appointed to the role.
“(It is) indisputable that Iran has long demonstrated its contempt for the non-proliferation commitments of the NPT.
Iran’s role was “beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this conference,” he was reported by Reuters as saying.
Ms Thistlethwaite said Australia had “expressed its concern and opposition” to Iran’s elevation.
“That wasn’t the appropriate move, and we’ve expressed our support for the United States position”.
‘Frank conversations’ with oil nations
Mr Thistlethwaite added that he had meetings with countries on the fringes of the event, including those critical to Australia’s energy security.
“An important part of this trip is working with our international partners on securing Australia’s fuel supplies,” he said.
“Most of our refined oil products come through Southeast Asia, so I’ve had meetings with (South) Korea, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam … to reiterate the importance that open trade and supplies continue to get through.
“It’s been heartening to have those frank conversations with those partners, to get those assurances regarding continued fuel supplies and to ensure that they remain trusted partners for Australia.”
Mr Thistlethwaite mentioned Australia’s trump card with nations that export oil – Australia’s abundance of liquid natural gas (LNG), which many countries need just as keenly.
“We’re a big supplier of LNG exports to countries in the region, and we’ve been making sure that we reiterate that fact that we’re a reliable supplier that will continue and the relationship with those important fuel partners is in a pretty strong position.”
Toxic fantasy nuked; one year on from the Federal election
, https://www.acf.org.au/news/toxic-fantasy-nuked-one-year-on-from-the-federal-election
Exactly one year ago Australians braved the how to vote cards, ate or avoided democracy sausages and used a pencil to help write the next part of the Australian story.
In the months leading up to the 2025 federal election, papers, airwaves and social media platforms were full of talk about nuclear.
Then Opposition Leader Peter Dutton dubbed the 2025 federal election ‘a referendum on nuclear power’. It was the biggest policy difference between the two major political parties. The Coalition promised to build multiple nuclear reactors at seven sites across Australia while Labor, the Green and most independents opposed this nuclear plan and strongly supported renewables.
Nuclear proponents spent large, promised much and did their best to sidestep scrutiny over cost, timing, water, waste and more.
Environment groups joined with trade unions, public health experts, First Nation representatives and community members from regions targeted for reactors to make the case for a renewable energy future, free from nuclear risk and delays.
The message was clear: Nuclear is too risky, too expensive and too slow.
And at the end of months of talk, talkback, information stalls, protests and public forums, Australia voted.
And voted unequivocally no to nuclear.
The Coalition had its worst defeat since the formation of the Liberal Party in 1944, and nuclear champion Peter Dutton became the first sitting federal Opposition Leader in Australian history to lose their own seat at a general election. Seven News political editor Mark Riley described the Coalition result as ‘catastrophic’, adding “the party that chose nuclear energy as its policy has exploded in a nuclear bomb set on them by the voters tonight.”
Voters saw the Coalition’s nuclear fantasy for what it was: a toxic furphy designed only to prolong the life of coal and gas. They made a conscious and clear decision to reject nuclear power and provide our politicians with a clear mandate to get on with harnessing Australia’s abundant renewable energy resources to power our country.
Renewables already meet around half of Australia’s electricity needs, and this figure is growing every day.
Responsible renewables mean lasting regional jobs, low carbon and proven power.
Renewables also mean energy independence and energy security. Ships in the Strait of Hormuz might stop, but the wind and sun do not.
One year ago, Australians had a clear energy choice – and right across the nation we made a clear energy decision – our energy future is renewable, not radioactive.
Royal commission report doesn’t help us start making sense of Bondi terror attack
The Conversation, Keiran Hardy, Associate Professor, Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, April 30, 2026 Justice Virginia Bell has handed the governor-general her interim findings from the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese responded immediately by promising to implement all its recommendations.
The interim report recommends specific changes to counter-terrorism policy – and a speedy resolution to the lagging gun buyback scheme.
These sorts of changes may help. But they don’t begin to answer deeper questions about how a terror attack on that scale could occur in Australia. The commission is yet to examine how underlying conditions might have fuelled the attack, and what else governments, their agencies and we as a society must do to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.
What does the interim report recommend?
The interim report contains 14 recommendations, five of them confidential.
Of the nine public recommendations, nearly all focus on counter-terrorism policy and the ways government agencies operate. For example, recommendations three through six focus on the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee: a high-level coordination body made up of senior members of government.
The interim report recommends the committee be included in the Australian government’s Crisis Management Framework. The committee should brief National Cabinet at least annually.
Recommendation seven says ministers on the National Security Committee of cabinet should participate in a counter-terrorism exercise within nine months of each federal election.
These changes will not stop a terrorist from committing another attack. And most Australians could be forgiven for having never heard of these committees.
There’s also no reason why this all couldn’t have been investigated, possibly more quickly, by the original, departmental inquiry announced by Albanese. This was to be led by former head of ASIO, Dennis Richardson.
Richardson recently resigned from the royal commission, saying he felt like an overpaid research officer. He was also worried the process would take too long to deliver concrete recommendations on policing and intelligence…………………………………………………………………..
What can we expect next?
Public hearings for the royal commission will begin next week. In the first round, people with lived experience of antisemitism are expected to give evidence.
After that, it remains to be seen where the inquiry will direct its focus.
Its terms of reference are extremely broad, covering antisemitism, social cohesion, training for law enforcement, border control and immigration, radicalisation, specific circumstances surrounding the attack, and anything else that might be “reasonably incidental” or relevant.
It has so far received more than 3,500 submissions. The commission must report back by December 14 this year, before the one-year anniversary of the attack.
To report meaningfully on all these topics on such a pressured timeline will be a monumental task. Some focus may be necessary, but there will be valid differences of opinion as to whether this inquiry is primarily about antisemitism, social cohesion, counter-terrorism, radicalisation, the Bondi attack, or all of the above.
At the moment, it is about all these things, which may ultimately undermine what it is able to contribute on any one.
Bell clearly knows the scale of the task. She has warned that “examining the ways in which we might strengthen social cohesion in Australia could well be the work of years, not months”.
For now, there is little in the interim report for Australians to start making sense of last year’s terror and tragedy in Bondi. https://theconversation.com/royal-commission-report-doesnt-help-us-start-making-sense-of-bondi-terror-attack-281859?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%201%202026%20-%203756238464&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20May%201%202026%20-%203756238464+CID_8e5ae0e85bb178c16e80a5a039f5de96&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Royal%20commission%20report%20doesnt%20help%20us%20start%20making%20sense%20of%20Bondi%20terror%20attack
Antisemitism Royal Commission dilemma: not all Jews think the same
None of this is to excuse ‘real’ antisemitism. If the latest Pew Research Center survey, just released in the last few days in the USA, is anything to go by, 60% of US adults have an unfavourable view of Israel.
by Jeffrey Loewenstein | Apr 27, 2026 |
With the Antisemitism Royal Commission due to publish its interim report this week, a reckoning between Judaism and Israel is long overdue. Jewish community leader Jeffrey Loewenstein with the story.
Let it be said, unequivocally, antisemitism per se, as indeed any form of vilification or bigotry, is to be abhorred and has no place in a civilised community.
The vexed question of antisemitism, and what that actually means and encompasses – let alone how to combat it – will be front and centre of the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion’s deliberations and, one assumes, findings.
The so-called majority of the Jewish community for whom the likes of the ECAJ, the Zionist Federation, AIJAC and the NCJW seek to speak, have shown themselves as either unequivocally positive mouthpieces supporting Israel’s actions – be it the invasion of Gaza, the killing and maiming of its people, starving Gazans, demolishing Gazan infrastructure, denying medical supplies and equipment entering Gaza, the lawlessness, the so-called settlers in the West Bank, etc.,
“or simply staying silent, no matter how egregious Israel’s actions have been.“
To say that it demonstrates an indifference to the suffering of the Gazans or the Palestinians in the West Bank is putting it mildly. It certainly demonstrates a lack of humanity and an absence of a moral compass.
And this from a people who claim to abide by the Ten Commandments and the edict of Rabbi Hillel, “That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow.” That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a).
Israel’s ‘success’
The man in the street who probably considers Israel as a ‘successful’ smart country, a leader in technology and medicine, with a ‘smart’ Mossad security service, watching the nightly news bulletin with its stark images of the wanton killing and maiming of Gazans by the Israelis and children starving – and now the ongoing onslaught being undertaken by the Israelis in Lebanon – is going to be left angered and wondering how it is Israel – or is it simply the Jews – are allowing all of this to happen.
