Here is a look at what is making news around the country today.
Today’s national news includes China’s top diplomat visiting Australia, the Labor government wanting to ‘shut down’ nuclear debate, electricity prices ‘need to go down’ in Australia, and Prime Minister Albanese said he has no plan to copy a move by US legislators to ban TikTok.
Politics
China’s top diplomat to visit Australia
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, will visit Australia and New Zealand from March 17 to 21, Reuters reported. this year marks the 10th anniversary of the strategic partnership between China and Australia, and will also kick off high-level exchanges between China and the two countries. The foreign minister will discuss bilateral relations and common concerns with foreign ministers of the two countries on international and regional issues.
Labor government wants to ‘shut down’ nuclear debate
Liberal MP Keith Wolahan says the Labor government don’t want to have a debate on nuclear energy and wants to “shut it down”, Sky News reports. Mr Wolahan said the Coalition is trying to “have a serious national conversation about the future energy supply” of Australia as the country transitions to a “reliable non-coal-based energy source”. “All of our peers in the world, all of our peers in the G20, have nuclear as part of the mix,” he said. “For some reason, Labor doesn’t even want to have this conversation; they want to shut it down, not even have the debate… Let’s have the serious conversation – let’s remove the ban, let’s see if the market actually will respond.”
Business
Electricity prices ‘need to go down’ in Australia
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says electricity prices “need to go down” in Australia, Sky News has reported. “In Ontario, they’re paying half the cost of what Australians are paying for their electricity because of nuclear power,” the Opposition Leader said. “We know that in the United States at the moment, there are some businesses who are leaving Australia to go and set up their manufacturing plants there. “I want to bring the price of electricity down.”
Social media
PM Anthony Albanese won’t ban TikTok
Prime Minister Albanese said he has no plan to copy a move by US legislators to ban TikTok unless it agrees to divest from its Chinese owner. Australia banned TikTok from government devices in April 2023—the last member of the secretive Five Eyes security alliance to do so after the US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. “We don’t use TikTok on government phones and that is an appropriate measure that we’ve put in place,” Mr Albanese said. The prime minister also said he was looking forward to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Canberra next week. Australia’s trade relations with China have improved since Mr Albanese’s centre-left Labor Party won government in 2022, adopting a less confrontational tone than the previous conservative government.
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/australia-pm-rules-out-us-style-tiktok-ban
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