Labor accuses Coalition of ‘reckless political games’ while under attack for ‘shambolic’ response to China

Labor on Thursday accused the Coalition of “reckless political games” while coming under fire for its “shambolic” response to China’s naval taskforce patrol in a fiery spat over national security ahead of the election.

Alarm over live-fire exercises by a Chinese flotilla in the Tasman Sea last week and its possible ongoing circumnavigation of Australia was matched by a partisan war of words in the Senate and over the air waves as both parties cast blame about mishandling the situation.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lashed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for being “completely out of his depth”, charging that he was “either making up” his version of events or “shooting from the hip” after conflicting accounts about when the Chinese fleet gave notice of its live-fire drill.

“I’ve never seen a prime minister floundering like this . . . on the issue of national security, the first charge of the Prime Minister is to keep our country safe and to make sure that we have in place the settings which protect us against any acts of aggression,” Mr Dutton said on 2GB.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles denied Mr Albanese had misled the public and revealed Australian ships had been shadowing the Chinese task group, even though the military drill was first detected and reported by a Virgin Australia pilot.

The naval task group has now moved from its position on Thursday morning 500km west of Hobart and entered the Great Australian Bight off the southern coast of Australia. Mr Marles conceded that it could be circumnavigating Australia.

In heated exchanges in Senate estimates with Liberal Senator James Paterson, Foreign Minister Penny Wong accused the Coalition of “trying to turn China into an election issue” and “beating the drums of war.”

In an opening statement on the growing strategic challenges faced by Australia in an unpredictable world, she turned on the Opposition — which has accused China of “gunboat diplomacy” — for politicising the situation.

“What Australians don’t want in the face of these circumstances is reckless political games from people who claim to be leaders,” she said.

The “same people who left a massive vacuum in the Pacific, the same people who had no regard for the consequences for Australian exporters or for Chinese Australian communities are at it again, trying to turn China into an election issue,” she said.

“We have been very clear that China is going to keep being China, just as Mr Dutton is going to isn’t going to stop being Mr Dutton, the man who once said it was inconceivable we wouldn’t go to war, is going to keep beating the drums of war,” she said.

Mr Paterson fired back, chiding the Foreign Minister for her “partisan” opening statement, and describing the Government’s actions as “shambolic”. He demanded an apology from the Prime Minister.

“The Prime Minister must be honest with the Australian people,” he said.

“The least he can do to them is be honest about the activities of the Chinese Navy in our region — he should not mislead them.”

As the political temperature rose, Mr Marles issued an appeal for calm.

The Government has repeatedly stressed that the Chinese navy is acting within international law, in a similar way to Australian vessels that sail in waters close to China.

“It’s really important that we take a deep breath here. Our touchstone has to be international law,” said Mr Marles.

Chinese state media has also taken note of Australia’s political stoush.

“Excessive reactions to China’s normal far-sea drills expose double standards,” said a headline this week in the Global Times, widely considered a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party.

“China’s normal activities on the high seas seem to have triggered sensitive nerves in some, plunging them into a collective state of ‘security anxiety’,” it said.