Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. On 14 November, Royal Australian Navy divers from HMAS Toowoomba were injured by sonar pulses fired from a Chinese navy destroyer. The following day the Prime Minister travelled to San Francisco, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Did the Prime Minister personally raise this serious issue with President Xi?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question. The government expressed concerns about the HMAS Toowoomba incident clearly, directly and unambiguously. This event was unsafe and was unprofessional. We communicated this through all appropriate channels and with every opportunity that was available to us.

This government has worked hard to stabilise the relationship with China without compromising any of our core interests. We have been patient, calibrated and deliberate in our approach. I note the opposition said I shouldn't go to APEC during that week. They demanded I—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, members on my left!

The Minister for Home Affairs will cease interjecting.

Government members interjecting—

Members on my right will cease interjecting so I can hear from the Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was a very straight question. It requires a straight answer. The question was: did the Prime Minister personally raise this serious incident with President Xi?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has the call.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we won't be doing is taking lectures on how to build our diplomatic relations from those opposite, who could not get a phone call returned for the entire term of the last government.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition on another point of order?

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I seek clarification from you as to whether it is your ruling that the Prime Minister is in order in relation to his response.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister had about eight seconds before you took that point of order, so I think it would be a reasonable to say he is halfway through his answer and I am going to listen. You may want a simple answer, but the Prime Minister can answer the question how he sees fit.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those opposite think foreign relations are simple. Threats of shirt-fronting, leaking of private text messages and leaking of private conversations meant that there was no possibility of getting outcomes.

I'll make the point that, compared with the $85 million of exports of those products that suffered from trade impediments last year, this year, up until just August, $6 billion of those products have gone to China. When we talk about yes or no, you might like to ask for a yes or no as to whether Cheng Lei thinks that our approach towards diplomatic relations is more effective than theirs. You can talk to her because she is now in Melbourne with her family. The fact is that we now have a path forward for wine exports. We say as well that we will cooperate with China where we can. We will disagree where we must.

I note the HMAS Toowoomba then travelled to the Taiwan Strait and is currently involved in exercises with the Philippines navy as a direct result of the deal that I signed with President Marcos just a couple of months ago.