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Defence minister says government wants stable relations with China but can’t ignore military build-up; Indigenous leaders to make recommendations to government. Follow all the day’s news live
Good morning and welcome to our rolling news coverage. I’m Martin Farrer and I’ll be bringing you some of the top breaking stories before Natasha May fires up her work station to take charge.
The defence minister, Richard Marles, has defended the Aukus submarine deal in the wake of a blistering attack from the former labor prime minister Paul Keating who dubbed it the “worst deal in all history”. Speaking on 7.30 last night Marles declined to criticise Keating personally but pointed out he had last been in government in 1996 when the world was very different. Marles said the government had worked hard to stabilise Australia’s diplomatic relations with China but “we are seeing the biggest conventional military build-up in the world today since the end of the second world war”.
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