Latest news with #Pezzullo
Sky News AU
6 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Anthony Albanese should have cut China visit short to fly past US and see Donald Trump, says former home affairs boss
Former home affairs boss Mike Pezzullo has claimed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should have cut his China visit short to fly past the United States to meet with President Donald Trump on his journey back to Australia. Mr Albanese on Friday wrapped up his six-day visit to China where he held talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and other senior leaders in Beijing earlier this week. While Mr Albanese has touted the trip as "another important step in the Australia-China relationship", he has come under fire for not pressing President Xi on more serious foreign policy issues. The Prime Minister has also copped heat for prioritising a second official visit to China before he nails down a face-to-face meeting with President Trump in Washington DC. Speaking to Sky News Australia, Mr Pezzullo said he would have advised Mr Albanese to do a shorter visit in order to free him up to stop past the US, or another country, on his way home. "I would've had a day and a half, maybe two days in Beijing," the former home affairs boss said on Friday. "I think he had three options. He could have gone to a combination of one or more of Seoul, Tokyo and Manila. That's one option. "He could have gone to Washington. He's got a VIP jet, he could have gone across to Washington and had the same discussion with President Trump. "Above tariffs, and pharmaceuticals and all the rest of it, the key discussion that he's going to have with the President is about security in Asia." Mr Pezzullo, who was the secretary of the Home Affairs Department from 2017 until 2023, said he also would have advised Mr Albanese to rein in the nostalgia. During his trip, Mr Albanese hiked The Great Wall of China in similar scenes to former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam - the first Australian leader to visit the country in 1973. Mr Albanese then toured a panda breeding and research centre in Chengdu, almost four decades after former prime minister Bob Hawke famously visited the zoo in 1986. The Prime Minister was also serenaded by local musicians who played renditions of Australian rock classics, including Midnight Oil's hit Power and the Passion. "I wouldn't have done the six days with the pandas and all the rest of it, with iconic shots that compare to Bob Hawke and the rest," Mr Pezzullo told Sky News. "I would have had a shorter, sharper visit. The engagement with the President is important, President Xi, the leaders' dialogue with the Premier is also important." Mr Pezzullo emphasised the importance of also holding frank discussions about peace regarding Taiwan, and Australia's position on the matter. "Behind closed doors I would have had the hard discussion about Taiwan," Mr Pezzullo said. "I would have said, 'Look, we support the status quo, we believe in, we uphold the One China principle, however, war would be devastating for everyone, for you, for the Americans, for the Taiwanese ... and for ourselves, because we'd all get dragged into it.' I'd have that blunt discussion." Another option for Mr Albanese could have been stopping past the Northern Territory on his way back to Australia for the opening of military exercise Talisman Sabre, Mr Pezzullo said. Earlier this week, Mr Albanese reaffirmed Australia's "long-standing bipartisan position that has supported the One China policy". "By definition, we don't support any unilateral action on Taiwan," Mr Albanese said. In a statement concluding his diplomatic visit, Mr Albanese said the trip "marks another important step in the Australia-China relationship". "A stable and constructive relationship with China is in Australia's national interest," he said on Friday. "We will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in our national interest. "Strengthening our security and economic interests with our largest trading partner will boost Australian jobs and support Australian businesses." Mr Albanese said he used his talks in China to also "advocate for Australia's interests including on trade, consular, human rights and regional and global issues".
Sky News AU
7 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Australia has a commitment to ‘collaboratively develop' its military alongside the US
Former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo explains how the US and Australia should react under the ANZUS treaty. 'Under ANZUS, we are obligated to do the following: to work together to collaboratively develop our militaries. Talisman Sabre is an example of that," Mr Pezzullo told Sky News Australia. 'To consult in the event of adverse security challenges ... and critically, article four is to act together to meet the common danger should one or both parties be subject to an armed attack.'
