The Coalition is now losing the debate on national security and China

The Coalition appears to be losing the debate on national security because of external events and its own overreach,a remarkable development given it was seen as one of its biggest strengths heading into the election.

The controversial security pact between China and Solomon Islands meant the Coalition was already on the back foot. But a few interventions on Friday showed it is looking desperate.

Labor’s Penny Wong laid claim to patriotism and hit out at the government for politicising national security.

Labor’s Penny Wong laid claim to patriotism and hit out at the government for politicising national security.James Brickwood

Labor’s foreign affairs spokeswoman,Penny Wong,won Friday’s debate at the National Press Club against Foreign Minister Marise Payne because she effectively took on the Coalition over its attacks.

While both women performed well,it was Wong’s criticism of the government for suggesting Labor was somehow nefariously close to China that cut through.

It was also refreshing to hear a senior member of Labor unashamedly say she was a patriot.

Following a question regarding a report inThe Australian revealing deputy Labor leader Richard Marles had met with Chinese government officials on 10 occasions in the past five years,Wong said the Liberal Party “do not have a monopoly on patriotism”.

“We all understand that,you know,in the lead-up to an election,things will get increasingly desperate,and accusations would be made. But I just want to make this point because there’s been too much of this in this campaign:We are all patriots.”

Earlier,Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there was “something that doesn’t sound right” about Marles’ meetings with Chinese officials.

For her part,Payne was right to criticise Marles for providing a copy of a speech in advance to the Chinese embassy,but it didn’t seem like her heart was in the broader attack.

After Payne ran off a list of vaguely positive statements Marles had made about China in the past,Wong pointed out that Morrison in 2017 said:“China provides real stability to the region.”

Minutes after the debate,Defence Minister Peter Dutton held a press conference in Perth to reveal aChinese spy ship has been tracked for a week off Australia’s west coast.

There was nothing wrong with disclosing as much detail as possible about the ship’s movements.

The government has previously spoken about Chinese ships operating in Australia’s exclusive economic zone,including last July when a similar vesselsat off the Queensland coast monitoring military exercises between Australian and American forces.

However,Dutton’s press conference on a Friday,eight days before the May 21 election,was different to previous disclosures of similar cases.

Firstly,Dutton described the presence of the Chinese ship as an “aggressive act”,which could be seen as setting a problematic precedent. Australia regularly sends its warships to the South China Sea,and it doesn’t want it to be perceived as an aggressor.

Defence Minister Peter Dutton confirmed a Chinese Intelligence gathering ship has been spotted off the north-west shelf of Australia.

To top it off,Morrison then called his own press conference – his second of the day – to talk about the Chinese ship.

This is despite last year saying that such Chinese vessels had “every right” to operate off Australia’s coast in international waters.

None of this is to say the movements of the Dongdiao Class Auxiliary Intelligence ship aren’t concerning.

The high-tech ship appears to have gone further down Western Australia’s coast than any other Chinese vessel has in the past,and it hovered near a naval communications base that supports American and other allied submarines.

There was a way to disclose all of this information without the theatre.

Instead,Labor is appearing to win in an area that was seen as its weakness just a few weeks ago.

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Anthony Galloway is political correspondent for The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age.

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