Wong says Dutton ‘fabricated a statement by the Indonesian president’
As I mentioned a moment ago, Penny Wong has come out swinging against Peter Dutton over his response to reports yesterday that Russia had requested access to Indonesian bases for its aircraft.
Wong and the deputy PM, Richard Marles, are doing a round of interviews this morning, starting on ABC News Breakfast.
Wong says she and Marles engaged through “appropriate channels” while Dutton “fabricated a statement”:
We engaged through the appropriate channels – that is, me to the foreign minister, the defence minister to the defence minister, as well as at diplomatic levels, and very quickly we gained the confirmation.
Peter Dutton fabricated a statement by the Indonesian president. Now, this is an extraordinary thing for a man who wants to be the prime minister to do – to actually try and verbal the president of Indonesia in order to make a domestic political point. He is simply too reckless and too aggro.
Key events
Following Marles, Coalition campaign spokesperson and shadow home affairs minister James Paterson appears on RN Breakfast.
Paterson says he “welcomes” the clarification but believes there are still questions for the Albanese government to answer.
There are some still some unanswered questions about this, and the particularly important one is, what did the Albanese government know? When did they know it?
Steve Cannane asks Paterson about his own leader’s comments that Wong and Marles have heavily criticised this morning.
Paterson says:
Well, Peter [Dutton] was referring to media reports in a breaking news story. At that stage, we’d not yet been briefed. In fact, we still haven’t been briefed, even though we’re entitled to be briefed under the caretaker provisions on sensitive foreign policy.
He then attacks the prime minister for confusing the defence force and border force, over who was monitoring a Chinese research vessel sitting off the coast of Australia.
Cannane asks whether Marles feels uncomfortable that Sergei Shoigu, a high level Russian official met with Indonesia’s president and defence minister in February.
Marles says Russia and Indonesia have had a longstanding relationship, so “there’s no news in that”, and points to Indonesia using “Russian kit” in their defence force.
Marles says what important is that Australia is strengthening ties with Indonesia and the broader region.
What’s important is that we, in terms of our bilateral relationship with Indonesia, are taking it forward to a place that it hasn’t been before. The defence cooperation agreement that we signed with Indonesia last year, that I signed with my then counterpart, now president, is an enormous step forward in terms of our bilateral relationship.
Marles says Indonesia told him ‘no prospect of any Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia’
Richard Marles has joined RN Breakfast, and won’t confirm whether there was a request from Russia to Indonesia, but says he’s been told there is “no prospect of any Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia”.
Marles confirms he’s spoken to his counterpart in Indonesia, and also attacks Dutton over his comments yesterday that there had been a statement released from the Indonesian administration.
Indonesia’s position is that there is no prospect of [Russian aircraft] operating from Indonesia. And that was made unequivocally clear to me, and that is entirely consistent with the relationship that we have built with Indonesia.
Marles says the relationship between Australia and Indonesia is strong, “we are enjoying, I think, the best relationship that we’ve ever had with with Indonesia”。
Host Steve Cannane asks Marles whether his counterpart told him if there was an approach made by Russia. Marles won’t bite.
Well, I’m not going to go into the details of the conversation beyond what I have said, which is that Indonesia is unequivocal in the fact that there won’t be, there won’t be Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia. And it is important that I’m not canvassing that in the public domain.
Josh Butler
Albanese confronted by hecklers overnight
Anthony Albanese and his team were confronted by two hecklers in their Melbourne hotel overnight, again raising questions about the safety and security of political leaders.
In video shared across social media app Telegram, two separate men managed to intercept the prime minister as he was walking through the hotel in Melbourne’s CBD on Tuesday afternoon. Both were quickly stopped by security and Albanese’s staff before they could reach the prime minister, but managed to get relatively close.
The videos were attributed on Telegram to “Melbourne Freedom Rally”, a large right-wing group which led protests against Covid restrictions during the pandemic. The group claimed credit for having “encountered” Albanese in his hotel and “asked a question on behalf of the Australian people”; other alt-right influencers and prominent groups shared the video on Telegram and other channels.
One man asked about Australians “unable to afford housing”, asking the prime minister loudly “when are you going to put Australians first?” In the second clip, which appears to be filmed around the same time as the first but in a different part of the hotel, the other man asked Albanese from a distance about “the rise in immigration”, questioning “do you think it’s fair?”