Add to that seeing Jews in Australia regularly parading with Israeli flags draped around their shoulders and waving small Israeli flags is almost certainly going to lead the average person to accept what Israeli PM Netanyahu has been saying for years – that Israel, and he, speak for and represent all Jews in the world.
“As for this writer, certainly not!“
Even our political leaders are confused. One Federal Minister justified the entry into Australia of Israeli President Herzog on the grounds that the Jewish community sought comfort post Bondi from “their national leader”. Again, not true for many.
A royal dilemma
The Royal Commissioner is going to be confronted with some stark facts. For starters, how the majority of Jews view Israel and support it.An example relating to those tragically slain in Bondi: video footage and photos of the Bondi Chabad rabbi post October 7, handing over monies in the West Bank in support of the settlers and posing with a rifle and rocket.
The ready conflating of being anti-Israel and what is said to be antisemitism is nowhere better seen than in the ECAJ Report on antisemitism in Australia, citing as part of its statistics how, allegedly, antisemitism has risen in Australia post October 7 by something such as a daubing on a wall “Free Palestine”.
The Special Envoy on antisemitism, Jillian Segal, would have us believe that the weekly protest marches, and even the eventful march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge (under the Banner, March for Humanity), engendered antisemitism.
Antisemitic or anti-Israel?
There have been many attempts to conflate being anti-Israel with being antisemitic, including pushing the IHRA “definition” of antisemitism.
Aside from many learned Jewish scholars challenging the definition, many Jews, critical of Israel, would be “caught” as being anti-Semitic. Members of the Australian Jewish community are now publicly (even on ABC Radio National) resorting to calling those Jews who speak out about Israel’s actions as being “anti-Jewish”.
Interestingly, a research report, ‘The Journeys and Destinations of Young Jewish Anti-Zionists’, out of the USA a couple of months ago, concluded, inter alia, that many said to be anti-Zionist were deeply knowledgeable about Jewish practice and history, with some having attended Jewish day schools and some serving as rabbis.
There is no reason to think that those findings in the USA would not equally apply in Australia.
It has hardly been surprising that people have been venting their anger at Israel’s actions. The weekly demonstrations for more than 2 ½ years are clear evidence of that.
“The Royal Commissioner and the majority of Jews in Australia are going to have to grapple with anti-Israel sentiment.“
And in both political parties, majorities of adults under the age of 50 now rate Israel and Netanyahu negatively, and six-in-ten have a very or somewhat unfavourable view of Israel. It is likely a survey in Australia would parallel the US one.
The Royal Commissioner will be hard-pressed to come up with definitive findings as her mandate requires. For their part, there are going to be many Jews unable to explain why there has been this so-called antisemitism as distinct from things best described as simple anti-Israeli / anti-Zionist sentiment.
One very obvious question, and the critical one which is the elephant in the room no one seems to want to ask is,
“why is it that this so-called and alleged antisemitism has risen since 7 October?“
Jeffrey Loewenstein
Jeffrey Loewenstein LL.B was a member of the Victorian Bar and a one-time Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission and member of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria.
Nuclear-related news – week to 2 May
Some bits of good news –
Nightingales coming back to England
An infectious eye disease was eradicated in Australia. 57 governments gathered for the first
conference on transitioning away from fossil fuels.
(These 3 articles come from Positive News – a helpful. positive resource)
TOP STORIES.
Adi Roche: My nightmare is that the next Chernobyl event occurs at Chernobyl itself.
Yanis Varoufakis on Palantir and its 22 points.
Charles III and Britain’s pathological obsession with Russia.
Genocide—and Complicity: Washington Insider Says the Word They Avoid – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iCZtbIPmss
From the 1953 Coup to Today: Jeffrey Sachs Explains America’s Endless War on Iran.
Climate. Hope is contagious and science is king: 10 big lessons on ending the fossil fuel era. Nations have chance to break ‘fossil fuel mindset’: Mary Robinson.
Toxins plus climate harms likely cause of reduced fertility, study finds.
Noel’s notes. If scientific facts are uncomfortable to us, well don’t worry – they can be changed.
AUSTRALIA.How AUKUS is Becoming the Largest Wealth Transfer in Australian History – and Why the Government Won’t Tell You the Cost.
UK parliament’s AUKUS inquiry report questions if Britain can keep nuclear submarine promises.
Antisemitism Royal Commission dilemma: not all Jews think the same.
The Enforcement- The lobby that bought Australian democracy. Antisemitism and Israel: A challenge to the Australian narrative.
Australia’s “Antisemitism Envoy” Makes It Clear That Israel’s Critics Are The Real Target.
More Australian news at https://antinuclear.net/2026/04/28/australian-nuclear-related-news-week-to-2nd-may/
NUCLEAR-RELATED ITEMS
| ATROCITIES. Settler pogroms in Palestine are part of Israel’s illegal expansion policy. Obliteration Ecocide from Gaza to Lebanon and Beyond. |
| ECONOMICS. Nuclear Fusion’s Funding Rush Comes With a Catch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAJTkL99anI Norway says “nuclear renaissance” too expensive. EU economic sanctions ramp up NATO war plan on Russia. The US Tech Giant Where Employees Wear Israeli Defense Fprce Uniforms To Work |
| ENERGY. Renewables Mix Beats Nuclear on Price in Future Energy Systems. Perspectives on nuclear power. |
| ENVIRONMENT. The Buzz About Chornobyl, 40 Years Later – How Do We Tell the Bees? |
| ETHICS and RELIGION. US and Israel Claimed to Be Fighting for Iranian Minorities — While Bombing Them. Trump to America…’No dough for the Commons. I need it for my criminal wars’. Who Decides What Is a Just War? – Imperial Violence and the Lies We Tell About Peace. |
| EVENTS. 19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia |
| HEALTH. LEST WE FORGET – REMEMBERING THE HUMAN IMPACT OF THE CHORNOBYL DISASTER. |
| MEDIA. Israel Kills Journalist in Lebanon After “Hunting” Down Her and a Colleague. Nuclear Abolition- A Scenario |
| PERSONAL STORIES. ‘I miss our land. Chernobyl broke us’: The families who lost their homes after world’s worst nuclear accident. No contact, no fresh air: 206 days aboard a nuclear submarine. Is President Trump mentally unstable? (Part 2). |
POLITICS.
- What are Palantir’s 22 points?
- Entire NSF science advisory board fired by Trump administration.
- Key US science panels are being axed — and others are becoming less open.
- Dangerous and expensive, nuclear power is a dead end for Scotland – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/05/02/4-b1-dangerous-and-expensive-nuclear-power-is-a-dead-end-for-scotland/
- Why should Scotland wait 15 years for nuclear power we don’t need?
- UK nuclear industry in lobbying blitz ahead of Scottish election – ALSO AT https://nuclear-news.net/2026/04/29/1-a-uk-nuclear-industry-in-lobbying-blitz-ahead-of-scottish-election/
- Rosyth councillor Brian Goodall wants public consultation on Trident nuclear submarines.
POLITICS INTERNATIONAL and DIPLOMACY.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Says It Won’t Give Up Nuclear Assets In Rare Public Statement.
- State Dept. spills the beans…’Bibi made Trump do it’
- Starmer’s Talking Points: King Charles III Visits Washington.
- In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran Is the Pretext—China Is the Target.
- Jeffrey Sachs: Trump’s Failure in Iran Exposes the Crumbling Myth of U.S. Hegemony.
- American “Micro-Militarism: Or How Defeat in the Iran War Will Accelerate American Global Decline.
- A new nuclear arms race is accelerating – There’s only one way to stop it.
