‘Assault’: Albanese cops it over promise to fund Solomon Island elections

The Prime Minister has copped a massive spray from his Solomon Islands counterpart, but he claims there is nothing to see here.

Anthony Albanese has downplayed concerns of a rift with his Solomon Islands counterpart after he lashed out at the government's offer to help pay for the nation’s upcoming election.

Manasseh Sogavare launched a stinging attack on the Albanese government on Tuesday, slamming the offer as an “assault on our parliamentary democracy”.

Mr Sogavare, who has been seeking to delay the scheduled elections by seven months, said the offer was a “direct interference by a foreign government in our domestic affairs”.

“The timing of the public media announcement by the Australian government is in effect a strategy to influence how members of parliament will vote on this Bill … This is an assault on our parliamentary democracy and is a direct interference by a foreign interference into our domestic affairs,” he said.

Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Damukana Sogavare blasted the Albanese government. Picture Kym Smith

But speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister said he was still “looking forward” to hosting Mr Sogavare in Canberra despite the spray.

“We want a good relationship with our Pacific nations,” he said.

“I’m very much looking forward to hosting Prime Minister Sogavare. I’ll be hosting him in The Lodge in a couple of weeks’ time in October.”

The government has maintained the offer was appropriate and consistent with previous engagements in the Pacific.

The Prime Minister says he looks forward to hosting Mr Sogavare. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Earlier, opposition foreign spokesman Simon Birmingham agreed but said the way in which the offer was made appeared to be “very poorly handled”.

“The government is doing what the previous Coalition government had done in 2019,” he told ABC’s Radio National.

“However, the execution of this offer appears to have been very poorly handled. Look at this reaction that has occurred from the Solomon Islands government, which is an extraordinary statement.

“There is much now to be answered by the Albanese government in terms of the way in which this offer was communicated … the discussions that have been had, the conditions or nature of this offer.”

Originally published as ‘Assault’: Albanese cops it over promise to fund Solomon Island elections