Australian news and politics live: Navy Chief warns bases, ports under threat unless drone fleet a focus

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working on a “range of plans” to help Australians escape the escalating crisis in the Middle East.

This includes “a plan for assisted departures when air space is open and when it is safe to do so,” she said on Monday during a visit to DFAT’s crisis centre in Canberra.

“I understand, particularly those who are in the Middle East, in Israel or Iran, how worrying this situation is, how frightening it is. And I also recognize for families of people who are in the region, this is a distressing time,” she said.

Senator Wong said 350 Australians in Iran and 300 people in Israel had registered for assistance.

But she stressed the timeline for possible evacuations would be “primarily dictated by safety” as airspace remains closed, urging those affected to shelter in place.

A Tasmanian police officer is dead and the alleged shooter has been injured after an incident at a rural property.

The officer reportedly died at the scene after the shooting at North Motton near Ulverstone, on Tasmania’s central northern coast.

A Tasmania Police spokesperson said the alleged offender was injured as they await more details on thr incident.

Defence expert Herbert McMaster told the Defending Australia conference that Australia holding strong against China during “economic cohesion” would have garnered respect with President Trump.

“They tried that with Australia through economic coercion and failed. I think (the US) respects that, he respects the fact that Australia stood up to China’s communist party coercion,” he said.

Former United States national security advisor Herbert Raymond McMaster has expressed confidence Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump’s first in-person meeting will go well.

Speaking one-on-one with former Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer for a Defending Australia conference on Monday, Mr McMaster said he believed Mr Trump would have respect for Australia.

He recalled the trainwreck first phone call between Donald Trump and Malcolm Turnbull which was leaked in 2017.

“I got to witness his relationship with Prime Minister Turnbull. After that, they met. They met in New York on the aircraft carrier and they established a good relationship,” he said.

“He typically is pretty gracious in person. He’s in the hospitality business. Really in person he can be engaging and he does listen. I think you can see evidence of that.”

A man has been taken into custody in Bali in connection with the ambush shooting of Australians Zivan Radmanovic and Sanar Ghanim.

The suspected gunman is helping officers with their enquiries at Badung Police Station as they investigate the fatal shooting of Mr Radmanovic, 32, and the wounding of Mr Ghanim, 34.

It is believed that a second man remains on the run.

Read the full story here.

South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas says Australians take our security “for granted” and need to be on board the conversation as regional tensions mount.

Speaking at a Defending Australia forum in Canberra on Monday he said that Aussies ignoring the issue is a concern.

“I think the biggest challenge is ourselves. I think Australians take for granted our set of circumstances,” he said.

“I see evidence of compliance and apathy in the electorate. In the context of everything going on around us, talking about ourselves seems a bit silly. But I dont think it’s talked about enough.”

Navy chief Mark Hammond said in his opinion Australia need to boost our unmanned aerial vehicle systems to ensure our air bases and ports are protected from the new frontier of war - drone attacks.

The Vice Admiral said the world was witnessing a deterioration of the rules based order and security partnerships were important to stop further decline.

“We are a small nation. We’re at our best and at our strongest when we stand alongside our allies and partners,” he said.

Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond has said Australia needs to shift focus to its waters and borders as the Asia-Pacific region faces an increasingly unstable global political environment.

“We need to realise we’re not a land-locked country. We are a nation which can do tough things,” he told a Defending Australia forum in Canberra on Monday, adding more resources needed to be considered.

He said two things make a nation fall over in conflict: “The lack of willpower and the economic backing.

“Ensuring economic wellbeing is the first job in my view”.

Director-General of the Australia Submarine Agency Jonathan Mead has said Australia’s changing of submarine deals from “Plans B, C, D” has “been to our own folly”.

He told a Defending Australia forum in Canberra on Monday when the first US submarines arrive in Henderson in 2027 it would be a “major moment” for Australia.

He said it would send a signal to the region and to “mischievous actors who say AUKUS won’t happen”.

It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to raise the importance of the deal at his first in-person meeting with Donald Trump later this week after the Pentagon launched a review into it.

South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas has said Australia is right to stick to the AUKUS plan after the former coalition government flip flopped between submarine agreements.

Speaking at a Defending Australia forum in Canberra on Monday he said given the “size, cost and consequence” of the AUKUS pact it made sense that the Pentagon would want to review it under the newish Trump administration.

He said it would speak to an “indifference” not to and would be a greater “concern” for a new government not to review the deal.

“That would speak to a form of indifference that would actually be of concern,” he said.

He said that Australia has to “wise up” to the fact that changing plans constantly would only lead to delays in protecting the nation.