Tech workers, scientists take $600k pay cuts to flee Trump's America
But those returning find they are competing for jobs with Americans fleeing the US.
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Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 'raises eyebrows' in Washington by shying away from US in John Curtin address
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's decision to downplay the US alliance in a major address has rattled the diplomatic relationship amid an AUKUS review, defence spending tensions and criticism from the Trump administration. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has 'raised eyebrows' in the United States at a time of growing disunity, sparking further concerns about his relationship with Washington. In his weekend address at the 80th anniversary of former prime minister John Curtin's death, Mr Albanese distanced Australia from its history as a close ally of the US. He said that Australia would pursue its interests as a 'sovereign nation' and not be 'shackled to the past', after Mr Curtin led the country through WWII as a close ally of the US. Mr Albanese declared the US alliance should be seen as a 'product' of Mr Curtin's leadership in foreign, but not the 'extent' of it. 'Curtin's famous statement that Australia 'looked to America' was much more than the idea of trading one strategic guarantor for another,' Mr Albanese told the John Curtin Research Centre. 'It was a recognition that Australia's fate would be decided in our region.' The comments have been interpreted by policy experts as a rhetorical step away from the US alliance, and risk being seen in Washington as a signal of diplomatic divergence. Former Trump senior advisor Christian Whiton weighed in on the Prime Minister's speech, telling Sky News that it would be met with "skepticism" by the US. 'I think you have to look at it as sort of a globalist, soft on China signal,' Mr Whiton said on Sunday. 'Maybe it's one that the United States invited because, you know, the review of AUKUS is sort of an own goal situation; it's a little unclear." Mr Whiton added that the Australian-US relationship was enduring and that the two countries' shared history was "more important than any verbiage back and forth" "There's a lot of mixed messages going on," he said. Retired major general of the Australian Army Mick Ryan also told Sky News that Mr Albanese's speech would "raise eyebrows in the US capital". "There was a huge amount of enthusiasm for talking down any threat whatsoever posed by China (in the speech)," Mr Ryan said. "The fact that the US wasn't mentioned, not just in the current concept, but also its great contribution to Australia's defence in the Pacific War will really affect many of our friends in the United States." It comes as the AUKUS agreement has come under review by the US Pentagon, a defence pact that was set up to enhance US involvement in securing the Indo-Pacific region. Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan warned on Sunday that Mr Albanese had failed to prioritise the US relationship since President Donald Trump was elected in November 2024. 'Given the importance of that country, not just on the economic relationship we have, but the national security relationship, it should be (embarrassing) to all Australians,' Mr Hogan said. 'We know the US is doing a review into AUKUS as well, and the fact our two leaders haven't had a chat and Albanese hasn't been able to secure that is absolutely embarrassing.' — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) July 5, 2025 Tensions rise following AUKUS friction The fallout from Mr Albanese's speech followed weeks of growing strain in the trilateral AUKUS security pact after the US Pentagon ordered a review of the deal. A US defence official said the review would ensure the pact met President Trump's 'America First' agenda, amid criticism of Australia's comparatively low level of defence spending. That decision came before Australia and the UK adopted what critics described as 'ambiguous' positions on President Trump's recent strikes against Iran. Mr Albanese waited 24 hours before his government issued a carefully worded statement that stopped short of endorsing the US strikes, calling instead for 'de-escalation' and 'dialogue'. That response was branded 'flat-footed' by the opposition, with acting shadow foreign affairs minister Andrew Hastie saying Mr Albanese 'should have stood up and spoken to the Australian people'. 'Sending out a government spokesman to make a brief comment about one of the biggest events to happen in the last five years was not good enough,' Mr Hastie said at the time. The perceived reluctance to back US action in the Middle East likely deepened concerns in Washington over Australia's reliability as an ally. The Trump administration has been publicly frustrated by the Albanese government's resistance to increasing defence spending to 3.5 per cent requested by USDefence Secretary Pete Hegseth. The Albanese government has committed to spending 2.3 per cent of GDP by 2033, far shy of the 5 per cent agreed to by NATO allies by 2035. PM dismisses concerns Despite the mounting concerns, Mr Albanese has downplayed the idea of a rift between Australia and the US. Speaking at the Sky News/The Australian's Economic Outlook forum on Friday, he insisted that he was 'not worried' about relations with the United States. He said he was confident in getting a meeting with President Trump, even after their scheduled meeting at the G7 in Canada was abruptly cancelled. President Trump then failed to follow up with a phone call, despite speaking with other world leaders, and no meeting has been booked in since. 'I'm not worried by someone making an understandable decision, which he did, to return to Washington,' Mr Albanese said of the cancelled meeting on Friday. 'Of course, we will have meetings. There will be a range of meetings between now and the end of the year with President Trump.'
