Britain and Australia have formally strengthened bilateral ties around the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement despite a review of the three-nation pact by the US government.

AUKUS, formed with both the UK and US in 2021 to address concerns about China’s rising military ambition, is designed to enable Australia to acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines in the 2040s.

However, fears about the future of the $560 billion deal have persisted since the Trump administration initiated a review to examine whether it meets its “America-first” criteria.

Defence Minister Richard Marles and UK Secretary of State John Healey put pen to paper on a partnership and collaboration arrangement between the two allies on Saturday.

The so-called Geelong Treaty is being hailed as a historic pact in its own right, while also representing a 50-year co-operation arrangement under the AUKUS banner.

Mr Marles said the bilateral agreement built on “the strong foundation of trilateral co-operation between Australia, the UK and the United States” and advanced the shared objectives of AUKUS.

He remained confident of the future of US involvement in the partnership, he added.

“The Geelong Treaty will enable comprehensive co-operation on the design, build, operation, sustainment, and disposal of our … submarines,” Mr Marles said.

“It will support the development of the personnel, workforce, infrastructure and regulatory systems required for Australia’s … AUKUS program” as well as support the rotational presence of a UK Astute-class submarine at HMAS Stirling in Perth.

Speaking alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Mr Healey and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Sydney on Friday, Mr Marles said Australia had made two contributions of $A760 million each to AUKUS this year.

At the same press conference, Mr Lammy called Britain’s relationship with Australia “an anchor in what is a very volatile world” and said it provided stability no matter which way geopolitical winds were blowing.

Mr Healey said the UK was confident it could meet its obligations on industrial capacity to deliver SSN-AUKUS submarines and was undeterred by the US review.

“Australia and the UK welcome the review because we see this as a chance for a new administration to renew their commitment to AUKUS and that’s what we expect,” he said.

Australia will pay $5 billion to support British industry in designing and producing nuclear reactors to power the future AUKUS-class subs.

It will also acquire at least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s.

On Sunday, Mr Marles and visiting UK ministers will head to Darwin to observe joint military exercises known as Talisman Sabre, which comprise more than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries.

The 2025 war games involve the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales – the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997.

Australia and the United Kingdom are confident work on the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement is continuing despite a review of the pact by the US government, as both nations seek to allay concerns the deal is threatened. 

AUKUS, formed in 2021 between Australia, the UK and US to address shared concerns about China’s rising military ambition, is designed to enable Australia to acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines in the 2040s.

But doubts have been raised about the future of the $US368 billion ($A560 billion) program after the Trump administration initiated a review of the deal to examine if it met its “American First” criteria.

Defence Minister Richard Marles, speaking alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong and their British counterparts John Healey and David Lammy, said he remained confident about the future of US involvement on the eve of Australia and the UK signing a five-decade bilateral deal cementing their commitment.

“We continue to work … very closely with the United States in progressing the optimal pathway to Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability, to see the fruition of the AUKUS arrangement in all three countries,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

“Australia (continues) to make our financial contributions to that industrial base, we’ve made two contributions each of $US500 million ($A760 million) this year.” 

An Australia-UK treaty will be signed in Geelong on Saturday, and will allow “comprehensive co-operation” on the design, build, operation, sustainment, and disposal of AUKUS submarines.

It will also support development of personnel, workforce, infrastructure and regulatory systems for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the treaty showed the strength of Australia and the UK’s commitment to AUKUS.

“It’s clear that the UK-Australia relationship is an anchor in what is a very volatile world, providing stability in troubled waters and a relationship that holds steady whichever way the geopolitical winds are blowing,” he said.

British Defence Secretary John Healey said the UK was confident it could meet its obligations under the deal on industrial capacity to deliver SSN-AUKUS submarines, and was undeterred by the US review.

“Australia and the UK welcome the review because we see this as a chance for a new administration to renew their commitment to AUKUS and that’s what we expect,” he said.

Australia will pay $5 billion to support British industry to design and produce nuclear reactors to power the future AUKUS-class submarines.

Australia will acquire at least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s.

On Sunday, the ministers will visit Darwin to observe joint military exercises known as Talisman Sabre, which comprise more than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries.

The 2025 war games involve the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales – the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997.

The executive who was caught on camera embracing the CEO of her company at a Coldplay concert in a moment that went viral has resigned. 

The company, Astronomer, confirmed that its executive in charge of human resources has left. 

“Kristin Cabot is no longer with Astronomer, she has resigned,” spokesman Taylor Jones said in a brief statement. 

