Labor’s ‘nitpick’ policy on China ties

Peter Jennings says Labor should stop ‘desperately searching for a political angle’ on Beijing and put an end to ‘nitpicking’ on the government’s language.

Liberal MP Ted O'Brien. Picture: Patrick Woods

Labor has been urged to stop “desperately searching for a political angle” on Beijing and put an end to “nitpicking” on the government’s language as Anthony Albanese faces criticism for “drinking China’s kool-aid”.

Amid Beijing’s restrictions on Australian coal exports, the ­Opposition Leader on Wednesday told the Minerals Council of Australia that the nation needed “more strategy and less politics” when it came to managing Canberra’s differences with Beijing.

“Scott Morrison has no long-term strategy to deal with a changing China that is pressing its interests more assertively, while finding areas of potential co-operation, including on trade, that are in both our countries’ interests,” he said.

But Liberal MP Ted O’Brien said Mr Albanese was becoming a “useful idiot” on China, ­accusing him of “legitimising” Beijing’s economic attacks.

He said that instead of calling out the mistreatment of Australian businesses by China, Mr ­Albanese had used the speech to “accuse his own nation of being responsible for playing games” in a move that was “unbefitting” of an alternative prime minister.

“I think he needs to confirm that this represents that Labor’s bipartisanship with respect to China is over,” Mr O’Brien said.

Peter Jennings, executive ­director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Labor didn’t have a defined course of action on China and if it was in power it would be handling bilateral relations in a similar way.

“What we’re getting from (Labor senator Penny) Wong and (Anthony) Albanese is some sort of nitpicking over language,” he said. “They don’t like the (Home Affairs secretary­ ­Michael) Pezzullo drums of war analogy and instead of focusing on the real big issue of what China is doing, they’re focusing on language.”

Mr Jennings said Labor was “desperately searching” for a political angle on the subject, which wasn’t sensible amid heightened tensions between the two nations.

“During such a moment of national seriousness it’s not sensible to dive down that path,” he said. “If anything, some closed-door discussion, such as what on earth can we do to help here, would be the smartest thing.”

Mr O’Brien added: “I think what we are seeing here is a co-ordinated shift on the part of the Labor Party. Albo has become a useful idiot (for China) on this topic.”

Labor MP and deputy chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security, Anthony Byrne, said Labor would ­always stand up for the national interest. “There is absolute bipartisanship on China,” he said. “Just look at Huawei, 5G, Hong Kong, the Uighurs, the South China Sea. The one thing we didn’t agree on was the extradition treaty.”