Sky News AU
02-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Former Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo warns Australia could face strategic challenges if Donald Trump reconsiders the future of AUKUS
Former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo has said Australia may be forced to lift its defence spending, depending on the outcome of a critical AUKUS review in Washington and views of President Donald Trump. The Biden-to-Trump transition has put the AUKUS deal under a new light with Mr Pezzullo believing that this issue remains very much alive, particularly within the Pentagon, but that the current review of the AUKUS agreement will come down to President Trump. Speaking to Sky News' Laura Jayes, Pezzullo said the current review of the AUKUS agreement – due to conclude within days – could usher in significant changes. 'The review might well be quite difficult for Australia, because it might demand for instance more defence spending or it might put a pause on the potential transfer and sale in 2032, but if that's not President Trump's view, it'll just get shelved,' he told Sky News. 'If the White House takes the view that Europe has to do more and they apply that same rubric to Japan, Australia and others, then I think that's going to be quite a willing discussion. If that's not the President's view, then I think a very different outcome will arise.' Pezzullo said the Pentagon remains wary about the availability of Virginia-class submarines, with concerns over whether the US can spare vessels for Australia. 'From the Pentagon's point of view, the concern is if we sell one to the Australians in 2032 . . . then that's one fewer that we have,' he said. He also suggested there may be growing pressure for Australia to strengthen its military posture – particularly by enabling more direct US operations from its territory, while noting that the Pentagon may want to see Australia 'lift its game in terms of its own military capability' and deepen integration with US force posture initiatives. 'The ability to launch military strikes from Australia, the ability potentially to fire missiles from Australia, the ability to sail at submarines, as they will be able to do from Perth in a couple of years' time. Is that the White House's view? That's what I'm not clear about,' he said. These comments come as Foreign Minister Penny Wong met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington, where the AUKUS pact was high on the agenda. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is yet to meet face-to-face with President Trump eight months since his election win and has faced criticism from the Coalition for not pushing harder to meet with him earlier. However, Senator Wong said she used talks with US Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio to discuss a future meeting between Mr Albanese and Mr Trump. 'I don't think that American policy in relation to the Indo-Pacific is as settled as what a lot of the commentators think,' Pezzullo said. 'President Trump has been so focused and so consumed, just in terms of time and attention, on the European theatre, both with what's happening in Ukraine and Russia, with NATO military capability, and obviously the Middle East … I don't think agencies want to get ahead of the President.' He said the bigger question that continues to hang over Washington is whether the US intends to actively counter China's ambitions in the Indo-Pacific – or step back. 'Is America going to confront China and seek to deter their use of aggression and force, or will they cede them space in the Indo-Pacific and take a step back?' he said. 'Until that question gets resolved, I think we're in a holding pattern in the Indo-Pacific.'
Sky News AU
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Once the inner wall is breached, it's all over': Mike Pezzullo reveals devastating impact of US strike on Iran's Fordow nuclear facility
Former Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo has offered a detailed technical breakdown of the United States' recent airstrike on Iran's heavily fortified Fordow nuclear site, revealing how precision-guided bunker-busting bombs were used to penetrate up to 100 metres of rock and concrete. Speaking to Sky News Australia, Pezzullo explained that seven B-2 stealth bombers — the only aircraft capable of carrying the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) — were deployed in the mission, delivering 14 of the 13.5-tonne bombs designed to destroy deeply buried infrastructure. Pezzullo explained that the precision-guided munitions were dropped from high altitude, creating either a single deep shaft or multiple entry points to punch through to the vast subterranean chambers housing uranium enrichment centrifuges. 'They just keep firing them in,' he said. 'Precision-guided, so they'll go into the same hole or create multiple shafts. Once the inner wall is breached, it's all over. 'That compressive energy just destroys everything that's got oxygen in it.' According to Pezzullo, once the MOP reaches the internal halls beneath the mountain, the sheer force of the explosion makes survival or salvage of the facility virtually impossible. 'Well, the speculation and I've got to be careful here because when I was in government, I actually read all the intelligence reports but that is that you're looking at about 60 to 80 metres of protection, and then a 20-metre hall,' he said. 'Once a 2.5-tonne explosive gets into a large hall which has obviously open space and then corridors and ventilation shafts, it's all over at that point. 'In order to ensure that it's a decisive kill, they would have put a number of others in through the same hole until they get through to the cavernous halls where the centrifuges were.' The B-2s involved in the mission flew east from their base in Missouri, crossing the Atlantic and navigating through the Mediterranean. Pezzullo said it appeared likely that the UK was notified ahead of the strike, potentially to allow access to its base in Cyprus in case of emergency. As part of the strike package, fighter jets - possibly including F-22s, F-35s, and electronic attack aircraft - cleared the airspace ahead of the bombers, targeting any Iranian systems that might have posed a threat but principally attacking the deeply buried infrastructure at Fordow.' A full damage assessment is still underway. While some attention has turned to whether Australia was briefed or involved, Pezzullo made clear the lack of consultation was not unusual - and likely a result of the US choosing to fly east. 'If they'd gone west, I think we'd be having a very different conversation,' he explained, noting that previous missions involving B-2 bombers over Yemen took a western route that may have required Australian airspace or logistical support. Pezzullo added that with US military build-up continuing in Northern Australia will eventually need a clearer policy position on how and when it supports allied strikes - not necessarily in executing them, but in providing refuelling, overflight clearance, or basing access. 'I think the government's going to have to come up with a new policy framework to say not only do we concur in the American actions that have taken place, but we were prior notified and we provided support,' he said.
