Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for North Sydney for his question on a very serious issue. Australia's national interest is best achieved by working with our allies and partners to defend and strengthen the rules based order that has underpinned our national prosperity, security and stability for nigh on seven decades. And a key to ensuring that our national interest is served is clarity and consistency in our foreign policy—because this preserves the government's integrity when it comes to policymaking and decision-making. So when confronted by challenges such as the differing positions on the South China Sea our government is able to point to a clear, consistent policy decision. We enhance our relationships with all countries in the region no matter what our disagreements are, and that is because the government have integrity when it comes to our foreign policy positions—clarity, consistency and coherency.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of all members of the Labor Party. In fact, we now know that Senator Sam Dastyari's about-face on the South China Sea had a price tag attached to it.

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