Witness News Australia

19/04/2026

Katherine Neaves of the Conservation Council of WA reports ...........

Last month, I stood with 3,000 people in Perth/Boorloo’s CBD calling for an end to forest mining in WA.

Looking around at the crowd, it was (and is) abundantly clear that Western Australians want the world’s only Jarrah forests protected.

As a campaigner with the Conservation Council of WA I have seen the scale of destruction of Alcoa's operations first hand.

This is a US-based company that has already bulldozed over 28,000 hectares of the Northern Jarrah Forest, largely out of public view and behind closed doors.

Alcoa’s bauxite mining is pushing species to the brink and, in a changing climate, increasing the risk of its ecological collapse.

Yet Alcoa wants to continue with its destruction, proposing to clear tens of thousands of hectares more.

Add your name to End to Forest Mining

The Northern Jarrah Forests are being destroyed by bauxite mining, which is now the leading cause of deforestation in the Southwest. When these forests are mined they don’t come back, ever. We must act now to protect them for future generations. Together, we can end forest mining.

13/03/2026

Last week, reports emerged that three Australian crew were aboard a US submarine when it torpedoed an Iranian ship, killing more than 80 people and apparently leaving the survivors to drown.

The Australians were on the submarine as part of the AUKUS security pact. And despite Prime Minister Albanese insisting they had not “participated in any offensive action against Iran”, this distinction matters little when the war itself is wrong – something this government has been unwilling to say.

12/03/2026

Time is running out for the WA jarrah forest, and Alcoa has just been granted a ‘national interest exemption’ to continue clearing whilst under assessment.

Forests across the country, including the Northern Jarrah Forest, are facing threats including mining and logging. Native forest logging has ended in WA, but deforestation persists with bauxite mining now the lead cause of deforestation in the Southwest.

05/03/2026

This morning the Albanese Government pulled its controversial freedom of information (FOI) bill that would have limited Australians’ right to access Government information – after Liberal, National, Greens and Independent Senators banded together to oppose it.

The bill went directly against the findings of the Robodebt Royal Commission, which recommended more openness around Cabinet documents – not less. The Government planned to ban anonymous requests, charge fees on FOI requests and make government documents harder to access.

28/02/2026

There is growing concern about proposals to build a Trump-branded tower in Surfers Paradise. Beyond issues of over-development, environmental impact, and pressure on local infrastructure, many residents are deeply uncomfortable with the Trump brand and what it represents.

The Trump administration has pursued immigration policies and actions that many Australians view as inhumane, discriminatory, and fundamentally opposed to democratic and constitutional principles. These actions do not reflect the values we stand for in Australia.

Stop the Proposed Trump Tower Development on the Gold Coast

14/02/2026

A recent US congressional report on AUKUS has given us more updates on the state of the deal than our own government has provided. And the news isn’t good.

It reminded us that the US can decide to not sell any nuclear submarines to Australia, despite our eagerness to hand over $368bn of Australian taxpayer dollars. We have already paid the US and the British over $4 billion (with another $4 billion to come) so that they can fix their shipyards, and, we don't get any of our money back.

Despite its detail, the report is unclear on how much money Australia has already handed over or where it’s gone. This egregious lack of transparency continues to define this deal so obviously not in Australia’s public interest.

24/01/2026

Breaking news — the Land and Environment Court of NSW granted the Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC), the right to join proceedings in defence of the Independent Planning Commission’s (IPC) refusal of the Redbank Power Station restart.

Last year, the IPC refused the Redbank restart after considering substantial community feedback and expert evidence on climate, environmental and social impacts.

Energy company Verdant Earth Technologies has appealed that refusal. The company is seeking to use the retired coal-fired power station near Singleton in NSW to burn up to 500,000 tonnes of native vegetation a year to produce energy.

The appeal is a merits appeal, meaning the Court will determine the application afresh and may consider new evidence. Today’s order means NCC can join the case as a respondent to ensure the community’s concerns about environmental harm are strongly argued before the court.

22/01/2026

As public concerns over the AUKUS alliance rise – with expanding US bases in Australia and Donald Trump’s belligerent conduct, FOI documents reveal the Government is secretly expanding its ‘US Department of War Protest’ Force. Rex Patrick reports.