- Can the NPT Keep Nuclear Weapons from Spreading? (MBN)
| PUBLIC OPINION. Poll Finds Just 4 Percent of Democrats Support Increasing Military Aid to Israel. |
| SAFETY. US to give $100 million to repair damaged Chornobyl nuclear shelter, Kyiv says. Inside Chornobyl: 40 years after disaster, nuclear site still at risk. More costs for Europe in the never-ending effort to keep Chornobyl safe. US NRC Approves 20-Year Lifetime Extensions For St. Lucie Nuclear Plants. |
| SECRETS and LIES. Three Recent Examples Of AI Being Used For Empire Propaganda. ‘Spies inside the Holy See’: Report reveals US espionage campaign targeting Pope Leo XIV. 40 years after Chernobyl, Stasi files reveal scale of Soviet misinformation. |
| SPACE. EXPLORATION, WEAPONS. Satellites launched for coming war on China. |
| SPINBUSTER. Greg Jackson brands new nuclear a ‘fantasy future’. |
| WASTES. Inside the bizarre race to secure Earth’s nuclear tombs. |
| WAR and CONFLICT. ‘Spring 2026’ Flotilla Sets Sail From Sicily To Break Gaza Blockade.- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzP1tn_hEHc&t=95s Deadly strike by Ukraine at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant as chilling warning issued. |
| WEAPONS and WEAPONS SALES. Why Expanded Plutonium Pit Production is Wrong. Reining In The Pentagon – Can the Military-Industrial Beast Be Tamed? Iran didn’t have a nuclear weapon before this war – But you can see why it would develop one now, |
Israel: The most dangerous nation on Earth
By George Grundy | 22 April 2026, https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/israel-the-most-dangerous-nation-on-earth,20955
Israel’s escalating actions and influence over U.S. policy are framed as the trigger for a global crisis, with Australia set to bear the economic fallout, writes George Grundy.een enough to say it with absolute certainty: the Israeli army is the most depraved army’ ~ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur.
“The [IDF] is the most moral army in the world” ~ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
‘I have seen enough to say it with absolute certainty: the Israeli army is the most depraved army’ ~ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s influence over U.S. President Donald Trump may be the defining reason why America made the catastrophic decision to go to war with Iran, which is why the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, which in turn explains why Australia seems poised to experience an unprecedented oil shock.
Many economists forecast that our economy is about to grind to a halt, perhaps for months, so Australians must be clear-eyed about the role Israel has played in this disaster.
The prevailing view in Western politics, media and society has, for many decades, been that the Middle East is a “tough neighbourhood” (implicitly absolving Israel of blame for its occasional bouts of brutality), and an assumption that the “only democracy in the region” was committed to peace and, ultimately, a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
This was and remains an absolute fiction. Even the most casual glance at a map showing the shrinking landmass of Gaza and the West Bank (particularly since 1967) makes clear that the two-state solution was a lie, a fig-leaf allowing successive Israeli governments to expand territory and further immiserate the hapless Palestinians.
Yet what was an ongoing and immoral delusion moved from disaster to catastrophe, following the atrocious attack by Hamas in October 2023. Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to have viewed the atrocity as an opportunity to implement the long-held Zionist goal of establishing a “Greater Israel”, the first stage of which was to be the complete obliteration of Gaza.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has attempted to walk a fine line in his relations with Israel, recognising a Palestinian state but risking significant political damage by inviting Israel’s President to our shores.
Albanese’s clinging to established international dogma, whilst a betrayal of his past beliefs, might be acceptable in earlier times, but global tectonic plates are shifting at a pace unmatched since perhaps 1945.
Australians of all political persuasions should rightly consider whether Israel is indeed a moral player on the world stage and whether our country should continue to align itself with a regime that has:
- Used snipers to deliberately target infants and children in Gaza, killing thousands and creating the largest group of childhood amputees in modern history. Israel has subsequently blocked the distribution of prosthetic limbs for survivors.
- Dropped bombs on civilians sheltering in tents, burning people alive. An Australian doctor said she delivered a baby by C-section from a nine-month pregnant woman with no head, following an Israeli strike. In late 2023, the IDF forced staff out of a Gaza hospital at gunpoint and left newborn babies to starve and die. Every hospital in the territory has now been destroyed.
- Killed at least 80,000 in Gaza (the true number is probably much higher), targeting children, medical and power facilities, schools, mosques, hospitals and ambulances, water purification, journalists and civic leaders, whilst stopping nearly all aid and medicine from entering — actions clearly aimed at devastating every aspect of civil society and starving the population. A genocide, in other words.
- Attacked and killed UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. Used banned white phosphorous and cluster munitions while destroying countless villages, and carried out clear acts of ethnic cleansing that have left over a million people displaced, including around 370,000 children. Oxfam has stated that Israeli tactics used in Gaza are now being exported to Lebanon, a nation now suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises on Earth.
- Tortured and murdered Palestinian children. The IDF buried captured Palestinian children alive in mass graves, after tying their hands behind their backs. An 18-month-old Palestinian child recently taken into custody by the IDF was returned with cigarette burns on its legs, having been tortured to get a confession from its father.
- Institutionalised the practice of “double tap” attacks, whereby an initial bombing is followed by subsequent attacks on the same location, killing first responders and medics. Just last week, Israel carried out a “quadruple tap” in southern Lebanon, killing those trying to help the injured over and over again.
- Trained and used dogs to rape Palestinian detainees and prisoners (according to B’Tselem and EuroMed Human Rights Monitor). In fact, sexual torture of Palestinians is so widespread that it has been described as “organised state policy”. One UN report highlighted the use of rape with bottles, metal rods and knives.
This is far from an exhaustive list. There is much, much more, often filled with unimaginable horror and moral degeneracy. As defined by Australian law, Israel is a terrorist state and carries out war crimes and grave violations of international humanitarian law almost daily.
Recently, Israel passed a law allowing capital punishment for Palestinians found guilty of “terrorism-related” crimes (which, given how Israel practices law against Palestinians, could mean nearly anything). The law only applies to Palestinians — an Israeli convicted of the same crime is not subject to it, and judgment will be carried out by martial law, with no due process, clemency or appeal process.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir proudly posted a video of the proposed execution chamber in which convicted Palestinians will be hanged. Armed Israeli forces have begun the practice of putting numbers on the hands of displaced Palestinians in the West Bank.
As the IDF has advanced across southern Lebanon, they have explicitly warned Christian and Druze leaders not to harbour Shiite Muslims in their homes — Jewish troops forcing one particular religious group of people out of Lebanese society, potentially searching for them in their attics. Anyone with a knowledge of history should see the historical resonance of these monstrous practices.
Race-based execution laws, genocidal destruction, institutionalised rape, pogroms in the West Bank, military expansion in nearly all directions. A network of at least 16 torture camps, where thousands are held, often without charge. Were it not such a forbidden comparison, we might spot similarities to another fascist regime in the 1930s.
Those making the connection are hardly from the fringe. Almost half of Britons in one poll said they believed Israel treats Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews. Ehud Olmert, a former Prime Minister of Israel, signed a letter describing settler violence in the West Bank as ‘Jewish terrorism’.
Political scientist John Mearsheimer recently said:
“If there were Nuremberg trials, right, where the Israelis and the Americans were brought before the court, President Trump, along with President Netanyahu and many of their advisors, would be hanged.”
Imagine this horror was being carried out by any nation on Earth not named Israel. Ask yourself what poses the greater threat — Iran, which until Trump tore up the JCPOA agreement was clearly not developing a nuclear bomb, or Israel, wildly attacking everyone in sight, led by a genuine maniac and possessors of the world’s only undeclared nuclear arsenal.
Far from operating the most moral army in the world, overwhelming evidence shows that Israel is now an entirely rogue state, raping, starving, torturing and murdering its prisoners, bombing its neighbours indiscriminately, annexing nearby territory and goading its patron, America, into actions that could easily lead us to a new world war.
Israel is hardly shy about its intentions. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently gave a speech in which he said, “There will be expansion in Gaza that will extend our borders. In Lebanon, to the Litani, in Syria, Mount Hermon, parts of the north, south, and east.” This would represent a “Greater Israel” plan, stretching (one might say) from the river (Litani) to the (Mediterranean) sea.
Such is the insanity of the time in which we live that voicing this same expression in Queensland will land you in prison, while it is so widely used by Israeli politicians that it’s literally in the Twitter (X) bio of the Prime Minister’s son.
Yet, despite heartening protests in Tel Aviv, poll after poll shows that a majority of Israelis support this endless militarism. Young Israelis are more right-wing, religious and conservative than their elders. An eventual end to Netanyahu’s appalling leadership seems unlikely to reform Israeli society.
An unprecedented oil shock is nearly at Australia’s shores. It’s likely to be the most devastating event for this country since the Second World War and when it arrives, Australians should remember that the crisis originated in the White House situation room on 11 February, when Netanyahu finally convinced a gullible American president to carry out his decades-long wish for an attack on Iran.
