Sunrise host Nat Barr has questioned why Anthony Albanese did not make public an attack on n personnel by a Chinese navy ship public until after he left a summit where he met the Chinese president Xi Jinping.
The government confirmed on Saturday that Royal n Navy divers were injured by sonar pulses from a Chinese warship off the coast of Japan four days earlier.
But the incident wasn’t publicly confirmed until after the Prime Minister met with President Xi and Prime Minister Li Qiang at the APEC Summit in the US.
Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said if the prime minister knew about the incident and deliberately withheld the information, it was ‘outrageous and unacceptable’.
He said Mr Albanese needed to come clean about whether he raised the incident with his counterpart as the two nations try to repair their frosty relationship.
He also need to have petitioned Mr Xi and asked for an apology, Mr Hastie said.
Meanwhile, Barr grilled Albanese government minister Tanya Plibersek as to why the government waited to release details until after Mr Albanese met his Chinese counterparts.
Ms Plibersek said she couldn’t comment on the timing, sparking more questions from Barr which the minister wouldn’t answer.
Anthony Albanese has come under fire after details about an incident involving navy divers and a Chinese warship won’t released until after the APEC Summit
‘So you say that the government made it very clear to the government, but the thing here is that our prime minister was right there having apparently a long chat with the Chinese prime minister. Did Mr Albanese bring it up with him? Barr asked.
Ms Plibersek replied: ‘Well, I’m not going to comment on what the Prime Minister says to other world leaders.
Barr interrupted: ‘How come?’
Ms Plibersek referred to the saga two years ago when then-prime minister Scott Morrison released private text messages with French President Emmanuel Macron which fractured relations.
‘It’s absolutely vital that leaders can have conversations that they don’t then go out and report on,’ she continued.
‘We know what happened when Scott Morrison released private messages between him and the French president Emmanuel Macron.
‘It does not help international relations to behave in that way. We behave as a mature government would do, to make clear that we have said to the Chinese covenant that this behaviour was unsafe and unprofessional.
‘And that we have serious concerns about it. Our sailors do not deserve to be treated this way.’
Nat Barr demanded answers from Tanya Plibersek(left) as to why the government delayed releasing details of the incident until four days later
Former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce believes the backlash against Mr Albanese is warranted.
‘What on earth does he do when he is overseas? I don’t think he loves us anymore. He has left us and gone away,’ Mr Joyce said.
‘We were supposed to be normalising relationships with China. Is this how you normalise them?’
Mr Joyce accused the Chinese navy of using sonar pulses to harm their
‘They can cause massive damage to people,’ he added.
‘This ship was not in Chinese waters. And now we have a prime minister who won’t say whether he brought it up. A mature government? Please. That is for the comedy hour. This is ridiculous.’
n navy divers were forced to exit waters near Japan last week after a Chinese destroyer allegedly came too close and activated its hull-mounted sonar