Her departure follows the resignation of CEO Andy Byron, who quit after the company said he was being put on leave pending an investigation. 

The episode resulted in endless memes, parody videos and screenshots of the pair’s shocked faces filling social media feeds.

Cabot and Byron were caught by surprise when singer Chris Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd for his “Jumbotron Song” during the concert last week at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. 

They were shown cuddling and smiling, but when they saw themselves on the big screen, Cabot’s jaw dropped, her hands flew to her face and she spun away from the camera while Byron ducked out of the frame. 

“Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy,” Martin joked in video that spread quickly around the internet. 

When the video first spread online it wasn’t immediately clear who they were, but online sleuths rapidly figured out their identities. 

The company has previously confirmed the identities of the couple in a statement to the AP.

Both of their profiles have now been removed from Astronomer’s website, and a November press release announcing her hiring has also been deleted. 

Astronomer was a previously obscure tech company based in New York. 

It provides big companies with a platform that helps them organise their data.

Online streams of Coldplay’s songs jumped 20 per cent in the days after the video went viral, according to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company. 

Australia and the UK will ink a 50-year deal to underpin delivery of the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement, amid concerns about a US review of the trilateral pact.

AUKUS, formed in 2021 between Australia, the UK and US to address shared concerns about China’s rising military ambition, is designed to enable Australia to acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines in the 2040s.

But doubts have been raised about the future of the $368 billion program after the Trump administration this year initiated a review of the deal to examine if it met its “American First” criteria.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said he remained confident about the future of US involvement on the eve of Australia and the UK signing a multi-decade bilateral deal cementing their commitment.

“It is a profoundly important treaty that we will sign,” Mr Marles said on Friday alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong and their British counterparts John Healey and David Lammy.

“It forms part of a trilateral agreement that we have and we are really confident about the progress of all three countries in bringing that to fruition.”

The treaty, to be signed in Geelong on Saturday, would allow “comprehensive co-operation” on the design, build, operation, sustainment, and disposal of AUKUS submarines, the ministers said in a joint statement.

It will also support development of personnel, workforce, infrastructure and regulatory systems for Australia’s nuclear-powered submarine program, the statement said.

Mr Lammy said the treaty showed the strength of Australia and the UK’s commitment to AUKUS.

“It’s clear that the UK-Australia relationship is an anchor in what is a very volatile world, providing stability in troubled waters and a relationship that holds steady whichever way the geopolitical winds are blowing,” he said.

Mr Healey said the UK was confident it could meet its obligations under the deal on industrial capacity to deliver SSN-AUKUS submarines.

“We have the technology and the designs to be able to deliver our commitments to the SSN-AUKUS and we will,” he said.

Australia will pay $5 billion to support British industry to design and produce nuclear reactors to power the future AUKUS-class submarines.

Australia will acquire at least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s.

On Sunday, the ministers will visit Darwin to observe joint military exercises known as Talisman Sabre, which comprise more than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries.

This year, the war games involve the UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales – the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997.

US President Donald Trump has applauded Australia’s relaxation of import restrictions on American beef, adding that other countries that refuse US beef products are on notice.

Australia on Thursday said it would loosen biosecurity rules for US beef, something analysts predicted would not significantly increase US shipments because Australia is a major beef producer and exporter whose prices are much lower.

Australia plans to take US beef for the “first time,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday, calling it a “very big market”.

Canberra has restricted US beef imports since 2003 due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

Since 2019, it has allowed in meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the US but few suppliers were able to prove that their cattle had not been in Canada and Mexico.

Last night, in another post, Trump said the US would “sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that US Beef is the Safest and Best in the entire World.”

“The other Countries that refuse our magnificent Beef are ON NOTICE,” the post continued.

Trump has attempted to renegotiate trade deals with numerous countries he says have taken advantage of the United States – a characterisation many economists dispute.

“For decades, Australia imposed unjustified barriers on US beef,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement, calling Australia’s decision a “major milestone in lowering trade barriers and securing market access for US farmers and ranchers”.

Australia is not a significant importer of beef but the United States is and a production slump is forcing it to step up purchases.

Last year, Australia shipped almost 400,000 metric tonnes of beef worth $US2.9 billion ($A4.4 billion) to the United States, with just 269 tonnes of US product moving the other way.

Australian officials say the relaxation of restrictions was not part of any trade negotiations but the result of a years-long assessment of US biosecurity practices.