Benjamin Netanyahu is a violent extremist, a fugitive from justice at the International Criminal Court, who cannot enter even the commercial airspace of many countries for fear of arrest. It was Netanyahu who convinced Trump to catastrophically withdraw from the JCPOA, Israel that is primarily responsible for the catastrophe currently re-shaping our world and Israel who will be culpable, should a worldwide famine ensue.
Israel is the single greatest threat to world peace today. The past comfy assumptions about global partnerships are gone. Australia should join the growing list of nations that want nothing to do with this belligerent, fascistic country.
Nuclear Power and Net Zero II Symposium – REPORT ON ATTENDANCE AT THE CONFERENCE
April 24 2026, Robyn Wood, Friends of the Earth Adelaide
My friend and I arrived early at the Waite campus of Adelaide University, and they had
two security guards standing outside the main doors armed only with radios.
It was an interesting day. They are a dedicated bunch, very polite, about 70 people, and
I think they believe their heart is in the right place. They are very negative about
renewables, kept going on about “baseload power” and they expect grid collapses and
blackouts within the next 5 years. They are most insistent that nuclear is cheaper than
renewables when you take the whole big picture into account (but apparently you
shouldn’t take the cost of building a nuclear power plant into account when measuring
how much the electricity it produces costs). They cherry picked and misinformed, things
they accuse the antinuclear movement of doing, and say the general public need more
education so they learn to love nuclear.
I actually almost felt sorry for them with the current federal Labor government so
committed to renewables and antinuclear, and probably the next 2 federal governments
being Labor.
I asked electrical engineer Dr Robert Barr who presented “Integrating Nuclear into the
grid” if he had spoken to the government with his models of the NEM and pricing and he
said the government won’t speak to him but he has spoken to the opposition. He wanted
to use “cheaper gas” and I don’t know where he is going to find that with the Iran war
on. We saw his presentation last year and I asked him again what he based his costings
of long term high level waste disposal on and he still couldn’t remember but said it was
a small number. I was not very convinced.
They were even sad about all the education and scholarships going into school &
university students for AUKUS as they saw that as stealing away talent from future
nuclear power plant workers. They brought out the old chestnuts about AUKUS means
we should have nuclear power, and that because we sell uranium we should take back
the high level nuclear waste. My friend shut them up by saying we sell coal and other
products and don’t take back the waste so what makes nuclear waste special.
My friend got security called on him because he got so annoyed with former ANSTO
CEO Adi Patterson using data from 2020 and 2022 when the whole symposium was
supposed to be about advances from the last symposium in 2024 that he challenged
him. My friend interrupted Adi instead of waiting to the end asking him why his data was
so old and where was the recent data. People got cross with my friend for interrupting,
and 5 min later I noticed security standing next to him, but the guard never said
anything. One old man complained at the break to the female MC that she hadn’t run
things properly by not stopping the argument, and she said she liked passionate
discussions but they should be in the QnA section. He then said to us that she couldn’t
take criticism!
They had a whole session strongly criticising renewables and I didn’t bother taking any
notes as I didn’t believe a word of their figures and models which were based on
ChatGPT. So many of the things they picked on renewables for also applied to nuclear
power, but they didn’t mention that. One example being the environmental damage of
mining and mineral processing which applies to both, but somehow it was only a
problem for renewables.
I asked ANSTO’s GE of ‘Nuclear Operations, Safety and Security’ Miles Apperley how
many safety incidents ANSTO had had over the years, and he said he didn’t understand
my question, so I narrowed it and asked him how many safety incidents ANSTO had
had while he had worked there. He said he wasn’t avoiding the question but they had a
safety culture and everything got reported, not necessarily to do with radiation, and the
most dangerous issue was the road entering the facility where there were no traffic
lights and there had been near misses. Then he tripped over someone’s bag and made
a joke about it being a safety issue. So he got away with avoiding my question. I would
have expected he would have had those safety statistics memorized due to his
responsibilities.
We found out that ANSTO has a program of giving tours to NSW school children, and
one man who worked in the regulatory sector said they provided information to schools
but teachers returned the information as they said it was too dangerous!
They all seemed to think the disposal of high level nuclear waste was solved as
Australia has “lots of land”. So I told the panel discussion that I was interested in deep
geological waste disposal of intermediate and high level waste, and was following
Finland who were still working on their deep geological waste dump after 20 years, and
asked how the panelists planned on dealing with the UN Rights of Indigenous People
when Aboriginal people had stopped the last four efforts at a low level ANSTO dump. (I
figured Aboriginal people should be mentioned as they hadn’t been so far). Jasmin Diab
(MD of Global Nuclear Security Partners and Former President of Women in Nuclear
(WiN) Australia) chose to answer me and said 20 years to build a high level dump
wasn’t a long time. She then gave me the answer I expected, and said they had learned
not to treat Traditional Owners as ‘stakeholders’ but as ‘partners’ (what the difference is
I have no idea), and to sit down together to solve the problem, and basically bribe them
with things like jobs and doctors for the town as we saw with Kimba and Hawker. MC
Kirsty Braybon (a lawyer who was the inaugural Head of Legal for the Australian
Radioactive Waste Agency) pointed out that the UN Rights of Indigenous people was
not legally binding and Australia had signed but not ratified it, but she expected future
dealings with the government to comply with it, and on other topics as well as nuclear
waste.
I was standing behind one man in his 60s in the lunch queue and eavesdropped on him
lamenting that the demographics in the room were mostly older people and he wanted
to know how to get younger people involved. There were a lot of men in their 60s and
70s. It seems retired engineers and scientists set up their own consultancies and try to
stay relevant. A few young men of uni student age attended who probably hoped for
AUKUS submarine jobs.
The scary thing for me is that there is a LOT of portable SMR R&D planned over the
next five years, especially in the US Department of War. Scottish nuclear construction
civil engineer Peter Anusuas who had worked on Sizewell C in the UK said the most
likely way nuclear power would enter Australia was via SMRs in the military or mining
industries. One woman said the mining industry wanted the pronuclear industry to lobby
the government for SMRs but didn’t want to be seen as behind them as they didn’t want
to go against the government’s
Their final session on “where to next” with lobbying with their expensively filmed video of
the day, and a written summary but didn’t come up with much. They said they needed to
start in primary schools showing kids that science was fun and interesting and you
wouldn’t end up sitting in a lab in a white coat doing maths all the time, which is exactly
what my science career was like!
All in all it was an interesting day and quite cheered me up how despondent and
rudderless they were even with Adelaide University financially supporting them. Despite
the university‘s financial support, tickets were $70 and there was no student
concession. The free lunch, coffee and cake were nice.
Robyn Wood
Friends of the Earth Adelaide
Adelaideoffice@foe.org.au
Nuclear Power and Net Zero II
April 24 2026
Waite Campus, Adelaide University
The topics and speakers may be found at the Humanitix link.
https://events.humanitix.com/nuclear-energy-and-net-zero-ii-symposium
Description: Following the very successful June 2024 half-day symposium on
“Nuclear Energy and Net Zero” and significant global developments since then,
Dr Rod Hill FTSE FRACI and Prof Geoff Fincher FAA FTSE have organised a
follow-up symposium entitled “NUCLEAR ENERGY & NET ZERO II – A 2026
UPDATE”.
The aims of the symposium are
- To provide a dispassionate, apolitical and evidence-based update on the
potential role of nuclear energy in achieving Australia’s Net Zero targets and - To prepare a summary of proceedings and primary outcomes for distribution to
governments and other relevant parties.
Twelve invited speakers will address many areas where significant advances
have been made since the June 2024 symposium. These include:
Current and planned global nuclear power generation as a component of the
global energy mix in countries overseas.
Technology developments in large and small-scale reactors.
Australia’s nuclear technology and reactor operations record and its fuel cycle,
including spent fuel transmutation and disposal.
Integrating nuclear energy into the electricity grid.
Nuclear power plant construction in the UK.
Analysis of popular community perceptions of nuclear and renewable systems.
The symposium will conclude with a speaker panel Q&A discussion with the audience.
The Enforcement. The lobby that bought Australian democracy
by Andrew Brown | Apr 29, 2026, https://michaelwest.com.au/the-enforcement-the-lobby-that-bought-australian-democracy/
Australia’s sovereignty is routinely violated by Israel. Our institutions utterly subject to foreign interference. Andrew Brown presents the devastating case for a royal commission into Zionist influence in Australia.
