Program: Putin says Russia ready for war with Europe

Sabra Lane:  Good morning. Welcome to AM. It's Wednesday the 3rd of December. I'm Sabra Lane coming to you from Nipaluna, Hobart. Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and the US President's son-in-law, Jared Kushner are meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Before the talks, President Putin said Europe's Ukraine peace deal demands were unacceptable and if it wants to fight, Moscow's ready. Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss reports.

Kathryn Diss: In Ukraine's eastern city of Pokrovsk, fighting has been intense. Now Russia claims it's taken the city. The Kremlin's released an image of two soldiers holding up a flag claiming victory. If true, it would bring this 18-month battle to an end and take Moscow closer to capturing Ukraine's sought-after industrial Donbass region. Kiev denies the victory, but Russian President Vladimir Putin is digging in.

Vladimir Putin: Apparently the question who controls Pokrovsk emerges in connection with persisting doubts. Is it really so? If someone still has doubts, as we already said, and I suggested this too, that your colleagues the international and even Ukrainian media, we are ready to grant this right to the Ukrainian journalists to visit the city of Pokrovsk and witness with their own eyes what is going on over there, who really controls this settlement?

Kathryn Diss: The timing's important. Moscow's demanding the Donbass as a condition to signing a peace deal, capturing the city in the midst of high-stake talks at the Kremlin with US officials would be a propaganda coup and fuel the argument Russia is winning on the battlefield. Away from the front line and at the negotiating table in Moscow, US Special Envoy Steve Whitcoff sits opposite the Russian President, accompanied by Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner. After two days of talks with Ukrainian officials in Florida, Mr Whitcoff is hoping he'll get Vladimir Putin to compromise on some of his war-ending demands. But just before the talks got underway, the Russian President took a hostile tone.

Vladimir Putin: We are not planning to fight Europe. I have said this a hundred times. But if Europe suddenly decides to wage war against us and starts it, we are ready right now.

Kathryn Diss: Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was on a state visit to Ireland. He said security guarantees for Ukraine were in the latest iteration of the peace plan, but the detail was still being fine-tuned.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy: First of all, I want to say that there will be no easy solutions. We understand what is happening. We understand who we are dealing with.

Kathryn Diss: But there won't be any peace deal if Moscow doesn't agree. And for now, both sides appear worlds apart. This is Kathryn Diss, reporting for AM.

Sabra Lane: Former Defence Force personnel say the timing of a new inquiry into sexual violence within the Australian Defence Force is curious. Pointing out a major class action against the ADF has just been launched. New details about the range of the inquiry have been revealed, a year after the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide uncovered extensive evidence of sexual assaults. Here's political reporter Samantha Dick.

Samantha Dick: Bec McGaw says she was just 17 years old when she was sexually assaulted by a male colleague at Air Force recruit training.

Bec McGaw: I expressed to my chain that I didn't want to be anywhere near him and what he did, but nothing really happened.

Samantha Dick: With the announcement of an independent inquiry examining sexual violence in the Australian Defence Force, Ms McGaw says she wants senior ADF members, not just the perpetrators, held to account.

Bec McGaw: There are so many members that are a part of chain of command of these perpetrators that help hide, that don't do the right thing by completing investigations or reporting to protect their colleagues, juniors or mates.

Samantha Dick: Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Phil Thompson agrees that those in power who fail to crack down on abuse should not be let off lightly.

Phil Thompson : Whilst they're not the perpetrator, that's just as bad in my view by making someone feel like they can't speak out.

Samantha Dick: The inquiry was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. Associate Professor James Connor, an expert in institutional abuse within the ADF at the University of New South Wales, was called to appear as an expert witness.

James Connor: Too often the decision was made to not investigate or to not then charge and of course then there's no accountability.

Samantha Dick: The inquiry's terms of reference include probing the effectiveness of the ADF's own military justice system and investigating why victims are reluctant to report incidents of sexual assault. While Ms McGaw is hopeful the inquiry will lead to change, she has questions over the government's timing given the recent launch of a major class action against the ADF alleging widespread sexual harassment and abuse.

Bec McGaw: This could have been announced within the last 12 months of the Royal Commission recommendations, however they're only releasing this now after a class action. I just think it's a very suspicious timing.

Samantha Dick: Her concerns about the politics are shared by Mr Thompson, a Liberal MP who served in Afghanistan.

Phil Thompson : It's clearly about trying to show they're doing something without really doing anything for quite some time because it doesn't start until the middle of next year.

