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Antonio Albanese says he does not expect the United States to ask Australia for military help against Iran because it is “a long way” away.
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And the Canadian Prime Minister, Marcos CarneyIt will arrive in Australia later today, although the main action of the visit is expected to take place later in the week. He and Albanese are expected to cover a lot of ground in their talks. More details on this soon.
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Key events
Tom McIlroy
The Canadian Prime Minister, Marcos Carneyarrives in Australia today for a three-day official visit, which will include a rare speech to federal parliament.
Carney will visit Sydney and Canberra and hold talks with the Prime Minister. Antonio Albanese. It will be the ninth meeting between both leaders.
They will discuss critical minerals, climate change, economic security and prosperity, and defense cooperation. Canada and Australia have already signed a joint declaration of intent on critical minerals, and the agreement could be improved as part of this week’s visit.
Carney and Albanese are also expected to discuss the growing conflict in Iran, sparked by the weekend bombings by the United States and Israel. Carney has talked about the opportunity for middle powers, including Canada and Australia, to act as a bloc in recent months, as part of a much-discussed speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Carney’s visit will also include an event at the Lowy Institute think tank.
Sara Basford Canales
Memorials in Australia for Aytatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader, are ‘inappropriate’ Antonio Albanese has said.
Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader since 1989, was killed in US and Israeli airstrikes over the weekend in a pre-emptive strike against the country’s ballistic missile program.
On Sunday, thousands of Iranian Australians attended celebration events to mark Khamenei’s death. The Shia Muslim Council of Australia said Iran has “deep religious significance” for its community.
The prime minister said last night on the ABC program at 7.30 that Khamenei should not be mourned. He said:
We in this country have a different approach towards people who have different views than a totalitarian regime like Iran, but our position is very clear, and I am sure it is shared by the overwhelming majority of Australians, including the overwhelming number of Australians of Iranian descent…
I don’t think (memorials are) appropriate. And I certainly think that, overwhelmingly, people won’t participate.
Sara Basford Canales
Prime Minister says he does not expect US to ask for military help in war against Iran
Antonio Albanese He does not believe that the United States government will request military assistance from Australia in its conflict against Iran, pointing out that Australia is “very far away” from the Middle East.
In an interview with the ABC program last night at 7.30, the prime minister said the United States had not requested military assistance and that he did not expect them to do so in the coming days and weeks.
Albanese said:
It is very far from Australia, and Australia is not; We are not big players in the Middle East.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live politics blog. Am Martin Farrer with the best stories overnight and then it will be Krishani Dhanji with the main action.
Antonio Albanese says he does not expect the United States to ask Australia for military help against Iran because it is “a long way” away.
And the Canadian Prime Minister, Marcos CarneyIt will arrive in Australia later today, although the main action of the visit is expected to take place later in the week. He and Albanese are expected to cover a lot of ground in their talks. More details on this soon.
