Election 2025: Australia viewed as a ‘weak nation’ under Anthony Albanese, says Peter Dutton

The Opposition Leader has attacked the Prime Minister for his ‘lack of interest’ and inexperience in dealing with matters of national security.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Picture: Richard Dobson

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Peter Dutton has declared Russia’s proposal to place long-range aircraft on Indonesian soil only 1300 km from Darwin and expansion into the Indo-Pacific region was “deeply concerning” and that Anthony Albanese had “dropped the ball” on foreign policy.

The Opposition Leader said: “I think any person wanting to lead this country would have to be deeply concerned about that development, and it’s been the case for a period of time.”

After revelations of the Russian request for access to an air base, and the Indonesian denial they would agree to the request, the Russian Ambassador to Indonesia publicly stated that Australia’s involvement in the AUKUS nuclear submarine project was destabilising the region.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian, Mr Dutton said the Prime Minister needed to get on to the phone to Jakarta.

“I’m sure that the Australian government’s been monitoring this situation, because the relationship between Indonesia and Russia and China, obviously, has been well known,” he said.

“I haven’t heard the Prime Minister say anything about it, but I think there is surely significant concern within the government, and most security analysts would express concern about any strengthening of relationships or ties or links to, or presence of, Russia in the Indo-Pacific.

“I just find it startling that we can have Chinese naval ships circumnavigate our country, and we don’t have a true intelligence picture until a Virgin pilot reports it to the government,” he said.

In relation to the Chinese warship circumnavigation of Australia and the spy ship off the coast Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese couldn’t work out “whether it was the Australian Border Force or the Australian Defence Force monitoring the movements of a naval warship”.

Mr Dutton said the proposal for a Russian airbase in Indonesia “is the latest troubling example where surely the government must have known that some approach had been made, or that there was a suggestion that approach had been made by the Russians to the Indonesians”.

“I find it really difficult to comprehend that the Prime Minister of our country wouldn’t have known about it, but he seemed quite taken by surprise when first asked about it, and as I say, it’s the latest in a series of really troubling suggestions that the Prime Minister has no interest in foreign affairs or no interest in national security matters,” he said.

“The Prime Minister should be on the phone to the President (of Indonesia) … It shows a lack of engagement, and it shows just a lack of interest and experience.

“The Prime Minister, for all of his years in parliament, has never held a national security portfolio,” he said.

“The Foreign Affairs Minister (Penny Wong) didn’t have a phone call or wasn’t advised, or had no intelligence, or they’re simply not providing the advice,” he said.

On Wednesday night Mr Dutton said he had requested a security briefing more than 24 hours previously but the government had delayed it.

“I think (the delay) should cause us concern, and it raises questions as to why the government won’t be honest and frank with the Australian people,” he said.

“Australia needs to stand up for our values, and more than ever, we need to be with like-minded countries to stare down authoritarian regimes, to stare down the concern that the Prime Minister talks about this being the most precarious period since 1945,” he said.

But, Mr Dutton said, Mr Albanese would not refer to the strategic threat from Russia and China and “the Australian people believe that it’s a weakness of the Albanese government, and I think we’re seen as weak on the international stage”.

“I think our adversaries and our friends alike know that the Prime Minister is out of his depth and is weak instinctively in relation to national security matters, and I think that unsettles people, and I can understand why,” he said.

“I just think the government has dropped the ball in relation to national security with the most polite way that I could put it,” he said and added: “I think people are frankly jolted, and I think they’re looking at the flux and the uncertainty that’s in the world at the moment.

Mr Dutton said the Australian government should not be seen to be acquiescing to threats or be “a silent sort of bystander whilst there was a breach of our integrity,” he said.