Peter Dutton slams Anthony Albanese’s climate change criticism

Anthony Albanese has been accused of ‘making things up’ after he blamed Australia’s lack of action on climate change for the Solomon Islands’ security pact with China.

Defence Minister Peter ­Dutton has slammed Anthony Albanese for “making things up” after the Opposition Leader blamed Australia’s lack of action on climate change for the Solomon Islands’ decision to sign a security pact with China.

Asked on Friday about the deal that has opened the way for China to base military and naval personnel less than 2000km from Australia’s coast, Mr Albanese condemned the deal but blamed the Abbott government for cutting foreign aid when it came to office.

He also said Australia’s standing in the ­region had been undermined because it had “a government that doesn’t take climate change seriously – a government that goes to Glasgow, where the Prime Minister gives an empty speech to an empty room with empty promises, and offers nothing for a conference that was about increasing 2030 targets”.

Australia “sits in the naughty corner with Saudi Arabia and Brazil” at these conferences”, Mr Albanese said.

“I assure you that for the ­Pacific, for our friends, it is the No. 1 issue – it’s a threat to their very existence,” he said.

Peter Dutton (left) has some harsh words for Anthony Albanese.

Mr Albanese added that the country’s standing had also been undermined by having a government “with key players including Scott Morrison and Peter Dutton, who our Pacific ­Island friends know that they stood there in Parliament House and made a joke about countries going under water”.

The latter was a reference to an occasion in 2015 when Mr Dutton was caught on an microphone joking about rising sea levels to Mr Morrison, and then-PM Tony Abbott, saying that “time doesn’t mean anything when you’re about to have water lapping at your door”.

It was the second time in a week the Opposition Leader has tied Australia’s performance on climate change to the Solomon Islands’ turn toward China, prompting Mr Dutton to hit back, telling The Saturday Telegraph Mr Albanese’s charge “smacks of desperation” and was “completely without foundation”.

“This is something Anthony Albanese has made up,” he said.

“It doesn’t make any sense and it’s not the reality. It’s actually dangerous that he’s making the claims when they’re completely wrong.

“It has the potential to damage our international relations.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison reaffirmed Australia’s support for Ukraine. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Mr Dutton said the comments showed Mr Albanese had no ­experience in defence or foreign affairs.

“What it does is gives you an insight into his inner thinking and his sympathy to crazy left-wing conspiracy theories,” he said.

“The old adage ‘if you change prime minister you change the country’ has never been more true than with ­Anthony Albanese.”

Mr Dutton’s comments come as defence and foreign affairs is shaping as an election issue for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War.

On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia would be sending its Bushmaster Protected Mobility Vehicles to Ukraine following a request from President Volodymyr Zelensky in his address to parliament on Thursday evening.

The pledge is in addition to the $25 million of defensive military assistance announced on Thursday, which includes tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies.

“We’re not just sending our prayers — we’re sending our guns, we’re sending our munitions, we’re sending our humanitarian aid, we’re sending all of this and body armour and all of these things. And we’re going to be sending our armoured vehicles, our Bushmasters, as well, and we’re flying them over there on our C-17s to make sure they can be there to support,” Mr Morrison said.

Cartoonist Warren Brown‘s view of Australia sending Bushmasters to Ukraine.

Later the PM addressed a ­federal budget lunch in Sydney comparing favourably the government’s management of Covid with the Rudd government’s performance managing the economy during the global financial crisis.

On Friday, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare sought to calm tensions over the agreement following a backlash from governments in the region, saying he would not allow a Chinese military base in the country.

“Government is conscious of the security ramification of hosting a military base and it will not be careless to allow such initiative to take place under its watch,” a statement said.

Mr Sogavare’s government has not released the details of the final deal signed with China but a leaked draft version would allow Chinese navy ships to replenish in the country.

Originally published as Peter Dutton slams Anthony Albanese’s climate change criticism