Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed Australian officials have complained to the Chinese embassy about the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei in Parliament House during the visit of the Chinese premier, Li Qiang.
Chinese officials were seen trying to block Ms Cheng from watching on as Mr Albanese and Mr Li signed a number of agreements at Capital Hill on Monday.
The bizarre incident inside the seat of Australia's democracy was caught on camera, with Australian officials trying to stop their Chinese counterparts from obstructing Ms Cheng's view.
At one point, she jokingly swapped seats with another journalist – prompting Chinese officials to reposition and attempt to hinder her once more.
Ms Cheng is now working for Sky News and spent three years behind bars in China before returning home to Australia in October last year.
"When you look at the footage, it was a pretty clumsy attempt, frankly by a couple of people to stand in between where the cameras were and where Cheng Lei was sitting," Mr Albanese told ABC Radio Perth.
"And Australian officials intervened, as they should have, to ask the Chinese officials who were there at the press conference to move and they did so.
"There should be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job, and we've made that clear to the Chinese embassy."
Mr Albanese noted that in his press conference later in the day, without Mr Li, he offered Ms Cheng the first question.
The incident infuriated Australian officials who made repeated attempts to get the Chinese officials to move, but were ignored.
One federal government source said the logistics of the event and the whole trip had been "painstakingly planned out" but the Chinese government broke with prior agreements.
They also said while the Chinese embassy staffers responsible were junior officials, there was no doubt that they were directed by more senior staff at the embassy.
PM's initial non-comment 'pathetic': Simon Birmingham
The federal opposition hit out at the incident, labelling it as "entirely counterproductive and inappropriate", insisting the prime minister should have called it out earlier.
Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham said there were clear differences between the systems of government in Australia and China, and the way the nations protect freedom of speech and respect for the media.
"But this visit is taking place in Australia, yesterday's events took place in Australia's Parliament House, and freedom of the press there is paramount," he told Sky News.
"Cheng Lei is an Australian citizen, an Australian journalist, she should have been treated with respect.
"The fact that we are talking about this, rather than talking about other parts of substance from the visit, positive aspects of the visit, how the governments of our two countries might be working through difficult issues, should underscore to those Chinese officials that they should think long and hard about the fact that this type of distraction caused by inappropriate conduct on their behalf is counterproductive."
Loading...Senator Birmingham was speaking before the prime minister confirmed the issue had been raised with the Chinese embassy.
He said it was "pathetic" for Mr Albanese to have fronted the media on Monday afternoon, and to claim he had not seen the incident.
"Either his office needs to apologise for not briefing him properly, or he needs to apologise to the Australian people for misleading them," he told Channel Seven.
"It was all over the screens before the prime minister did that press conference and it is frankly unbelievable that he wasn't aware of it."
Public servants should be given 'medals', says Pezzullo
Former home affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo said he had spent a lot of time in the committee room where the incident happened, and said it was "symbolic of a deeper problem with engaging with such a political system".
"To have that democratic space desecrated in the way that it was by those Chinese officials – who, no doubt, were acting under instructions … was frankly disgraceful," he told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing.
"And full kudos to the Australian officials – there was at least one, if not two female Australian officials who, frankly, should be awarded public service medals on the spot for their grace, their resolve, and their courage and their judgement.
"To come to the heart of our democracy and to seek to desecrate it like that, where we have completely different norms – I would say norms that are universally better norms where you have contestability, you have press inquiry, you have press freedom – to seek to block that was just a disgrace."
Mr Pezzullo spent decades at the heart of the public service, in national security and defence circles, before being sacked late last year for seeking to influence government decisions.
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2024-06-18 01:39:17Z
CBMiZ2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTA2LTE4L2dvdmVybm1lbnQtY29uY2VybmVkLW92ZXItY2x1bXN5LWNoZW5nLWxlaS1vYnN0cnVjdGlvbi8xMDM5OTA2MjTSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAzOTkwNjI0
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