Albanese's refusal to come clean on talks with Xi over naval incident is a serious problem
The action by the Chinese warship has exposed the limits of the Australia-China relationship, and some concerning traits of the Albanese government.
When Peter Dutton last week called on Anthony Albanese to cancel his visit to the APEC summit in San Francisco, the Prime Minister responded that he always stands up for Australia’s interests while abroad.
“I just say to Peter Dutton - if you want to be the alternative Prime Minister of Australia, you need something more than just opportunism and comments like that,” Albanese said. “You need to be prepared to stand up for Australia's national interest.”
Albanese was correct. The Opposition Leader’s intervention was a cynical attempt to attack the prime minister for going overseas in the wake of the controversy over the High Court’s decision on indefinite detention.
But when it came time to stand up for Australia’s interests in San Francisco, Albanese squibbed it.
