Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

We've seen reports over the last week that the government of Solomon Islands intends to sign a security agreement with the People's Republic of China that could foreshadow a permanent Chinese military and naval presence just 2,000 kilometres off the Queensland coast. The proposed arrangement undermines our national interest and undermines regional security. It's yet another indication of China's regional ambitions and the lengths that Beijing will go to to prosecute them. We've seen China militarise in the South China Sea, flagrantly violating the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. We've seen China expand its global footprint, which includes the establishment of its first overseas military base in East Africa and a rumoured new base on the west coast of Africa.

The Morrison government have been keen to amplify and, clumsily, weaponise these issues in a craven effort to seek political domestic support. They are full of cheap, nasty and empty slogans but they have failed to take a methodical and structured approach to protecting our national security. They are work-shy blowhards, all of them—all talk, no action. There have been clear warnings. The Morrison government was even warned about a defence pact last year by an opposition politician from the Solomons. But, besides crafting crude insults for question time, this Prime Minister hasn't lifted a finger. There's been wilful blindness to the issues facing us in the Pacific and undermining of the Pacific worker scheme by support for exploitation. There's been the so-called Pacific Step-up, but we've cut Australian aid to Solomon Islands by 21 per cent, and they've been met by a Prime Minister who thumbs his nose at legitimate demands for regional solidarity and a defence minister who jokes about water lapping at their doors. No wonder! (Time expired)