Yesterday we laid out the machinery of the most serious foreign influence operation ever conducted on Australian soil: the quasi-diplomatic network operating from inside Australian institutions, the 500-plus politicians and journalists conditioned in Tel Aviv at a foreign government’s expense, the foreign minister instructed by a donor network to recant established international law, the attorney-general who adopted Israeli legal talking points as official Australian government language, the $164 million in security infrastructure extracted from Australian taxpayers for a community of 120,000 people, and the government-appointed envoy drawn from the lobby itself whose job is to put Israeli government policy beyond the reach of Australian public criticism.
Today we examine the enforcement arm. What this operation does to individuals, institutions, and the fundamental democratic rights of ordinary Australians who exercise their right to disagree. And what it did, for more than a decade, with Australian sovereignty itself.
Begin with the act of sovereign violation so grave that it should have ended the bilateral relationship and produced a permanent rupture in Australian foreign policy.
It did neither. Mossad, the Israeli state intelligence agency, operated a spy cell based in Sydney for more than a decade. Under ASIO’s nose. Using Australian infrastructure. Recruiting from Australian universities.
In 2010, Mossad operatives carrying forged Australian passports entered Dubai, a country with which Australia maintained cordial diplomatic relations, and assassinated Palestinian leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh. An Israeli diplomat in Canberra, Amir Laty, was expelled over his connection to the cell.
“The Australian government attempted to keep his expulsion secret to avoid embarrassing Israel.”
Ben Zygier, an Australian citizen known as Prisoner X, worked for Mossad, spied on fellow students at Monash University, and used his Australian passport to conduct espionage operations across Arab and Muslim countries. He died in an Israeli prison.
A New Zealand Mossad cell was separately caught attempting to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports. The Australian official who summarised the government’s operative posture did so anonymously, because to say it on the record would have been politically unsurvivable.
He was quoted by journalist Peter Hartcher in the Sydney Morning Herald on 26 February 2010. Israel, he said, had calculated that even if caught forging Australian passports to carry out targeted assassinations,
“Canberra would not retaliate. It wouldn’t matter who sat in the prime minister’s chair.”
The Israelis, this official said, know they’ve got us by the balls, partly because of the Israel lobby. State-sanctioned murder using forged Australian documents.
A foreign intelligence service operating on Australian soil for over a decade. An expelled diplomat whose removal the government tried to hide.
And the judgement of an Australian national security official that none of it would produce consequences because the lobby had made consequences impossible. If China had done one tenth of this, Australia would have severed diplomatic relations and jailed everyone it could reach.
“Israel did all of it and received a quiet request not to do it again.”
State premiers captured
In the domestic political arena, three state premiers have served as the lobby’s most recent and most openly authoritarian instruments.
Peter Malinauskas personally intervened to cancel a Palestinian author from Adelaide Writers’ Week. The festival director resigned.
“The event collapsed.”
A state premier, acting on behalf of the interests of a foreign government, destroyed a celebrated literary event and ended a festival director’s role in the process.
David Crisafulli’s Queensland government made two phrases associated with Palestinian solidarity punishable by up to two years imprisonment. An eighteen-year-old Australian was charged for the act of wearing a shirt. Twenty people were arrested at a peaceful protest for the act of chanting.
Chris Minns rushed legislation through the NSW parliament on Christmas Eve 2025, in a deliberate legislative ambush, handing the police commissioner power to ban all protest marches across entire areas of Sydney for up to three months following a declared terror incident.
A unanimous bench of the NSW Court of Appeal struck it down as an unconstitutional burden on the implied freedom of political communication.
“Three premiers. Three states. One foreign government’s interests.”
Zero words of criticism from the Prime Minister of Australia. The suppression of political speech and peaceful assembly on behalf of a foreign power, conducted by state governments and met with federal silence. In what functioning democracy does this not constitute a crisis of the highest order?
Crushing ‘difficult’ people
Now watch what the enforcement machinery does to individuals. Grace Tame was the 2021 Australian of the Year. A survivor of institutional child sexual abuse who built a national platform of such moral clarity that the entire political establishment had learned to treat her as beyond reproach. She began speaking about Palestine.
She attended protests. She shared Human Rights Watch reports documenting starvation in Gaza. In February 2026 she attended a rally in Sydney protesting the visit of Israeli President Isaac Herzog and led the crowd in a chant.
What followed was not a spontaneous public backlash.
“It was a coordinated campaign of economic and reputational destruction,”
executed with the speed and precision that only a well-resourced, well-organised, and permanently mobilised network can produce.
Nike cut her sponsorship within days.
Her speaking engagements disappeared from her calendar. By March 2026 she told a conference in Hobart that it was her last engagement for the year. It was March. Twenty-five thousand Australians signed a petition demanding her Australian of the Year award be stripped from her.
Coalition members of parliament stood in the national legislature and called her a terrorist sympathiser.
And Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister of Australia, when directly asked to describe Grace Tame, produced a single word: difficult.
“Difficult.”
The survivor who forced child sexual abuse onto the national agenda at enormous personal cost. Difficult. The woman who said that Palestinian civilians, like all civilians, had a right not to be bombed, starved, or shot. Difficult.
The Prime Minister of Australia reached for the oldest and most reliable instrument of dismissal in the political class’s toolkit: the word that powerful men have always used for women who refuse to stay within the lines drawn for them by the people who write the cheques.
The lobby made no public statement. It did not need to. Nike had already cut the sponsorship. The speaking circuit had already closed. The petition had already collected its signatures.
The MPs had already used the word terrorist in Hansard. The work had been done without the lobby needing to appear in the story at all.
“That is what mature, embedded institutional power looks like.”
It does not need to act visibly. It has already arranged for everyone else to act on its behalf.
The reach extends into the newsrooms and it has been there for decades. Veteran ABC journalist John Lyons documented it in his 2021 book Dateline Jerusalem, writing that in forty years of journalism he had never encountered a lobby as formidable, well-funded, or relentlessly effective as the pro-Israel lobby in Australia, and that material the lobby succeeded in suppressing here was routinely published in Israel without consequence or controversy.
Best funded foreign influence operation in Australia
Bob Carr called Lyons’ account the definitive record of the most concerted and best-funded foreign influence operation in Australia.
Every journalist who has worked on this subject in the Australian press knows what Lyons and Carr documented, because they have experienced it themselves: organised complaints to management, coordinated pressure on executives, personal vilification campaigns, threats to advertiser relationships
The lobby does not need to own Australian media. It only needs editors and proprietors to understand the cost of genuine independence, and to calculate that the cost exceeds the benefit. In most Australian newsrooms, they have made that calculation and arrived at compliance.
The case of Antoinette Lattouf demonstrated the consequences for those who don’t. She was removed from ABC air in December 2023 for sharing a Human Rights Watch report documenting Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
The Federal Court subsequently found the ABC had breached the Fair Work Act by terminating her engagement on the basis that she held a political opinion opposing the Israeli military campaign.
The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that a WhatsApp group calling itself Lawyers for Israel had lobbied ABC management directly and specifically for her removal.
Australia’s public broadcaster, funded by Australian taxpayers and constitutionally obligated to editorial independence,
“removed a journalist from air at the instruction of a foreign-aligned lobby group operating by messaging app”
That is not an editorial error. That is the surrender of a public institution to private foreign-aligned coercion. And the ABC’s board and management have never been required to account for it.
If it were China?
Apply the same facts to China. Not as analogy. As a direct accountability test. If Chinese-linked organisations were the single largest private funders of overseas trips to federal MPs, ASIO would have declared it a national security emergency.
If a Chinese intelligence agency had based a spy cell in Sydney for over a decade using forged Australian passports to conduct state-sanctioned assassinations abroad, it would constitute the gravest breach of Australian sovereignty in the country’s peacetime history and the bilateral relationship would not survive it.
If a Chinese-aligned lobby had pressured the ABC to remove a journalist critical of Chinese government policy, the story would have dominated national coverage for months and produced a parliamentary inquiry within weeks.
If a serving foreign minister had declared China’s struggles are our struggles, their values are our values from an award ceremony podium, her resignation would have been demanded before she left the building. If the attorney-general had told a Senate hearing that calling Tibet an occupied territory was too pejorative to use in official Australian discourse, he would not have returned to the chamber.
