Defence Minister Richard Marles questions whether or not Chinese warships off Australian coast conducted live fire drills

Despite forewarning and almost 50 planes needing to change their course when three vessels conducted live fire drills off the Australian coast, a big question still remains.

Australia never discovered if a live firing actually took place after Chinese warships in the Tasman Sea sent out alerts forcing almost 50 planes to change course, as Labor continues to downplay concerns about surveillance capability in the region.
The flotilla of three vessels, which could also be accompanied by an undetected submarine, remained south west of Hobart on Thursday having spent almost two weeks tracking down Australia’s east coast — including conducting two live fire drills last Friday and Saturday — before rounding Tasmania and appearing to head for the Great Australian Bight.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles has condemned Beijing’s “inadequate” notification about the drill last Friday, acknowledging the flotilla only sent out a warning after the exercise had started.
“But it’s also unclear whether or not live firing took place,” Mr Marles told ABC on Thursday.
“In any event, I think the point is this, whilst what China has done, in terms of the advice that’s been given to me, is in accordance with international law, it was very clear to us at the time that this notice was inadequate.”

One of the Chinese warships – the Jiangkai-class frigate Hengyang – in the Tasman Sea when it was roughly 300km east of Hobart. Picture: Australian Defence Force

 
Mr Marles said the fact it was not known whether there was a Chinese submarine alongside the flotilla was why Australia’s AUKUS submarine program mattered.

“That’s why we’re investing heavily in our long‑range submarines,” he said.

Coalition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said it was “extraordinary to think the Defence Minister does not know whether live firing took place or not”.

“The fact is that 49 commercial flights had to be diverted with no prior notification of China’s actions taking place,” he said.

“The Albanese Government continues to plan down a serious national security matter”.

Richard Marles questions whether the Chinese warships actually conducted the live fire drills.

The opposition has continued its criticism of Anthony Albanese and Mr Marles’ initial descriptions of the chain of events that lead to the Australian Defence Force learning about the drills, with the Prime Minister initially claiming “sufficient” notification had been received.

Mr Albanese later indicated information from Airservices Australia relayed from a Virgin pilot in the area, and a report from New Zealand picked up via a vessel also nearby had occurred at “around the same time”.

Australia’s chief of defence Admiral David Johnston told Senate estimates on Wednesday the notification from Airservices was received at 10.10am, while the New Zealand report came through at about 11am.

Both had picked up short range radio signals from the Chinese vessels warning of the drills occurring between 9.30am and 3pm after that “window” had started.

Coalition foreign affairs spokesman David Coleman said Mr Albanese’s description of Beijing’s notification as “sufficient” was “just plainly wrong” given the alert from the Chinese warships occurred after the drill had begun.
“What the government’s effectively trying to do here is say ‘there’s nothing to see here’ and plainly, there is something to see here,” Mr Coleman told Sky News.
He said the government also needed to address why it took so long for the information to reach Defence via its New Zealand counterparts.