Samantha Dick: Minister for Veterans Affairs Matt Keogh has rejected those claims, saying the government is rolling out the Royal Commission's recommendations in an orderly manner, with 32 recommendations due to be implemented by the end of the month.

Matt Keogh: We've placed so much urgency on getting these recommendations done but it was important to stage them properly as well. That's why we were looking at the inquiry occurring in 2026 and why we're keen to get draft terms of reference out this year.

Samantha Dick: Associate Professor Connor says the ADF can start by clearly outlining its progress in responding to the Royal Commission and by investing in cultural change.

James Connor: Just as much as you would resource making sure we had the best rifles, tanks, ships, planes, etc for our serving personnel, we should make sure we resource the best training and leadership and support for the people to make sure that culture is no longer what it was.

Sabra Lane: Associate Professor James Connor, an expert in institutional abuse within the ADF, ending that report by Samantha Dick.

Sabra Lane: Fresh NAPLAN results for 10,000 schools are out showing how students are performing with reading, writing and maths. From today, parents can also check their school's progress compared with other similar institutions on the MySchool website. The Curriculum Assessment Body, known as ACARA, has uploaded the data and listed 50 high-performing schools in each state and territory. So what's the secret sauce for well-performing schools? Here's National Education Reporter, Conor Duffy.

Conor Duffy: And you guys have been amazing and that's why you are kicking lots of goals.

Conor Duffy: It's Year 5 maths time at Springvale Rise Primary School, a school in Melbourne that's low on privilege but high on performance. It's been named as one of the finest schools in Australia, with roughly two-thirds of its students making above-average progress in reading, writing and numeracy. 93% of students are from non-English speaking backgrounds and almost 80% from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Debbie Cotia: Springvale Rise Primary School is a really culturally diverse community. So a lot of our families are of a refugee type background.

Conor Duffy: It's a proud moment for Principal Debbie Cotia.

Debbie Cotia: Many have come from Burma, from Myanmar. Their journeys are wide and varied. A lot of those families haven't had education themselves.

Conor Duffy: Principal Cotia attributes the school's success to a focus on explicit teaching, using data to spot knowledge gaps and a commitment to building a great culture.

Debbie Cotia: We genuinely have that really high expectations. We create an environment where kids want to come to school. We are so proud and the joy that you see from our families when they hear about the successes that we're making is really inspiring.

Conor Duffy: About 900 kilometres away on Sydney's affluent North Shore, Chatswood Public School is another celebrated as making a difference. The common thread is systematic, consistent, explicit teaching and the use of data to spot and reverse gaps in knowledge before kids fall behind.

Conor Duffy: Principal Cameron Jones is also proud. Sixty per cent of students made above average progress in literacy and numeracy between years three and five.

Cameron Jones: Research shows that if we can narrow the gap of achievement within year three, that makes a huge difference to what students achieve in year 12.

Conor Duffy: National NAPLAN figures released in July raised concerns about the performance of Australian students with roughly one third not meeting challenging but reasonable expectations. Education analyst and former teacher Trisha Jha says the explicit teaching powering Springvale Rise and Chatswood is the secret sauce for success.

Trisha Jha: It would be difficult to point out an example of a school that has had a quick and a sustained improvement in its student results without using explicit instruction approaches.

Conor Duffy: As well as individual school performance, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, ACARA, has released school attendance data. ACARA CEO Stephen Guneel says it shows a small improvement in 2025 with attendance up 88.1 per cent, but still well below the pre-pandemic figure of 91.4 per cent.

Stephen Guneel : Kids learn when they're at school and you've got to be there to do that. So yeah, we're really encouraged by that direction. But I think like all parents and our community at large, we want to see higher attendance rates.

Sabra Lane: ACARA Chief Executive Stephen Guneel speaking there with Conor Duffy.

Sabra Lane: While summer's just started, the bushfire season's already bringing destruction with separate fires killing a farmer and destroying at least one home in Western Australia. Events like this can have a big impact on children and teenagers. From next year, the Youth Mental Health Foundation Headspace will work with schools across the country to better prepare young people for disasters and support them in the aftermath. Isabel Moussalli reports.

Isabel Moussalli: Quaama Public School in southeastern New South Wales survived the devastating black summer bushfires, but here many students lost their homes.

Daniel Roe: A lot of the kids had a lot of thoughts after the fire they couldn't unpack and they were a little bit traumatised in not knowing how to express themselves.

Isabel Moussalli: That's Principal Daniel Roe. He noticed a difference in how children managed in the aftermath of the disaster.