On Wednesday, Australia’s agriculture ministry said US cattle traceability and control systems had improved enough that Australia could accept beef from cattle born in Canada or Mexico and slaughtered in the United States.

The decision has caused some concern in Australia, where biosecurity is seen as essential to prevent diseases and pests from ravaging the farm sector.

“We need to know if (the government) is sacrificing our high biosecurity standards just so Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can obtain a meeting with US President Donald Trump,” shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud said in a statement.

Australia, which imports more from the US than it exports, faces a 10 per cent across-the-board US tariff, as well as 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium.

Trump has also threatened to impose a 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals.

Asked whether the change would help achieve a trade deal, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said: “I’m not too sure”.

“We haven’t done this in order to entice the Americans into a trade agreement,” he said.

“We think that they should do that anyway.”

A former Miss Australia and ex-politician who physically and verbally abused her husband over eight years has been given a seven-month suspended jail term. 

Kathryn Isobel Hay,`49, also controlled and intimidated then-partner Troy Richardson, and verbally and physically abused the couple’s two children.

In 1999, Hay was crowned Miss Tasmania and Miss Australia, the first Aboriginal woman to win the award, and served in the island state’s parliament as a Labor MP from 2002-06.

She was found guilty in March of a single charge of emotional abuse or intimidation spanning 2014 to 2022. 

It was alleged Hay punched Mr Richardson in the face, threw cereal at him and frequently abused him online and in person.

Mr Richardson gave evidence that Hay hit him in the face with a shoe several times while he was driving because he “just didn’t do something right”. 

He said there were threats of violence at least weekly and Hay would give him lists of things that needed to be done. 

“If it wasn’t done properly I’d get abuse. If it was done, she’d give me another list.”

In a statement read to court on his behalf on Friday, Mr Richardson said he now suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and severe anxiety, and their children struggle with distress.

Mr Richardson said he feared no one would believe him about the abuse, which left him “completely isolated”.

Magistrate Simon Brown found the majority of the particulars against Hay, who now lives in Sydney, had been proven.

A psychologist’s report found Hay had shown a complete lack of insight into her offending, prosecutor Garth Stevens told Launceston Magistrates Court. 

However, Hay’s lawyer Marcia Edwards disputed that interpretation, saying her client accepted the court’s findings and it was more “a disbelief than a denial”. 

Hay was grappling with thoughts of “did I do this?’, Ms Edwards said. 

“There was a fight between a husband and a wife, it was the end of a toxic marriage … and the court has taken a view of this,” she said.

Hay, who was at times in tears during proceedings, was given a seven-year jail term, suspended for two-and-a-half years on the condition she doesn’t commit an imprisonable crime. 

Mr Brown said Hay’s conduct was a serious example of family violence and Mr Richardson’s time in the marriage would have been extraordinarily difficult. 

Hay, who the court was told suffers from mental health issues, did not have “genuine insight into the extent of her wrongdoing”, Mr Brown said. 

However, he noted Hay’s childhood was blighted by family violence and she was suffering genuine distress after her offending. 

She had lost contact with her children, was no longer able to get meaningful work and had been the subject of enormous media attention. 

“Her reputation is obviously in tatters,” Mr Brown said. 

Hay is living at a women’s shelter and was working on herself through free courses because she had no money, Ms Edwards said. 

“If she were to enter another relationship, these courses are fairly and squarely teaching you how to behave in an adult world,” she said. 

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Very few people stop Wentworth MP Allegra Spender on the streets of Bondi to talk about tax reform and she wants that to change.

That’s why among the usual cast of economic boffins, politicians and business representatives at the teal independent’s tax roundtable in Parliament House on Friday, content creators were packaging up the discussion to cut through to a different audience.

While young people feel the impacts of the tax system on housing unaffordability and stagnant real wages, getting them to care about changing it – and ensuring policymakers know that support is there – is another matter.

Former Treasury secretary Ken Henry, who wrote the book on tax reform during the Rudd and Gillard governments, said the current system was broken.

The burden is increasingly shifting onto the shoulders of young people, who are also contending with an increasingly unaffordable housing market.

“Tax policy tragics know that tax reform is necessary, but the thing is that most people in the community do not,” he told the roundtable. 

“I reckon the best thing that we can do as a group is to help make the case, to help in the construction of a compelling narrative, something that motivates action.”

Ms Spender agrees.

“You have to convince people why it’s important before you can convince them what the solution is,” Ms Spender told AAP.

“People don’t come up to me in the street to talk about a particular aspect of tax.

“But they talk to me about the fact that they’re worried about their kids, whether they can get a home. They’re worried about productivity, and whether our businesses can get access to capital. 

