February 27, 2025
Thursday 27 February 2025
Clare Armstrong
The Daily Telegraph
ADF alerted to China's drill 40 min after The Australian Defence Force missed a warning about Beijing's live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea because the Chinese warships used a short-range radio frequency, meaning Australia only learnt of the danger from a nearby commercial plane 40 minutes after the exercise began.
After days of confusion about the chain of events about the ADF's awareness of the drills last Friday, the Coalition has accused Anthony Albanese of attempting to "mislead" the public with his claim a military notification had occurred at the "same time" as a warning passed on by Airservices Australia via a commercial Virgin pilot.
ADF chief Admiral David Johnston yesterday outlined a timeline that confirmed the Airservices notification came about 50 minutes before a military report was received from New Zealand.
As the three People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLA-N) ships tracked past Hobart heading southwest in the direction of the Great Australian Bight yesterday, Admiral Johnston also acknowledged it was "possible" a Chinese submarine was travelling undetected alongside the vessels.
"I don't know whether there is a submarine with them," Admiral Johnston said.
"I can't be definitive."
The revelations came ahead of a sober warning from Foreign Minister Penny Wong that Australia was facing a range and scale of global challenges "unprecedented" since World War II.
In the "snapshot" of Australia's place in the world, released today, Senator Wong will say "every day" Australians faced "confronting signs" international security was "increasingly fragile".
"Bullies are threatening to use nuclear weapons, authoritarianism is spreading ... institutions we built are being eroded, and rules we wrote are being challenged," she will say.
The outlook highlights how Australia can use its foreign policy to protect its security, stability and prosperity in the context of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, ongoing war in the Middle East, unrest in Myanmar and China's "assertive approach to its security and international relationships".
The snapshot also outlines "opportunities" for Australia
it began, thanks to a Virgin pilot to engage with allies through trade and development, but its assessment of global security is timely given the ongoing Chinese warships saga.
Admiral Johnston yesterday gave Senate Estimates a detailed timeline of the notifications the ADF received about the live-fire drill conducted by Beijing last Friday.
At 9.58am a Virgin pilot picked up a short-range warning broadcast from one of the hinese ships alerting the C plane of its 9.30am to 3pm drill "window". live-fire This warning was then relayed to Airservices Australia, at 10am commenced a which "hazard alert" informing all flights in the area of the exercise. The information reached the ADF at 10.10am, before it also received a second notification at 11.01am after a New Zealand frigate passed on the same radio warning through official defence channels.
Although the ADF had been surveilling the Chinese vessels for several days prior, Admiral Johnston said it was not possible to detect the short-range radio signal used in the warning.
A vessel would have had to be placed within 20 nautical miles of the Chinese flotilla "at all times" to pick up the signal, which he implied would likely have inflamed the situation given Beijing was acting lawfully in international waters.
Opposition Senator James Paterson said it was "remarkable" that Australia was "relying on civilian aircraft for early warning about military exercises by a formidable foreign task group in our region".
Senator Paterson also accused the PM of attempting to "mislead the public" by suggesting there was notice given by China reported through official military channels.
"He should be honest, admit we were never notified and call out this malign behaviour instead of making excuses for the People's Liberation ArmyNavy," Mr Paterson said.
Mr Albanese said the government had been "conscious" of the presence of the flotilla.
"We had been monitoring along with New Zealand," he said, adding that the notification from NZ occurred at effectively the "same time" as the warning from Airservices.
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Australia had notified China it was unhappy about the lack of notification.
"Best practice was not followed in terms of the exercises (China has) been undertaking and (we) have registered that both formally ... and directly by the Foreign Minister," she said.