Deputy Prime Minister Richard MarlesForeign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Pacific Island Affairs Minister Pat Conroy are heading off on a trip this week to several Pacific nations.
Marles is in Port Moresby today for some high-level meetings, including with Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape, and will give a press conference later in the afternoon. He will then join Wong and Conroy in Vanuatuwhere meetings will be held with Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Jotham Napat and other senior ministers. Marles also plans to visit Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers meeting.
Australia’s defence treaty with Papua New Guinea, which the government announced negotiations on in February this year, will be on Marles’ agenda during his visit. In 2023, Australia and its northern neighbour reached a bilateral security agreementand in February 2024, Marape became the 16th world leader to address the Australian Parliament. As Crikey reported at the time, Marape told Parliament: “A strong, economically empowered Papua New Guinea means a stronger and more secure Australia and Pacific.”
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Today also marks 100 days since Anthony Albanese’s government was reelected — expect lots of report-card coverage. The Sydney Morning Herald columnist and ex-Labor adviser Sean Kelly is among those who have already weighed in, writing this morning: “So far, this term, Albanese has succeeded in repeating one of the main achievements of his first: to project a certain tone, one of calm, accompanied by a sense of methodically going about the business of governing.”
Multiple media outlets are also reporting this morning that the government may recognise a Palestinian state imminently. According to the SMHit could be “as soon as today”, while cabinet sources told Guardian Australia it could happen “within days”.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank will wrap up a two-day meeting with a monetary policy statement at 12.45pm and an interest rates announcement at 2.30pm. A media conference will be held at 3.30pm.
According to ABC News, “Most pundits and market participants believe it is a straightforward decision — the cash rate will be cut by 25 [basis points] to 3.6%”.
Crikey’s politics editor Bernard Keane is sure to weigh in. Following the latest rate decision, in July, Keane and contributor Glenn Dyer wrote that RBA governor Michele Bullock’s attempt at “spinning” jobs data begged the question “whether someone else ought to be in charge instead”.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics will give further indications on how the economy is faring with a lending indicators report on Wednesday, and a labour force survey on Thursday.
Plus, on Friday, the Kennedy Awards for excellence in journalism will be held at Sydney’s Royal Randwick. Crikey freelancer Tom Doig is nominated for the People’s Choice Award for his coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention in the US. Check out Doig’s articles here.
