Australia

According to Cotality's March housing report, it's $322 a fortnight cheaper to buy a unit in inner-city Melbourne than it is to rent one.

Archived version

• Australia's first GMLRS missile production facility opened at Port Wakefield, South Australia in March 2026, marking the first facility outside the US to produce these precision-guided weapons.
• The facility is part of a $21 billion investment in guided weapons manufacturing aimed at building sovereign capability and strengthening deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
• Plans target 4,000 missiles annually by 2029, with complementary Naval Strike Missile production beginning in NSW in 2027.
• The strategic implications extend beyond military hardware to supply chain resilience and reduced vulnerability to disruptions during regional conflict.

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The GMLRS is a precision-guided munition used by the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), with a range exceeding 70 kilometres. Unlike conventional rockets, it features control actuation systems that allow mid-flight course correction, providing the accuracy required for extended-range strikes. From a national security perspective, developing and manufacturing these weapons domestically represents a fundamental shift in how Australia approaches defence production.

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The Port Wakefield facility, ... represents the first phase of a much larger enterprise. The current phase is a risk-reduction activity certifying manufacturing processes, training protocols, equipment, and assembly techniques. Parts are currently sourced from the United States, but Australian industry is already preparing to manufacture components domestically. Moog Australia has been contracted to develop the control actuation system, a critical component that enables the missile's guidance and flight control. This partnership signals the government's commitment to building a deep supply chain within Australia rather than simply assembling imported components.

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The report found that Morrison’s failure to detect misleading advice from the department was caused by social services and human services departments both failing to advise him and other ministers that new laws were required.

More info on the Queensland laws: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/05/queensland-pro-palestinian-phrase-ban-river-to-sea-laws-ntwnfb

Ubiquitous ‘Polites’ 
signs the legacy of 
flamboyant property 
tycoon from Port Pirie

In short: A man who declared himself as "far right" allegedly threw abuse and punches at a dinner run by a Muslim community in Ballarat.

A Ballarat man who was at the dinner says the incident has left his children too traumatised to sleep in their own beds.

What's next? Police say the man was told to move on and no charges have been laid.

The government's key superannuation reforms are set to soon become law after passing the Senate on Tuesday night, which will see major amendments for low income earners, and those with super balances above $3 million.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/7675602

Archived link

Canada and Australia are tying together two of the world’s largest retirement systems through a new investment pact that aims to push more pension capital into both markets.

More than a dozen Canadian and Australian pension giants have entered a first-of-its-kind memorandum of understanding (MOU) under the Canadian-Australian Pension Funds Investment Initiative (CAP Invest Initiative).

CPP Investments said the initiative asks leading pension investors to make a voluntary commitment “to facilitate dialogue on investment environments and policy barriers to generate solutions that unlock greater opportunities for value creation.”

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Under the arrangement, funds will cooperate to channel more pension capital into opportunities in both markets.

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Signatories include AustralianSuper, which manages A$410bn (US$289bn), and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, with $781bn (US$571bn) in assets, along with eight other major Canadian funds.

Canada operates the world’s second-largest pension system, while Australia’s A$4.5tn pool is No. 4, and Canada’s system is forecast to reach $8tn while Australia’s is projected to swell to A$11tn by 2040.

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cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/7675978

Mark Carney’s Canberra address and the Geelong Treaty reveal the architecture of a powerful middle-power bloc ready to be assembled.

Archived link

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Aukus delivers hard power: nuclear-powered submarines, quantum technologies, AI-enabled defence systems, hypersonic weapons, and directed-energy capabilities. But hard power without economic depth is brittle. Canzuk supplies the missing dimension – trade diversification, skilled labour mobility, critical minerals coordination, and a diplomatic network that spans every major ocean and time zone. Together they form something greater than the sum of their parts: a full-spectrum alliance that can deter adversaries, withstand economic coercion, and provide mutual resilience when the global order fractures.

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Australia and Canada together possess the largest mineral reserves held by democratic nations. In an era of accelerating decoupling from Chinese supply chains, this is an asset of extraordinary and growing strategic value.

The polling data confirms the political feasibility. A February 2026 survey by Canzuk International found 68 per cent support in Australia, 72 per cent in Canada, 75 per cent in New Zealand, and 70 per cent in the United Kingdom for a multilateral free trade and mobility agreement. These are not marginal numbers. They represent a democratic mandate waiting to be exercised.

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The institutional scaffolding is more advanced than most commentators acknowledge. The four Canzuk nations share King Charles III as head of state, Westminster parliamentary systems, common law traditions, and deeply interoperable intelligence services through Five Eyes. The ABCANZ Armies program – encompassing all four Canzuk nations plus the United States – already facilitates military interoperability across the Anglosphere. Workforce mobility initiatives are being pursued to facilitate movement of skilled defence personnel between Australia and the United Kingdom, including reciprocal recognition of security clearances. Add Canada and New Zealand to this framework and you have a defence-industrial ecosystem that spans the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean – with Arctic reach thrown in for good measure.

New Zealand, often treated as the quiet partner, brings its own distinctive value. Its Pillar II potential under Aukus – advanced cyber capabilities, undersea sensing, and Antarctic logistics – complements the submarine focus of Pillar I. And its extraordinary 75 per cent public support for Canzuk suggests a population ready for deeper integration than its cautious political class has yet been willing to deliver.

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Here is the project's website: https://www.bogong.org/

Follow oomphie for more moths https://bsky.app/profile/wa-moths.bsky.social/post/3mgoa42rwmc2b

In short:

Australia will send a military aircraft and 85 ADF personnel to the United Arab Emirates to assist in the defence of Gulf nations that have been attacked by Iran.

They will be operational by the end of the week for an initial four-week period for the "collective self-defence of Gulf nations".

What's next?

Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Iran's attacks on neighbouring countries escalated overnight.