If three state premiers had introduced legislation to criminalise speech critical of Chinese government policy, or to give police the power to ban all marches in city zones for months at a time, the word used across every editorial in this country would have been the same:
“treason.”
We do not need to speculate.
We have watched the Chinese comparison play out in real time at a fraction of this scale and the consequences were terminal. Sam Dastyari expressed views aligned with Chinese positions after accepting connected donations. No secrets passed. No law was broken. His career was finished.
Andrew Robb left the ministry overseeing Darwin Port and signed a $2.25 million consulting contract with the Chinese company that had just received a 99-year lease on it.
The scandal produced years of national coverage and ultimately the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme: legislation designed specifically to track and constrain the purchase of access to Australian political institutions by foreign-aligned interests. ASIO names foreign interference, the public shorthand for China, as a top-tier national security threat in every annual assessment it publishes.
Except for Israel
The entire architecture of Australian national security is built on a single premise held to be non-negotiable: that a foreign government purchasing influence inside Australian democratic institutions is an existential threat to sovereignty that must be identified, resisted, and where possible prosecuted.
The Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme has never produced a public disclosure about AIJAC. The ASIO annual threat assessment has never named the Israeli lobby.
The parliamentary inquiries that ended Dastyari’s career and produced years of national debate have no equivalent examining the 500 politicians and journalists conditioned at Israeli government expense, the donor networks that instructed a foreign minister to recant international law, the Mossad spy cell that operated from Sydney for a decade using forged Australian documents, the foreign-government-funded quasi-diplomatic agencies embedded across Australian institutions, the lobby that pressured the national broadcaster to remove a journalist by WhatsApp, or the three premiers who suppressed political speech and peaceful assembly on behalf of a foreign government’s interests.
The apparatus constructed to protect Australian sovereignty from foreign purchase has one explicit, unwritten, never-debated, never-voted-upon exemption.
“Every senior person in Canberra knows what it is.“
They have calculated, morning after morning for thirty years, that acknowledging it is more dangerous to their careers than enabling it. That calculation is itself the evidence.
That is not a principled distinction between China and Israel. That is a purchased one. The receipt is in the parliamentary interests register. It is in Hansard. It is in Federal Court judgments.
It is in the published memoirs of a foreign minister who was told to be straightened out. It is in the Sydney Morning Herald report quoting a senior Australian national security official saying Israel has us by the balls because of the lobby.
The evidence does not need to be assembled. It has been sitting in plain sight for thirty years, in public documents, in published books, in court records and parliamentary transcripts.
A national emergency
The question is not whether it exists. The question is why a country with functioning democratic institutions and a free press has never once treated it as the national emergency it plainly is.
The evidence assembled across these two articles does not call for more journalism. It calls for a Royal Commission.
“A Royal Commission into Israeli foreign influence across all levels of Australian government.“
The terms of reference write themselves from the public record alone. The AIJAC trip program: who was taken, what they were shown, what positions they held on return, and what decisions they subsequently made on matters of direct relevance to Israeli government interests.
The donor networks: their documented intersection with foreign policy outcomes from the Gareth Evans threats of 1992 to the Bob Carr instruction of 2013.
The roles of the ECAJ, the ZFA, and the state Boards of Deputies as quasi-diplomatic agencies for a foreign government, in their own published words in their own publications.
The $164 million in security expenditure: the political process that produced it, why it was never subject to comparative public assessment against the security needs of other communities, and the decision-making chain that accelerated it after Bondi.
The Mossad operations: the decade-long spy cell based in Sydney, the assassination using forged Australian passports, the expelled diplomat whose removal the government tried to suppress, and the complete and deliberate absence of any proportionate response.
The instruction to Bob Carr: who issued it, under whose authority, whether it constituted improper interference in the sovereign conduct of Australian foreign policy, and who else received similar instructions and complied without ever recording it.
The three state premiers: who coordinated their legislative responses, what communications passed between them and lobby organisations, and whether those communications constitute evidence of foreign-government-aligned interference in state legislative processes.
The ABC: the chain of communications between Lawyers for Israel and ABC management in the Lattouf matter, who authorised the removal, and whether the ABC’s board was aware.
Jillian Segal powers
The Segal appointment: the process by which an active advocate for a foreign government’s interests was appointed to a quasi-regulatory role with the
“power to recommend the defunding of Australian cultural, academic, and media institutions.“
We held a Royal Commission into trade union governance. We held one into the banking sector. We are right now holding one into antisemitism, announced within weeks of a single event, with findings due within twelve months, and interim findings this week.
The question of whether a foreign government has, over thirty years, systematically purchased the compliance of Australian democratic institutions, usurped the conduct of Australian foreign policy, operated a state intelligence network on Australian soil using forged Australian documents to conduct murder abroad, corrupted the editorial independence of the national public broadcaster, and constructed a domestic legal and regulatory apparatus to protect its own conduct from Australian public scrutiny, is
“a question that dwarfs every Royal Commission this country has ever convened.”
If the answer is no, the inquiry will say so and the lobby will be vindicated. If the answer is yes, and the public record already indicates what the answer is, then every Australian citizen has been the victim of a fraud conducted against their democracy by a foreign power and its local agents, for thirty years, with the full knowledge and active participation of the people they elected to protect them.
Stated plainly
Something must be stated plainly before this piece closes. I have never held antisemitic views and I never will. My godparents were Jewish Hungarian Holocaust survivors.
My godfather went on to become a prominent and respected figure in both the Australian business world and the Jewish community. He was a founder of the Hakoah Club. I grew up with a precise and personal understanding of what antisemitism is, what it costs, and where it ends.
“This series is not a critique of Jewish Australians.“
It is a critique of something wholly different: the coercive scale of a foreign influence operation conducted on behalf of the Israeli government, by Australian citizens acting as its agents, against the democratic institutions of their own country.
Antisemitism weaponised
The lobby’s reflexive branding of any examination of its own institutional power as racial hatred of Jewish people is not a defence. It is the operational core of a suppression mechanism.
It has worked because it was designed to work and because too many people who knew exactly what it was decided that
“the personal cost of calling it out exceeded the democratic cost of ignoring it.“
That calculation has now produced the country documented in these two articles. Decide for yourself whether you can live with it.
For Netanyahu, crimes against humanity
On November 21, 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Australia is a signatory to the Rome Statute.
Canada said it would arrest him. France said it would arrest him. The Netherlands said it would arrest him. Albanese has said nothing of legal consequence.
He has not named what is happening in Gaza with the word the ICC has already used and the evidence demands. He has not imposed sanctions. He has not withdrawn the ambassador.
He has produced statements of such deliberate, crafted, lawyered vagueness that they constitute not diplomacy but performance: calibrated to suggest concern while guaranteeing inaction, designed not to communicate a position but to preserve the fiction of having one, while the donor network that purchased that silence continues to operate across every level of Australian government without scrutiny, without accountability, and
“without a single journalist in the parliamentary press gallery willing to stand up and call it what it is.”
That is not the restraint of a statesman navigating genuine complexity. That is the immobility of a man who knows the price of his position down to the last dollar, knows who set it, knows what the invoice covers, and has decided every morning for years that paying it is less dangerous than the alternative.
He is not alone.
He is the current representative of a thirty-year institutional posture shared by both major parties, dozens of ministers, three premiers, a national broadcaster, and a press gallery that has collectively decided the story is not worth the grief.
“Every one of them is wrong.“
And every Australian who still believes this country’s democratic institutions belong to its citizens, and not to the agents of a foreign power, should be demanding to know why.
Andrew BrownAndrew Brown is a Sydney businessman in the health products sector, former Deputy Mayor of Mosman and Palestine peace activist
US and Israel Claimed to Be Fighting for Iranian Minorities — While Bombing Them
One day before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire went into effect on April 8, a 68-year-old synagogue in the Iranian capital was damaged in airstrikes for which the Israeli military claimed responsibility. The Israeli military said it was trying to target a military commander living nearby and regretted the destruction, which it referred to as “collateral damage.”
“If we believe that destroying a synagogue in Israel would be treated as an outrage against civilization, then a synagogue in Tehran must not be treated as a regrettable footnote.
