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After completing a three-year posting with the United States Navy (USN), Chief Petty Officer Luke Brewer was promoted to Warrant Officer on board USN ship USS Canberra in January. Warrant Officer Brewer joined the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 2002, served on board Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates and was part of the HMAS Hobart commissioning crew. During his posting with the USN, he was embedded within the San Diego Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC) combat systems alignment team, ensuring radars, sensors and weapon systems were aligned to meet mission requirements and operational tasking. Washington Naval Attaché Commodore Darren Grogan, who...

Just a quick one. A work friend of mine here in Australia has been offered a job in the US (when the borders open here in Oz) with a base salary of a bit over $100,000 US. From what I can gather between the lines, it's something to do with the new AUKUS agreement (knowing this bloke's skill sets and experiences). He's got a pretty wide choice of locations where he can work from, his preference sounds like pretty much everything west of the Mississippi but avoiding the west coast (he's a strong Christian and very conservative, makes Trump look...

Australia's unemployment rate is plummeting, falling 0.4 percentage points to 5.1 per cent in May 2021. New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that approximately 115,000 Australians found work between April and May, radically lowering the unemployment rate. Australia's unemployment rate is now the same as it was in February 2020, just prior to the economic damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Bjorn Jarvis, head of labour statistics at the ABS, said May was the seventh consecutive monthly fall in the unemployment rate. "The unemployment rate fell to 5.1 per cent, which was below March 2020 (5.3...

The evolving debate in the US about the future of the F-35A joint strike fighter may open up new opportunities for the Royal Australian Air Force to take a radically different direction in its future capability development. Under Project AIR 6000 Phase 7, additional F-35As are one option under consideration, bringing the fleet up to a maximum of 100 aircraft in total. There now might be good reason to consider alternatives, rather than rush to embrace an all-F-35A capability. The current debate in the US focuses on the high sustainment cost of the JSF, and whether the US Air Force...

The government’s 2020 defence strategic update provided refreshing clarity about Australia’s deteriorating strategic environment and the need for new military capabilities to address it. These include long-range strike capabilities to impose greater cost on potential great-power adversaries at greater range from Australia. The government also included a shopping list of those capabilities giving a broad outline of schedule and the scale of investment. But there’s a big gap between where we are today and where we need to be, and the shopping list crosses that gap achingly slowly. In the vast reaches of the Indo-Pacific, range is crucial and the...

Australian scientists are hailing a world-first laser designed to shunt potentially deadly space junk out of orbit, fired from a Canberra hilltop. EOS Space Systems has developed the technology to protect infrastructure worth $900 billion. The laser, which will be fired from the Mt Stromlo Observatory in Canberra, has been seven years in the making. It was produced as part of a federally-funded research centre involving EOS, the Australian National University, weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the Japanese Institute of Communications and Technology. EOS Space Systems CEO Dr Ben Greene described it as a "real breakthrough for space technology". The...

The Federal Government has expanded its coronavirus travel ban to include South Korea, and added additional precautions for travellers from Italy, amid fears about the spread of the disease. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also confirmed that the existing ban on foreign nationals travelling from China and Iran to Australia has been extended for another week. The revised bans will be in place until Saturday, March 14 but the Government will review the situation within a week to determine if the travel restrictions need to be extended further. Foreign nationals who have been in mainland China, Iran and South Korea...

There are reports up to a dozen people have been injured in a shooting at the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. Police have confirmed they are responding to a "critical incident". All Christchurch schools are in lockdown and witnesses have reported multiple injuries. The mosque was reportedly busy due to Friday prayers. Witness Len Peneha said he saw a man dressed in black enter the Masjid Al Noor mosque in central Christchurch about 1:45pm and then heard dozens of shots, followed by people running from the mosque in terror. Mr Peneha, who has lived next door to the...

One of US President Donald Trump’s top trade advisers has raised speculation the US will attempt to negotiate a new free trade deal with Australia. Peter Navarro, director of Mr Trump’s White House Trade Council, named Australia and New Zealand as two nations the Trump administration will seek bilateral deals with. Australia already has a free trade agreement with the US, signed in 2004, but Mr Trump has repeatedly said he will look at every trade deal the US has signed and renegotiate them if he can get a better deal for American workers. Professor Navarro, in an interview with...

Victoria Police say they have foiled an ISIS inspired terror attack on Christmas Day in the heart of Melbourne. Terror plotters allegedly planned to attack Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral. Heavily armed police raided homes across Melbourne’s north on Friday morning and made seven arrests. Five men aged between 21 and 26 were arrested... Four of them were born in Australia and are of Lebanese background, while a fifth is an Egyptian-born Australian citizen. One of the men arrested is Zak Dabboussi... His Facebook page is prolific with religious material including quotes from the Koran....

