News live: US understands Australia’s naval priorities, Albanese says; NZ PM flags close strategic collaboration in 2024 | Australia news

Finding Sydney’s hidden best phở

In south-west Sydney, there’s a small diner serving a beef phở so rich it’s the colour of rendang. Along with the usual sidekicks – bean sprouts, Thai basil, lemon – it comes with pickled garlic and chilli sauce, both made in-house. Customers will tell you this is one of the best bowls of phở in Sydney. The restaurant is called 2 Foodies and if you’ve never heard of it, that’s probably because it’s hidden between a petrol station and carwash in Mount Pritchard.

The location of 2 Foodies is unusual, but it isn’t unique. Incredible food can be found in carwashes, car parks, convenience stores and all kinds of traditionally less desirable urban Australian locations – you just need to know where to look.

Read the full (delicious) story here:

Telstra and Optus working to restore services in FNQ

Josh Taylor

Cost of living could rise if merger reforms don’t address anti-competitive deals

Australians could be stuck paying more for goods and services if upcoming merger reforms do not go far enough to stamp out anti-competitive deals, AAP reports.

The consumer watchdog has been pushing for tougher rules to stop companies from joining forces if there’s a risk they will gain too much market power and has now warned that two of Treasury’s proposed models for fixing the problem are not up to scratch.

“Evidence shows that Australia’s economy is being impacted by weakened competition in many sectors, risking higher prices for consumers and businesses,” the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said on Wednesday.

A Treasury consultation paper released last month outlined three options for cracking down on anti-competitive mergers, including the ACCC’s preferred model.

The consumer watchdog wants mandatory notification and approval of upcoming mergers, with some firms thought to be pushing the boundaries of the voluntary setup and offering up incomplete, incorrect and late information.

Under its preferred model, the regulator would then be able to grant clearance if it was happy the merger would not substantially dampen competition.

This differs from a second mandatory clearance option proposed by Treasury that would force the ACCC to prove the anti-competitive nature of the deal to the federal court.

A third option keeps the voluntary alert system in place, where firms can choose to notify the watchdog about a merger, and the ACCC would then be able to approve deals it deems suitable.

In a preliminary submission to the government’s competition policy review, Ms Cass-Gottlieb said the two other options for merger reform did not address the regulator’s underlying concerns about tactics used by firms to acquire rivals that left the ACCC with few options but to approve them.

“We shouldn’t have a process that is prey to legal brinkmanship, with all the uncertainty and expense that entails,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

She said the ACCC’s pathway struck the right balance.

The option put forward by the ACCC achieves the right balance, with minimal regulatory burden for those acquisitions that do not have anti-competitive effects, and a structured, transparent and timely process for those acquisitions where there are potential anti-competitive effects.

US understands Australian navy’s focus on Indo-Pacific, Albanese says

Daniel Hurst

PMs asked about Aukus

There’s a question from the reporters on the floor about Aukus. It’s inaudible from here at my desk but it’s something about nuclear power, and Luxon and Albanese both provide a response.

Luxon:

Aukus is an important element an ensuring we got and peace in the region. You know, we have talked about it a number of countries that are increasing their military capabilities and it’s a more contested region for sure. We will always have our nuclear-free position. That’s not non-negotiable for us in New Zealand but we have our navies that work together and we want to see more interoperability frankly between our respective defence forces.

From my point of view we’re interested in exploring pillar two particularly in Aukus and the new technologies and the opportunities that that may mean for New Zealand to participate. We’ll work our way through that over the course of next year as we understand it more and think about what the opportunities may be for us.

Albanese follows up:

I see that there are opportunities for greater cooperation between our militaries, particularly in interoperability. That has practical effect as well. It’s about efficiency and one of the things we commented on today in our discussion was that often it is, indeed, our defence forces respectively that provide support each other at time of needs, of natural disasters. That’s just one area whereby increased cooperation could benefit both of our nations.

