Albanese evokes Whitlam, Hawke in final leg of China trip
PM STAYS ON MESSAGE
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s high-profile visit to China, which is entering its final leg, has been going on for so long now that the coverage this morning has expanded to include everything from pandas to bionic ears, Gough Whitlam to fashion choices, and rogue opposition politicians to tennis tournaments.
Following his visit to the Great Wall of China yesterday and his very deliberate nod to Whitlam — “I have the sense of history following in the footsteps of the Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam, who was the first prime minister to visit here in 1973. We are literally standing on history” — Albanese is now in Chengdu in China’s southwest.
Having already met with tennis players as part of an announcement about the Australian Open wildcard play-off tournament once again taking place in Chengdu, the PM is today set to attend a medical technology industry lunch with the likes of Australian Nobel laureate Professor Barry Marshall, before touring a factory for Australian hearing implant company Cochlear, the Nine papers tell us.
Continuing the main theme of his visit, namely a call for a greater trade and cooperation, Albanese will recall Bob Hawke’s visit to an Australian-owned circuit board factory in Chengdu in 1986 and say technology remains core to the trading relationship between the two countries.
In calling for more investment in research and manufacturing, Albanese will also advocate for “continuing to break down barriers by supporting the free and fair trade that enables Australian medtech companies to access the market here in China”.
The AAP also carries a preview of his remarks for the industry lunch in Chengdu, which Albanese will say is “home to inspiring examples of world-leading Australian and Chinese cooperation in science, technology, research and education” (there’s that cooperation word again).
The newswire headlines its coverage this morning with “Albanese to cap China trip with panda diplomacy”, in reference to the fact the prime minister will also visit a breeding research centre which is attempting to save the species from extinction.
So another day filled with the PM talking up the importance of Australia-China relations while also deflecting questions over Taiwan, defence, Donald Trump, the Port of Darwin, and Angus Taylor (see Say What? and my colleague Bernard Keane’s latest piece below on that last one).
He may also whip out his Rabbitohs cap again, while his fiancée Jodie Haydon’s $599 midi-dress gets an entire article to itself in the Nine papers.
Sky News leads this morning on the reception Albanese has received thus far, saying the PM “has been serenaded with warmth, reverence and classic Australian rock music in Beijing” (a reference to the Beijing banquet earlier in the week).
The broadcaster also references Albanese yesterday playing down claims in Chinese state media that he had declared Australia’s opposition to Taiwanese independence. The Nine papers also cover the topic, quoting the prime minister as saying yesterday: “You’re trying to quote a Chinese readout that I haven’t seen. What we do is continue to support a one-China policy. We support the status quo. By definition. We don’t support any unilateral action on Taiwan.”
Meanwhile, The Australian Financial Review has led this morning with its report from the tour, stating “Albanese has ruled out watering down foreign investment rules despite criticism from Beijing, but reassured Chinese gas companies that supply contracts won’t be cancelled should the government establish an east coast gas reservation.”
LIBERAL INFIGHTING OVER BRADFIELD
Would you believe it, next week federal politicians are actually going to be in Canberra for a sitting week.
It’s the first since the election, which now seems like it was about 35 years ago, but as we know, the politicians will be returning with one seat still in dispute. The Liberals are launching a legal challenge to the result in the seat of Bradfield, where independent Nicolette Boele was declared the winner by just 26 votes.
Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian says the legal challenge is to “ensure the intentions of the voters of Bradfield are accurately reflected in the final count”. But apparently not everyone is happy about it.
The Daily Telegraph reports the legal challenge has triggered an “internal Liberal backlash”, with one MP saying “there’s a lot of Coalition MPs who are pissed about that”, adding: “How do we come out of this if we lose? There’s an element of looking petty and if we lose it looks [petty].”
Now, as with most things, there is also a secondary element at play here, with the paper flagging the “backlash” also includes annoyance that Kapterian backed Sussan Ley in the Liberal leadership ballot and was initially given a frontbench role.
“If she wasn’t Sussan’s [supporter], they probably wouldn’t be fighting so hard,” the upset MP said of the legal action. Another added: “You’ve got second and third termers who have missed out, and someone who hasn’t got an office yet has a job. There’s definitely rumblings.”
The paper is very keen to point out how close the leadership ballot was, which Ley won over a certain Angus Taylor (isn’t he just about everywhere these days).
A senior Liberal source countered all the grumbling with: “Of course Sussan wants to see as many Liberals in parliament as possible — what federal leader wouldn’t and what member of the Liberal Party wouldn’t? What job does the party have if not to get Liberals elected to parliament and ensure a challenge to the result in line with the electoral law?”
TRUMP CALLS SUPPORTERS ‘WEAKLINGS’ AND ‘STUPID’
In another day in Trump World, the US president has called his own supporters “stupid” and “weaklings” in an escalation in the row over his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
The decision by the FBI and Justice Department to not release further documents on Epstein and the former saying the so-called “client list” didn’t exist has caused a rift within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
The ABC reports Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday: “I have had more success in 6 months than perhaps any President in our Country’s history, and all these people want to talk about, with strong prodding by the Fake News and the success starved Dems, is the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax.
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”
The broadcaster adds he later told reporters those calling for the release of the files were “some stupid Republicans” who were “wasting their time”.
