Australia politics live: Marles and UK counterpart ‘surprised’ new defence agreement not already in place; Greens MP asked to leave NSW question time | Australia news

Eva Corlett

The ABS media release gives a little more context to that figure (although you’ll hear from Peter with his analysis very soon)

Bjorn Jarvis, ABS head of labour statistics said: “With employment growing by around 116,000 people, and the number of unemployed falling by 52,000 people, the unemployment rate fell to 3.7 per cent. This was around where it had been six months earlier.”

The increase in employment in February followed a weaker-than-usual outcome in December (-62,000), and a modest increase in January (15,000). This equates to 70,000 more employed people in February than there were in November and a growth rate consistent with the underlying trend.

The large increase in employment in February followed larger-than-usual numbers of people in December and January who had a job that they were waiting to start or to return to. This translated into a larger-than-usual flow of people into employment in February and even more so than February last year.

“In 2022 and 2023, around 4.3 per cent of employed people in February had not been employed in January. In 2024 this was higher, at 4.7 per cent, and well above the pre-pandemic average for 2015 to 2020 of around 3.9 per cent.”

“In contrast, we again only saw around 3.1 per cent of employed people in January leaving employment by February, which was similar to last year and has remained relatively constant over time. This shows that there is a wider gap than we would usually see between the numbers of people entering employment and leaving employment.”

PM to meet Warren Acott, former truck driver raising awareness for motor neurone disease

Anthony Albanese will be meeting with former truck driver Warren Acott, who had been riding his lawn mower from Victorian to Canberra to raise awareness for motor neurone disease. Acott had to give up truck driving after he was diagnosed with MND in July last year.

Acott continued his trip despite falling out of his wheelchair this week and hitting his head on the concrete, necessitating a trip to hospital, while on the final highway stretch.

After being cleared by Wagga Wagga hospital, Acott pushed on. He’ll meet with Albanese very soon.

On the capability question, Richard Marles also had something to say:

Firstly, the time frame for when we would be completing the first SSN Aukus submarine in Osborne is in the early 2040s. It is a challenging timeframe and some people look at that as being a long way into the future, but it is a challenging timeframe.

We are really mindful that every day between now and then counts and it’s why we are operating at a pace right now and, of course, the significance really of doing Aukmin in Adelaide is about providing us the opportunity of going down to Osborne to see that.

But, you know, we have also been really aware of the stretched industrial base in the UK and in the US, which has been part of the conversation that’s been had here over the last few weeks as well. None of that is news, but it is why a year ago when we signed up to Aukus, we made a commitment to make a financial contribution to the industrial bases of both countries which was not without controversy so that, you know, they could produce at a rate which would allow this to happen.

Shapps says Aukus submarine production to be bolstered by 2.5% defence spending goal for UK

Grant Shapps takes this questions:

Britain’s submarine industry has been struggling after years of underinvestment. How will, then, Britain have the capacity to support Australia’s submarine build? And isn’t the Aukus submarine timeline wildly optimistic in that case?

Shapps asks for the media organisation the journalist is from. Told it is the Australian, he says:

The Australian. Should definitely be working for Fleet Street. It’s a spot-on British attack line.

To the crux of the question, Shapps says:

Look, first of all, I think you make a fair comment, actually, which is, you know – and it’s really what I was getting to at the Lancaster speech in London. The world – after the Berlin Wall fell and after the cold war – thought [it] could get into a much more relaxed state.

We saw defence spending fall and that happened in the United Kingdom, it happened elsewhere. The peace dividend was taken, once, twice, three, four times.

You can’t carry on doing that. We recognise that a number of years ago and we have been increasing our defence budget.

We always stayed above the 2% which for Nato was always the figure. We always stayed above that, but we are now committed to raising it to 2.5% as time allows and we’re on the second half of that. So we’re about 2.27%, 2.28%. So we have started to recapitalise. We are recapitalising, rising on submarine production, in a very big way.

Shapps hopes military action against Houthis shows ‘there’s a price to pay’ for ‘interfering with open waterways’

Asked if the UK would like to see Australia do more in the Red Sea, Grant Shapps says:

There are different types of nations in the world. There are nations who say they want something to happen, there are nations who put their, you know, effort behind it and actually sign up to it …

Australia didn’t just sign up to Operation Prosperity Guardian, which is … those who just say that they want to see freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. Richard specifically signed Australia up to supporting the actual action on four separate occasions the UK, the US have actually taken military action against the Houthis.

