February 26, 2025
Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie has lashed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over his response to China's live-fire exercise off Australia's east coast.
Australia's Defence Force chief Admiral David Johnston on Wednesday told a Senate Estimates hearing that the ADF was first notified about China's military drill in the Tasman Sea last Friday via AirServices Australia.
A Virgin Airlines pilot, flying within 250 nautical miles of the operation zone at the time, had been contacted by the Chinese naval task group and warned that live-fire drills were taking place.
The ADF was then notified about 40 minutes after China's military exercise window opened at 9.30am.
However, the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese claimed on Friday and Saturday last week that China had issued an alert for the live-fire exercises.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Wednesday, Mr Hastie claimed the suggestion that Australia was warned about the drills was "false".
"The Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles last week both said that we had been notified, which is false," Mr Hastie told Sky News host Chris Kenny.
"So they're either misleading the public or they're not across their brief, but either way, it's a very bad look for the Prime Minister who's meant to be leading this country and his primary job is to keep us safe."
Mr Hastie claimed the incident reveals a "significant surveillance gap" within the ADF.
"The fact that we didn't detect this, that it was passed on by Virgin Airlines through Air Services Australia and then into Defence - there's some worrying things happening here," he said.
Mr Hastie accused the Prime Minister of showing "very weak leadership" in his response to the Chinese military's actions.
"He's been at pains to explain this behaviour from the Chinese warships away as within international law, which is completely missing the point," Mr Hastie said.
"This is a signal from the Chinese military that they have a Blue Water Navy and they're prepared to flex their muscles in our region."
The development comes just weeks after an incident involving a Chinese fighter jet, which released flares within 30 metres of an Australian military aircraft over the South China Sea.
No ADF personnel were injured, but the actions of the Chinese military were branded as "unsafe and unprofessional" by the ADF.
Referencing both recent incidents involving the Chinese military, Mr Hastie said the Prime Minister should be standing up Australia's national interests.
"He's not standing up for our country and he's showing weak political leadership when he should be insisting on mutual respect from the Chinese government," Mr Hastie said.
Earlier on Wednesday, shadow home affairs minister James Paterson accused the Prime Minister of trying to "mislead" the public in relation to Australia being notified of China's live-fire drill.
"It’s remarkable that Australia was relying on civilian aircraft for early warning about military exercises by a formidable foreign task group in our region," Mr Paterson said.
"The Prime Minister’s attempt to mislead the public by suggesting there was notice given by the PLA-N and it was reported through military channels in a timely way is yet more evidence of his weak leadership.
"He should be honest, admit we were never notified, and call out this malign behaviour instead of making excuses for the People’s Liberation Army-Navy."