Q: So, just to be clear – what are you criticising? The Prime Minister is seeking information about what is going on. We still don’t know the full details. Shouldn’t we wait before we criticise?

Dutton:

If it there was a functioning relationship with Indonesia, as there must be, because Indonesia is an important ally and friend, there we’ve been contact at a departmental or ministerial level.

Penny Wong has set the standard very high in terms of what the engagement needs to be. And the expectation that she’s put upon others is that if there’s a decision that is taken without engagement, without some, some foreshadowing with the Australian government, that’s a catastrophic failure. I think by her own standards Penny Wong has failed here.

Of course we don’t want Russian planes or other military assets in our region, based here, it’s not in our country’s best interests.

It’s not in the best interests of South-East Asia and Russia has demonstrated its capacities, and president Putin’s standards in relation to the conflict with Ukraine. Not someone we would welcome being permanently based here in our region.

Q: You said the Indonesian president announced this. When did he announce it?

Dutton:

Well, the Indonesian government, there’s detail they need to provide to the Australian government, surely the relationship is so good under Penny Wong that the relationship would have demanded that we be given notice before this was made public.

Indonesia has not announced this. There was a US media report this request had been made.

Richard Marles has said:

We have a very close relationship with Indonesia. We have a growing defence relationship with Indonesia. We have already been engaged with Indonesia on this request.

I’d note at this point, Indonesia has not responded to this request [from Russia]. We will keep engaging with Indonesia in a way which befits a very close friend and a very close friendship between our two countries.

We have been very focused on developing our bilateral relationship with Indonesia, including our bilateral defence relationship with Indonesia. Last year, we signed a defence cooperation agreement with Indonesia which really is the deepest-level defence agreement we’ve ever had with Indonesia. And we are seeing increasing cooperation between Australia and Indonesia at a defence level. And I expect all of that to continue.

In respect of this particular issue, we are already engaging with Indonesia at a senior level, and will continue to do so about the request.