Morning Mail: Labor group’s alarm at US military in Australia; food price warnings amid El Niño; and Radiohead return

The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, told the Senate the US military presence in the country is ‘at Australia’s invitation’, and that the defence sites were ‘Australian bases under Australian command’. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

Good morning. While the government has defended the growing presence of the US military in Australia, the Labor Against War group is urging it to chart a foreign policy independent “from the American war machine”.

There are warnings the impacts of the predicted record-strength El Niño weather event could spill into supermarket aisles by increasing food prices for Australian households already struggling to make ends meet.