ROD MCGUIRK

Correspondent

McGuirk covers Australian and South Pacific news for The Associated Press. He is based in Melbourne.
Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reacts as he attends a zoo with retired Adelaide Zoo panda Fu Ni at a park in Chengdu, China, Thursday, July 17, 2025. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)
Australian prime minister indulges in panda diplomacy as state visit in China nears end
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has toured a panda breeding facility in the final stages of an extended state visit that has cast China as a fellow champion of a global fair trade system under threat from the United States.
 
Bradley John Murdoch is led through the compound at the Adelaide Magistrates court, Adelaide, Australia, Nov. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/David Mariuz, File)
Death of Australia’s ‘Outback Killer’ leaves whereabouts of British backpacker’s body unknown
Police fear that Bradley John Murdoch, known as the “Outback Killer,” has taken to his grave the secret of how he disposed of the body of British backpacker Peter Falconio who was murdered in arid central Australia 24 years ago.
 
China's President Xi Jinping, center, gestures as he greets Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)
Australian Prime Minister complains to President Xi about Chinese live-fire exercises
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has raised concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping over a Chinese naval live-fire exercise near Australia.
 
South Korean soldiers fire from a K1 tank during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, Australia's largest-ever war fighting drills at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, near Rockhampton, Australia, Monday, July 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Australia hosts military drills with US and other nations, likely to draw Chinese surveillance
Australia is hosting its largest-ever military drills, Exercise Talisman Sabre, involving over 35,000 personnel from 19 nations.
 
Police wait by a helicopter in Beacon, Western Australia, Friday, July 11, 2025, as they prepare to search for missing German backpacker Carolina Wilga. (ABC News via AP)
German tourist found alive 12 days after she was lost in the Australian Outback
Police say German tourist Carolina Wilga has been found in Australia’s remote Outback 12 days after she went missing and a day after her bogged van was discovered.
 
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese gestures during a media event in Sydney, Friday, July 11, 2025. (Steven Markham/AAP Image via AP)
Albanese will meet with Xi next week on a trip focused on Australia-China business ties
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping on a trip he says will focus on closer business ties.
 
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal speak to media during a press conference at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney, Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Dan Himbrechts/AAPImage via AP)
Report on curbing antisemitism in Australia recommends threatening university funding
A report is recommending Australian universities lose government funding unless they address attacks on Jewish students and for potential immigrants to be screened for political affiliations.
 
Erin Patterson is photographed in Melbourne, on April 15, 2025. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)
The mushroom poisoning trial captivated Australia. Why Erin Patterson did it remains a mystery
Erin Patterson’s murder convictions for the deaths by mushroom poisoning of her estranged husband’s relatives has prompted fevered speculation across Australia about her motive.
 
Erin Patterson is photographed in Melbourne, on April 15, 2025. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)
Australian mushroom cook is convicted of triple murder after a fatal beef Wellington lunch
Australian woman Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband’s relatives, who died after she deliberately served them poisonous mushrooms for lunch.
 
A lion attacks a woman in an Australian zoo, severely injuring her arm
A woman has sustained severe injuries to an arm when she was attacked by a lion at an Australian zoo.
 
Australian government lawmaker Sarah Witty, center left, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, center, and Jewish government lawmaker Mark Dreyfus, center right, address the media outside the East Melbourne Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia Sunday, July 6, 2025, after someone set fire to the synagogue's front door two days earlier. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)
Alleged arsonist charged over fire at Australian synagogue
A man has been charged over an arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue in an apparent escalation in antisemitic violence in Australia’s second-most populous city.
 
Rabbi Dovid Gutnick walks past damage to the exterior of the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne, Saturday, July 5, 2025, after an arsonist set fire to the door. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)
Congregation flees after arsonist sets fire to an Australian synagogue door
An arsonist has set fire to the door of a Melbourne synagogue and forced the congregation to flee, seven months after criminals destroyed a synagogue in the same Australian city with an accelerant-fueled blaze that left a worshipper injured.
 
Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, leaves federal court during the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs in New York, Friday, June 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael R. Sisak)
Australia cancels rapper Ye’s visa over ‘Heil Hitler’ release
A government minister says Ye, the U.S. rapper formerly known as Kanye West, has recently been stripped of an Australian visa after he released his single “Heil Hitler.”
 
In thit photo released by The Snake Hunter, snake handler Mark Pelley lifts a a harmless 60-centimeter (2-foot) green tree snake in the cargo hold of a plane at Melbourne Airport, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (The Snake Hunter via AP)
Snake on a plane delays a flight in Australia
An Australian domestic airline flight has been delayed for two hours after a stowaway snake was found in the plane’s cargo hold.
 