“Those are the things that people worry about. They don’t necessarily see the link back to tax.”

Ms Spender has been taking to Instagram to get the message out.

Also there to spread the message were Konrad Benjamin, whose Punter’s Politics videos rack up millions of views on social media, and Natasha Etschmann, a personal finance podcaster with more than 300,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

They have a direct line to a growing cohort of younger Australians who increasingly feel the system is stacked against them.

Getting buy-in from regular punters who felt left out was an important step if things were to change politically, Mr Benjamin said.

The solutions raised around the table were largely the same ones tax reform advocates have been calling for for more than a decade – taxing carbon and resources more effectively, reducing reliance on personal income tax, and boosting incentives for investment.

“They know the solutions,” Mr Benjamin said.

“How do you get it through? And how do you communicate it? And that’s, I suppose, where we are sitting. 

“We’re trying to shape the political discourse around something like tax, because it’s been dominated by the Murdoch channels. 

“But who’s bearing the burden? Our generation, wage slaves, us.”

Australians are distressed by the images of children starving as a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza worsens, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says.

The comments followed a strongly-worded statement from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who said the situation in Gaza, where vision of emaciated children has become the norm as Israel denies aid to civilians, had “gone beyond the world’s worst fears”.

The escalation in rhetoric has added intrigue as to whether Australia will follow France’s lead in recognising Palestine.

Asked about Australia’s intentions for a UN General Assembly in September, Senator Wong would not rule out support for statehood.

“We all are distressed by the ongoing violence, the deaths of so many innocent civilians, the images of children starving, the humanitarian catastrophe that is worsening before our eyes, and we all want it to stop,” she told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

The prime minister earlier urged Israel to comply with its obligations under international law.

“Israel’s denial of aid and the killing of civilians, including children, seeking access to water and food cannot be defended or ignored,” he said.

“Every innocent life matters. Every Israeli. Every Palestinian.”

Mr Albanese stopped short of saying Australia would immediately join France in recognising Palestinian statehood after the European nation became the largest Western power to signal it would make the announcement.

Mr Albanese instead said recognising the “legitimate aspirations of Palestinian people for a state of their own” was a bipartisan position.

“Australia is committed to a future where both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples can live in peace and safety, within internationally recognised borders,” he said.

“Until that day, every effort must be made here and now to safeguard innocent life and end the suffering and starvation of the people of Gaza.”

Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a designated terrorist organisation, have collapsed after Israel and the US withdrew from talks.

With aid being throttled at the border and all entry points to Gaza controlled by Israel, former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk said Australia and the other nations must do more as the situation in Gaza was “purely a political famine”.

“Nothing about this is natural or organic – it’s 100 per cent man-made,” the Refugees International president told ABC Radio.

“We are at – if not past – a tipping point.”

The Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which began operations in May, has been accused of obstructing operations by the United Nations and other aid groups, and putting starving Palestinians in danger.

According to Mr Konyndyk, its aid packages were small and insufficient and the foundation’s facilities were located far from population centres.

“The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is a farce,” he said.

Israel, which began letting in only a trickle of supplies to Gaza in recent months, has previously blamed Hamas for disrupting food distribution and accused it of using stolen aid to fund its war effort.

While the coalition said it had “strong concerns” about the worsening humanitarian situation, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said it was disappointing Mr Albanese’s statement did not place any blame on Hamas.

“Any moral outrage about the situation in Gaza should be directed at Hamas,” she said.

Israel has enforced a complete embargo on humanitarian aid and medical supplies for almost three months after a ceasefire deal broke down earlier in 2025.

In recent months, more than 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid, many of them shot by the Israeli military, UN sources have found.

Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.

Its military campaign was launched after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Mr Albanese also condemned the “terror and brutality” of Hamas and repeated calls for the release of the remaining hostages.

Australia has warned that US trade wars risk a return to the “law of the jungle” as President Donald Trump claims a win over dropped restrictions on American beef.

Mr Trump and his trade representative Jamieson Greer have put Australia ditching biosecurity blocks on imported beef down to pressure from the White House.

The president has been pushing for concessions from a raft of countries after unveiling sweeping tariffs on imports, including a baseline 10 per cent rate for Australian goods.

But Trade Minister Don Farrell denied any quid pro quo, saying the removal of beef restrictions came at the end of a decade-long, independent review process and biosecurity hadn’t been sacrificed.

Senator Farrell used a major trade policy speech to deliver some of the strongest language yet to criticise the president’s upheaval of international trade with his tariffs.

