Picture bigger than Albanese's China visit: Xi Jinping sees Australia as a fruit ripe for plucking
But behind the carefully stage-managed moments, pressure from the United States and talk of the Darwin Port is another truth: Albanese's trip to China is also a big deal for President Xi Jinping. Speaking with host Samantha Selinger-Morris on The Morning Edition podcast, our international and political editor Peter Hartcher talks about the reality behind Xi's current relationship with Australia.
Click the player or watch the video below to listen to the full episode, or read on for an edited extract of the conversation.
Selinger-Morris: We keep being told just what a massive deal this trip to China is. And in particular, how much of Anthony Albanese's focus has been on strengthening our trade ties with China. So how much trade is he talking about? Is it really that big a deal?
Hartcher: Yes it is. The trade is big, yes. It's by far Australia's biggest trading partner. Biggest export market. And it's the potential in the future. That's the real excitement in this trip. Although oddly enough, it's been largely overlooked by the media covering the story, with the honourable exception of our own correspondent, Paul Sakkal. But that's been a peculiarity of this trip.
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Selinger-Morris: As in, it's been overshadowed by defence questions for Albanese?
Hartcher: It's been overshadowed by the pursuit of … a non-issue, actually … it's a real oddity.
The media coverage, the media travelling party with Albanese – because each major media outlet has a reporter on the trip travelling with the prime minister, including our Paul Sakkal, [who] has done an outstanding job – but the general pack has approached it like, little kids walking past a haunted house, waiting to be scared, waiting to get that shiver of fear, waiting for something to go badly wrong.
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The maximum penalty for the offence is a $5500 fine. Raymond Terrace Local Court heard on Thursday that Mr Banek was of prior good character and had held a maritime licence for 32 years. Seven references attested to his volunteer work in the community and involvement in maritime rescue operations. Despite that, Magistrate Gregory Moore said Mr Banek's actions towards Wangi Queen were not a trivial matter. "I do not regard it as trivial. I regard it as a serious example of this type of offending," he said. Mr Banek told the Newcastle Herald that he planned to appeal the sentence because an expert maritime report, which showed the Wangi Queen had not been placed in danger during the protest, had not been taken into account. "The truth is going to come out," he said. Mr Banek's boating licence, which was suspended following the incident, was reinstated in June.
