ADF missed live fire warning because surveillance assets were out of range

The Chief of the Defence Force has revealed why a Virgin Australia pilot found out about the Chinese live fire drills before the military.

The Australian Defence Force missed a warning from Chinese warships of live fire drills in the Tasman Sea because it did not have access to the radio frequency the vessels were using, a senate estimates hearing has heard.

Admiral David Johnston confirmed on Wednesday the ADF only learnt of the Chinese exercises last Friday after a Virgin Australia pilot alerted air traffic controllers.

Not only did the revelation appear to conflict with a timeline of who knew what when put forward by Anthony Albanese, but sparked questions about how a commercial airline knew of the drills before the military assets monitoring the foreign ships.

It was revealed earlier this week that the Chinese message was broadcast on an emergency channel monitored by airlines but not by Airservices Australia, nor the ADF.

Coalition senator James Paterson said it was “remarkable that Australia was relying on civilian aircraft for early warning about military exercises by a formidable foreign task group in our region” after the ADF Chief’s admission.

But it was a series of queries from Greens senator David Shoebridge that got an answer.

“If you know that the announcement about a live fire would happen on this civil aviation frequency, was Defence monitoring that through the whole time at a range where you’d pick it up from the flotilla?”

David Shoebridge was among several senators that asked why the ADF was not monitoring a civil aviation frequency that broadcast the Chinese live fire warning. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Admiral Johnston explained it was not possible with how Australia’s surveilling assets were placed.

“Senator, that’s a short range radio frequency,” he said.

“Aircraft … wouldn’t be able to identify because of the altitude, and therefore they don’t have the curvature of the earth limitations that apply to that short range frequency.

“So it isn’t a frequency that will be monitored by vessels or aircraft beyond the range to protect that transmission.”

Senator Shoebridge pushed on.

“I mean, I don’t run a navy, but if I was running a navy or a monitoring force, and there was a foreign military flotilla in the region, I’d have an asset in place to monitor whether or not that notification was happening and you didn’t,” he said.

Admiral David Johnston says keeping an Australian military asset within range of the frequency would have been a major undertaking. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

But Admiral Johnston pointed out it was a major undertaking when considering the Chinese ships were abiding by international law.

“The proposition there would mean that whenever a vessel was … out on the high seas, there would be another vessel within 20 nautical miles of it at all times,” he said.

He added that “the expenditure of effort to achieve that when the vessel is acting lawfully on the high seas – that would be a significant contribution in a set of circumstances where we have another country”.

Typically, foreign governments inform Canberra of such drills, giving 24-48 hours.

Conflicting timelines

Earlier, Admiral Johnston said the ADF learnt of the Chinese live fire drills 12 minutes after the Virgin pilot alerted Airservices Australia.

The Prime Minister has said the New Zealand Defence Force knew “at around the same time” and notified its Australian counterpart.

But Admiral Johnston told senate estimates the NZDF alert did not come until 11.01am.

Admiral David Johnston said it was possible a nuclear submarine was with the Chinese warships. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“9:58, (Airservices Australia) was made aware by (a) Virgin pilot,” he said.

“10:10, Defence was notified by Airservices of the broadcast and the firing window that was part of the task group’s security call.

“11:01, Defence received advice from the New Zealand Defence Force that had been on forwarded from the frigate that was operating in the area.”

Admiral Johnston also said the ADF gave “official advice” to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office at 11.30am.

Pressed by Senator Paterson on when Mr Albanese was informed of the drills, Admiral Johnston said they “did have a discussion … around 4pm”.

The Chinese message warned the drills would take place between 9.30am and 3pm, meaning the ADF was only aware of the exercises after the operational window began.

Peter Dutton has called on Mr Albanese to clarify the timeline, accusing him of “ducking and weaving”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is calling on Mr Albanese to clarify the live fire drills timeline. Picture: NewsWire / Richard Dobson

“We need a strong prime minister who can call out the actions that aren’t compatible with safety, or our nation’s best interests,” the Opposition Leader told reporters.

“I don’t know what the Prime Minister is doing at the moment, but he’s ducking and weaving and failing to answer basic questions.

“I hope that the Prime Minister can come out and give an honest account of what the government knew and when in relation to this naval ship that’s off our coastline, what warnings the government had.

“It seems Airservices Australia had notified the Australian Defence Force, or had notified as a result of a Virgin aircrew notification.

“I mean it just doesn’t add up.

“I don’t think the Prime Minister is being honest with the Australian people and we should hear that from him today.”

Nuclear sub ‘possible’

Admiral Johnston also did not rule out that a nuclear submarine may be lurking below the surface as part of the Chinese flotilla.

The ADF first revealed it was tracking two PLA-N frigates and a replenishment vessel near the Queensland coast about two weeks ago.

The ships have since navigated down the east coast, passing within 270km of Sydney, and carried out the much-discussed live fire drills in the Tasman Sea.

Admiral Johnston said he did not know for sure, but it was “possible” there was a submarine in the mix.

“I don’t know whether there is a submarine with them,” she said.

“It is possible. Task groups occasionally do deploy with submarines but not always. I can’t be definitive on whether that’s the case.”

The live fire exercises on Friday forced at least 49 flights to change course.

The NZDF also observed further Chinese drills on Saturday.

‘Unpredictable global setting’

Meanwhile, the head of the Defence Department opened the estimates hearing warning of an increasingly “uncertain world” amid recent seismic security shifts across the globe, including China’s move to deploy warships to the Tasman.

Secretary of Defence Greg Moriarty said “much has occurred” since he last appeared before the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.

Secretary of Defence Greg Moriarty is warning of an increasingly ‘uncertain world’ as Australia monitors Chinese warships lurking off the east coast. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“We have seen a very welcome, if fragile cease fire agreement in Gaza,” he said.

“There has been a spate of unattributed attacks on critical undersea ICT infrastructure.

“This week, the government observed the three year anniversary of Russia’s illegal, full scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Over the past week, we have seen the deployment of a highly capable People’s Liberation Army task group to conduct live fire activities in the Tasman Sea — the furthest south any PLA task group has come before.”

The Australian Defence Force was tracking the Chinese flotilla even before the ships entered Australia’s maritime approaches.

The warships conducted drills in the Tasman Sea last week.

He said the events reflected “an unpredictable global setting and informed what Defence had often referred to as a ‘deteriorating strategic environment in the Indo Pacific’”.

Mr Moriarty added that the National Defence Strategy had been tweaked “to deliver a more potent, focused Australian Defence Force that can deter force projection against us in a more uncertain world”.