Bridget McKenzie has admitted she was wrong to say Russia and China wanted Labor to win the election.
On Wednesday afternoon the Coalition frontbencher claimed China and Russia would prefer an Albanese victory on 3 May, citing statements by foreign politicians that could not be found online.
“The defence minister of Russia and the Chinese leader both have made very public comments they do not want to see Peter Dutton as the prime minister of our country,” McKenzie told the ABC. “There’s two world leaders who don’t want to see Peter Dutton become prime minister of our country (…) that’s Russia and China.”
But several hours later McKenzie reversed her claim.
A spokesperson for the Nationals senator said “the statement she made on Afternoon Briefing was wrong”.
Anthony Albanese earlier accused Dutton of “verballing” Indonesia’s president around questions over Russian military encroachment in the region, condemning the Liberal leader for “extraordinary overreach” before the facts were clear.
Senior ministers came out swinging against the opposition leader for “reckless” comments, with the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, saying Dutton had “fabricated” a statement from the Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto.
During the leaders’ debate on Wednesday evening, Dutton also admitted he had made a mistake in attributing the statement to Prabowo.
“The reference I was making should not have been to the president, it was in relation to sources from the Prabowo government,” Dutton said. “It was a mistake and I am happy to admit [that].
The respected defence publication journal Janes reported on Tuesday that Russia had filed an official request with Jakarta to base Russian aerospace forces aircraft on Manuhua air force base on Biak island in Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region – about 1,400km from Darwin.
It did not report that any such request had been granted.
The Australian prime minister claimed at a press conference on Wednesday there had been “no basis for assuming” the report from Janes was correct.
Dutton, in a Tuesday press conference shortly after the report was noted in Australian media, had asked: “Did the prime minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the president of Indonesia?”
He told the ABC on Tuesday that he had “seen commentary” about discussions between Russia and Indonesia, and that it would be a “catastrophic failure” if the government had not known in advance about the request.
“That’s obviously come from the administration,” Dutton said. When asked if he had seen Prabowo confirm the discussions, Dutton said there was “comment that’s come out of the administration, out of the Prabowo administration”.
Prabowo had not made any such public announcement.
Dutton later claimed he was referring to a statement from Indonesia’s government that was reported in Janes.
Australia’s defence minister and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, said in a statement on Tuesday night that he had spoken to his Indonesian counterpart, Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, about the reports.
“[He] said to me in the clearest possible terms, reports of the prospect of Russian aircraft operating from Indonesia are simply not true,” Marles said.
Indonesian media reported on Wednesday that Sjafrie said no official request had been made by Russia.
“This is absolutely untrue,” he said in a statement, according to the News of Indonesia website.
“Indonesia adheres to the principle of an independent and active foreign policy. We do not allow foreign military bases on our soil.”
Albanese said on Wednesday he would not provide a “running commentary” as to what Australia knew, and when.
“What we saw from Peter Dutton yesterday was an extraordinary overreach. He verballed the president of Indonesia,” he told the press conference.
“Verballing” is a term for the misattribution of a statement to another person.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, went even further and claimed Dutton’s comments were a “disqualifying moment” for his bid to win government.
“He is temperamentally unfit to manage our relationships in the world and to manage our economy here at home,” Chalmers said.
Chalmers also claimed Dutton “lies in ways that are bordering on the pathological about the Australian economy”.
Wong told the ABC that Dutton had “fabricated a statement” by Prabowo, and that the government had engaged with Indonesia through “the appropriate channels” to confirm that Indonesia would not allow Russia to base planes there.
“Peter Dutton fabricated a statement by the Indonesian president,” Wong said.
“Now, this is an extraordinary thing for a man who wants to be the prime minister to do – to actually try and verbal the president of Indonesia in order to make a domestic political point.
“He is simply too reckless and too aggro.”
The shadow finance minister, Jane Hume, was asked later about Wong’s accusations on ABC News Breakfast and said the comment was “bizarre” and “very defensive”.
“Clearly she was blind-sided by this report and has been on the back foot since,” she said.
Matthew Sussex, a strategic and defence studies centre fellow at the Australian National University, wrote in the Conversation that Indonesia and Russia have been deepening military ties since Prabowo came to power in October.
Moscow has tried “on numerous occasions to pivot to Asia to give itself more economic heft and leverage in the region”, he wrote.
“The Kremlin is also cognisant that Europe won’t be a friend for the foreseeable future. As such, it’s even more pressing for Russia to establish itself as a player in the Indo-Pacific region – and with that comes a military and security presence.”
