G20’S ‘DISAPPOINTING’ UKRAINE CONSENSUS
Numerous G20 leaders have expressed their disappointment at the statement put out at the summit in Brazil regarding the Ukraine war, while Russia has accused the US of trying to escalate the 1,000-day conflict.
On Tuesday, Kyiv launched US-supplied long-range missiles at a target inside Russia for the first time, BBC reports. The strike targeted the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, with five missiles shot down and one damaged, Russia’s defence ministry said. Fragments of the damaged missile are reported to have caused a fire at a military facility in the region.
Speaking at the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov said: “That Atacms [Army Tactical Missile System] was used repeatedly overnight against Bryansk Region is of course a signal that they [the US] want escalation. And without the Americans, use of these high-tech missiles, as Putin has said many times, is impossible.
“We will be taking this as a renewed face of the Western war against Russia and we will react accordingly,” he told a press conference, adding Moscow would “proceed from the understanding” that the missiles were operated by “American military experts”, the BBC flags.
The Sydney Morning Herald highlights Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese put his name to a joint declaration calling for ceasefire in Gaza and a peace deal in Ukraine on Monday but leaders were split on how to end the conflicts and G20 statements require a consensus among members.
The AFR reports the final declaration stated simply: “Specifically concerning the war in Ukraine, while recalling our discussions in New Delhi, we highlight the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth.”
The Independent reports a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said of the leaders’ statement: “It is disappointing. It is not unexpected, given the G20 obviously brings together a range of countries who have differing views. Not least, it includes representatives of the Russian government in attendance.
“So, as I say, it is disappointing, but not unexpected, and we would compare it to the G7 statement at the weekend which reiterated our strong and unwavering support for Ukraine. Russia remains the sole obstacle to a just and lasting peace.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said of the statement: “No, it’s not strong enough for me,” CBC News reports.
With regards to Australia’s position on the ongoing conflict, Albanese is quoted by the SMH as saying: “Our position is very, very clear, which is that Mr Putin could end this conflict today by withdrawing … into his own borders. That is in the interest of the international rule of law. And the comments that were made today at the G20 were consistent across the board. Almost every speaker — obviously with the exception of Mr Lavrov and perhaps one or two others — almost every speaker mentioned in their contributions their opposition to Russia’s actions, which make it an international pariah.”
Lavrov has been representing Russia at the summit in the place of Putin, the paper highlights. The Russian president, like incoming US president Donald Trump, has dominated discussions despite not being present.
On Tuesday, the Kremlin approved changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, setting out new conditions under which it would consider using its nuclear arsenal, the BBC flags. The doctrine now declares an attack from a non-nuclear state, if backed by a nuclear power, will be treated as a joint assault.
CLEAN ENERGY AND PAY GAP
As the discussions on a range of topics come to an end at the G20, the AAP flags Australia is promoting itself as an attractive place for renewable energy investment if Trump scales back green energy subsidies and incentives once he is sworn into office in January. The newswire flags the 78-year-old has pledged to repeal outgoing US President Joe Biden’s flagship climate legislation.
Industry Minister Ed Husic is quoted as saying that if the US Inflation Reduction Act was repealed by Trump “there will still be firms that are over there that might move to other locations where the jurisdiction is a lot more open to investment in that space. We’re [Australia] in the prime position … this is a great opportunity for us. It’s not just solar and wind. I think the developments in hydrogen and battery storage and manufacture here.”
Yesterday, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles clarified Australia would not be joining a US and UK-led deal to accelerate civilian nuclear energy development, the ABC reports.
The UK government had initially said Australia was one of the 10 countries “expected” to join the plan, but as Guardian Australia flags, the statement was later amended and all nations named were removed.
Meanwhile, the site and numerous other publications are flagging Australia’s gender pay gap following the release of new data. Figures from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency show the average total remuneration gender pay gap stands at 21.8%, down 0.6% compared to last year, with women earning 78c for every dollar men make, AAP reports.
Guardian Australia flags female CEOs in Australia are paid an average of $170,000 less than their male counterparts, while the ABC says yesterday marked the day women effectively start working for free for the rest of the year.
Today the federal government is set to announce new legislation requiring organisations with more than 500 employees to set measurable targets in improving gender equality in their workplaces, Guardian Australia adds.
Meanwhile, today is the Australian Institute’s Go Home on Time Day highlighting unpaid overtime.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
Firefighters have had to drain a swimming pool to rescue a pregnant cow.
A spokeswoman for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service said the cow “had checked herself in for a spa day. The only problem is, she couldn’t check herself out”, the BBC reports.
Ian Blackburn, from Ketton, Rutland in England, was on the phone when he was told about his surprise visitor.
“The doorbell went — I was on the phone at the time to a friend — and Andy the farmer was at the door,” the broadcaster quotes him as saying.
“As I opened the door he said ‘have you looked in your pool recently?’, and I said ‘no, why?’, and he said ‘well, there’s a cow in it’. It’s not every day that you spend three or four hours trying to recover a beast from the pool.”
