Peter Dutton then continues to say that the government needs to say whether they knew about it ahead of it becoming public (Richard Marles said that they did), without challenge.

Dutton:

There’s public reports in relation to the claim that’s been made. There’s been a lot of activity between Russia and China and Indonesia, et cetera. That’s a matter of public record. So, I think the government, if they claim they’ve got a good relationship with Indonesia and countries in the region, that should be two way and there should be an engagement.

The Prime Minister should be standing town say this issue has been raised with us, we appreciate the Indonesians raising it with us, we expressed our concerns.

But it hasn’t happened. I think the Prime Minister and the foreign minister, if they’re being honest, would say this came as a surprise to them, which by their own standard, would be a catastrophic failure. Similar to what they accused the previous foreign minister of. And the double standard that operates here is I think on display for all to see.

There was a meeting in February between Indonesia and Russia about increasing their defence and security relationship. The relationship between Indonesia and Russia is not new. There were Russian planes and ships at Indonesian bases in 2017. Richard Marles has said the government was aware of the request before it was public.

It is plainly obvious this is a distraction grenade, but is it too much to ask that politicians going off about ‘catastrophic failures’ actually be challenged with some facts?