Protester tackled during Peter Dutton Lowy Institute speech
A protester has been tackled into the crowd after interrupting Peter Dutton’s speech, with another accusing him of ‘lying to the Australian people’.
A protester has been tackled by security as he tried to interrupt a speech from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
The heckler was the second person within minutes to stand up and interject during Mr Dutton’s speech on foreign policy at the Lowy Institute.
The man was forced out of the room by a member of security, landing on other people seated in his row and continuing to shout as he was escorted out.
Another protester had only minutes earlier shouted out: “Mr Dutton, why are you lying to the Australian people about the cost of nuclear?” as the Liberal leader started to present his speech.
He was also removed from the event.
The protesters held up a banner reading “nuclear lies cost us all”.
Mr Dutton did not acknowledge either protest and continued with his speech but later joked with the audience “we live in a great democracy”.
Environmental group Rising Tide has claimed credit for the protest and said it was designed to criticise the Coalition’s proposal to build a nuclear energy industry.
“Rising Tide protesters Zack Schofield and Nigel Cox unfurled the banner, asking Mr Dutton ‘why are you lying to the Australian People’ before being escorted out of the building by Federal Police and security,” the group said on Thursday afternoon.
In the speech, Mr Dutton outlined the Coalition’s national security vision for Australia, saying the country confronted a “far more uncertain and dangerous world today than at any time in recent memory”.
An “imperialistic (Russian President Vladimir) Putin seems determined to swallow up Ukraine,” Mr Dutton said, while the Chinese Communist Party continued to assert itself “militarily in our region and across the world”.
Mr Dutton said a Coalition government would pursue three overarching objectives: to expand free-trading relationships to defend Australia’s export heavy economy, repair what he called a breakdown in the US relationship and invest more heavily in the country’s defence industry and capabilities.
“I can announce today that one of our priorities will be taking forward a robust free-trade agenda,” he said.
“We will reinvigorate negotiating a high-quality Free Trade Agreement with the European Union that’s stalled under Labor.
“We will revitalise discussions on a free-trade agreement with our trusted partner, Israel – building on a strong economic relationship and looking to harness Israel’s strengths in technology and research and development.
“We will seek to expand opportunities for trade and investment with Canada and other like-minded countries.
“And we will use our role as chair of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for trans-Pacific Partnership to shape the international trade system consistent with our national interests.”
Mr Dutton defended AUKUS, the agreement between the US, the UK and Australia for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines, and said he would visit the US on his first trip abroad to “repair” the relationship with the Trump administration.
“The United States is still our most important partner,” he said.
“And we are an important partner to the United States.
“The question Australians should ask themselves is this: who is better placed to manage the US relationship and engage with President Trump?”
Mr Dutton also stressed a Coalition government would lift defence spending as a share of GDP above current levels and invest heavily in Australia’s defence industry.
“When the Coalition came to power in 2013, defence spending under Labor was at 1.56 per cent of GDP – the lowest levels since 1938,” he said.
“We lifted it beyond 2 per cent of GDP.
“But under the Albanese Government, defence spending as a per cent of GDP has hardly shifted … A Dutton Coalition government will make a significant investment in defence, including by reprioritising Canberra-centric funding,” he said.
“We’ve already committed an initial $3bn of additional funding to reinstate the fourth squadron of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters cancelled by Labor.
“Ukraine has shown that a smaller military can inflict significant damage against a larger adversary with the right asymmetric capabilities and tactics.
“I want to see our domestic defence industry given the confidence and investment to develop small and cheap capabilities quickly and in bulk.
“A modern defence force needs missiles, drones, uncrewed undersea vessels, and small surface vessels armed to the teeth.
“Importantly, AUKUS is the linchpin to create a seamless defence production partnership with the United States leveraging our combined industrial strengths.”
Mr Dutton also spoke about how he would handle specific foreign policy emergencies roiling the planet.