Most people won’t be aware that the Australian Federal Police (AFP) has established a new command.
Headed by Commissioner Krissy Barrett, our national police force is made up of five regional commands (Northern, Eastern, Central, Southern and Western) and a number of functional commanders dealing variously with crime, fraud and corruption, cyber operations, counter-terrorism and special investigations, and protective security. No surprises there – the AFP structure is well established and pretty much what you would expect.

But now there’s a new AFP “AUKUS Command”, established with little fanfare and headed by AFP Assistant Commissioner Sandra Booth.

AUKUS Command’s roles are centred on security for the AUKUS nuclear submarine project and interestingly include ‘Public Order Management’, but its mandate is much broader than protecting nuclear submarines.

MWM’s Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the AFP, amongst other things, sought access to documents that show the terms of reference, functions and responsibilities of AUKUS Command and Documents held by AUKUS Command that relate to potential political opposition and/or protest activity relating to the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine project.

The AFP’s FOI response came in late and was covered with large swaths of black ink redacting most of the information, but enough has been revealed to show that the Government is boosting its capability to deal with anticipated political protest activities against a much expanded US military and intelligence presence in Australia.

AUKUS Protection
AUKUS Command starts with a “permanent AFP horizontal security overlay” set up at HMAS Stirling (near Perth) to “support the Australian nuclear submarine program under the AUKUS initiative”.

Protecting HMAS Stirling (Source: FOI)
The set-up in some part replicates the US Department of Energy’s Nuclear Protective Forces and the UK’s Ministry of Defence Special Es**rt Group.

The AFP AUKUS Command will initially conduct AUKUS protective security work, including waterborne and remotely piloted aircraft escorting of US Navy, Royal Navy and (eventually, maybe) Royal Australian Navy submarines in and out of waters around the base.

Submarines berthing at HMAS Stirling have to do a lengthy and protest-vulnerable surfaced transit through Gage Roads to get to/from the deep water north-west of Rottnest Island.

The AUKUS Command has established a rapid response capability and is prepared for public order management operations.
Officers in the AUKUS Command are trained in rapid appraisal, coxswaining, jet ski operation, remote piloting of aircraft and countering remotely piloted aircraft, protestor negotiation techniques, protestor removal techniques and “public order management munitions delivery”.
Initially, at least, the Command will comprise four teams, a ready reaction team and a canine unit.

Nuclear protestors will not be tolerated .............................
Although anti-nuclear protests focused on visiting US Navy nuclear powered submarines have so far been small in scale, the AFP has likely been alerted to the possibilities of larger scale water-borne protest by the “Rising Tide” environmental actions at Australia’s largest coal export terminal at Newcastle.

Protest groups involved in those activities have already been subject to close scrutiny by the AFP and New South Wales Police.

In any case, it’s clear that the Australian Government and the AFP are determined to demonstrate to the United States and the United Kingdom that there will be no tolerating protest activity that might impede or delay the movement of American and British submarines stationed at HMAS Stirling as part of the AUKUS Submarine Rotational Force – West.

It turns out that protecting nuclear submarines is only part of the AUKUS Command’s responsibilities.
The first giveaway as to the much broader purpose of the Command is the fact that a July 25, 2025, Memorandum of Understanding signed by Assistant Commissioner Booth was between the AFP and, not the Australian Submarine Agency, but the Department of Defence.

The previously secret AFP documents released under FOI show that the AFP AUKUS Command will have strategic responsibility for delivery of protective security services to “specified Defence bases) under the Defence MOU, with a significant focus on building and supporting a future-ready Protective Security Officer workforce.

The documents do not reveal which Defence bases, but the FOI request did capture emails between Assistant Commissioner Booth and other AFP officers dealing with a protest that took place last year at Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap, the top-secret signals intelligence facility near Alice Springs that’s operated by the US National Security Agency, the US National Reconnaissance Office and the Australian Signals Directorate.

Major upgrades are taking place at a number of other Australian Defence Force facilities to accommodate an expanded US military presence in Northern and Western Australia.
Significant works have also been underway at Australian intelligence facilities, including a major perimeter security upgrade and installation of new satellite dishes at the ASD’s Shoal Bay Receiving Station, nineteen kilometres north-east of Darwin.

As the US defence and intelligence footprint expands, it’s likely that the AUKUS Command’s security and “public order management” responsibilities will be quite wide-ranging.

