Kimberley Kitching (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Government Accountability) | Hansard source

Clearly, when we look at the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, we see a prime minister who is out of his depth on foreign policy. We saw it on full display at the G7, where he was Nigel No Mates on the phone, and what we also see is a prime minister who has failed upward his entire career. The problem, of course, is that he now has serious responsibility. He has little comprehension of that with which he is dealing. His colleagues know what it means when the most virulently nationalist and tabloid propaganda newspaper outside of North Korea praises an Australian prime minister's rhetoric. His blind repetition of the talking points of a foreign government is cause for grave concern.

Let's look at the Global Times. Let's look at some recent articles that they've published. One is headed 'China urges US to stop malicious hyping on South China Sea'. Another is 'US bellicose stance cannot jolt China'. It goes on to talk about Huawei and divisions within the US administration. There is 'Be wary of US intervention in China-ASEAN cooperation.' We all know that China has sought to interfere in ASEAN, of which they are not a member, through initiatives in ASEAN countries. That has raised concerns about how ASEAN is going to progress. Another is 'China should hasten defence system deployment in the South China Sea: analysts'. Then they go through and quote them. You won't be surprised to know that all of those analysts believe in hastening defence system deployment in the South China Sea. Of course, we don't really consider it 'defence'. Another is, 'Xinjiang policy is justified', for an article that talks about the Uyghur Autonomous Region. But my favourite has been, 'Reuters fake report on Hong Kong is a stain on global journalism'. The article talks about the fake news on the Hong Kong government. It says:

When a crisis erupts in a developing country—

that is, Hong Kong; I'm sure most Hong Kong people would not consider their region to be 'developing'—

some Western media agencies have played a disgraceful role by taking advantage of its communication influence.

It then goes on to say that the Reuters report:

… is typical of Western news agencies that purposely set out to create maximum change at minimum cost by shaping public opinion at critical moments. In light of this action, Reuters has severely deviated from the bottom line of journalism ethics that all news agencies should follow. It has carried out what US and British intelligence agencies usually do.

I am sure Reuters will love that!

The Prime Minister has made himself to be a useful idiot, and that's the most generous interpretation one can have on that.