George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Most in the Labor Party support the government's sensible and principled stance. I note in particular the remarks of Senator Wong, when she became the shadow foreign minister, about the importance of bipartisanship. Unfortunately, the sensible position adopted by Senator Wong is not uniformly maintained by all senior members of the Labor Party. Two senior Labor members in this chamber have presented radically contrasting positions. Senator Conroy advocates a reckless show of muscle, sailing Australian naval vessels within 12 nautical miles of Chinese land features in a deliberate act of escalation. This is at a time when the whole region is trying to de-escalate the situation. Senator Dastyari takes the opposite approach. He respects China's claim to almost all of the South China Sea, a position that is also potentially destabilising.