Tag Archives: oceania

How Donald Trump is still haunting the G7 summit

A former key White House senior staffer has said G7 leaders are likely to butt heads over Russia and China, while US President Joe Biden will have to step out of predecessor Donald Trump's shadow.

Former White House director of events Laura Schwartz told Today that Mr Biden would also likely push other leaders to make a significant commitment to worldwide COVID-19 vaccination.

Collectively, the G7 is working to pledge one billion doses of vaccine, with the US committing to 500 million.

"We all see the light at the end of the tunnel, but not for all countries," Ms Schwartz said.

"We live in a globally interdependent backdrop of everything that we do. One nation affects the other."

However, on the other large issues of relations with China and Russia, Ms Schwartz warned the leaders would clash.

"There are deals between Russia and Germany right now, and the US wants to lay some sanctions on Russia. What does (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel say about that?" Ms Schwartz said.

"There's definitely inter-country play."

Confidential conversations between leaders were likely to be drivers of future policy, especially when it came to an agreement on climate change – something that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is likely to find awkward when he joins the summit as a guest.

The ghost of Trump

Ms Schwartz said while Mr Biden's international approval was far higher than his predecessor's, he would still have to fight to establish himself as an unchallenged US President.

"A lot of the countries have seen the insurrection from January 6," Ms Schwartz said.

"They've seen Donald Trump's still in the picture talking about conspiracy theories.

"Joe Biden will have to assure everybody, 'Listen, I am representing America and the majority of America is behind a world economy and getting together as a whole'."

Ms Schwartz said Mr Biden's "secret weapon" was First Lady Jill Biden.

"She landed the other day and they were with (UK Prime Minister) Boris Johnson and his wife," she said.

"She wore a jacket that simply said 'love' on the back, and that was not a coincidence."

You can find out more details about how to book your vaccine through the Federal Government health site here.

'We will pay a terrible price': Jaws film legend's plea to save sharks

More effort must be made to protect sharks around the world amid rapidly declining populations, a veteran marine conservationist and filmmaker has said.

Trailblazer for marine conservation and documentary filmmaker Valerie Taylor says that humans need not fear sharks, instead we should spend more time saving them.

"There's only 10 per cent of the big sharks left," Ms Taylor said on Weekend Today.

READ MORE: Hundreds to flee homes for second time in two days amid deadly Victoria floods

"We're destroying one of the main animals in the world's ocean…and we can't replace them, they have a job to do, nature intended them to do that job, we can't do it and I think we're going to pay a terrible price.

"But we don't know it yet."

Ms Taylor – who helped film the underwater scenes in Steven Spielberg's Jaws and has just released a new documentary Playing With Sharks – says that the animals play an important role in the underwater ecosystem, and that without them, nature will suffer.

READ MORE: Man charged with murder after woman found dead in her home on a quiet street near Nowra

"(Sharks) clean up the sick, the old and the wounded and dying, and keep the oceans clean," she said.

"In the last 10 years I haven't seen much in the way of sharks off the (Australian) coast, except grey nurse."

Overfishing and seafloor trawling are major contributing factors in declining shark populations and often many sharks are swept up in nets intended for other fish.

READ MORE: You could lose your licence due to double demerits this weekend and not know it

Ms Taylor said that delicacies such as shark fin soup also play a role in dwindling population numbers.

"You get a lot of money if you're a fisherman for shark fins more than for fish and it's a terrible thing," she said.