In the first video, filmed in the hotel lobby, the man approaches Albanese, who is accompanied by one security guard and a staffer; filming with a phone, the man manages to get within a few metres of the prime minister and ask his question, before Albanese’s team create a physical barrier and several more security guards arrive to escort the man from the building.
In the second video, Albanese is heading for a lift inside the hotel when a second man spots him. Also filming on his phone, the man yells to the prime minister who is some distance away, before also being quickly shut down by security.
Wong: ‘no confirmation’ that Russia approached Indonesia
Wong is continuing her run of morning interviews, and accuses Dutton again of having “fabricated a statement by the President of Indonesia… in order to make a political point.”
On Sunrise, Wong is asked whether, as Dutton claimed, that she should have known about Russia’s reported request to Indonesia. Wong refutes that:
There’s a report of a request. We have confirmed that Indonesia is not contemplating any Russian aircraft operating in its territory.
Asked again whether Wong knew if Russia had approached Indonesia, Wong says:
We have not got confirmation of that approach. So, I just want to be really clear. We have not got confirmation of that approach. What we have is a report, which we have confirmed, from the Indonesians, that it is not correct to assert that there has been any contemplation of a Russian base.
What did Dutton say about the Indonesian president?
Just a quick recap, the “verballing” Wong is accusing Peter Dutton of was from his comments to ABC Afternoon Briefing yesterday.
Dutton told host Patricia Karvelas that if “negotiations were taking place, then surely Australia would have been consulted”, and if not, that would have been a “catastrophic failure”.
Karvelas pushed Dutton on whether the president had announced this, or whether there were any public statements on the issue. Dutton said:
There’s commentary I have seen reported from the Indonesian spokesperson. That’s obviously come from the administration. There are reports of negotiations or discussions that have taken place between Russia and Indonesia.
Pushing again, Karvelas asks, “Where have you seen the Indonesian president confirm this? Aren’t you verballing him? He hasn’t talked publicly about it”.
Dutton digs in:
There’s comment that’s come out of the administration, out of the Prabowo administration …
Dutton says it a third time, that there are “public reports”:
There’s public reports in relation to the claim that’s been made. There’s been a lot of activity between Russia and China and Indonesia, et cetera. That’s a matter of public record.
Wong says Trump tariffs changing relationships around the globe
Wong is also asked about whether Trump’s tariffs are pushing some countries across south-east Asia into the arms of China.
Wong says first, the government is against the tariffs and says, like the PM has, that they’re an “act of economic self-harm”. But she does concede the tariffs are changing relationships across the globe.
This does alter American America’s relationships with countries around the world. You’ve seen that in Australia. And you are seeing that in our region. What we have to keep doing is to keep engaging and keep working at those relationships … Australia’s security and prosperity lie in our region.
Host James Glenday puts a final question to Wong, asking whether she’ll retire after her term expires in 2028 (state senators get six year terms, so she’s not up for reelection this year).
Wong says a very sharp “no”, and adds “but thank you for asking”.
Wong says Dutton ‘fabricated a statement by the Indonesian president’
As I mentioned a moment ago, Penny Wong has come out swinging against Peter Dutton over his response to reports yesterday that Russia had requested access to Indonesian bases for its aircraft.
Wong and the deputy PM, Richard Marles, are doing a round of interviews this morning, starting on ABC News Breakfast.
Wong says she and Marles engaged through “appropriate channels” while Dutton “fabricated a statement”:
We engaged through the appropriate channels – that is, me to the foreign minister, the defence minister to the defence minister, as well as at diplomatic levels, and very quickly we gained the confirmation.
Peter Dutton fabricated a statement by the Indonesian president. Now, this is an extraordinary thing for a man who wants to be the prime minister to do – to actually try and verbal the president of Indonesia in order to make a domestic political point. He is simply too reckless and too aggro.
Good morning from Krishani
Krishani Dhanji here with you, many thanks to Martin Farrer for starting us off.
The government has confirmed Indonesia will not allow Russia to base several long-range aircraft. Yesterday the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said it would be a “catastrophic failure” if the foreign minister, Penny Wong, and the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, weren’t aware of those reports before they were leaked. But this morning, Wong came out swinging against Dutton – accussing him of “fabricating” a statement by the Indonesian president. We’ll be following that issue all morning.
And as Martin mentioned, tonight is the second leaders debate. No doubt both Albanese and Dutton will be in full prep mode for that today.
Debate hype or real impacts? Will Albanese v Dutton change any minds?
As Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton prepare for tonight’s leaders debate, we have been speaking to a few people who have been close to these events over recent years in order to gauge how important they are.
Yaron Finkelstein, who was Scott Morrison’s principal private secretary, tells Dan Jervis-Bardy that for all the hype surrounding leaders’ debates, the contests rarely shifted votes.
“It’s high stakes in the sense they [leaders] think that a mistake will be fatal, because there is a lot of debate hype,” Finkelstein said.
“But of course, as we know, it becomes about the commentary later. But it’s never had a real impact on how people vote. It might reinforce what you already thought, but [it] rarely switches votes.”
Read Dan’s full article here:
Greens plan to double length of paid paternity leave
Dan Jervis-Bardy
The Greens want to double the length of paid parental leave (PPL) and lift the payment rate to a replacement wage in an election pitch to young families.
New parents are currently able to access 22 weeks of commonwealth-funded PPL, which will rise to 24 weeks in July and 26 weeks in 2026.
Campaigning in Brisbane on Wednesday, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, and Greens spokesperson on women, Larissa Waters, will call for a major expansion scheme at a cost of $7.7bn over the forward estimates.
The Greens’ plan would double the length of PPL to 52 weeks by 2030, with superannuation to be paid on payments for the entire year.
The party also wants to increase the payment – currently $915.80 per five-day week – to the equivalent wage of the parent taking time off work to care for their child. The government would fund up to $100,000 of the replacement wage, with their employer required to cover any amount above that.
The scheme would also be made available to PhD students, under the Greens’ proposal. Waters said:
In this cost of living crisis, trying to balance the household budget with a newborn has never been harder.
It’s time parents are rewarded, not penalised, for dedicating themselves to the precious first year of a baby’s life.
Greens open to negotiation with Labor in event of hung parliament, Bandt says
Josh Taylor
There’s more from the Greens after their leader, Adam Bandt, said last night he is open to changes to policies around housing and other key negotiation issues with Labor in the event of a hung parliament.
Bandt – who is campaigning in Brisbane this week in an attempt to hold the three Greens seats in the state – told ABC’s 7.30 last night that the housing policies announced in the election by the two major parties are “a house fire” but the Greens wouldn’t stand in the way of Labor’s policies in parliament.
He said big changes were needed around capital gains, and the Greens have put on the table “a sensible way of defusing that John Howard time bomb” if negotiations on guaranteeing supply in parliament with a minority Labor government are held after 3 May.
He said the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had not told him privately he would support changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing after ruling it out publicly. But Bandt pointed to Labor saying there would be no changes to the stage-3 tax cuts before making changes to the policy.
He said the Greens would enter negotiations with an open mind and flagged potential changes to policy positions:
I think that’s how it would have to work, because we have the situation in a moment … where less than 1 in 3 people are voting for the government, a bit more than 1 in 3 are voting for the opposition and about 1 in 3 people in the country are voting for someone else.
We have one of the most diverse parliaments we’ve had for some time and I think that’s going to grow at this election. And with more voices at the table, it means ideas like this can get put on the table and I think the flip side of that is that if we’re in a parliament where no-one’s got a majority, there’s an obligation on us to cooperate and work together to get outcomes for people …
He said leaving Aukus or holding an inquiry into the partnership would not be part of negotiations, as he said that was an argument the Greens can win on its merits in the next parliament. He said a native logging ban was also achievable.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories and then Krishani Dhanji will be along to take the wheel.
Energy is back at the top of the election agenda this morning with our story that a Coalition MP told a gathering of climate deniers that there was a “big political opportunity” to be made from power outages. “If I had my way I’d be building coal-fired power stations, full stop, that’s what I’d be doing,” Colin Boyce told the group. But that political opening could backfire as a group of international experts say the Coalition’s nuclear plans could leave the grid more vulnerable to blackouts, not less.
The big set-piece campaign event of the day is the second round of Anthony Albanese v Peter Dutton as the leaders of the two main parties face off at 8pm tonight at the ABC’s Parramatta studios. It is the second of four election leaders’ debates – Labor’s man was judged to have won the first one last week – but campaign veterans doubt whether the televised event will have any impact on voters. More coming up.
Perhaps not wishing to be overshadowed, the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, was on 7.30 last night to spruik his party’s chances. He told the program that, in the event of a hung parliament, he would be willing to negotiate with Anthony Albanese on key policy areas such as housing and tax reform. With the share of votes won by the major parties declining, he said more cooperation was needed to achieve reforms. More coming up.
