Australia news live: Australia-China relations have recovered from low point, says Li

Key events

Woman charged with murder of seven-month-old boy in Perth

A woman has been charged with murder after the death of a seven-month-old baby in Perth on Monday.

Emergency services were called to a residence in Balcatta, north-west of Perth, at around 3.10am following reports of a “serious assault”, Western Australian police said in a statement.

Police and St John WA attended and found the infant with critical injuries. Sadly, the baby was later declared deceased.

On Tuesday 15 July, homicide squad detectives charged a 31-year-old Balcatta woman with murder.

She is due to appear in Perth magistrates court today.

China hails Albanese’s ‘personal efforts’ to restore ties

Relations between China and Australia reached a “low point” but are back on track under Anthony Albanese’s leadership, the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, said last night after the pair met in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

China’s premier congratulated Albanese on his re-election, Australian Associated Press reports, and for his “personal efforts” to stabilise the China-Australia relationship, which soured under the former Liberal government during the Covid pandemic.

“China-Australia relations have moved beyond a low point and returned to the right track of stability and development,” Li said.

Since the pair last met in October last year “a lot has happened in the world”, Li said, and there was growing instability and uncertainty in the global economy.

“The development of all countries is faced with new challenges. Given such circumstances, China and Australia as important trade partners, should strengthen dialogue and cooperation,” he said.

Albanese said he looked forward to the two nations exploring new opportunities in trade, climate change, tourism and culture.

“We’ll also have an opportunity to have a frank and open dialogue that enables us to navigate issues that need to be discussed,” he said.

For more on Albanese’s visit and his meeting with Xi Jinping yesterday, check out Tom McIlroy’s report here:

Welcome

Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the stories making the news this morning and then it’ll be Nick Visser to take the controls.

China’s premier, Li Qiang, last night hailed Anthony Albanese for his “personal efforts” to stabilise the China-Australia relationship, which went south under Scott Morrison’s leadership and the Covid pandemic. After a meeting in the Great Hall of the People wrapped up a busy day of diplomacy for Albanese, Li said relations had “moved beyond a low point”. More coming up.

As Albanese continues with his diplomatic offensive in China, the shadow defence minister, Angus Taylor, told ABC’s 7.30 that he believes the prime minister should be making more progress on shoring up Australia’s relations with the US. Taylor said the reset of relations with Washington should include a deal to protect Taiwan – despite the problems that it might pose with China. More coming up.

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