The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20150315090056/http://australianpolitics.com/category/usa/obama

Barack Obama Highlights Climate Change In Speech At University Of Queensland

Nov 15, 2014

Ahead of the G20 meeting, President Barack Obama has placed climate change at the centre of a speech to students at the University of Queensland.

Obama

Obama told the gathering that no region had more at stake than the Asia-Pacific. He said climate change was causing more wildfires, flooding, extreme storms and rising seas. “The incredible natural glory of the Great Barrier Reef is threatened,” he said.

Obama pledges $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund to assist developing countries. “Let them leap frog some of the dirty industries that powered our development, go straight to a clean-energy economy that allows them to grow, create jobs and at the same time reduce their carbon pollution,” he said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Audio, Climate Change, G20, Obama, Video Tagged With: , , ,

Obama Calls For Ceasefire In Ukraine; Says US Will Increase Pressure On Russia

Jul 18, 2014

United States President Barack Obama has called for a global investigation of the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17.

Obama

Obama said the deaths of 298 passengers and crew was a “global tragedy”. He described the attack as “an outrage of unspeakable proportions” that required a credible international investigation.

Speaking at the White House, Obama said Russia, pro-Russian forces and Ukraine must agree to a ceasefire. “The eyes of the world are on Eastern Ukraine and we are going to make sure the truth comes out,” Obama said. “It’s time for peace and security to be restored in Ukraine.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Audio, Obama, Video Tagged With: , ,

Tony Abbott Meets With Barack Obama At White House

Jun 13, 2014

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has met with US President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington DC.

Obama

Obama and Abbott each made brief comments about the Australia-US alliance and foreign policy in the Asia-Pacific region.

Obama took one question from Washington journalists on the unfolding and emergency situation in Iraq. David Speers from Australian Sky News asked Obama another question about Iraq. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbott, ANZUS, Audio, Obama, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

June 6, 2014: President Barack Obama Speaks At Normandy On The 70th Anniversary Of D-Day

Jun 06, 2014

President Barack Obama and other world leaders have gathered at Normandy in France to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

Like the 75th anniversary of Gallipoli in 1990, this is likely to be the last time that survivors of the largest sea-borne invasion in history will gather to remember the historic turning point that led to the defeat of Hitler and the end of the war in Europe.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is attending the commemoration.

United States President Barack Obama addressed the morning ceremony: “By daybreak, blood soaked the water, and bombs broke the sky. Thousands of paratroopers had dropped into the wrong landing sites; thousands of rounds bit into flesh and sand. Entire companies’ worth of men fell in minutes. … By the end of that longest day, this beach had been fought, lost, refought and won — a piece of Europe once again liberated and free. …”

  • Listen to Obama (25m – transcript below)

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  • Watch Obama (25m)

Front page of The Age, June 7, 1944.

Age

Transcript of President Barack Obama’s speech at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, on the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

President Hollande; to the people of France; friends; the family; our veterans:

If prayer were made of sound, the skies over England that night would have deafened the world.

Captains paced their decks. Pilots tapped their gauges. Commanders pored over maps, fully aware that for all the months of meticulous planning, everything could go wrong — the winds, the tides, the element of surprise — and above all, the audacious bet that what waited on the other side of the Channel would compel men not to shrink away, but to charge ahead. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Audio, Obama, Political History, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

G20 Finance Ministers Commit To 2% GDP Growth Target

Feb 23, 2014

The G20 Finance Ministers have committed to a collective growth rate of 2% above the current trajectory over the next five years.

Hockey

Speaking after the meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Sydney, Treasurer Joe Hockey said: “Realistically, these policies could mean an extra US$2 trillion in global economic activity and tens of millions of additional jobs.”

Each country in the group has agreed to deliver a comprehensive growth strategy as part of the Brisbane Leaders Summit in November.

  • Listen to Joe Hockey’s press conference (24m)

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  • Listen to US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew (16m)

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Media release from the Treasurer, Joe Hockey.

CONCLUSION OF G20 FINANCE MINISTERS AND CENTRAL BANK GOVERNORS MEETING IN SYDNEY

Today marks the conclusion of the first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Sydney, which is the first on Australia’s soil as part of our host year.

In an unprecedented statement, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors committed to implement policies to grow our collective GDP by more than 2 per cent above the current trajectory over the next five years. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Abbott, Audio, Economy, Obama Tagged With: , ,
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