Australian actor Magda Szubanski speaks at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Dec. 7, 2017, after parliament voted to allow same-sex marriage across the nation. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk, File)
Australian comic actor Magda Szubanski, star of ‘Babe’ and ‘Kath and Kim,’ reveals cancer diagnosis
Australian comedian and actor Magda Szubanski has announced that she has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer.
 
Defendant David McBride talks to the media before his court appearance in Canberra, Australia on Feb. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk, File)
Australia whistleblower who exposed war crime allegations loses bid to reduce prison sentence
Australian army whistleblower David McBride has lost a court bid to have his prison sentence reduced.
 
In this image made from video, newly elected Australian Senator Charlotte Walker speaks during an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp., in Adelaide, Australia, Monday, May 26, 2025. (Australian Broadcasting Corp. via AP)
Australia’s new youngest senator elected at 21 with unexpected win
A woman who turned 21 on the day of Australia’s federal election in May has been declared the nation’s youngest ever senator.
 
Machete are on display during an announcement at Victoria Police Headquarters in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, March 13, 2025. (James Ross/AAP Image via AP)
Machete gang fight in shopping mall leads Australian state to bring forward ban
An Australian state government will ban the sale of machetes after a violent gang fight in a suburban shopping mall.
 
In this photo provided by the New South Wales Police, emergency workers wade through floodwaters as they prepare inflatable boats to effect rescues near Taree, Australia, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (NSW Police via AP)
Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 4 dead and 1 missing
Officials say record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have left four people dead and one missing as rain eased over the disaster area.
 
Conor Lang and Anthony Heeney walk through flooded areas in Port Macquarie, north of Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, May 21, 2025. (Lindsay Moller/AAP Image via AP)
Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 3 dead and 1 missing
Australian officials say record floodwaters on the country’s east coast have left three people dead and one missing, as more heavy rain is forecast in the area.
 
People arrive at the Reserve Bank of Australia in Sydney, Dec. 6, 2022. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Australian central bank reduces benchmark interest rate to 3.85% in second cut this year
Australia’s central bank has reduced its benchmark interest by a quarter percentage point for a second time this year to 3.85% after inflation fell within a target range.
 
Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Decorated Australian veteran loses his defamation appeal over killings in Afghanistan
Australia’s most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, has lost his appeal of a civil court ruling that blamed him for unlawfully killing four unarmed Afghans while he served in Afghanistan.
 
This undated file photo released by Chongyi Feng shows Yang Hengjun, left, and his wife Yuan Xiaoliang. (Chongyi Feng via AP, File)
Australian prime minister speaks of Beijing prisoner’s courage, resilience and hope
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spoken of the courage, resilience and hope of Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, who was convicted last year in China of espionage.
 
A person jogs near a traffic cone where a monument of British explorer Capt. James Cook once stood before it was removed following continued vandalism at a park Melbourne, Australia, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod McGuirk)
Australian locality removing often-vandalized monument to British explorer James Cook
An Australian local government has decided against repairing an often-vandalized monument to British explorer James Cook because it would be destroyed again.
 
A pro-Russian rebel touches the MH17 wreckage at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, on July 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
Global aviation council finds Russia responsible for downing MH17 over Ukraine in 2014
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization has found Russia responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine with the loss of 298 lives more than a decade ago.
 
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announces his new Cabinet in Canberra, Monday, May 12, 2025, after his center-left Labor Party won a landslide victory at elections on May 3. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)
Australian prime minister names new Cabinet that drops Israel critic
Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced his new Cabinet. Thirty lawmakers were named Monday to fill Cabinet and outer-ministry positions after Albanese’s center-left Labor Party won the May 3 elections.
 
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, May 5, 2025. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)
Australian prime minister says reducing student debt is his re-elected government’s first priority
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has told his government colleagues that reducing student debt will be the first legislative priority for his administration that was returned to power in the nation’s first election in which the Baby Boomer generation was outnumbered by younger voters.
 
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Monday, May 5, 2025. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)
Australian PM Albanese to visit Indonesia in first overseas trip since re-election
Australia’s newly re-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit Indonesia to underscore a bilateral relationship that is as important as any in the world.
 
Georgia Gardner and partner Josh Fishlock hold Valerie, their miniature dachshund after being reunited on Kangaroo Island in South Australia after Valerie was missing for 540 days, Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Ruby Stewart/The Advertiser via AP)
A miniature dachshund is reunited with its owner after 18 months lost on an Australian island
A miniature dachshund named Valerie who was lost for 18 months — or around half her life — on an Australian island has been reunited with her owners.
 
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reacts as he meets party faithful after winning a second term of the general election in Sydney, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Australia’s re-elected prime minister says voters chose unity over division
Australia’s re-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Sunday was greeted by well-wishers at a Sydney café and said the country had voted for unity over division.
 
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