As public concerns rise over nuclear issues, it’s very likely the arrival of the US submarine rotational force at HMAS Stirling, the increasing disposition of US forces around Australia and the abandoning by the US of a ‘rules-based order’ will lead to more protests.

The Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Outlook (MYEFO) handed down in December showed an allocation to the AFP AUKUS Command of $73.8 million in this financial year and $125.2 million in the next.
The expenditure publication was unusual, given that the Government thinks it is entirely appropriate to wra AUKUS costs in total secrecy. Indeed, even in this release, cost information in the MOU was redacted.

It is accepted that some things around nuclear submarines are properly confidential. But the Australian Government has been wrapping a thick secrecy blanket over everything to do with AUKUS; absolutely everything.

As an FOI related transparency fight goes on in background, including in the Federal Court where this writer is trying to get access to documents that advise the government on how to select a high-level radioactive waste site, the Government has (in contrast to the US and UK) refused to allow for an inquiry into this bankrupting Defence capability.

Instead of bringing the Australian public along with them, instead of generating social licence for the project, instead of being up front about the integration of the Australian Defence Force into the US Armed Forces at a time when Australians are struggling with confidence in the US, opaqueness is the order of the day for the Government.

And now, for good measure, there’s a whole new AFP command to keep a lid on the secrets and to crack down on public protests.

Rex Patrick
Rex Patrick is a former Senator for South Australia and, earlier, a submariner in the armed forces. Best known as an anti-corruption and transparency crusader, Rex is also known as the "Transparency Warrior."

16/01/2026

Emma Shortis of The Australia Institute ([email protected])
reports ........................

The message isn’t subtle. Trump’s illegal attack on oil-rich Venezuela, the abduction of President Maduro, and follow-up threats to Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, and Mexico, are a show of dominance – and of true colours.

This is a violent revival of American empire, and it doesn’t stop with Venezuela. No leader is safe. Alliances mean nothing. International lawlessness is the new operating paradigm, not just for the U.S. but for its competitors, China and Russia.

The precedent they’ve set here applies everywhere. Including to the United States’ traditional allies (yes, that means us). Trump’s America will intervene where and when it chooses.

A world without international law is not a safer world. Without rules, there can be no stability, security, or prosperity. And the consequences won’t be abstract – they are already being borne by innocent people across the world.

This moment should force Australia to reconsider the terms of its alignment with Trump’s “America-first” U.S.

The AUKUS deal is now the centrepiece of this alliance: a deal born in secrecy and haste and will cost taxpayers at least $368bn to build nuclear submarines for the U.S. with zero guarantee of a single submarine for Australia.

A parliamentary inquiry into AUKUS would examine the real risks – to our economy, sovereignty, security, and government transparency – before we sink even more public money into the deal.

31/12/2025

This week the Albanese Government finally acknowledged what Australia Institute research has shown for a decade – Australia doesn’t have a gas supply problem, we have a gas export problem.

For years, the gas industry has spun a disinformation campaign to convince us there is not enough gas for Australian households and businesses... all while they exported 80% of our gas offshore.

Gas is bad for the land and bad for climate. But gas exports have also been an economic disaster for Australia. Multinational companies have price gouged us for our own gas, making billions off it and paying virtually no tax.

The Albanese Government’s announcement is a first step to ending this free ride for the gas industry.

18/12/2025

Editorial - Bondi Massacre

Two years ago the government had legislation ready which would have strengthened Australia's gun laws. Still not passed.

There was more than 1,000 people on Bondi Beach to celebrate Hanukkah. Only three police were assigned to watch over the event. The first two people to die were a couple who intervened when they saw a gun being taken out of a car. No police. A Syrian born man disarmed a gunman and was subsequently wounded by another gunman. No police. A rabbi was then killed after he threw a rock at the retreating gunman. No police.

Our Australian police once again prove themselves to be ineffective. They're always reactive instead of being proactive.

The Australian Prime Minister made one visit to the flower memorial for the fallen. Under the cover of darkness to avoid protesters.
This is typical of the inept cowardice of many world leaders which permitted the HAMAS attack on Israel to occur and the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

HAMAS and Palestinian terrorist supporters were permitted to rally on the steps of Sydney's opera house during which there was a stream of anti-semitic hate speeches and the Israeli flag was burned. Nothing was done to stop that happening and no-one has been prosecuted as a result.