“The rules of the road are being challenged – one of the chief designers of the global trading system, the United States, is now questioning the benefits of open, rules-based trade,” he told the Lowy Institute on Friday.

“What we risk seeing is a shift from a system based on shared prosperity and interdependence to one based solely on power and size.”

Slowed growth from major trading partners and the ripple effect it would have on the global economy “will be felt for generations”, the trade minister warned.

“We cannot risk a return to the law of the jungle,” he said.

Senator Farrell said he remained optimistic the US would eventually drop the levies as they pushed up inflation and unemployment.

Demand for Australian imports had remained steady, he said, pointing to steel as an example despite the product being subject to a 25 per cent levy.

“What President Trump is saying to us and the rest of the world is we want to buy less of your products,” he said.

“Now, strangely enough, that actually hasn’t happened so far with most Australian products.”

But the trade minister also issued a veiled warning to Washington, saying if they continued to keep trade barriers then Australian businesses would simply turn elsewhere.

The nation could increase its exports to markets like Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore, Senator Farrell said.

“Singapore loves doing business with us, so there are so many opportunities in our region that if America says, ‘OK, well we’re going to take less of your product’, we can find other markets much closer to home.”

Health Minister Mark Butler said the dropped beef restrictions came after the US increased its traceability standards.

A blanket ban on US beef imports was introduced after a 2003 mad cow disease outbreak.

It was lifted in 2019, but there were restrictions on products derived from Canada- or Mexico-raised cattle.

Only small quantities have been imported to Australia since the wholesale ban was lifted.

Craig Huf, a cattle producer from Upper Barringbar on the NSW north coast, said large volumes of imported beef were not expected to reach the Australian market because of record-low US herd numbers.

Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert agreed, saying it was unlikely there would be a rush to import American beef as “we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat”.

But the association backed industry calls for an independent review of the government’s decision to reassure producers about biosecurity risks.

Experts have warned that Australia’s move to lift restrictions on US beef might not be enough to shift the dial on tariff negotiations.

The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both nations’ goods are still taxed above the 10 per cent baseline.

Australia and the UK are pledging a half-century alliance, shifting the two nations closer together while the US wavers in its support for a crucial nuclear submarine program.

A 50-year treaty to underpin the three-nation security pact will be signed after Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles meet their counterparts for talks in Sydney.

The AUKUS security partnership involves the US, UK and Australia, but the fresh treaty is only between London and Canberra.

In opening remarks with UK leaders, Mr Marles said the two nations’ relationship might be Australia’s most important partnership.

“We are living at a time (when) the world is volatile, there is a great power contest,” he said on Friday.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy also spoke of the “challenging” global circumstances, including the war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.

“We rely on each other in so many ways and obviously, combined, we are part of a system that gives us tremendous intelligence capability and military capability,” he said.

While negotiations over the defence agreement were flagged before US President Donald Trump took power, the document’s inking shows the UK and Australia are strengthening ties in the face of American tariffs and the Pentagon’s yet-to-be-completed AUKUS review.

The bilateral treaty will facilitate greater economic co-operation between the two nations by improving both countries’ industrial capacity.

As part of the existing defence agreement, Australia will pay $5 billion to support British industry to design and produce nuclear reactors to power the future AUKUS-class submarines.

Under the $368 billion AUKUS submarine program, Australia is set to be sold least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s.

The new AUKUS-class nuclear submarines will be built in Adelaide and delivered in the 2040s.

But the planned sale of US-built boats has been up in the air since the Trump administration launched a review of the deal to examine whether it aligns with his “America first” agenda.

Defence analysts believe a likely outcome of the US review will be a request for more money from Australia to support its submarine industrial base.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior analyst Alex Bristow said holding ministerial meetings every six months, rather than the traditional annual timeline, highlighted strengthened ties between the two nations.

“The tempo of it increasing, I think, is a signal that Britain is moving into an elite category,” he told AAP.

The UK’s Carrier Strike Group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales, arrived in Darwin on Wednesday during Talisman Sabre multi-nation military exercises hosted by Australia.

It’s the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997.

The international task group includes five core ships, 24 jets and 17 helicopters, centred on the flagship aircraft carrier.

Mr Marles and Senator Wong will on Sunday join their UK counterparts in Darwin to observe the group in action.

UK High Commissioner Sarah MacIntosh said the strike group’s arrival was a demonstration of commitment to the region and the strong relationship with Canberra.

“This is an anchor relationship in a contested world,” she said.