He said he opposed the deployment of Australian troops to Ukraine, even as he said Ukrainian soldiers were “on the frontline of the battle of civilisation itself”.
“If a Russian flag is ever raised in Kyiv, other autocrats would be emboldened to pursue their own imperialistic territorial conquests,” Mr Dutton said.
“If the Russian despot is successful in conquering Ukraine, he sets the example for others to follow that ‘might makes right’.
“And that’s why Putin must be denied the victory he seeks.”
But he said Australia’s role should be to provide defence material rather than troops-on-the-ground.
“Australia should continue to provide military equipment, humanitarian aid, energy supplies and other support to Ukraine,” he said.
“But as for peacekeeping or more likely war ready troops on the ground, that must be a job for Europe with its more than 500 million population.
“It’s also worth noting no European nation – including Germany, France, or Italy – have made a troop commitment in the way the inexperienced Anthony Albanese has done.
“We’re facing our own pressure with an ADF recruitment shortfall of 5000 people.
“Australia can’t afford the multibillion-dollar sustainment price tag for having troops based in an ill-defined and endless European presence.”
Mr Albanese, by contrast, has flagged the possibility of committing Australian troops to a potential peacekeeping operation in the war-torn country.
Mr Dutton also said he would cancel funding for UNRWA, the controversial UN aid agency working in Gaza, and would cast aside Labor’s approach to Israel.
“The Albanese government has adopted adversarial positions towards Israel to shore-up Labor votes in certain seats where there are, undeniably, anti-Israel and antisemitic views,” he said.
“In sidelining Israel, Labor has also threatened our interests.
“Israel has been a close friend that has shared critical intelligence with Australia that has helped thwart terrorist attacks against ADF personnel in the Middle East and save Australian lives at home.
“A Dutton Coalition government will again put the national interest front-and-centre of our foreign policy.
“If I become Prime Minister, one of my first orders of business will be to call Prime Minister Netanyahu – to build on the one-on-one meeting I had with him during my recent visit – and to help rebuild the relationship Labor has trashed.”
On China, Mr Dutton said the Coalition would take a more assertive approach to aggressive action from the rising superpower.
“A healthy bilateral partnership is in China and Australia’s mutual interests,” he said.
“But time and again, the Albanese government has failed to call out the Chinese Communist Party’s military aggression against our men and women in uniform.
“Silence in the face of such unacceptable aggression saw the Albanese government put their domestic political interests ahead of the national interest.
“Self-censorship is a price no self-respecting country should ever pay – especially a democracy like ours.
“Australia must be willing to criticise any nation whose behaviour imperils stability in the region.
“And that’s what a Coalition government I lead will do confidently and in concert with other like-minded countries.
Mr Dutton said China sent its naval boats to circle the Australian coastline last month to “test” Canberra’s response.
“It was a show of force,” he said.
“It was contempt, because Papua New Guinea had been provided with warning, whereas the Australian government was not.”
The exercise revealed a “critical failure in our response capacities,” Mr Dutton warned.
On Indonesia, Mr Dutton said Australia’s relationship with rising Southeast Asian power remained “sacrosanct”.
In the question and answer session that followed, Mr Dutton suggested he could stabilise relations with China while also taking a more forceful approach to Chinese conduct.
“I don’t believe President Xi Jinping respects a weak and incompetent Australian prime minister,” he said.
Mr Dutton nominated former prime minister John Howard as his guiding light in foreign affairs and praised Mr Howard’s decisions on East Timor and the response to the 2004 Tsunami.
More Coverage
Originally published as Protester tackled during Peter Dutton Lowy Institute speech
Join the conversation
Shock support for controversial koala park
A controversial project that could transform swathes of one Australian state forever has “overwhelming support”, new polling has revealed.
Read more
Devastated dad of 6yo Airlie speaks
The schoolgirl who died in a tragic accident near her North Nowra home on Sunday had “no sense of fear” because of a medical condition, her dad says.
Read more