…I very much hope that the situation in the Red Sea will be resolved and that we don’t need to keep going to military action. We’re in the trying to expand that action. We’re trying to ensure that the Houthis understand that there’s a price to pay and anyone else who is going to interfere with open waterways understands there’s a price to pay as well. So we’ll keep that all under review.

And on the “drone coalition” agreement struck today, which will see Australia join with the UK and Latvia in providing drones for the Ukrainian effort to repel Russian forces, Shapps says:

I’m also very, very excited that you’ll be joining the drone coalition. Drones are a new factor in that war. Two years ago play add very small part and now are playing an increasingly significant, increasingly sophisticated part.

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Countries who invest in the drone coalition are not just doing it for Ukraine, of course that’s the primary purpose, but also because it stands as a potential to bring huge technological improvements and advancements in drone technology to our home markets as well. For defence and for civilian purposes.

Your foresight investment in the drone coalition will not just help Ukraine, it will help Australia as well and we look forward actually to working with you on that technology, sharing the technologies between us and makes us all stronger as a result.

Shapps continues on the Ukrainian situation:

I think the biggest threat that the world faces today is a sense of attention deficit from countries that believe in freedom and democracy and … we must be prepared, therefore, to make sure that does not happen and the battle in Ukraine, where I was the week before last speaking to Zelenskiy is at the forefront.

If it were the case that an autocrat could walk in, take over land and then end up keeping that just because although we said it couldn’t happen, but we lost focus and attention and then that would read across to other parts of the world and in particular the Indo-Pacific …

So I am hugely grateful for the leadership you have shown with international fund for Ukraine and helping to fund the international fund for Ukraine, that is a financial mechanism which means that we’re helping to get Ukraine what they need today to fight that battle. I just wanted to publicly thank you, Richard, for what you have done there.

Grant Shapps:

We are living, as I said in a speech at Lancaster House in London with your chief of defence staff present back in January, in a world which is moved from a postwar world we … considered we lived in to a prewar world wherein … we need to be more prepared than ever before – our stance needs to change and there’s evidence of that everywhere you look.

You mentioned what’s happening in Ukraine, and even though it’s happening on a different continent a long way from here, the read across is so blatantly obvious that to ignore it would be to do a disservice to everyone no matter where they live, particularly for those of you who happen to live in the Indo-Pacific region where … anyone who doesn’t have to answer to voters is looking at what happens in Ukraine and deciding whether all you need to do is out wait the west and the civilised world in order to keep what you have gained through ill-gotten means.

‘We could not possibly be closer despite it being almost impossible to be geographically further apart’: Shapps

It is Grant Shapps’ time to speak and he too mentions the lack of formal agreement between the two nations:

I just wanted to say … it is extraordinary, actually, the United Kingdom and Australia didn’t already have a defence cooperation treaty in place, that is actually not quite as much as an admission as first sounds, there’s an assumed treaty in place without it even being formally passed but I’m pleased we overwrited that.

We signed, half an hour ago, a treaty which will bring us even closer together. And you’re right about everything that you have just said.

In fact, we met for, I guess, 1.5 hours earlier and as I came out the room I turned to my team and my first comment was, “We could not possibly be closer despite it being almost impossible to be geographically further apart.”

By that, I mean, our view and world outlook is very, very similar. Our understanding of the world order almost identical and the need to act together never more pressing than it is today.

Marles says Labor ‘very proud’ to pledge contribution to UK fund supporting Ukraine

Richard Marles then turns to Ukraine:

Ukraine is the most acute example in the world today of the pressure that the global rules-based system is under.

This is a critical moment in the conflict in Ukraine.

We very much acknowledge the leadership of the United Kingdom in supporting Ukraine in their fight against the appalling invasion by Russia.

It’s critically important the world stay its course right now to ensure that Ukraine is able to resolve this conflict on its terms. And the UK is right at the forefront of that. Recently, we have announced a contribution to the UK fund which is supporting Ukraine and we’re very proud to do that.

Today we also announce that Australia will participate in the drone coalition which is being led by both the United Kingdom and Latvia. This is a really important opportunity for us to continue making our contribution to the effort to have Ukraine stay the course and be able to resolve this conflict on its terms.

We will have more to say about that in the coming weeks and months.

Richard Marles and Grant Shapps hold press conference

The health minister, Mark Butler, is about to hold a press conference about his vaping reform legislation.

You can catch up on some of the political challenges ahead for the government here: