Dutton accuses PM of being ‘tricky’ over Chinese naval incident

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of being “tricky” with his words addressing the Chinese naval incident last week.

Australian naval divers were injured in international waters off Japan when a Chinese vessel used sonar pulses near them.

“Anthony Albanese has opened himself up to criticism by not providing more detail about this conversation that he had with the Chinese leadership in San Francisco about this reported sonar attack on naval divers,” Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clennell said.

Mr Clennell pointed out the Prime Minister has sparked controversy after telling Sky News Australia he “does not discuss private sidelines discussions with foreign leaders”.

“Not quite sure why the PM can’t say something like, ‘I did raise this incident but I’m not going into the details of that conversation’ – surely he can just confirm that he raised it.”