Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has admitted he made a mistake in attributing reports of Russia seeking to base military aircraft in Indonesia to the South-East Asian power’s president.
The admission came as he and Prime Minister Anthony Albanesetraded barbs on US President Donald Trump, nuclear energy, electricity prices and housing in a tense second leaders’ debate of the federal election.
Indonesian Defence authorities have since labelled the report citing sources from the Indonesian government in US military website Janes “incorrect” but President Prabowo Subianto is still yet to comment.
Albanese quickly leapt on the error today, accusing Dutton of “verballing” Prabowo in an act of “extraordinary overreach”.
In tonight’s second election leaders’ debate, on the ABC, Dutton said he should have referred to sources inside the government instead of to the president.
“It was a mistake, and I’m happy to admit that,” he said.
“What we’ve got from the Indonesian authorities in the reports, and the prime minister commented on these reports yesterday as well, was that the sources inside the Prabowo government confirmed that that was the case.
“Now what we’ve seen in the last 12 hours or so is that the Russian envoy to Indonesia has confirmed that there have been discussions, and obviously there is a concerning closeness in that relationship.
“And I think the main point here is that the prime minister knew nothing of it, nothing of the concerns, nothing of the prospect.”
Albanese labelled the response an “extraordinary double down”, stressing the importance of Indonesia as an economic and defence partner.
“President Prabowo, I regard as a personal friend, and we have good relations there,” he said.
“And the idea that you just throw out these comments is just extraordinary, and the fact that we just saw a double down on it as if there’s nothing to see here, just shows that there’s no understanding of the need for diplomacy.
“Diplomacy means engaging seriously in a calibrated, serious way, treating Indonesia with respect as we do other nations that we deal with.”
Last night Defence Minister Richard Marles said his Indonesian counterpart, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, had told him “in the clearest possible terms, reports of the prospect of Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia are simply not true”.
Indonesian Defence Ministry spokesperson Frega Wenas told Reuters “the report is incorrect”.
Russia’s ambassador to Indonesia, Sergei Tolchenov didn’t confirm or deny the reports when questioned by the ABC today but stressed the importance of cooperation.
“Interaction between the armed forces of Russia and Indonesia encompasses various areas, including cooperation between the air forces,” he said.
“Such cooperation is aimed at strengthening the defensive capabilities of both sides, is not aimed against any third countries, and poses no threat to security in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Key questions on bills, cuts and climate go unanswered
The debate was marked by a refusal to answer some key questions despite valiant attempts by moderator David Speers.
Albanese was pushed to say when his government’s renewable energy push would drive down prices but dodged the question repeatedly, clearly stung by a failed promise from last election to lower bills by $275, which the Coalition has made an attack line out of.
“Under our plan, renewables are the cheapest form of power, and that is why we are doing that, rolling it out, including through gas,” the PM said.
Dutton, who claims his gas plans will drive down prices slightly in the short term while waiting for nuclear energy to come online, was pressed to outline what cuts he would make to the public service to fund increased spending.
“You do seem to be having trouble saying where you would cut. You’ve said a lot of areas where you won’t,” Speers noted.
“What about foreign aid? Would you cut foreign aid?”
Dutton responded: “We’ve said in relation to the public service that we will protect front line positions, which I think is important, incredibly important.”
“And we’ve announced more funding for GPs into general practice, and there are many other areas,” he said.
The leaders were also keen to dodge questions over the impact their newly announced housing policies would have on property prices, after both plans were criticised by many economists for likely driving up prices by increasing demand.
They each ruled out changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing.
Divide reinforced over climate change action
On climate change, Dutton said there was “an impact” from climate change before adding he would “let scientists and others pass that judgment” on whether it was getting worse.
“I don’t know David, because I’m not a scientist, and I can’t tell you whether the temperature has risen in Thargomindah as a result of climate change, or that the water levels are up in Thargomindah’s latest flood as a result of climate change,” he said, responding to a reference to recent flooding in outback Queensland.
“And I think the honest answer for most people is that they don’t know. And there are scientists who can provide advice.
“What I need to do as the alternative prime minister in this country is to put forward our plan.
“Our plan about how we’re going to help families we need to transition, and we’ve spoken about that with our zero emissions technology.”
Albanese said he was happy to talk about the “very clear” science around climate change.
“It doesn’t mean that every single weather event is because of climate change,” he said.
“It does mean that the science told us that the events would be more extreme and they’d be more frequent, and that is what we are seeing playing out, whether it be increased bush fires, increased flooding, these extreme weather events that are having an impact.
“So when we talk about the costs, this is one of the costs, the cost to our economy, as well as the cost to our environment, of not acting on climate change, of not being a part of the global solution, are severe.”
Do you trust Donald Trump?
It took 40 minutes for Trump’s name to be mentioned and it came down to a question of whether he could be trusted.
Albanese said he had “no reason not to” but Dutton wouldn’t go that far.
“We trust the US, and I don’t know the president. I’ve not met him,” he said.
Albanese highlighted the admission by saying he’d had “a number of discussions” with Trump.
But Dutton insisted a Coalition government would be better placed to get a good deal from the Trump administration on tariffs because of an ability to “leverage relationships” in the White House.
Both men offered similar responses when asked if they trusted Chinese President Xi Jinping.
How are the leaders showing up for Indigenous Australians?
Both leaders were asked why they hadn’t visited Indigenous communities yet during their campaigns.
Some sobering graphs were shown about the rate of suicide and children in out-of-home care in Indigenous communities.
Albanese admitted both sides of government have failed Australia’s First Nations people.
“Neither side of politics has done well enough for First Nations people. That’s just a fact,” he said.
“And that’s something that breaks my heart.”
Dutton agreed that it’s also “heatbreaking”.
“Whilst those figures are devastating as we point out, there are some examples where we have seen dramatic improvements,” the opposition leader added.
