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Albanese and Marape sign defence treatyAnthony Albanese is now speaking in Canberra after signing the defence agreement with PNG’s prime minister James Marape.Albanese mentions he was in Port Moresby for the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea’s independence. He continues:
Today, with the signing of the Pukpuk treaty, the Papua New Guinea-Australia mutual defence treaty, we commit ourselves to securing and shaping our future together. 50 years ago, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam hailed Sir Michael Samari’s vision for independence as, to quote him, “an idea whose time had come”. When Prime Minister Marape first came to me for this I knew that this was an idea whose time had come.
This treaty elevates the relationship between our two nations to the status of an alliance. It is Australia’s first new alliance in more than 70 years and only the third in our history, along with our alliances with the United States of America and New Zealand.
The treaty contains a mutual defence obligation similar to Australia’s Anzus treaty, Albanese says, in which “we declare in the event of an armed attack on either of our country, we would both act to meet the common danger”.ShareUpdated at 02.28 BSTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureTransparency promised over PNG and Australia treatyThe two prime ministers are first asked how the treaty would work in the event of another Bougainville crisis.PNG PM James Marape said there will be clarity in the legislation put to the PNG parliament that it will be a demilitarised zone, and no stepping into Bougainville for defence or police. On local opposition criticism of the pact and whether it would survive a change of government, Marape said there will be a parliamentary ratification process, with transparency and full disclosure to all in PNG and in Australia as to what the treaty entails.
The opposition leader is most welcome to comment on this matter.
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the treaty is “lifting our relationship to the next level”.
We will release today the full text of the treaty. We will be transparent, both of our parliaments will go through the processes which are there but this has been done in a very orderly way and I think it will be very much considered after the prime minister and I have gone from maybe not from this world… But our respective positions. This will be looked at as something that was very much in the interests of both of our nations and in the interest of the region.
SharePNG-Australia treaty ‘a historic moment’, James Marape saysPNG prime minister James Marape, speaking after Albanese, said the signing of the treaty was a “historic moment”.Marape continued:
I want to say thank you very much Prime Minister Albanese. My brother, my friend. You accepted the proposal from our government to enter into this treaty. It is a landmark for our two nations …
This treaty was not conceived out of geopolitics or any other reason. But out of geography, history and the enduring reality of our shared neighbourhood. It is about one bigger fence that secures two houses that has its own yard space. It is in this construct that we’re going about in signing this treaty.
Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea’s prime minister James Marape sign a defence treaty at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 6 October, 2025. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShareUpdated at 02.32 BSTAs part of the treaty, Albanese says, both nations have agreed not to undertake any activities or enter into any agreements that would compromise its implementation.ShareAlbanese and Marape sign defence treatyAnthony Albanese is now speaking in Canberra after signing the defence agreement with PNG’s prime minister James Marape.Albanese mentions he was in Port Moresby for the 50th anniversary of Papua New Guinea’s independence. He continues:
Today, with the signing of the Pukpuk treaty, the Papua New Guinea-Australia mutual defence treaty, we commit ourselves to securing and shaping our future together. 50 years ago, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam hailed Sir Michael Samari’s vision for independence as, to quote him, “an idea whose time had come”. When Prime Minister Marape first came to me for this I knew that this was an idea whose time had come.
This treaty elevates the relationship between our two nations to the status of an alliance. It is Australia’s first new alliance in more than 70 years and only the third in our history, along with our alliances with the United States of America and New Zealand.
The treaty contains a mutual defence obligation similar to Australia’s Anzus treaty, Albanese says, in which “we declare in the event of an armed attack on either of our country, we would both act to meet the common danger”.ShareUpdated at 02.28 BSTPrime ministers Albanese and Marape are signing the Pukpuk treaty, which is described in the ceremony as an agreement to “support each other’s defence and contribute to a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous.”ShareUpdated at 02.17 BSTAdam MortonAustralian bird of the year: an avian popularity contest with a deeper purposeBird of the year is an antidote to an increasingly grim news cycle, and a celebration of Australia’s extraordinary and unique native wildlife. But it’s also a numbers game.Taking history as a guide, more than 300,000 votes could be lodged over nine days, starting at 1am AEDT on 6 October, as people from across the globe vote for their favourite Australian bird species for 2025.The victorious aviator (assuming it is a bird that flies – likely, but not guaranteed) will be elevated alongside previous winners: the Australian magpie, the black-throated finch, the superb fairy-wren and 2023’s champion, the swift parrot.Australia has about 850 native bird species. Nearly half are not found anywhere else on the planet. That total has been whittled down to 50 for this year’s voting, based in part on thousands of reader nominations.While you are thinking about how to vote, read more here about some of the other numbers you might like to consider:ShareUpdated at 02.09 BSTWe’re expecting the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, James Marape, to speak to media about the new defence treaty shortly.ShareHere’s how to vote in the 2025 Australian bird of the year pollIn exciting news, you can now vote in the 2025 Australian bird of the year poll! Matilda Boseley explains how the voting works, while definitely not at all encouraging you to vote for a particular bird.Voting is open in the 2025 Australian bird of the year poll. Here’s how to vote – videoShareUpdated at 01.12 BSTWith the news of the completion of the final station of Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel, here’s something we prepared earlier on “the biggest change to Melbourne’s rail network since 1981”.Eight storeys beneath Melbourne: first look inside the city’s new metro stations – videoShareBenita KolovosJacinta Allan says Metro Tunnel next step is to add it to rest of networkJacinta Allan said the next step before the Metro tunnel opens is rewriting the city’s entire transport timetable – trains, trams and buses – to make way for it. She says this is one of the key difference between Melbourne’s Metro and Sydney’s, which opened last year.Allan said:
That Sydney Metro project, it’s a great project. It’s a great public transport project as well. That’s a standalone line – it runs on its own line. It doesn’t have to intersect with the rest of its network. That adds to the complexity here with the Metro Tunnel in terms of how we connect it in to the rest of Melbourne and Victoria’s train network.
