‘Richard Marles has been caught red-handed’

Old China Hands: Bob Carr and Richard Marles shoot the breeze at Graham Richardson's 70th Birthday. Picture: Supplied

Welcome to the column where you provide the content. Sharri Markson revealed today that Anthony Albanese’s deputy leader – Labor’s proclaimed Pacific guru Richard Marles – only months ago argued that island ­nations should be free to hook up in any way they liked with Beijing, undermining the Mr Albanese’s attack on the Morrison government over its failure to stop the Solomon ­Islands signing a secret security deal with China. Gotcha, said Graeme:

“I guess you could say that Marles has been caught red-handed.”

Sharon’s husband was confused:

“I heard Albanese on radio the other day talking about this subject. To me he sounded hysterical with the call that this was ‘the worst decision since World War II’. Now I discover that his Pacific ‘expert’/future defence minister was all in favour of China’s moves. The ALP are shameless. Whatever it takes!”

Greg was grateful:

“The ease with which the media, such as the ABC, ran almost without question the line from Labor that the PM of the Solomons and his purchase by China was Morrison and the Coalition’s fault when a Google of Marles and China takes one direct to James Patterson for example, and so to Marles’s speech for starters, is very disturbing. A grovelling speech in Beijing, and the rest that points at the ALP’s huge fail in coming to terms with an aggressive corrupting China, for the cause of this bad outcome is China, and the ALP has nothing to be proud of here.

“Does it not occur to Labor that they are furthering China’s course with this attack or don’t they care? And the hypocrisy of their denying and abusing of Senator Kitching for her objections to their failure in dealing with China is sad, to understate it. So thank you Australian for doing the work and reporting on it.”

Shake it up: The agreement between Solomons PM Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese supremo Xi Jinping has set the cat amongst the Pacific’s pigeons. Picture: Getty

Steven said:

“Per Graham Lloyd’s piece in this paper: For Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, under constant threat of civil uprising, China’s promise of armed security and discretionary funding to help cement his grip on power proved irresistible.

“It follows that the only way to have avoided the security pact would have been to foment regime change. Definitely not our style. With the Opposition in the Solomons promising to tear up the agreement after the next election just watch Sogavare invent a state of emergency with Chinese backing to avert an election.”

Mynym backed Marles:

“Marles’ insight that Australia is unable to stop China’s growing influence in the South Pacific, nor outbid it there, turns out to be very true. Note that Morrison is not saying or doing anything about the Solomons-China agreement beyond sending junior minister Zed Seselja there to have a chat. It appears that the government has the same position as Labor on this.

“Marles’ expressed the view that Australia is not powerful enough to prevent the growth of China’s influence and that any attempt to do so will reduce our own reputation and influence. These are important insights. Look hard enough and you will almost certainly find government ministers who have taken similar positions in the not too distant past.”

Sophie cut him some slack:

“More a case that Marles seems to have only recently woken up to the threat that China poses in the Pacific. Better late than never I suppose but it does show a certain amount of naïveté on Marles’ part that he was so taken in by China’s lies.”

Peter from Melbourne’s poser:

“Similar questions should be asked about where the teal independents stand on China’s influence in the region.”

Chuckles from Ma&PaFarmers:

“This debate is funny. China sets up a port in Solomon years after Australia sold Darwin port to China. Quite bizarre. We literally allowed China to have our most northern port. But for some reason the Solomons can’t do the same?”

Gonebush gasped:

“The hypocrisy of Labor knows no bounds! Marles – ‘Pacific nations are perfectly free to engage on whatever terms they choose with China or, for that matter, any other country. Disputing this would be resented, as the recent past has shown’ … and … ‘We need to change the trajectory of development in the Pacific, one that is acutely alert to the impact of development assistance and financing on local communities and local priorities. And any country, including China, which shares this awareness and is willing to help in this endeavour should enjoy Australia’s support.’

“Clearly, Labor is a monumental threat to Australian and Pacific nations’ security. China’s strategy to line the pockets of the leaders of smaller nations around the world to enable influence is a massive concern to democratic countries. Sharri is at the forefront of ‘genuine’ investigative journalism yet again. This article is massive, and the facts she has articulated, needs wide dissemination. The electorate needs to know.”

Too much, too little too late: Sogavare and Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja say sorry that it had to end this way.

Tony was tense:

“There is a closer threat to our security only 20km off the North Qld coast. Premier Palaszczuck was stupid enough to sell the lease for Keswick Island to the so called Chinese corporate entity China Bloom. Since then locals have been denied access and spied upon by “staff”.”

Frightening, said Finn McCool:

“ ‘In 2013, he was awarded the Cross of the Solomon Islands, the highest civilian award. It was presented by Solomon Islands Governor-General Frank Kabui who told Mr Marles the ‘government and the people of Solomon Island recognise your service to our nation by devotion to duty marked by exceptional ability, merit and exemplary conduct’.’

“Apologies for being cynical here, however, has anyone from the Coalition been awarded the Cross of the Solomon Islands? I know Alexander Downer would not have because, by his own admission, he and Manasseh Sogavare did not see eye-to-eye on a lot of issues.

“One only has to look at map and it becomes easy to understand the strategy of the CCP. Their next move will be to do a similar deal with PNG and suddenly Australia has an arch of Chinese bases capable of interfering with our shipping lanes for access to our eastern seaboard.

