Anthony Albanese’s coyness on all things China is getting a little silly.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s upcoming visit to Australia has been the worst kept secret in national politics for months.
The business community is abuzz with gossip on the trip. China watchers are poised to opine on its significance.
But with less than a week before the Premier arrives, the Prime Minister has doggedly refused to even confirm the visit is taking place.
Asked on Monday about Premier Li’s impending arrival, Albanese called it a “potential visit”.
So it was with some amusement that observers in Parliament House watched a large delegation of Chinese officials traipsing through the corridors with staff from the Prime Minister’s Department on Tuesday morning.
Led by PM&C’s protocol section, they inspected locations, entries and exits that will form part of the official program when Premier Li visits the capital next Monday before flying out for Perth. They ran through every detail, down to the delivery of Chinese flags.
The nervousness surrounding the Premier’s trip revives memories of Albanese’s refusal last year to confirm whether he raised a Chinese sonar blast at Australian divers with Xi Jinping during bilateral talks in San Francisco.
The government was also loose with the truth when it claimed it raised a Chinese jet’s unsafe encounter with an Australian helicopter at “the highest levels” with Beijing.
Senate estimates heard the protests were, in fact, made by mid-ranking government officials.
Labor has long attacked the Coalition for its three word political slogans. But Albanese has leant heavily on his three point formula for dealing with all questions relating to China.
Australia will “cooperate where we can, disagree where we must, and engage in the national interest”, he says. All are eminently reasonable points.
But the mantra has become a shield for the PM and his ministers to deflect real questions about one of Australia’s most important - and concerning - bilateral relationships.
Chinese interference and espionage remains one of the nation’s most pressing national security issues. Chinese companies are deeply embedded in key economic sectors, such as Australia’s critical minerals industry, posing long-term security challenges.
And the rearming of the Australian Defence Force is driven with one potential adversary in mind.
Labor has done a good job in stabilising the Australian-China relationship after the hostility of the Morrison years.
But it’s time for the Prime Minister to be real and stop treating the public like mugs.
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