The Guardian flags Trump has also once again sent Wall Street into a spin after reports emerged that he had indicated to a group of House Republicans that he would fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
The Associated Press reports Trump has accused Powell of mismanaging the US central bank’s $2.5 billion renovation project and could use that accusation as a means to oust him.
Responding to the reports, Reuters flags the US president said: “I don’t rule out anything, but I think it’s highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud.”
ON A LIGHTER NOTE…
A humpback whale caused “navigational challenges” in Sydney Harbour on Wednesday.
The whale was spotted around 8am yesterday near Fort Denison, before making its way to Circular Quay and then on to Garden Island, Watsons Bay, Balmoral Bay and Rose Bay.
Whale expert Dr Vanessa Pirotta was quoted by Guardian Australia as saying: “NSW Maritime and NSW National Parks and Wildlife are literally escorting a school bus-sized mammal out of the harbour. It’s so easy for vessels to strike whales. They do things when you least expect it — [we’re] making sure it has space and is escorted out of the harbour, because this one is very inquisitive.”
Pirotta added that most whales that find themselves in the harbour leave after realising they’re no longer on their migration route, but this one was different.
“Most will hang out around Manly and then work out it’s not in the right place and swim away, but this one is having the full harbour experience,” she said. “It’s the most inquisitive whale. It’s thin but, from its behaviour, it’s very relaxed.”
Say What?
That’s way above my pay grade, to try and define what Angus Taylor means.
Anthony Albanese
The prime minister was asked during his press conference at the Great Wall of China what he made of Angus Taylor’s comments this week about commitments to the defence of Taiwan.
CRIKEY RECAP
Ol’ Taylor, the upward failer, commits to China war. When will the Coalition give him the flick?
So what are Taylor’s achievements so far in the defence portfolio? Lurid claims about gender quotas, implicitly contradicting his colleagues, preemptively signing the Coalition up to a US war with China, and confirming the AUKUS submarines exist only to fight China — effortlessly giving away Australian sovereignty in the process.
Given the Coalition could be back in power in 2028 — however improbable that may seem now — the Chinese regime might have to take such utterances seriously, and react accordingly. The other question is whether Ley, and Taylor’s colleagues, will take them seriously as well — and how long he’ll stay in his job if he continues demonstrating such colossal lack of judgment.
I met with the Torres Strait Islander elders who lost their landmark climate case. They won’t give up
“It’s actually a really disappointing case. We’ve now had two examples, including Sharma, which says there is no duty of care on the Australian government to protect its citizens from climate change.” (In Sharma v Minister for the Environment in 2021, a group of teenagers argued the federal environment minister owed Australian children a duty of care to protect them from climate harm when approving fossil fuel projects. The Federal Court initially found a duty existed, but this was later overturned on appeal.)
Despite their disappointment yesterday, both Uncle Paul Kabai and Uncle Pabai Pabai said they would now carefully examine pathways for appeal with their legal teams.
“Love has driven us on this journey for the last five years, love for our families and communities,” Uncle Pabai Pabai said. “That love will keep driving us.”
Paul Robeson, the ‘Last Tour’ and Australia’s lost history
Elsewhere in The Last Tour, such as in Robeson’s unaccompanied performance for workers at the construction site of the Sydney Opera House, I found myself wishing for a wider view of this lyrical moment: a global historical figure singing to those laying the foundations of Australia’s most iconic landmark, consecrating the stolen land, the first gig at an opera house still more than a decade from completion. Similarly, that ASIO had sent spies to most of the events the Robesons attended may be inevitable on reflection, but Curthoys’ handling of the revelation is still oddly casual.
But these are quibbles over style, rather than substance. The book is a great piece of scholarship and an important corrective — a noble attempt at ensuring these moments and movements are not gone from our sense of ourselves, gathering them up before they go over the great falls of post-Federation memory.
READ ALL ABOUT IT
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Jason Clare flags ‘months’ until antisemitism response (The Australian)
Latham’s parliamentary office ‘used to record sex tapes’ (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Stadium, debt and ferries: Leaders in only debate pitch (AAP)
Obamas joke about divorce rumours: ‘It was touch and go for a while’ (CNN)
THE COMMENTARIAT
Opposition defence spokesman Angus Taylor has rewritten the Coalition’s policy on Taiwan — James Campbell (Herald Sun): I’m quoting Taylor at length to avoid verballing him and to be fair, he did add “you can’t codify all the scenarios as to how our conflict might unfold … the Americans won’t do that, and nor can we”.
But there’s no escaping Taylor’s position, which would seem to be that, in conjunction with the US, we should be giving some sort of explicit guarantee to Taiwan. This is neither the policy of the Australian nor the American governments.
Which among things goes to show that if Sussan Ley thought that in giving him defence she was putting Taylor somewhere he couldn’t cause trouble, she’s made a serious miscalculation.
China sees Australia as the Western partner worth resetting with and Anthony Albanese made it happen — Bang Xiao (ABC): This is what made Albanese’s message land. Chinese leadership values consistency. Saying this out loud to Xi Jinping, on Chinese soil, was a display of diplomatic maturity.
Few Western leaders manage that. Some hedge, others grandstand. Albanese was direct, and it worked.
Why was it effective? Because the message echoes a phrase by Zhou Enlai, China’s first premier, who in 1955 at the Bandung Conference, said: “Seek common ground while reserving differences.” It became a cornerstone of China’s diplomatic approach to both enemies and neighbours.
Albanese’s message, though delivered in democratic terms, resonates with that same logic.