Allan also used the opportunity to have a dig at the Liberal party, who she says called the project a “cruel hoax” when it was first proposed more than a decade a go.She continued:
They said it would be an absolute disaster for Melbourne. And worse than that, not only were they critics of it, when they were in government, they refused to fund the Metro tunnel project.
Well Labor, not only did we fund it, we’ve been building it, we’re delivering it, and it’s going to open later this year, a full year ahead of schedule. And we’ve done this because we’ve understood that when you look to the future of our great city and state, you need to invest, work through the complexities of projects like this and, yes, I can say very clearly, there were challenges along the way, you’ve got to roll up your sleeves.
ShareUpdated at 01.06 BSTBenita KolovosVictorian premier hails new State Library stationThe Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, and infrastructure minister, Gabrielle Williams, are holding a press conference at State Library station to mark the completion of construction.State Library station is the final of five stations to make up the Metro Tunnel and Allan says it was one of the most complex of the project. She continues:
Here at State Library, we can see the size of the cavern that’s been excavated here, the width of the platforms at 18m – they are amongst the longest in the in the world. There are 27 escalators, including one that’s the longest also in the world, because we are deep beneath the ground.
Here at State Library, we are six storeys deep beneath the ground, or if you like, that’s deeper than the height of Marvel Stadium. And that, I hope, gives a sense of this huge, complex construction task that was before the thousand of workers who’ve worked around the clock over that eight year period.
ShareUpdated at 01.00 BSTMoreton Island fire caused by campfire, RFS saysA holidaymaker could be charged after allegedly lighting a campfire during a total fire ban, sparking the massive blaze on Queensland’s Moreton Island over the weekend, AAP reports.Rural Fire Service Queensland Acting Chief Supt Neil Parker said the cause of the blaze was a campfire at Eagers Creek, on the island’s eastern coast.Parker told AAP:
When careless things like this happen, it has a big impact, particularly on our volunteers who go out at all hours of the night to keep our community safe.
As we reported earlier, the fire’s warning level was downgraded this morning to “advice” level after firefighters worked over the weekend to contain it.ShareUpdated at 00.53 BSTPenry Buckley‘It sounded considered’: Croydon Park witness on gunfireReturning to the alleged shooting incident in Sydney’s inner west last night, Matt Iocco, who lives locally, arrived in the area at about 8pm to find the road blocked off. He and his family waited at one end of the street as the police operation unfolded. He shared a video in which a burst of gunfire can be heard.Iocco, who works at the vet next door to the apartment the gunman allegedly opened fire from, said “it is very scary” to think what could have happened if he had been walking through only minutes earlier.Michelle Baldock was at home across the street about 7.30pm when she heard what she thought were firecrackers. She says the shots were going off in bursts. “It sounded considered,” she says.Baldock says her home didn’t appear to have sustained any damage, but there are visible bullet-holes in the windows in the home of her neighbours, who Baldock says are a family with young children.NSW Ambulance has confirmed that five people were taken to hospital last night. One, a taxi driver in his 50s, self-presented at Canterbury hospital and was transported to Royal Prince Alfred hospital in a serious condition. A man and a woman, both in their 30s, self-presented at Campsie police station last night with minor injuries and were taken to hospital. Two more men were treated at the scene on Georges River Road before being taken to hospital.ShareUpdated at 00.42 BSTAustralia and PNG to sign major defence treatyDan Jervis-BardyAustralia and Papua New Guinea will ink a major defence agreement in Canberra on Monday to entrench ties between the two countries.The PNG prime minister, James Marape, will join Anthony Albanese in Parliament House later this morning to officially sign the Pukpuk mutual defence treaty.The treaty will elevate Australia’s relations with PNG to the same status as the US and New Zealand, and includes provisions requiring that both countries come to the other’s aid in the event of a military attack.James Marape, prime minister of Papua New Guinea (top left) joins Australian PM Anthony Albanese at the 2025 NRL grand final on 5 October in Sydney. Photograph: Darrian Traynor/Getty ImagesIt will also allow citizens of the two nations to serve in the other’s military, paving the way for potentially thousands of PNG residents to join the Australian Defence Force.The treaty was expected to be signed last month when Albanese travelled to Port Moresby for the 50th anniversary of PNG’s independence but concerns over sovereignty and the lack of a quorum in Marape’s cabinet held up the deal.ShareUpdated at 00.39 BSTAward-winning porridge jafflesIf the thought of porridge jaffles with rum bananas tickles your fancy, you’re in luck: the Golden Spurtle website has Caroline Velik’s prize-winning recipe, which makes use of a jaffle iron – the modern incarnation of which is an Australian invention, and food history enthusiasts trace it to a Bondi man in 1949.ShareUpdated at 00.16 BST
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