It’s now been more than 48 hours since the Coalition formally asked the Government for a briefing into the reports of Russia placing a request with Indonesia to base aircraft with our northern neighbour.
The Coalition’s request, which was made under caretaker conventions, was sent to both the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Defence on Tuesday. It sought a briefing from the respective agencies on this issue which is significant to Australia’s national interest.
The Government has failed its own transparency test.
Amid all the fumbling and obfuscation, the Government has refused to respond to the core question of whether it was aware of any request being made to Indonesia by Russia. The Government’s language has been shifty and sneaky, deliberately seeking to avoid this question.
Any approach to place Russian aircraft within short range of Australia is clearly a matter of critical national and strategic interest.
The Coalition should be briefed on what the Government knew – or didn’t know – about any such request put to Indonesia from Russia, and what advice was provided to the Government by agencies on this important matter.
There are serious questions which the Government is trying to run away from in the context of the extended Easter break.
This issue is not going away. The comments from Russia’s envoy to Jakarta in the last 24 hours demonstrate in stark terms the strategic importance of this matter.
Australians deserve answers about what the Government knew about any such request. They must provide a briefing on this issue without delay.
[Ends.]
HON DAVID COLEMAN MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MEMBER FOR BANKS
HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY
SHADOW MINISTER FOR DEFENCE PERSONNEL