Australian news and politics recap: Albo meeting with Trump at G7 critical after US AUKUS review announcement

This concludes our live politics and news coverage for the day.

Scroll back through for all the latest on AUKUS, after the US announced a review would be conducted on the agreement, sparking fears of a Trump torpedo.

Check back in tomorrow for more live news action.

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Opposition leader Sussan Ley has accused the Albanese Government of overstepping by slapping “unprecedented” sanctions on two Israeli Government ministers.

She accused Penny Wong of acting “unilaterally” in imposing Magnitsky-style sanctions on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

The Albanese Government joined the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Norway to sanction the pair, accusing them of “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank”.

“It is unprecedented to, as a government, take actions, sanctions on members of a democratically elected government. It appears that Penny Wong acted unilaterally on this,” Ms Ley told Sky New on Thursday.

“The Magnitsky sanctions were never designed to be used in this way, but to take action against terrorist regimes and bad actors.”

Read the full story here.

Asked of the importance of Anthony Albanese securing a meeting with Donald Trump at the G7 Summit, Scott Morrison said “a lot rests on it”.

“Of course, they are important,” he said. “They’re our most important ally. And so, it’s critical that these take place and that relationships form and understandings form.

“You don’t want any distractions. You want to be able to talk about the issues that are most important and from Australia’s perspective, obviously, security is the most significant.”

He said the defence relationship and the economic relationship shjould be the priorities.

“There’s much for us to talk about, and there’s much for us to be able to work together on to secure a free and open Indo-Pacific, as the Japanese like to say. And we have that responsibility.

“So, yes, a lot rests on it. And that’s the job of the Prime Minister.”

When asked if Australia needs a plan B to AUKUS, Mr Turnbull said AUKUS was the plan B.

“Look, I think the capability of having nuclear powered submarines is essential to Australia’s long-term strategic defence,” he said speaking on ABC.

“The submarines we were going to buy would have been obsolete before they got wet. “They weren’t going to turn up until 2038.

“So, some suggestion that they were going to be there in the early 2030s is just not true. It was never going to happen. And that was the choice that our government was faced with. We moved to a plan B that was actually better than plan A, and of course, difficult things are very challenging.

“This is a big test of our resolve and our capability. But I’m not one of those defeatists who want to surrender to the idea, which says Australia’s just not up to it.

“I don’t agree with that. I think Australia is up to it. I think the alliance is up to it and I think it can be achieved.

“I think that’s a view that the government and I share.”

Former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison says he’s “never had concerns” about Donald Trump’s commitment to AUKUS, despite today’s announcement a review would take place.

“I know there’s been lots of speculation about it and a lot of self-fulfilling speculation about it, or at least seeking to be self-fulfilling, but that hasn’t been my concern,” he said, speaking on ABC.

“I mean, there’s a review underway. I think he’ll take notice of … And I think we need to engage with that and make the case again.

“Remember, it was during the first Trump administration when, for over a year, we engaged with the officials exactly like Elbridge Colby and others within the US Institutional Defence System to convince them of our capability to be able to do this with AUKUS.”

He went on to say that the original AUKUS deal wasn’t just about Virginia class submarines, but about securing an agreement with the US for the first time since the late 1950s to share that technology with Australia.

“That sits at the heart of the AUKUS deal,” Mr Morrison said. “And I don’t think there’s any suggestion or question over that.”

When asked if the US President had ever told him he wants AUKUS to proceed, Mr Turnbull said he didn’t “go into my conversations with others”.

Anthony Albanese is still yet to secure a formal sit-down meeting with Donald Trump at the G7, according to The Australian, following the fallout from the US AUKUS review announcement.

Questions have been raised over whether the President will even attend the G7 in Canada and if he does, he may lean towards a more informal discussion with Albo on AUKUS, US tariffs and Australia’s sanctions of Israeli officials.

Richard Marles has hit back at criticism from former prime ministers Paul Keating and Malcolm Turnbull on the AUKUS agreement.

The two former prime ministers are critical of the submarine deal, with Mr Keating saying the US review could “save Australia from itself” and Turnbull suggesting Australia should launch its own review.

But Mr Marles said their views were “not new” and “just not right”.

“It’s just not right to say that there hasn’t been a review,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

“The Defence Strategic Review ... was a root-and-branch review of Australia’s strategic circumstances, something that did not occur during the Turnbull government or indeed at any time during the Coalition government

“Ultimately that review utterly comprehended AUKUS because it was a central part of where we were going in terms of our long-range submarine capability.”

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating has issued a damning statement in response to the US AUKUS review, saying it “might very well be the moment Washington saves Australia from itself”.

A vocal AUKUS critic, Mr Keating labelled the agreement “the most poorly conceived defence procurement program ever adopted by an Australian government”.

He said the Trump Administration was now subjecting the AUKUS deal “to the kind of scrutiny that should have been applied … in the first instance”, adding the Albanese government had the chance to do its own review back in 2022.

“AUKUS will be shown for what it always has been: a deal hurriedly scribbled on the back of an envelope by Scott Morrison, along with the vacuous British blowhard Boris Johnson and the confused President Joe Biden,” Mr Keating said.

“The usual American apologists are already out in the press today insisting that the Australian prime minister leave his meeting with Trump on the weekend with a guarantee that AUKUS survives. It is an impossible ask.

“In any case, the calling of the Pentagon review should be the catalyst for the government to get on with the job of forging a relevant, distinctly Australian path for the country’s national security, rather than being dragged along on the coattails of a fading Atlantic empire.”

Liberal Leader Sussan Ley says Australia needs to be “embedded at all levels” of the US government after America launches a review of AUKUS.

Speaking on Sky News on Thursday, Ms Ley said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese needs to build a “strong relationship” with the US and should have already been investing in that.

“I’m not sure that exists. I do want the Government to do well in this,” she said.

She said a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sideline of the G7 next week was critical.

“All efforts need to be made to secure that meeting,” she said.

Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds says she’s “bitterly disappointed” after the National Anti-Corruption Commission declared there was no corruption issue with Brittany Higgins’ $2.4 million payout.

Ms Higgins received the payout by the Commonwealth in compensation in 2022 after she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019.

Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.

In a statement on Thursday, Senator Reynolds said the body didn’t let her defend the claims made against her alleging egregious conduct or attend the mediation.

“I am bitterly disappointed by the NACC’s decision not to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Commonwealth’s multi-million dollar settlement with Ms Higgins,” she said.

The WA Senator said she’s now taken the matter to the Federal Court and filed new documents arguing that the claims against them were untrue and that the Government should have known this before settling.

“Yesterday I filed an amended statement of claim which details the falsities of Ms Higgins claims against me and the publicly available information refuting each of her allegations, all of which was available to the Commonwealth and its lawyers prior to the settlement,” she said.