Penny Wong News

The increasing need to secure energy supplies after easing COVID-19 restrictions has pushed China to gradually resume Australian coal imports and urge domestic miners to boost their already record output.The lifting of the unofficial ban on Australian coal imports, which were halted in 2020 in a fit of Chinese pique over questions on COVID's origins, is the clearest sign yet of the renewed ties between them. The resumption is also a reminder of their economic interdependence as Australia's raw materials play a crucial role in fuelling the export-oriented economy of China…

Australia is constructing three Air Warfare Destroyers (AWD) & Defence Ministry has been advised it best to allow more time between each keel-laying. Minister for Defence Stephen Smith, Minister for Finance and Deregulation Senator Penny Wong and Minister for Defence Materiel Jason Clare attended the laying of the keel of the first Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD) in Adelaide and provided an update on the $8 billion project. ASC in Adelaide is the principal shipbuilder in the project. BAE Systems in Melbourne, Forgacs in Newcastle and Navantia in Spain are also building modular blocks which will be brought together by ASC at the South Australian Government’s Common User Facility in Adelaide where the ships are being assembled.