Australia News LIVE: Queen’s Jubilee celebrations; Wong continues Pacific visits; Government faces energy crisis
Key posts
- Flags, pomp and ceremony: All the colour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee launch
- Beijing puts more Pacific countries offside as Penny Wong tours region
- Good morning
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Flags, pomp and ceremony: All the colour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee launch
Happy and glorious they were. Hundreds of thousands of Britons lined the streets to kickstart four days of partying fit for the Queen.
Royal fans young and old waved flags, sang God Save The Queen and held handmade signs over the barriers. One simply said, “thank you”.
Queen Elizabeth watches from the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Trooping the Colour.Credit:AP
Cheers from delighted revellers echoed for miles, bouncing off historic buildings and at times drowning out the marching bands. Some people gathered under the leafy elms had American accents, some had Japanese. So many had travelled from overseas just to get a glimpse of the woman of the moment.
She may not be their queen, but at a time like this, she belongs to the world.
And she did not disappoint. Keeping with her mantra that one has to be seen to be believed, she appeared twice on Buckingham Palace’s balcony in a pale lavender-coloured dress with pearls and a matching hat. First to inspect the troops, then with the next generation of the royals.
Again, she balanced on a walking stick – now a necessity as she battles mobility issues. But her face beamed with a smile as crowds roared and the might of the British air force performed a stunning fly over.
The Platinum Jubilee celebration for the 96-year-old monarch began at 10am on Thursday (7pm AEST) with the traditional Trooping the Colour, which has marked the official birthday of the British sovereign for more than 260 years.
Read more: Flags, pomp and ceremony: All the colour of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee launch
Beijing puts more Pacific countries offside as Penny Wong tours region
Beijing has put one of its key Pacific partners offside by attempting to push through a security deal and threatened New Zealand for supporting opposition to the regional agreement.
As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi enters the final stages of his 10-day Pacific tour, Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Mataʻafa accused China of attempting to ram through a Pacific-wide trade, policing and security deal without enough time for consultation.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, right, holds a joint press conference with Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa in Apia, Samoa.
“Our position was you cannot have regional agreements if the region has not met to discuss it,” Mataʻafa said. “To be called into discussion and have an expectation that there will be an outcome was something we could not agree to.”
Mataʻafa, who became prime minister in May, also revealed that many of the deals signed by her and Wang on Saturday which spanned climate change, economic recovery and police fingerprinting were already in place. “Most of them have started a number of years ago, and it was the formalising process which is a normal process,” she said. “It just seemed a bit abnormal because the [Chinese] Minister of Foreign Affairs is here.”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who visited Apia to meet with Mataʻafa on Thursday praised the Samoan leader for her leadership in the regional forum and respect for its processes to “deal with some of the external circumstances we all find ourselves in”.
Read more: Beijing puts more Pacific countries offside as Penny Wong tours region
Good morning
Good morning, welcome to the blog for June 3, 2022.
I’m Kate Rose, and I’ll be helming this ship through the morning with all the news of the day. But before we got to that, here are some of the overnight headlines you need to know.
It’s been pomp and ceremony in the UK – and through the Commonwealth – for the Queen’s Jubilee. Rob Harris reports from London that royal fans young and old waved flags, sang God Save The Queen and held handmade signs over the barriers. One simply said, “thank you”.
And Latika Bourke reports on the Jubilee honours list, in which businesswoman Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of News Corp media mogul Rupert, has been awarded a CBE, while fellow Australian John Torode, a presenter on Britain’s Masterchef, was also honoured.
A little closer to our region, Beijing has put one of its key Pacific partners offside by attempting to push through a security deal, and threatened New Zealand for supporting opposition to the regional agreement, reports Eryk Bagshaw.
The government is facing increasing pressure over energy supply and prices, write Mike Foley and Nick Toscano and major manufacturers warn thousands of local jobs are at risk unless gas is held back from being exported. The Albanese government has called emergency meetings with Queensland’s gas producers and state ministers to address spiking energy prices.
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