With regard to the Aukus arrangements we’re very pleased that the Congress passed the Aukus legislation this year. That was our objective. Many said that couldn’t be achieved. We achieved that with considerable support across the political spectrum in the United States and I also note that that the Pacific Island Forum that was held just a couple of months ago, we received support and understanding about our Aukus arrangements. What we’re envisioning here is nuclear propulsion, not nuclear-armed ships, it’s a very important distinction to draw. So certainly we see Aukus as being very important for promoting stability and security in the Pacific.

Luxon addresses Pacific and climate crisis

The Pacific is also a key part of Luxon’s remarks, here; specifically the effects of climate crisis “and an increasingly contested strategic environment”:

We are determined to work together as bedrock partners in the region together working with our Pacific Island nations partners, particularly through the Pacific Island Forum which is a key mechanism for us to continue to ensure peace and stability in the region.

And then with respect to trade and economy, this is a relationship that has $32bn in annual trade. One-third of Australian businesses export to New Zealand and more than half of our foreign direct investment comes from this side of the Tasman. So that economic relationship underpins jobs and livelihoods on both sides of the Tasman and we want to continue to work strongly about what can we do more to renew and to extend the ambition and aspiration we have together economically.

Luxon on defence and security

NZ prime minister Christopher Luxon picks up, returns Albanese’s thanks and the usual preambles, then moves on to matters of defence and security.

Luxon:

The depth of our relationship is unique and it actually spans all areas including security, our work together in our region, economic integration and obviously our people and our strong cultural links.

If I can talk a little bit about defence and security. We know we’re facing a more challenging and complex world, close security and defence relationships we have with our only ally, Australia, is very foundational for New Zealand.

And so New Zealand is committed to doing our share of the heavy lifting in the alliance and I’m determine that New Zealand will continue to be alongside Australia as we seek to advance our share interests and our common values.

We want to work together to support a stable and a very resilient region and we will defend and advance the international-rules-based order. That’s why we agreed our ministers of foreign affairs and defence will hold their first joint meeting most likely in the new year as quickly as possible after Christmas to dive into some of those issues and to ensure that our plans and our responses are aligned and coordinated and mutually supported.

Albanese lists Australia-NZ milestones

Albanese lists off a number of what he calls milestones in the Australia-New Zealand relationship, including co-hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup this year.

He also mentions the recent joint statement with Canada calling for a ceasefire in Gaza:

I was also pleased that last week we showed the extent of our cooperation with the joint statement we made with Canadian prime minister Trudeau, condemning Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel, supporting urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire, and affirming our commitment to a just and enduring peace in the region.

Albanese meets NZ prime minister Christopher Luxon

Murray Watt defends Queensland emergency services’ response

There was a question in this press conference about the timeliness or otherwise of emergency alerts – an issue that’s been raised a few times over the last few days, usually in relation to the Bureau of Meteorology, although this time the police and State Emergency Services were mentioned.

Murray Watt again defended the emergency services’ response:

I made this point yesterday, that this weather system … was an incredibly unpredictable weather system. And I do have confidence that all of the authorities, federal, state and local, acted quickly as they could with the best information that they could.

And as I said yesterday, I’d reflect on the fact that at this point in time, we haven’t had any reported fatalities or injuries. There’s obviously concern about one 85-year-old Wujal Wujal man. But that is a pretty remarkable effort from all of the emergency authorities to get information out.

Whenever we have a disaster of this magnitude, we always review it, we always seek to improve. And if there are improvements to be made, then we’ll do that.

‘Complex recovery’ ahead for Cairns, senator says

Cairns senator Nita Green has been speaking about the recovery phase for the flood regions. She says:

This is a complex weather system that we’re dealing with and a complex recovery that we’re dealing with at the moment. There are parts of Cairns that have bounced back and are in really good shape. There are parts of Cairns that are not. And there are parts of our region, further afield, whether it is in Port Douglas or Mossman, whether it is up towards Cooktown and Wujal Wujal that are still in a response mode and will move to recovery mode quickly.

But this is going to be a complex time and we are really working hard to get to those people as quickly as possible.

… Can I say to the rest of the country who are watching our community, we are really tough and we are really resilient, but we really do appreciate you standing with us, and we feel that here. [We] will be back in business really soon and when we are, we can’t wait to see you.

Federal government announces additional financial support for flood victims