These are the people/organisation responsible for the Bondi massacre:

- The murdering gunmen
- The anti-semitic hate preachers
- The inept politicians
- The inept police
- Our weak court system
- All the ignorance Australian people who support the HAMAS loving people of Gaza and Palestinian terrorists.

18/12/2025

AUKUS meets reality – what's not in the AUSMIN Media Release (Part 1) - December 16, 2025

Despite official assurances, the US submarine program is falling well short of its own targets, raising serious doubts about whether Australia will ever receive the Virginia class submarines promised under AUKUS.

From the media announcements, all is well, we are ‘ full steam ahead’ on AUKUS (quite symbolic; a submarine at full speed is relatively noisy and less aware of its surroundings!)

The reality from the waterfront is that the US president of the day in 2031 will not have any surplus submarines and not be able to legally sign off on the sale of the first of three to five Virginia class submarines to Australia under today’s laws legislated by the US Congress. This decision will leave Australia dependent on the delivery of the yet to be designed, British SSN AUKUS, that is also not progressing well. More of that in Part II.

How is the US side of the deal going?

The Pentagon’s review of the AUKUS Pillar 1 program has been delivered, and we are told it provides ‘changes to put AUKUS on the strongest footing’. The report will not be published so we may never know what those changes entail, or what the implications for Australian sovereignty might be – so much for transparency with the Australian people!

It is expected the report will lay down deadlines for the UK and Australia to meet as pre conditions for any sale of Virginias – that could be an improvement if they force us to confront reality earlier, a chance missed by this compromised Pentagon review. Rumour has it that the report had to be amended several times, probably indicating differences between the Pentagon realists, managing real world inventories of submarines and the dynamics of political direction from the White House.

The US’ submarine building program remains well short of its target of two Virginia class submarines per year, (2.33 if it is to replace those to be sold to Australia).

The USS Iowa was commissioned in April 2025, The Massachusetts and Idaho have both completed sea trials and should be commissioned early in 2026. All will then have taken over five years, (the average is 67 months) from laying down to commissioning. This is a respectable time, unlikely to be improved upon for the final two Block IVs given the workload growth noted below.

Allowing for a similar construction time, the final two Block IV SSNs, Utah and Arkansas should commission in 2027 and 2028 respectively. At that point, in 2028, the US will have commissioned 28 Virginia class submarines, over a period of 24 years; an average of 1.2 per year. This is a shortfall of over 19 SSNs compared to the target of two per year – that much can be fairly reliably predicted.

Four of the planned 10 Block V submarines which follow, have been laid down. They are 31 per cent larger and more complex than the Block IV and will take longer to build.

The shipyards’ priority is construction of the 12 x 20,810 tons, Columbia class ballistic missile submarines, two of which are currently under construction. The pace of this program will increase from 2028, with a target of an additional submarine laid down each year. Both shipyards have earlier reported diverting effort from Virginia construction to try and recover slippage in this program.

How long the overstretched shipyards will take to construct the second priority, larger, Block V Virginia class submarines remains to be seen. A prediction based on allowing 30 per cent longer than it took to build the latest 3 Block IV, ie 87 months, would have Oklahoma, Arizona and Tang commissioning in 2030.

With three in one year, things are improving, but overall, that is 31 Virginia class in 26 years, 1.19 per year and 21 short of the target of two per year. Then, using the same basis for prediction, a two-year gap until Barb commissions in 2033.

Time will tell how close these predications are, but we can safely say that the US is nowhere near achieving the target of two Virginias commissioned per year. Further, the 2.33 target, needed to replace capability should submarines be sold to Australia, is completely unattainable prior to 2032 – sufficient submarines have not been laid down.

No additional Block IV Virginia class submarines have been laid down to replace any that might be sold to Australia, a telling indication of US intentions?

Whatever spin is applied to the Pentagon review, it remains highly unlikely that the US will agree to sell some 10 per cent of its frontline Virginia class SSNs to Australia, against the backdrop of shortfalls in its program and the strategic situation.

That will leave Australia without submarines to cover the gap between the retirement of the Collins Class and the arrival of the British designed, SSN AUKUS.

Peter Briggs
(Peter Briggs retired from the RAN in 2001 after a 40-year career, specialising in submarines.)