Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has accused the federal government of endangering Australia’s relationship with China by using alarmist rhetoric for domestic political gain. 

In an address to a Canberra book launch, Senator Wong said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had been indulging in political opportunism in foreign affairs.



Labor senator, Penny Wong, and her wife, Sophie Allouache, welcomed their first child on December 11. Their daughter is named Alexandra, which is Sophie’s middle name.

“My concern is that not only does he not fully comprehend Australia’s interests in relation to China, he doesn’t even seek to,” she said.

“It’s always about the domestic political advantage — either in the internal fights within the Liberal Party in pandering to the far right, or in seeking to pursue some partisan advantage over the Labor Party.”

Senator Wong also took aim at Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo over his comments that free nations are once again hearing “the beating drums” of war.

“Today, as free nations again hear the beating drums and watch worryingly the militarisation of issues that we had, until recent years, thought unlikely to be catalysts for war, let us continue to search unceasingly for the chance for peace while bracing again, yet again, for the curse of war,” Mr Pezzullo told staff in an Anzac Day message last month. 

He also said Australia should strive to reduce the likelihood of war “but not at the cost of our precious liberty”.

Mr Pezzullo’s comments came days after Defence Minister Peter Dutton said conflict over Taiwan should not be discounted as tensions between the US and China rise in the Pacific.

Senator Wong called that rhetoric unhelpful, and said inflating the threat of war would serve China’s purposes. 

“Two of the people most responsible for keeping Australians safe are instead talking tough for political purposes, and in doing so they are playing directly into the CPC’s narrative and providing Beijing with the leverage that comes with a sense of inevitability about crisis, conflict and war,” she said.

“The first job of national leaders is the safety of their citizens. Our leaders do not make us safe by beating the drums of war with China.

“Foreign policy should not be the prosecution of domestic politics by other means because, as I’ve said, in diplomacy words matter.”

Australia’s relationship with China has deteriorated sharply over the past year, as the country hit local exports with a wide range of trade barriers after Australia called for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

The federal government also tore up Victoria’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China last month, prompting China to freeze activities under its Strategic Economic Dialogue with Australia. 

Fiery independent MHR, Bob Katter accuses Wong of stoking the China fire

“A Chinese Communist Party diplomat had a picture of an Australian solider slitting the throat of a child posted on twitter,” Mr Katter said

“They had on Chinese state media, which is government controlled, Australia should be bombed.

“Penny, is it really us stoking the fires?

“What has Morrison said?

“What has Dutton said?

“You might accuse me of stoking the fires. Well that’s because in the last major war they were prepared to give North Queensland to the enemy, Japan.

“Was it China or Australia who imposed trade bans on the other country?

“Drew Pavlou and his mates were having a peaceful protest at the University of Qld for Hong Kongers and Uighurs. Did they stoke the fire?

“Or was it the Chinese thugs who attacked them on campus during their peaceful demonstration.

“Penny Wong’s statements are outrageous.

“If things unfold as people are predicting they will unfold, then her comments will be remembered, just as those people who were selling iron ore to Japan before the 2nd World War.”