After the pool was drained, the cow was winched out using a harness. The animal is said to “fit and well” after its ordeal.
Say What?
It has taken longer than I would have liked but we can’t waste a day.
Don Farrell
The special minister of state reckons there isn’t a second to spare in getting the government’s electoral reform bill, which won’t come into force until the middle of 2026, rushed through Parliament and passed into law by the end of next week. Guardian Australia highlights the bill has sparked outrage from independents and the crossbench.
CRIKEY RECAP
Even as the “what Donald Trump’s victory means for Peter Dutton” takes are being written, Dutton’s most Trumpian moment yet drew little comment yesterday. The Coalition’s decision to oppose Labor’s foreign student caps isn’t merely in contrast to Dutton’s heated rhetoric on migration, it’s cut and pasted from Trump’s own playbook. It was Trump who early this year demanded congressional Republicans veto any legislation that might have enabled the Biden administration to curb cross-border flows of illegal immigrants — enabling Trump to campaign against Biden’s failings on illegal migration.
Dutton isn’t merely calling for substantial migration cuts, of course — he made the absurd claim that foreign students were the modern equivalent of boat arrivals. Clearly, like Trump, he wants to be able to campaign against Labor on immigration unhindered by any government attempts to reduce migration. In that, he’s aided by the Greens, who are clothing their opposition to the foreign student cap in the garb of anti-racism but know perfectly well that their electoral success is also tied to keeping migration high — which will in turn put pressure on rents and house prices, which the Greens exploit to appeal to younger voters. The Greens have no more interest than Dutton in actually solving issues like housing affordability.
Dutton’s perfect mimicry of Trump, and his rank hypocrisy, drew no comment from the very ordinary federal press gallery that only last week was wondering how Dutton would seek to replicate Trump’s win.
The eSafety commissioner’s response to the official announcement of the ban again avoided endorsing the policy. A media release welcomed “the government’s leadership on this issue” but only “acknowledged” the policy itself, signalling its lack of support. (In contrast, a May eSafety media release for the government’s age assurance trial “welcomes” the initiative.)
An eSafety spokesperson told Crikey that the office will continue to run its services “unchanged”, including its cyberbullying scheme and codes and standards, and will still produce education resources for young Australians.
“Even with the potential introduction of age restrictions, it’s essential that we continue supporting parents in playing an active role in their children’s online lives. Conversations between parents and children about online safety are irreplaceable, helping to set boundaries and address issues when they arise,” they said in an email.
Argentina’s President Javier Milei has “assumed anti-climate positions in the past” and previously accused the UN of trying to “impose an ideological agenda”, CNN reported.
“The first few days, especially, there was a bit of anxiety around what a Trump White House might mean for the Paris agreement and the global climate mitigation and adaptation efforts,” Monash University COP Taskforce co-chair Matthew French, who was present at the first week of the summit, told Crikey.
“But there was a very clear attempt by the US delegation to reaffirm Biden’s leadership and [to urge people] not to be defeatist about COP29 outcomes.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Vulgar content in the Sesame Street time slot: How Kyle and Jackie O skirt decency laws (Guardian Australia)
Musk, top Trump adviser clash over Cabinet picks (Axios)
Russia’s Tatyana Tomashova stripped of London 2012 medal in Olympics’ ‘dirtiest race’ (The Independent)
More than 40,000 protest New Zealand Maori rights bill (al-Jazeera)
Gisèle Pelicot condemns rape accused and says French society must change (BBC)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Labor’s caps on international students are on the brink of defeat. Will they now act in the national interest? — George Williams (Guardian Australia): An opportunity now exists to pause, reconsider and put the issue beyond the election, enabling a sober assessment that genuinely examines the national interest. This should include looking at the appropriate levels of migration, the role of international education and the enormous benefits international students bring to Australia.
The student cap wasn’t subject to proper consultation.
For a policy change ostensibly designed to ease the pressure on the nation’s housing crisis, the international student cap failed to take into account differentiation on things such as housing in city, suburban and regional areas, skills shortages and community impact.
Joe Biden has provoked Putin but this is not World War Three — Patrick Cockburn (The i Paper): The Kremlin says that US permission for the missiles to be fired into Russia adds “fuel to the fire”. Nevertheless, Russia has no reason to resort to direct retaliatory military action against NATO states, still less the use of nuclear weapons. The war is going in Russia’s favour militarily, since it is slowly advancing, and politically, following the election victory of Donald Trump.
Permitting the Ukrainians to use the Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) with a range of 190 miles is not going to make a decisive impact on the military balance between Ukraine and Russia. It is being portrayed by the Biden administration as a response to a Russian escalation of the conflict when it deployed North Korean ground troops.
As regards the military effect of the missiles, Russia is reported to have moved its most vulnerable high-value targets, such as aircraft and ammunition dumps further east and out of range of the missiles. Given that Russia has the capability to shoot down some of the missiles, much will depend on the number of missiles provided.