Already marginalized, Iran’s religious minority communities are overlooked victims of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
By Kourosh Ziabari , Truthout, April 27, 2026
Iranians of all stripes have been affected by the U.S.-Israeli war on their country, and the civilian cost of the conflict has yet to be fully understood. The United Nations Development Programme has raised the alarm about the “development in reverse” pushing more than 32 million people back into poverty globally, and economists have warned that 10 to 12 million Iranians, representing nearly half of the country’s workforce, are now on the brink of unemployment.
But the effect of the U.S.-Israeli aggression on Iran’s religious minorities has received comparatively little attention. Beset by years of neglect and underrepresentation at home, faith groups are now coming to grips with the cruelty of war and the devastation it has inflicted on their vulnerable institutions and houses of worship.
In Tehran, U.S.-Israeli airstrikes damaged two major churches, St. Nicholas Orthodox Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Mary, drawing condemnation from Tehran’s Christian communities. Although there have not been many updates on the status of the Church of Saint Mary, St. Nicholas Church, which is a major Russian cultural site in Iran, was reportedly closed on Easter due to the extent of the damages.
One day before the U.S.-Iran ceasefire went into effect on April 8, a 68-year-old synagogue in the Iranian capital was damaged in airstrikes for which the Israeli military claimed responsibility. The Israeli military said it was trying to target a military commander living nearby and regretted the destruction, which it referred to as “collateral damage.”
The attack put further strain on Iranian Jews as they navigate the challenges of a war waged by the United States and Israel under the pretenses of bringing liberation to the country. Iranian Jewish politicians and community leaders have been vocal in criticizing the attacks targeting houses of worship and civilian sites.
“Our holy books were buried under the rubble, burnt, and torn, and all of this is an indication of the indifference of the Zionist regime to Judaism as a religion and the instructions of Prophet Moses,” said Homayoun Sameh, a Jewish member of parliament as he talked to reporters in Tehran. Truthout reached out to his office for comment but didn’t hear back.
Lior Sternfeld, a scholar of Jewish studies and history at Pennsylvania State University, told Truthout that Israel has long demonstrated disregard for Jewish life and heritage in the Middle East outside of Israel, a pattern which is now stretching to Iran.
“There are credible reports on Israeli involvement in several attacks on Jewish establishments in Iraq in the early 1950s to speed up the process of Jews registering for departure,” Sternfeld told Truthout. “A couple of years later, Israeli agencies knowingly operated a small network of poorly trained Jewish spies, in what came to be known as Operation Susannah,” with the intent of attacking civilian targets in Egypt and falsely blaming the attacks on local forces.
“In 1982, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] shelled the Maghen Abraham Synagogue in Beirut, claiming there were PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] militants it was targeting nearby,” he added, noting that the recent synagogue strike in Tehran appears as an extension of this history.
Beyond religious and cultural sites, residential areas populated by Iran’s ethnic minorities were also attacked. On March 10, the historic Majidieh neighborhood in eastern Tehran, a major hub for Iran’s Armenian community in the capital, was bombed by the United States and Israel, destroying multiple buildings, including a locally run kindergarten………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
the fact that the bombings targeting an array of different religious and ethnic groups and their cultural sites have drawn little attention internationally points to continued flaws in the media framing of the war. Crackdowns on the press are not limited to authoritarian regimes. In democracies also, reporters are being pressured to toe the government line on key political fault lines.
In March, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr issued a rare threat to major networks and their local affiliates, warning them to “correct course” on their coverage of the war in Iran before their license renewals are due. On multiple occasions, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has assailed the media for their reporting on the conflict, demanding a more “patriotic” coverage.
In the meantime, stereotypes still dominate the corporate media portrayals of Iran, even in the middle of a war of aggression on the country. Hawkish commentators making the case for sanctions and military action are frequently called to appear on primetime shows, and there is no active debate on the enormous civilian toll of the war on millions of Iranians, including marginalized groups.
“If we believe that destroying a synagogue in Israel would be treated as an outrage against civilization, then a synagogue in Tehran must not be treated as a regrettable footnote. Sacred loss does not become less sacred because the world responds selectively to some victims and not others,” said Dabbagh.
Other observers have argued that undermining Iran’s religious and cultural diversity is a key U.S. and Israeli goal in the war, exemplified by a range of airstrikes targeting UNESCO-registered world heritage sites, alarming rhetoric about the erasure of Iranian civilization coming from Trump and other officials, and dehumanizing propaganda about the Iranian people.
“For both the Israelis and Americans, the presence of Iranian Jews or Palestinian Christians and Lebanese Christians is a huge problem,” said Omid Safi, a professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University. “When they come to terms with the fact that in Iran itself there is a Jewish community that is more than 2,000 years old, then all of a sudden they have to come to terms with the pluralism and inherent diversity of Iranian society.”
“The targeting of the synagogue and some churches by the Israelis and Americans with no apologies or acknowledgement follows in the footsteps of what we’ve already seen with the targeting of dialysis treatment centers, the girls’ school in Minab, 31 universities, and multiple hospitals,” he added, arguing that the bombing campaign has shown Iranian human rights are not being respected by the perpetrators………………………………………………………………………………………………
In Iran’s sanctions-hit economy where even international organizations are hamstrung in delivering humanitarian assistance and development aid, a sweeping conflict like the U.S.-Israeli military campaign can produce irreversible harms, especially affecting the less protected religious and ethnic minority groups.
In some cases, Iranians haven’t yet completed the reconstruction efforts that followed the eight-year Iran-Iraq War of 1980, when the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was encouraged by a coalition of world powers to invade Iran and stymie the newly born revolution. According to official data, 90 Iranian Christians, 11 Iranian Jews, and 32 Iranian Zoroastrians were killed in that war.
Right now, the future is uncertain as both Tehran and Washington seem unprepared to engage in a sustainable diplomatic process. Meanwhile, the disenfranchised institutions of Iran’s civil society — including religious minority groups, which have sustained themselves over the years without external support or preferential treatment at home — will pay the highest price. https://truthout.org/articles/us-and-israel-claim-to-be-fighting-for-iranian-minorities-while-bombing-them/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=4b4dfd3a01-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_04_27_08_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-4b4dfd3a01-650192793
UK parliament’s AUKUS inquiry report questions if Britain can keep nuclear submarine promises.
By Riley Stuart and Europe correspondent Elias Clure in London, Tue 28 Apr, 26, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-28/aukus-report-released-by-house-of-commons-defence-committee/106613750
In short:
The House of Commons Defence Committee has released its report on the AUKUS defence pact after launching an inquiry last year.
While the report was broadly supportive of AUKUS, it also “laid bare the scale of the endeavour that will be required to deliver it”.
What’s next?
There have been calls to hold a public inquiry into AUKUS in Australia too, although right now one has not been announced.
British politicians have cast doubt on their country’s ability to develop and deliver nuclear submarines promised as part of the AUKUS defence pact.
The House of Commons Defence Committee on Tuesday released the findings of its year-long review into the trilateral partnership.
While the report was broadly supportive of AUKUS, it also “laid bare the scale of the endeavour that will be required to deliver it”.
As part of the deal, the United Kingdom and Australia are working together to design and build a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarine, known as SSN-AUKUS, scheduled to enter service in the late 2030s and the early 2040s.
“For the UK, delivering SSN-AUKUS will be a lengthy and complex undertaking requiring a sustained financial commitment from government across several electoral cycles,” the report noted.
“It is deeply concerning that there are signs that the investment pipeline that underpins that commitment has already faltered.”
The report urged the UK government to devote more money to the partnership.
“Shortfalls or delays in funding risk a failure to deliver SSN-AUKUS on time, with potentially severe consequences for UK and wider Euro-Atlantic security, and our standing with our trilateral partners,” it read.
While the White House has reiterated its commitment to the partnership, and Australia has already given the United States $US500 million ($798 million) to try to reinvigorate the country’s shipbuilding industry, critics contend the AUKUS deal’s fine print means nothing is guaranteed.
Australia is expected to invest a total of $US3 billion in US submarine manufacturing capabilities as part of the deal.
It has been estimated AUKUS could cost Australia about $368 billion by the mid-2050s.
“For Australia, AUKUS is an unprecedented undertaking to be delivered to ambitious timescales,” the House of Commons report noted.
“The UK will need to work closely with Australia at both industry and government level to share expertise and support Australia in meeting its own milestones.”