“Surely Richard Marles can see the danger in this, and that’s before, should Labor win minority government and come to an arrangement with the Greens, cutting back on defence expenditure.”

AKA Peter wondered:

“Will Albanese allow Andrews to invite China back for Belts and Roads?”

Jason was indignant:

“Fancy having a crack at ScoMo over not having done enough to keep out China when Mr Marles was willing to roll out the red carpet for the communists. Just shows he’s … not fit to be defence minister.”

Unravel, said Pavel:

“Thank you Sharri Markson! You’ve done it again. The hypocrisy has no bounds. Getting my popcorn ready …”

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Butler did it: Labor’s Mark Butler reckons a federal ICAC will get rid of rorts. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dean Martin

The political failures of the Morrison government allied with the embrace of progressive ideology by its opponents has generated a bizarre outcome – elevation of a national anti-corruption commission as an alleged frontline election issue, wrote Paul Kelly. Be careful what you wish for, he added. Jeffrey agreed:

“We have a police force that’s their job, crime and corruption, not an unelected bureaucracy.”

The Other Mike mused:

“The Ten Commandments never stopped adultery, theft, murder or other crimes. Why do politicians think some sort of Integrity Commission will do better? Surely there’s enough laws in this country if properly enforced that would attend to corruption and other malpractices by politicians and government. Do we want to see politicians – already afraid to make tough decisions – becoming more scared of repercussions due to some chance of fronting an Integrity Commission if they make decisions that can be politically construed to the advantage of opponents? How about all the mismanagement of funding by previous governments on all sorts of programs? Will the Commission make retrospective charges? Labor won’t answer that question.

“One can see public servants taking more charge of national affairs away from elected officials. This becomes another layer of government that would be further complications when we talk of a Voice to parliament for indigenous people. Both are a diminishing of our democratic processes, but this stuff is what so-called ‘Progressives’ reckon we need to do. The system isn’t perfect, but work with what you’ve got. Stop meddling with something that works fairly well in the circumstances that are confronted by the people and our government.”

Cat’s Whisker said:

“(Gladys Berejiklian) resigned based on her own ethical standard before being publicly pilloried without recourse to any legal test. Guilt was presumed before innocence. The ICAC deliberately set out to publicise its shaky findings, knowing they would fail in a court of law. As Paul says, this is the judicialisation of politics. Look at Europe to see the sad consequences of this.”

Bring it on, said Mark2:

“To suggest an anti-corruption body is ludicrous because it will not fix all ills is as stupid as saying eating well is useless because you will still die.

“This is not a minority issue. People are sick of governments (of all stripes) politicising funding decisions and allowing questionable behaviours by their members. We need a body to address the basics, the detail of further investigation can be determined by assessing the need and avoiding the negative aspects of previous ICAC bodies. It is called continuous improvement. As opposed to maintaining a corrupt and in efficient status quo.”

No thanks, said Michael:

“The left are now constantly seeking to abandon politics – convincing people – in favour of rule by experts; scientists, judges, commissions of various types. It shows the left is confident it controls the credentialling institutions – the universities, the professional societies. The left now has contempt for the ordinary citizen and wants to impose its unpopular ideas by force, not persuasion.”

JBD’s judgment:

“It’s critical we maintain the Westminster principle of the separation of powers. Already we have activist judges attempting to determine public policy and now an attempt to vest judicial rights in our politicians. Enough is enough.”

Suzanne said:

“I’m disgusted by the garbage grants and brazen pork dished out by the Coalition, so often smudged with the National Party’s grubby fingerprints. The bigger issue here is the amount of attention and enthusiasm amongst ministers and political leaders that this rubbish consumes, when they should be focused on reforms that will make our country stronger in the future. But that seems beyond this lot. Why risk losing political skin over much needed productivity, fiscal and taxation reforms when you can announce a new carpark instead?”

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Sidelined: Russia's Daniil Medvedev won’t be allowed compete at Wimbledon this year. Picture: AFP

Will Swanton backed Wimbledon’s decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus and said Australia’s John Millman had got it wrong in opposing the ban. Solidarity with Ukraine, wrote Swanton, and basic humanity demanded no less. Katherine concurred:

“If Mededev was allowed to compete and win Putiin n would maximise the propaganda. Russia must not be allowed to capitalise on anything. The English tennis authorities are to be congratulated.”

JohnT added:

“Russia has already been able to capitalise on propaganda shots from Olympians winning medals in Japan and China at the recent Summer and Winter Olympics – despite competing under the Olympic flag and without any Russian identifiers on their uniforms (although everyone knew where they were from).”

Tim said:

“Putin will only fall if his own people turn on him. Unfortunately you need to inflict some pain on the population like these tennis players to force change.”

totally agree with the ban!

John L said:

“Brilliant article. And 10/10 for the relies from the Ukrainian ladies. They put Millman right back in his box and he thoroughly deserved it.”

dis putin @ 2550 said:

“Pressure, any pressure, keep it up. At some point in time the Potemkin Village that is Putin’s Russia will succumb.”

Praise from John:

“One of your best, Will.”

Last word to Bruce:

“Millman: ‘I feel like Ukraine would be better served if Wimbledon donated their entire profit in support aid instead of banning the Russian and Belarusian players.’ Wrong! Ukraine would be better served if the Russian and Belarusian tennis players spoke out against the war.

“Given that they have an international platform, they need to step up, speak up and be role models for their country folk. The silent support of Putin from Russian citizens has been astonishing.”

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