‘He's taking the piss': Sky News host Paul Murray torches Anthony Albanese for ducking US while cozying up to China
Later this month, Mr Albanese meet with China's President Xi Jinping for the fourth time, while he is still yet to meet US President Donald Trump.
Speaking on Monday night, Murray said relations between Australia and the US 'should always be closer' than the relations between Australia and China, as he claimed the need to build up the military was due to the former and not the latter.
Murray said from a domestic politics standpoint, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did 'better' when he was in 'more trouble' with President Trump, given the majority of Australians do not like the US leader.
However, the Sky News host claimed the Prime Minister was 'taking the piss' after Mr Albanese tried to draw parallels with the current push-and-pull between the global superpowers and Curtin-era Australia.
In his weekend address on the 80th anniversary of former prime minister John Curtin's death, Mr Albanese distanced Australia from its history as a close ally of the US and said Australia would pursue its interests as a 'sovereign nation' and not be 'shackled to the past'.
Mr Albanese declared the US alliance should be seen as a 'product' of Mr Curtin's leadership in foreign relations, but not the 'extent' of it.
'Curtin's famous statement that Australia 'looked to America' was much more than the idea of trading one strategic guarantor for another,' he told the John Curtin Research Centre.
'It was a recognition that Australia's fate would be decided in our region.'
Murray took aim at Mr Albanese for suggesting China was similar to the US or the UK during WWII and Australia's relationship with Beijing was just a matter of 'balancing things'.
'What I did find offensive about the suggestion from the speech on Saturday was: 'Oh, well, this is just like John Curtin. We know how to balance things.' That was a choice between the UK and the European war, or the Americans and the Pacific War that, of course, at some point, involved subs in Sydney Harbour, the bombing of Darwin, Broome,' Murray said.
'I think he's taking the piss by turning around and pretending that this balance with China is the same thing. The only reason we need to build up our military is because of China, not because of America.'
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said the Prime Minister was misleading Australians and was not being 'upfront'.
'He's not really being upfront about what his goals and ambitions are for the relationship between our two countries, between Australia and the United States, and seemingly his desire to get closer to a dictatorship, a totalitarian regime in China,' he said.
'I think the Australian people deserve to know, does the Albanese government view America as the most important friend and ally to our country, which has been the case since John Curtin made that shift, since World War Two, or do they think we should replace the United States with the likes of a dictatorial communist regime in Beijing?'
Experts have warned social media posts made by the Prime Minister and his most senior ministers have 'sabotaged' US relations after SkyNews.com.au uncovered a flurry of historic tweets attacking Trump, with some politicians describing him as a threat to democracy and a liar.
In posts from 2021, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called on the former Morrison government to publicly condemn Trump and accused him of inciting violence.
Mr Albanese, while opposition leader, accused President Trump of 'anti-democratic' actions, peddling 'nonsense' and encouraging 'violent insurrection'.
Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, whose role involves dealing with the Trump administration, alleged that he had 'incited violence', and that he was 'bad for allies'.
Attacks ranged from allegations Trump was stoking 'fear and rage' to engaging in 'anti-democratic actions', while in one childish criticism, a senior minister mocked Trump as a liar who wore a "toupee".
The Labor politicians made the comments on social media at a time when it appeared unlikely that the US President would return for a second term.
But experts have since said the White House would be acutely aware of the social media rhetoric and warned it has destabilised relations.
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