US president-elect Donald Trump's recently-appointed national security adviser was investigated for inappropriately sharing highly-classified intelligence with Australian forces. Retired US three-star lieutenant general Michael Flynn, a maverick who spent more than 33 years in US Army intelligence, worked alongside Australian forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. An outspoken believer in assisting allies on the battleground despite red tape preventing the flow of information, Lt Gen Flynn said the sharing of intelligence with Australian and British forces that left him in hot water was done "with the right permissions". "I'm proud of that one," Lt Gen Flynn told The Washington Post. "Accuse...

China has no legal basis to claim “historic rights” to islands in the South China Sea, an international tribunal ruled on Tuesday in a bitter dispute that risks stoking further tensions in Southeast Asia. “The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’,” the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a statement. It has dealt a setback to Beijing that the US fears could intensify moves to establish its control by force. How Beijing responds to the ruling in the case filed by US...

A SHEPHERD was found dead after having sex with a scarecrow that he had put a wig and lipstick on. Neighbours led police to the Argentinian man’s body after they rang the local council about a foul smell coming from Jose Alberto’s home in San Jose de Balcare, the International Business Times reports. Police later found Alberto, 58, whose rotting remains were found next to the scarecrow. The scarecrow also had a strap-on sex toy attached to it. “During a first visual inspection it appeared that there were two dead bodies. Then it was found that actually one of the...

AUSTRALIA’S overseas intelligence agency, ASIS, has been training Japanese spies in the tradecraft of espionage as Tokyo seeks to establish its first foreign spy service since World War II. ...ASIS has taken a key role in training Japan’s fledgling spies since Tokyo decided to ­establish a foreign intelligence service to gather information on looming regional security challenges, such as those posed by North Korea, the rise of China and the threat of Islamist terror. Japan’s intention to establish a spy service was flagged in a cable published by WikiLeaks... ...Japanese intelligence officers have been posted to Australia as part of...

THE Abbott government has closed the door on accepting all refugees registered with a United Nations agency for resettlement in Australia. IMMIGRATION Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced Australia will no longer accept asylum seekers who applied for resettlement after July 1 this year through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Indonesia. But AAP understands the ban on UNHCR applicants applies across the board to all countries and came into force on July 1... Refugee lawyer David Manne said it was an appalling move by "Fortress Australia" that would put peoples' lives in danger. "Australia is fundamentally...

BARACK Obama blindsided the Abbott government in Brisbane, pretty viciously. Through his remarks on climate change, he has damaged the government politically. It’s a strange way to treat a friend but it is ...Obama’s presidential style, especially as the power ebbs from him in the dying days of his reign. ...damage may not be long-lasting because the US President’s remarks bore little relation to anything he can deliver or will do. Instead, they reprise the most ineffably capricious and inconsequential moments in the Obama presidency: grand gestures, soaring visions, which never actually get implemented in the real world. Obama went...

THE Abbott government is considering deploying SAS soldiers, F18 Super Hornet jet fighters and sophisticated airborne early- warning and control aircraft as part of a military contribution to US-led efforts in Iraq. In 2003... Australian SAS forces were among the first allied troops to go into Iraq. They were tasked with the role of suppressing Scud missile fire from Iraq into Israel. They did not discover any Scud missiles but captured the Al Asad air base in western Iraq and a trove of ­Soviet MiG aircraft. They also disrupted Saddam Hussein’s control and command apparatus. The SAS is regarded as...

THE United States has begun to mobilise a broad coalition of allies behind potential American military action in Syria, with Australia likely to be enlisted, say US officials. The US is also moving towards expanded air strikes in northern Iraq, the New York Times reports, quoting administration officials. The officials said Barack Obama is broadening his campaign against militants fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria... ...countries likely to be enlisted included Australia, Britain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, officials said. The officials, who asked not to be named, told the New York...

THE Abbott government is ­actively considering an extended military role for Australia in Iraq, and is encouraging the US to ­increase its military involvement there and possibly in Syria. Reports yesterday indicate the US is considering air strikes in Syria against Islamic State, and The Australian understands ­Australia could join the US in air strikes. ...these remarks make it clear that the government is ­encouraging the US to become more active militarily in Iraq and reassuring the Americans that we will be there beside them. The three main military ­options for Australian involvement are renewed humanitarian air drops, deployment of...

A MASSIVE fire has broken out in a shed in Brisbane where a Navy patrol boat was undergoing a refit. Defence officials confirmed the HMAS Bundaberg caught on fire just before noon. Smoke billowed from the shed and could be seen for miles. Fire crews were called to Barku Court in Hemmant around 11.45am... “The main difficulties we are facing is accessing the fire because its very hot in very, very confined spaces,"... “We’re fighting a fire in an aluminium vessel which is difficult to get into and ships, by their nature, are well sealed. Emergency crews were advised of...