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June 17, 2024
TOM CONNELL: Well, let's go to what the Prime Minister did have to say around this incident that happened during this ceremony between the two leaders. Here's what Anthony Albanese had to say when he was asked about what he thought of the fact that here in a Parliament house, we had Chinese officials essentially trying to block the cameras and change what could be seen in your household back home.
JOURNALIST: Is it acceptable to import that kind of behaviour into the heart of Australia's democracy here in Parliament house?
ANTHONY ALBANESE: Well, I didn't say that. I saw, Cheng Lei. We smiled at each other during the event. Look, I'm not aware of those issues. It's important that people be allowed to participate fully, and that's what should happen in this building or anywhere else in Australia.
CONNELL: Joining me live now. Shadow Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister James Paterson. What did you make of that response? Not aware of it? Didn't see it.
JAMES PATERSON: It's not credible, Tom. It's been publicly reported earlier this year that the Prime Minister employs 11 media advisers in his office, and among them are people who, might be a surprise to some of your audience, but watch Sky news. In fact, hello to my friends in the PMO watching right now [waves]. Standard operating procedure for a media advisor is to brief your principal on recent breaking events before they go out and do a press conference. It is completely not credible that the Prime Minister did not know when he walked into the press conference that this incident happened.
CONNELL: So his response, is this just another way of doing diplomacy? He is not the first leader I suggest if the case is that he has been briefed, I'm saying that's an if. I certainly don't know that for a fact. But he wouldn't be the first one to feign ignorant bliss. Perhaps you'd call it that. It's happened before. It'll happen again, won't it?
PATERSON: It's totally inadequate, Tom, and it is reminiscent of the Prime Minister's behaviour after the incident involving HMAS Toowoomba in the East Japan Sea, when Australian Navy divers were sonared. He held a press conference in San Francisco at APEC, after having met with XI Jinping, and failed to raise this issue with him. And then the information was released to the media only after he got on the plane to fly home. It's a crude and clumsy attempt to evade scrutiny. I don't think the media is going to fall for it. I'm sure there will be follow up questions when the Prime Minister does any media availability in Perth tomorrow. And I hope he has a better answer than the one he had today, because this kind of behaviour on our soil, in our Parliament is totally and utterly unacceptable. We do not body block journalists from filming in our Parliament house, and for Chinese officials to behave this way in our country shows disrespect for our Parliament and our customs. And frankly, I think there should be an apology from the Chinese delegation for this behaviour.
CONNELL: Do you think during a visit, if the Prime Minister had said what you just said there, it would have ramifications for relations that that would sour the visit and perhaps have ramifications around trade or other areas.
PATERSON: What has ramifications for the relationship is the behaviour is Chinese officials, not us choosing to call it out. We shouldn't be silent and sensor ourselves because of bad behaviour by our visitors and then allow that behaviour to continue, because if we do then we will get much more of it. I think it'd be appropriate for him in a restrained and respectful way, to say, this is not how we do business in Australia and this is not acceptable.
CONNELL: Would it be logical, though? I mean, perhaps this was, you know, a case of officials assuming they should be doing something when they weren't told to. So would the proper cause of action be to clarify first, behind the scenes what happened and seek an explanation before going public? Given he held his news conference what, a couple of hours after this happened?
PATERSON: That's certainly possible Tom and the Prime Minister now has the benefit of time before his next media appearance, to sort out what has happened here and to seek an apology and to make appropriate comments tomorrow. And this will be a test of his leadership. Is he willing to stand up on issues like this or does he think it's acceptable that an Australian citizen and an Australian journalist is treated this way by a visiting foreign official in our own parliament?
CONNELL: You mentioned as well the military incidents that happened. We did hear from Anthony Albanese that he has sought to improve military to military communication. Is that the right response to that? He says that's a practical response. Is he right that you can, you know, try to criticise the Chinese government publicly, that doesn't tend to bend their will, but that communication improvement might actually change the situation in the future?
PATERSON: Military to military communication is important, and if we have better connections with our Chinese counterparts while operating in the region, that is welcome. But let's not kid ourselves. This did not happen through a lack of communication and this did not happen by accident. Very deliberate choices were made by the People's Liberation Army to, in one instance, drop flares in the path of an Australian helicopter. In another instance, to drop chaff in the flight path of an Australian RAAF jet, and another instance to use sonar to harm Australian Navy divers in the water. In fact, HMAS Toowoomba officials spoke about the fact that they were messaging their Chinese counterparts in the region to warn them that divers were in the water and that was ignored. So the PLA has very clear orders to try and contest any international forces operating anywhere remotely close to China's mainland, even in international waters or in the exclusive economic zone of other countries like Japan, like has happened in one of these instances. So we shouldn't be naive and think that improved military to military communication will stop this because it's been happening for years and on a repeated basis.
CONNELL: What you've had to say today about a few things obviously indicates you believe that the Coalition or the government should be at the moment, and the Coalition would be more outspoken, more willing to call things out with China. If that's the case, does it also carry some risk that relations would deteriorate?
PATERSON: Well, I think we always have to be robust in advocating our national interest. We should do that in a respectful and a measured way. We should be strategic about it, but we shouldn't be afraid to do it, because actually, what authoritarian regimes want from democracies almost more than anything else is our silence. They want our complicity. They want us to stop criticising them and calling out their behaviour. And it is important because we are a liberal democracy, that we are consistent with that and we speak out when appropriate. We shouldn't be cowed into silence.
CONNELL: James Paterson. I appreciate your time. Thank you.
PATERSON: Thanks Tom.
ENDS