Daniel Roe: Families that struggled were the families who already had complex lives and you could clearly see particular students who found it hard to regulate their behaviour, who were dysregulated a lot more easily.

Isabel Moussalli: It's hoped that primary and high school students right across Australia will soon be better prepared for disasters and supported through them. Youth Mental Health Organisation Headspace has been awarded $9 million in federal funding to run an $11 million program over three years. It will kick off next month with the rollout determined by the risk of disaster at each school. Here's CEO Jason Trethowan.

Jason Trethowan: A lot of it will be group work together with students in classrooms, learning together, being with each other, really fostering that social connection because what we have seen is that when children and young people feel part of a room, feel part of a class, they can actually take on some of these more nuanced, difficult conversations about how to handle their emotions and how to regulate them.

Isabel Moussalli: Schools will be given guidelines and support strategies while workshops will be run with educators and school leaders. The goal is to create a more nationally consistent framework.

Jason Trethowan: When something does happen, then at least we've got something that the school will be familiar with and that's when Headspace would actually provide some more intensive support but at the pace by which the school needs to move.

Michelle Roberts: I was really excited to see the announcement.

Isabel Moussalli: Psychologist Michelle Roberts is an expert on child and adolescent trauma and disaster recovery. She explains recovery is often effective when the child is physically, emotionally and psychologically prepared.

Michelle Roberts: There's a lot of good programs in existence that are helping young people and children to be prepared but there's not enough and I think people are often shying away from preparing kids because they think that it's too frightening. The kids tell me they want to know more and they want to be prepared.

Isabel Moussalli: Back at Quaama Public School, Principal Daniel Roe wants ongoing support for counselling but he believes the new program will make a difference.

Daniel Roe: It's reassuring to know that there's some proactive policies out there that are ready to go if and when any disasters do happen in the future so yeah, it's good to know.

Sabra Lane: School Principal Daniel Roe ending that report by Isabel Moussalli and Adriane Reardon.

Sabra Lane: The Gaza ceasefire is now beyond its seventh week. Israeli forces are continuing to launch strikes in the territory, claiming it's enforcing the truce and targeting Hamas for violating the deal. Yet amid all the ongoing devastation, there's been a ray of hope and excitement overnight, with more than 50 Palestinian couples officially tying the knot in a mass wedding ceremony in the territory's south. Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran reports.

Matthew Doran: After two years of war, cause for celebration. Thousands of Palestinians crammed into a square in Khan Yunis to catch a glimpse of a very important day. People scrambled to secure whatever vantage point they could reach, even climbing over the crumbled ruins of buildings to watch the spectacle. Twenty-nine-year-old Omar Shams is one of the grooms.

Omar Shams: I was engaged before the war. I wanted to marry during the war, but all my belongings were destroyed and there was no possibility to get married.

Matthew Doran: The brides wore matching white gowns with detailed red and gold embroidery. The grooms matching suits with maroon ties. The newlyweds and many others in the rather informal congregation witnessing the nuptials carried the flags of Palestine and the United Arab Emirates, a major aid donor to Gaza helping to fund the mass wedding. With drummers and dancers on stage and those gathered to watch sitting on plastic chairs or simply standing in the dusty street, this may not have been exactly the special day these couples had dreamed of. Some feared it may never arrive at all due to the recent deadly bombardment. Seventeen-year-old Adim Eid is one of the brides, finding joy in the midst of desperation.

Adim Eid: Before the war, I was engaged and we lived in a house. And now I'm going to live in a tent in the middle of the destruction and pain that we live in.

Matthew Doran: The ceasefire has given an opportunity for events like this to happen, along with school and university graduations. But even though the truce is technically in force, Israeli strikes have not stopped. The military insists it's enforcing the deal. Another two Palestinians Israel claimed to be Hamas militants killed after crossing the so-called yellow line between Israeli and Hamas-controlled territory. Palestinian health authorities say more than 350 people have been killed and more than 900 injured since the ceasefire began. Three Israeli soldiers have been killed in the same period. And so far, the remains of 26 of 28 dead Israeli hostages have been returned, with more remains handed over to Israel overnight. But for 32-year-old groom Nael Moussa, today is one of happiness.

Nael Moussa: We are a people that deserves to celebrate and at the same time a people that doesn't want to openly rejoice because of what's happened to us. Most of us are a family with someone in prison, someone wounded or someone who's been killed. But we're obliged to celebrate after two years of what we've lived through.

Matthew Doran: This is Matthew Doran in Jerusalem, reporting for AM.

Sabra Lane: And that's AM for today.