Dutton slams PM’s position on British request for troops in Ukraine

The Opposition Leader says it is ‘unbelievable’ that the Prime Minister is even considering putting Australian boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House on Sunday. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

Peter Dutton has accused Anthony Albanese of “shooting from the hip” on his promise to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “consider” sending Australian peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, as senior brass prepare to fly to Paris to meet with their counterparts in the UK-led “coalition of the willing”.

The Opposition Leader said it was “unbelievable” that the Prime Minister was suggesting Australian boots on the ground in Ukraine, and demanded he not take away from the capacity of the Australian Defence Force.

“This is a prime minister who doesn’t know whether there’s a Chinese warship in our region without being told by a Virgin pilot,” Mr Dutton said, referring to the Chinese warships that recently circumnavigated Australia and conducted live fire exercises.

“It’s unbelievable that the Prime Minister’s talking about moving troops from Australia to station them or to base them in Ukraine when Italy, Germany, France has made no decision yet to base troops there.

“There’s no peace yet. There’s no peace to keep. So what I’d say is the Prime Minister, instead of shooting from the hip, should make informed judgments on what’s in our country’s best ­interests.”

Mr Albanese on Sunday did acknowledge it was “too early” for peacekeeping in Ukraine but said it was important that “planning be put in place”.

Several European states have said they would be willing to deploy troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee following a ceasefire. European efforts accelerated after the showdown between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House.

“We did discuss the issue of Ukraine and the coalition of the willing – as he has put it – going forward,” Mr Albanese said on Sunday, of his phone call with Sir Keir on Saturday evening.

“There will be a meeting of the chiefs of defence and representatives of the chiefs of defence in Paris on Tuesday.

“Australia will send a senior representative to that meeting to discuss going forward.

“Both of us, both of our nations, are very clear about our support for Ukraine.

“And it, of course, is too early. You can’t have peacekeeping forces without having peace. So, moving forward, it is important that that planning be put in place, and Australia will participate in that meeting on Tuesday.”

Mr Albanese said he had told Sir Keir he would “consider” troop support for a potential peacekeeping force.

Downing Street on Sunday morning said Sir Keir “welcomed Prime Minister Albanese’s commitment to consider contributing to a coalition of the willing for Ukraine and looked forward to the chiefs of defence meeting in Paris on Tuesday”.

The Prime Minister’s comments last Tuesday that he was open to contributing personnel to the proposed British-led security force were questioned by the RSL and national security experts, who warned that the government needed to focus on security challenges closer to home.

RSL president Greg Melick said last week deploying troops was a matter for the government, “but we would be concerned at Australia’s ­capacity, due to insufficient ­defence spending especially in ­relation to the army, as to the ­appropriateness of sending troops to Ukraine at a time when Indo-Pacific stability is far from certain”.

Separately, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army flotilla appeared to have completed its circumnavigation of Australia by Sunday afternoon. The Defence Department said the three warships were operating in the Sunda Strait, between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra.

The warships created a political storm in Canberra as the live fire exercises in the Tasman Sea coincided with Senate estimates where ADF leadership were quizzed on who knew what and when. It was revealed through the process that ADF was only made aware of a Chinese warning it would conduct a live fire exercise through a Virgin Airlines pilot.