DAVID BEVAN, HOST: Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs joins us now. Good morning, Penny Wong.
SENATOR PENNY WONG, SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Good morning. How are you both?
BEVAN: We are well. Penny Wong, the Morrison Government has to play with the cards it's dealt. It didn't create the COVID-19 pandemic but how well has it played China?
WONG: Obviously we're in a challenging place in our relationship with China currently. I think I said last year, and I might have mentioned it on this program, I gave a speech saying we were entering a new phase; there would be complexity and challenges. We need to manage them.
Right now obviously the priority is to try and resolve some of the trade disputes, which are impacting South Australian barley growers and Australian barley growers across particularly South Australia, and in Western Australia. And the Government, I hope, is ensuring it works with China to resolve these issues.
I'd also say, just on that, I do wonder the extent to which the deal that President Trump and President Xi did between the US and China, which increases the number of agricultural exports from the US to China, we need to make sure that Australian growers aren't disadvantaged as a consequence of that deal.
BEVAN: But would you have done anything differently?
WONG: I think on the inquiry, if that's the question, this is the inquiry into the pandemic, I've made very clear from the start we supported it.
And we welcome the resolution at the World Health Assembly to have an inquiry, a European Union-led resolution that has many countries signed up to it, including Australia.
It does differ from what Marise Payne announced on Insiders, in that the World Health Organization is doing the inquiry. But leaving that aside, I think it is a very good outcome, so we've supported that.
I think you asked would we do something differently. I think I'd have a little bit less George Christensen leading the debate on China. I think we've seen a lot of backbenchers engaging quite inflammatory language about China from the Coalition.
People are entitled to their view. We're a democracy. Their views can be put respectfully. But I do think we've seen a lot of inflammatory language, which doesn't help.
BEVAN: So Scott Morrison should pull them into line?
WONG: I think Scott Morrison and Marise Payne should lead the debate. And I don't think having some of these backbenchers who seem to believe that inflaming the rhetoric, escalating tension, is a good thing for their, either preselection or election, having people with that intent, being so prominent in the debate, I don't think helps us.
BEVAN: Have you ever seen relations this bad with China?
WONG: Well, certainly, it's a pretty challenging situation. We've got both beef and most recently barley. We've also seen some language that we wouldn't, we would prefer not to see.
I mean I think Julie Bishop, got it right when she said last week, it's a time for common considered diplomacy. I think taking the temperature down would be a good thing.
ALI CLARKE, HOST: What if that diplomacy meant though that we would have had to maybe forfeit, some of our wants and desires just to appease China?
WONG: We don't, we should never walk away from our national interest and I've been consistent on that. Regardless of the reaction from some parties, including China about Australia's call for an inquiry, we should not walk away from it.
I'd make two points about it; I think it is for the Government to explain why they made that announcement about an inquiry before they got international support, its for the Government to explain that.
But I would also note that both China and the United States have signed up to this recent resolution which does establish an appropriate review into the pandemic, including its origins. And that is a good thing because, as I and others have consistently said, it's in all humanity's interests to make sure we find out why this happened, how this happened, so it doesn't happen again.
CLARKE: Do you think we really will?
WONG: I hope so, with goodwill and transparency. I have a lot of faith in the world's scientists and public health officials, if they're given the appropriate transparency and information.
And we need to, I mean, this is the worst pandemic the world's seen in a century. We've had a few, was it the third coronavirus we know of, in recent times. We really do need to understand why this is happening.
BEVAN: Is China playing a dangerous game? Is there a chance that similar sized exporting nations like Australia, Brazil, Canada, that they could cooperate? That there could be some sort of coalescing of interest where we say, these countries say to China, hang on, we're not going to put up with this anymore?
WONG: My view about it is we all benefit when we have fair and transparent trading rules. I think no country, we don't benefit, where trade is distorted by other considerations, where countries use their economic or other power to influence trading relationships.
Which is one of the reasons why I think it is important that Scott Morrison engages with the United States. Because we want to make sure that this deal, which is not part of the world trading arrangements, but it is a deal between President Trump and President Xi - $40 billion worth of agricultural and seafood products from the US into China - we want to make sure that Australia, which is a good friend of the United States and a strong ally is not disadvantaged by that agreement.
BEVAN: I would be cruel and unfair wouldn't it, if China describes us as the United States' lapdog, and then the United States benefits from a trade deal?
WONG: We're a strong ally and friend but we have different interests at times and we need to assert them.
And we have an interest in transparent , fair trading arrangements. We don't have an interest in there being special deals which disadvantage us.
And we should press that with any American administration, as well as the Chinese government.
CLARKE: Penny Wong Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, thank you.
Authorised by Paul Erickson, ALP, Canberra.