Sydney Morning Herald
12-06-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Give Trump ‘a new Pine Gap', say experts claiming AUKUS go-slow
AUKUS was announced in 2021, but the government has not picked a nuclear waste site or an east coast submarine base, and there are concerns about the speed of planning for a shipyard in Henderson, Western Australia. Australia made the first of six $US500 million ($770 million) payments to boost the capacity of the US submarine industry earlier this year as part of the $368 billion deal, and has hosted visiting American vessels. The US informed Australia about a 30-day review of the pact weeks ago, which became public on Thursday. Defence Minister Richard Marles said he welcomed the review. 'It's something which is perfectly natural for an incoming administration to do,' he said on the ABC. Senior Australian government sources, not permitted to speak publicly, said the US stood to gain from AUKUS and believed the review might be designed to gain leverage as Washington pushed Australia to spend more on defence. Former US ambassador Joe Hockey said bases should be expanded into locations at which the US could perform large volumes of submarine maintenance to help the US overturn a backlog crippling its ability to keep subs in operation. 'It would be enormously important to the Americans and allow for a significant increase in their capability and deterrence value in the region,' Hockey told this masthead. 'Australia is lagging behind.' The man central to the US' AUKUS review, defence official Elbridge Colby, has previously expressed reservations about handing over nuclear submarines in the early 2030s at the same time as a potential confrontation between China and Taiwan may demand all the US' firepower. Colby has this year made more positive remarks about AUKUS' first pillar. The review was instituted by Colby, not the White House. But Colby's focus on war-readiness in the case of a conflict with China – which is far from guaranteed, and may not draw in Australia – has spurred calls to make the AUKUS deal more useful for its short-term focus on China. Pezzullo, who helmed the 2009 defence white paper, said the Henderson base should be transformed into a joint facility. 'Better still, Australia could establish this shipyard, by treaty, as a joint Australian-US facility, in recognition of its vital role in the alliance, which could be at least as significant as the contribution of the Pine Gap satellite ground station,' he wrote in an article for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank last month. In 2023, the Albanese government dismissed Pezzullo for exerting undue political influence under the previous Coalition government. 'Being able to operate routinely in the Indian Ocean without having to transit the congested littoral waters of Southeast Asia and in the Western Pacific in times of tension and conflict is of immense strategic value to the US,' Pezzullo wrote. Such a move would likely be contentious and trigger concerns, particularly on the left, about Australian sovereignty and hewing more closely to the US at a time when Western allies and citizens are growing more doubtful about US President Donald Trump's reliability. Loading But Shoebridge said Australia was already deeply enmeshed in US military architecture via Pine Gap, a critical intelligence facility near Alice Springs, and the presence of US Marines in Darwin, approved by former prime minister Julia Gillard. 'I think it would be getting to a level with Pine Gap,' Shoebridge said, backing the idea of a bigger plan for Henderson and criticising Labor for the speed of decision-making and funding on AUKUS milestones. 'If we're not doing those long lead-time items, how can we still tell the Americans we are serious about AUKUS?'
