Morrison’s defence for failing to stop Solomons deal is not good enough

The key claim in Morrison’s defence is weak. The prime minister says he knew of the developments for some time, yet the minister for international development and the Pacific, Zed Seselja, says news only emerged on March 24 when the agreement leaked in draft form.

For all the talks behind the scenes, the test for the government was in how it acted. And it didn’t. China moved at a speed that Canberra could not match.

The foreign minister, Marise Payne, chose not to go to the Pacific. The Liberal Party preselection for the NSW Senate ticket came up on March 25, the budget was on March 29, the election campaign drew closer.

Yet Payne had time to stand alongside Morrison at a petrol station in Sydney on April 5 to talk about cuts to the fuel excise. And she was able to go to Brussels to speak to Western leaders about Ukraine on April 7. For all the agonising about what might have been done, the minister’s public appearances tell the story. The Pacific did not get the priority.

The government now mounts the ludicrous argument that it would have offended the Pacific to send Payne to the region. “Australia was not looking to go and stamp around,” said Morrison on Wednesday. The finance minister, Simon Birmingham, said on Thursday it would have been wrong to have someone “shouting” at Pacific leaders. They make Payne sound like Donald Trump.

It is only a matter of time before conspiracies spread about China moving during the Australian election campaign to embarrass the government – an idea that only gains currency with Morrison’s claim in Wednesday night’s debate that Albanese was siding with China. But this is only a scramble for excuses for a strategic defeat – and, just possibly, an election defeat.

Australian aid funding to the Pacific reveals a neglect of the region that has allowed China to gain influence. Aid to Solomon Islands was $258 million in 2010 and $204 million in 2013 but never regained those heights after the Coalition took power. It was $156 million this financial year. The cuts in the May 2014 budget have come at a significant cost.

The Solomons agreement is a pivotal moment in this campaign. There is no election in recent memory when a government has been struck by a foreign policy setback so great and so close to polling day.

Raider