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Busiest winter ahead' as school holiday international travel soars
'This is shaping up to be our busiest winter ever for international travel, which demonstrates the resilience of the sector in the face of geopolitical tensions and cost pressures,' said Sydney Airport chief Scott Charlton. 'More Australians are taking advantage of new destinations and extra capacity, and that's reflected in the numbers we're seeing through the terminal.' Closer to home, Qantas, Air New Zealand and Virgin have increased flights to vacation hotspot Queenstown in New Zealand from Sydney and Brisbane, even as Jetstar cuts back some weekly services from Melbourne. 'This may signify that the low-cost market served by Jetstar is moving into more full-service carrier territory,' Taylor said. Capacity to some of Australia's nearby international holiday destinations such as Bali and Fiji appears steady year-on-year, Taylor said, despite changes in the airlines delivering services. A Perth-Bali route operated by Indonesian low-cost carrier Citilink has exited the market while TransNusa, another Indonesian airline, has entered the Australian market for the first time. 'Broadly, it seems that Jetstar and Virgin are operating at similar levels to what they were last year,' Taylor said. Sydney and Melbourne are expected to each welcome about 2 million passengers over a two-week period. Loading Melbourne Airport is expected to serve 1.92 million passengers from July 4 to July 21, while Sydney Airport is predicting 2.6 million through its gates from June 30 to July 20. Melbourne foresees 647,927 international and 1.28 million domestic passengers, a 5 per cent increase on the previous year. 'The airport will welcome an AFL grand final crowd every day of the holidays, with a daily average of 107,000 passengers,' Melbourne Airport said in a statement. In welcome news for Melbourne travellers, the same body scanners and CT X-ray technology machines are in place across all terminals, so passengers no longer need to remove laptops, tablets or aerosols from bags as they go through security. At Sydney's T1 International terminal and T3 Domestic terminal, laptops and aerosols can stay in hand luggage scanned at security lines. In T2 Domestic, passengers still need to remove laptops and aerosols from their hand luggage. Loading Sydney is trying to accelerate the rollout of the troubled SmartGates to speed the entry of passengers arriving in the country, but most inbound passengers still take more than half an hour to clear immigration. Sydney Airport advises passengers to arrive one hour before a domestic flight, if carrying hand luggage only, two hours, if checking in bags, and a full three hours for international flights. Brisbane Airport, meanwhile, is tipping a 'record-breaking winter travel season'. Compared with last year, Brisbane expects 1.4 per cent growth in domestic terminal use over a 39-day period from June 13 to July 21 (comprising school holidays in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and New Zealand). In a sign of a widening market for overseas travel, international terminal use is expected to surge 18.4 per cent over the previous corresponding period as more international carriers pile into Brisbane. In mid-June, Singapore Airlines flights to Brisbane increased from 25 to 28 services a week. Last year, Cathay Pacific increased services from Brisbane to global hub Hong Kong from six to 10 flights a week. But the short-term snapshot of bookings shows some unevenness. For bookings made for July travel, trips booked to New York area airports have fallen 11 per cent for JFK Airport and 23 per cent for Newark. Taylor said the decline to those destinations is 'broadly lower' but 'may reflect that fewer Australians are taking the long trek there amid the lower currency'. After falling to US59.9¢ in April on US tariff threats, the Australian dollar has more recently traded at about US65.5¢.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
‘Busiest winter ahead' as school holiday international travel soars
'This is shaping up to be our busiest winter ever for international travel, which demonstrates the resilience of the sector in the face of geopolitical tensions and cost pressures,' said Sydney Airport chief Scott Charlton. 'More Australians are taking advantage of new destinations and extra capacity, and that's reflected in the numbers we're seeing through the terminal.' Closer to home, Qantas, Air New Zealand and Virgin have increased flights to vacation hotspot Queenstown in New Zealand from Sydney and Brisbane, even as Jetstar cuts back some weekly services from Melbourne. 'This may signify that the low-cost market served by Jetstar is moving into more full-service carrier territory,' Taylor said. Capacity to some of Australia's nearby international holiday destinations such as Bali and Fiji appears steady year-on-year, Taylor said, despite changes in the airlines delivering services. A Perth-Bali route operated by Indonesian low-cost carrier Citilink has exited the market while TransNusa, another Indonesian airline, has entered the Australian market for the first time. 'Broadly, it seems that Jetstar and Virgin are operating at similar levels to what they were last year,' Taylor said. Sydney and Melbourne are expected to each welcome about 2 million passengers over a two-week period. Loading Melbourne Airport is expected to serve 1.92 million passengers from July 4 to July 21, while Sydney Airport is predicting 2.6 million through its gates from June 30 to July 20. Melbourne foresees 647,927 international and 1.28 million domestic passengers, a 5 per cent increase on the previous year. 'The airport will welcome an AFL grand final crowd every day of the holidays, with a daily average of 107,000 passengers,' Melbourne Airport said in a statement. In welcome news for Melbourne travellers, the same body scanners and CT X-ray technology machines are in place across all terminals, so passengers no longer need to remove laptops, tablets or aerosols from bags as they go through security. At Sydney's T1 International terminal and T3 Domestic terminal, laptops and aerosols can stay in hand luggage scanned at security lines. In T2 Domestic, passengers still need to remove laptops and aerosols from their hand luggage. Loading Sydney is trying to accelerate the rollout of the troubled SmartGates to speed the entry of passengers arriving in the country, but most inbound passengers still take more than half an hour to clear immigration. Sydney Airport advises passengers to arrive one hour before a domestic flight, if carrying hand luggage only, two hours, if checking in bags, and a full three hours for international flights. Brisbane Airport, meanwhile, is tipping a 'record-breaking winter travel season'. Compared with last year, Brisbane expects 1.4 per cent growth in domestic terminal use over a 39-day period from June 13 to July 21 (comprising school holidays in Queensland, NSW, Victoria and New Zealand). In a sign of a widening market for overseas travel, international terminal use is expected to surge 18.4 per cent over the previous corresponding period as more international carriers pile into Brisbane. In mid-June, Singapore Airlines flights to Brisbane increased from 25 to 28 services a week. Last year, Cathay Pacific increased services from Brisbane to global hub Hong Kong from six to 10 flights a week. But the short-term snapshot of bookings shows some unevenness. For bookings made for July travel, trips booked to New York area airports have fallen 11 per cent for JFK Airport and 23 per cent for Newark. Taylor said the decline to those destinations is 'broadly lower' but 'may reflect that fewer Australians are taking the long trek there amid the lower currency'. After falling to US59.9¢ in April on US tariff threats, the Australian dollar has more recently traded at about US65.5¢.