Trump ‘an unreliable ally’, submission says
US President Donald Trump has expressed his support for the trilateral pact, but the House of Commons inquiry received submissions saying the president’s “America First” approach to foreign policy, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and other geopolitical factors “had undermined the case for AUKUS and its chances of successful delivery”.
The Australian Peace and Security Forum — a not-for-profit that has been calling for a public inquiry into AUKUS to be held in Australia — gave a written submission to the inquiry in which it contended the US under Mr Trump was “an unreliable ally”.
The group also claimed that “geopolitical circumstances have changed for both the UK and Australia since AUKUS was conceived in 2021”.
“Strategic priorities for both countries do not align,” the submission read, adding “the UK should not proceed with AUKUS if it cannot guarantee delivery of its commitments on time and on budget”.
But the inquiry also heard from the UK’s minister for defence readiness, Luke Pollard, who said the changing geopolitical context and increasing threats meant “the importance of making sure that AUKUS delivers is even more prominent than it was when the original initiative was launched all those years ago”.
The House of Commons report highlighted difficulties in staff movement between the AUKUS partner countries due to the security clearances required to work in the defence sector.
A consultancy company involved in AUKUS told the inquiry that moving employees between its UK and Australian businesses was a “time-consuming and administratively burdensome” process.
While AUKUS enjoys significant support from both major political parties in Australia, the deal has also attracted criticism, notably from former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Keating.
Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough and chair of the House of Commons Defence Committee, told the ABC the inquiry was designed to review the UK government’s progress with regard to AUKUS.
“Many of us had concerns that things were perhaps not progressing at the pace they should be, but we wanted to gain expert advice as well as evidence,” he said.
Mr Dhesi said as part of the inquiry, representatives of the defence committee visited locations in the UK, US and Australia.
“Our key recommendation is that the UK government needs to do much more and it needs to do it faster in order to reap the full benefits of this once-in-a-generation, long-term strategic partnership with Australia and the US,” he said.
Links to Full Report –
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/9068/aukus/publications/ and https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/52831/documents/294641/default/
Starmer’s Talking Points: King Charles III Visits Washington
AUKUS continues to warp the imagination of its executors, distort military planning, and, importantly, make the most telling demands on Australia, the junior yet, in some ways, most essential partner in the relationship. For one thing, it remains the most duped and witless of the three, having made staggering concessions to both the US and UK in terms of military real estate and investment. Despite turning Australia into a garrison state invigilating over the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific, the agreement makes no guarantee that the Royal Australian Navy will ever receive Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines it does not need, let alone any assurance that it will exercise control over their use and command.
29 April 2026 Dr Binoy Kampmark https://theaimn.net/starmers-talking-points-king-charles-iii-visits-washington/
He can hardly be blamed for being given the brief by his Prime Minister. King Charles III is in the United States on a repair job, playing diplomatic handyman and mender for Sir Keir Starmer and the US-UK alliance so long regarded as special. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of American independence, it was easy to forget that the British, despite losing its American colonies, gained some vengeance through the exploits of Major General Robert Ross, who, on August 14, 1814, burned down the White House, the Capitol building, and an assortment of other government facilities.
The US President Donald Trump has made it clear that alliances are only special if they serve his bullying and selfish needs, transient and fickle as they are. Otherwise, the whole notion of an alliance can be allowed to go by the wayside or stung into decay by venomous statements on social media. The UK’s ambassador to Washington, Christian Turner, who replaced the disastrously appointed Peter Mandelson in February, has even gone so far to suggest that the term “special relationship” be scrapped as dated and musty. The phrase, he unguardedly told a group of British students visiting that month, was “quite nostalgic” and “quite backwards-looking,” encumbered with “baggage.” Instead of leaving it at that, Turner proceeded to offer the only exemplar in the US diplomatic inventory that might count, whatever the baggage. “I think there is probably one country that has a special relationship with the United States – and that is probably Israel.”
Any ruffles arising from that leaked audio has been seemingly contained. On the occasion of this state visit Trump was cordial, even sprightly. “The Americans have had no closer friends than the British,” he declared on April 28. The same language was spoken, the same values shared, the “warriors” of the two nations having “defended the same extraordinary civilization under the twin banners of red, white, and blue.”
Before a joint sitting of Congress, Charles delivered a speech filled with the usual solecisms on the US political system, not to mention a few on his own. The US Congress is hardly a “citadel of democracy created to represent the voice of all American people, to advance sacred rights and freedoms,” being the republican vision of slave owning plantation owners who were nervous about the mob and ever keen to keep them at bay with a dampening system of checks and balances. The “revolutionary” notions of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” were to be kept on a firm leash. And while the United Kingdom has democratic pretensions, it exercises power through that mysterious political and legal construction known as the Crown. In a short note for the Spectator in October 1959, the conservative, at times reactionary novelist Evelyn Waugh made an abundantly clear point: “Great Britain is not a democracy. All authority emanates from the Crown.” All figures of note from judges and bishops to the Poet Laureate “exist by the royal will.” Elections are, rather, “a very hazardous process” to select ill-chosen advisors.
Starmer, as advisor-in-chief, clearly fed the monarch a rather odd assortment of dishes to temper and placate the businessman tyrant trainee. Lay it heavy with the friendship issue, talking of that “bond of kinship and identity” that is “priceless and eternal.” Accept that disagreements can happen between close allies (“no taxation without representation”, for instance, stirring the anger of the American colonists). “Ours is a partnership born out of dispute, but no less strong for it.” When the countries found ways to agree “what great change is brought about – not just for the benefit of our peoples, but of all peoples.”
A fig leaf of soothing assurance was offered to US lawmakers and the Trump administration. The UK, recognising “that the threats we face demand a transformation in British defence,” was swelling the defence budget, “the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.” The defence of Ukraine, not high on Trump’s list but very much top of the Starmer summit, also warranted a mention.
Damnably foolish things can be said about defence, that area of spending scandalously exempt from the usual, fiscal scrutiny reserved for welfare budgets and services. And Charles was not spared the Starmer talking points about joint efforts to build F-35 fighter jets and pursuing “the most ambitious submarine program in history, AUKUS.” AUKUS was being pursued “in partnership with Australia, a country of which I am also immensely proud to serve as sovereign.”
AUKUS continues to warp the imagination of its executors, distort military planning, and, importantly, make the most telling demands on Australia, the junior yet, in some ways, most essential partner in the relationship. For one thing, it remains the most duped and witless of the three, having made staggering concessions to both the US and UK in terms of military real estate and investment. Despite turning Australia into a garrison state invigilating over the rise of China in the Indo-Pacific, the agreement makes no guarantee that the Royal Australian Navy will ever receive Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines it does not need, let alone any assurance that it will exercise control over their use and command.
The US Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, published on January 26, does much to scupper suggestions that Australian sovereignty would ever be a serious consideration, given an analysis of the “benefits, costs, and risks compare[d] with those of an alternative of procuring up to eight additional Virginia-class SSNs that would be retained in US Navy service and operated out of Australia along with the US and UK SSNs that are already planned to be operated under Pillar 1.” Even as these doubts are being expressed, the Australian taxpayer continues to invest in the US submarine industrial base.
Obsessed by the deterrent value of such boats against China, the nail-biting worry in the Pentagon and Congress is that any transfer from a navy that remains tardy in meeting the set target of 2 SSNs a year will blunt potency. “Selling three to five Virginia-class SSNs to Australia would thus convert those SSNs from boats that would be available for use in a US-China crisis or conflict into boats that might not be available for use in a US-China crisis or conflict.” Such considerations would have been unlikely to feature in Starmer’s mind when mulling over the details of the King’s speech. The British PM has shown himself to be stunningly short on political judgment and incapable in making sound decisions. However polished the performance by Charles in Washington, it may not be enough to save his prime ministership.
1 This month.
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/235274195556
19 May – Webinar- Webinar: No Nuclear Weapons in Australia
Start: 2026-05-19 18:00:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
End: 2026-05-19 19:30:00 UTC Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney (GMT+10:00)
20 May – Webinar – The dangerous world of AUKUS, US, military occupation and suppression of dissent
National Webinar, 20th May, 2026, 6.30pm AEST. Confronting laws restricting/suppressing protest speech and action
Speakers: Former Sen. Rex Patrick, Lawyer Nick Hanna ,Arthur Rorris ,Jorgen Doyle, Sen David Shoebbridge,
Facilitator Kelley Tranter.
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 