What we learned; Monday 16 June
That’s where we’ll leave the blog for today. We’ll have an update on the shooting of the Tasmanian police officer for you later. We’ll be back tomorrow morning with more breaking news. In the meantime, here were today’s top stories:
The Tasmanian premier paid tribute to a police officer who died “in the line of duty” after they were fatally shot in the state’s north-west this morning. Police said they officer was approaching a property in the town of North Motton during routine duties when a member of the public allegedly opened fire. The alleged offender was in custody.
Masked gunmen shot three people at kebab shop in Sydney’s west in broad daylight, New South Wales police said. The premier, Chris Minns, described the shooting as “shockingly brazen”.
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, described Australia and Canada were “long-term allies” and “true friends” after an official meeting with the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, ahead of the G7 summit. Also on Albanese’s summit agenda are formal negotiations on joining a new defence agreement with the European Union.
Australian officials were working on plans to potentially help Australians leave Iran and Israel, as missile strikes between the two countries intensified – but foreign minister Penny Wong warned this might not come for some time, due to airspace being closed. Speaking at the Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday afternoon, Wong said the federal government was working on “a range of plans, including a plan for assisted departures when the airspace is open and when it is safe to do so”.
And former world tennis number one Ash Barty welcomed her second child, Jordan. The tennis legend shared a photo of the newborn on Instagram.
Updated
Expect more Chinese ships near Australia in future, defence chief says
Australia’s defence force chief says we can expect more Chinese ships to sail around Australia in the South Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean in the near future.
A Chinese research vessel was sitting off the Victorian coast in March, earlier this year, after sailing from New Zealand. The PM said at the time he “would prefer” that it wasn’t there.
But the defence force chief, Adm David Johnston, says we should expect more, telling a News Corp defence summit that the task group deployments help the Chinese defence force “expand their training”.
He said:
We should expect the Chinese to undertake similar deployments more regularly to the south-west Pacific and Indian Ocean.
These deployments are opportunities to expand their training, improve their operational readiness, and demonstrate their increasing capability.
As they [Chinese military] grow, we’re expecting that they will seek to be able to demonstrate that capability and exert the influence that they believe is in their national interest.
So the task group presence in our waters is a reflection of that increased capacity in the Chinese fleet.
Johnston also says that Defence’s response to that research vessel off the Australian coast in March was “proportionate” and it used “multiple methods to extensively monitor” its movements.
Updated
