LATIKA M BOURKE: Russian to trap ALP was Peter Dutton’s critical error

Peter Dutton’s campaign has felt “over” several times already.

But on Wednesday, it felt like the trap the Opposition leader had been trying to set for the government on national security snared him and all but ended his tilt to live in Kirribilli House, barring a catastrophic error from Anthony Albanese.

Seventeen words did the deed.

“Did the Prime Minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the President of Indonesia?” Mr Dutton queried on Tuesday.

The former Defence Minister was referring to a short report in the respected military outlet Janes that said Russia had asked Indonesia to allow it to station fighter aircraft at Manuhua Air Force Base in Papua.

That would put Russian fighter jets about 1400 kilometres of Darwin and bring a hostile enemy into the region.

The report cited Indonesian government sources as confirming the request was received by the Indonesian Defence Minister and that it was made after Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin’s meeting with Russia’s Security Council Secretary and former Defence Minister Sergei Shogui in February 2025.

The report also referred to documents that detailed the request and said that the Indonesian government had not issued an official acknowledgement of the request, was consulting relevant departments internally and was still working out how to proceed.

What the report did not say or suggest at any point was that the President or Indonesian government had made a decision and said so publicly.

The report emerged just before Mr Albanese held his second press conference of the day at around 2.25pm in Melbourne’s suburbs on Tuesday afternoon.

Pressed for details, including by The Nightly, Mr Albanese said that he was “seeking further information from Indonesia about it”.

“What we’re seeking is proper clarification, that’s the way you deal with international relations, making sure that you’re not flying from the hip.”

Sensing another episode of prevarication, which has been Mr Albanese’s default mode when dealing with difficulties in international relations, Mr Dutton went on the attack about ten minutes later.

“This would be a catastrophic failure of diplomatic relations if Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese didn’t have forewarning about this before it was made public,” he told reporters at a press conference in North Romsey, north of Melbourne.

“This is a very, very troubling development and suggestion that somehow Russia would have some of their assets based in Indonesia, only a short distance from, obviously, the north of our country.

“We need to make sure that the government explains exactly what has happened here.”

But in his desperation to fight this election on national security, a perceived weakness of Mr Albanese’s, Mr Dutton overreached.

“Did the prime minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the President of Indonesia, and what is the government’s response to it?”

It was a devastating mistake that, inexplicably, Mr Dutton refused to concede on Wednesday when questioned during a campaign stop in the Victorian seat of Aston, which the Coalition is poised to win back on May 3.

“No, the reference I made was obviously to what is a very credible military website, and that talks about government sources and the Prabowo government sources,” he said.

Mr Dutton committed the cardinal sin he constantly accuses Mr Albanese of making, not being across the detail.

He should have fessed up. Verballing the leader of a critical partner is not an error to brush under the carpet but one to own and apologise for. All he needed to say was that he misspoke and got that bit wrong, but the central question remains: Did the government know, and if not, why not?

Instead, just like Anthony Albanese’s ridiculous claim that he didn’t fall off stage when footage showed him taking a tumble, Dutton chose to pretend there was nothing to see here.

And in doing so, he walked straight into every stereotype the government has been pushing about him.

“Mr Dutton saw a headline, and he didn’t wait for the facts, didn’t wait for the facts,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong gleefully told the media.

“It’s not the sort of man you want to be the Prime Minister of the country.

“He is simply, as I said this morning, too aggro, too reckless … to be the prime minister of Australia.”

For once, the foreign minister’s trademark sanctimony was warranted. Peter Dutton tried to set a trap for Labor but only ended up snaring himself.

Foreign policy doesn’t usually decide elections. But temperament, leadership qualities and style do. And this was a huge failure from a former Defence and Home Affairs minister, who quite simply should have known better.

Not only has he continued his run of unforced errors, but he has also let the government off the hook.

Because Mr Albanese’s response today was not flawless either.

When The Nightly pressed him about whether he knew about Russia’s request before it was put in the media, Mr Albanese questioned the credibility of the article without providing any evidence.

“Well, it’s not clear what, it’s not clear what the Janes, you’re assuming the Janes report is correct and there is no basis for you assuming that,” he said.

“Are you saying a request was never made, we know for sure that a request was not made, is that what you’re saying,” The Nightly asked the prime minister.

“I’m saying I’ll act diplomatically with our friends in Indonesia, that’s what I’m saying.”

So rather than answer straight, the prime minister decided to discredit an extremely reputable publication’s report and then ran away rather than provide evidence for his unfounded claim.

This is no good.

The very fact that the government had to “seek further information” and Defence Minister Richard Marles only confirmed that the Russians would not be allowed to base out of Papua after calling his counterpart would suggest the Australian government did not know about the Russian request in advance.

Last week, Mr Albanese told The Nightly that one of the benefits of having the prime minister stay in the job for multiple terms was to develop international relationships.

“One of the things that I have brought to the leadership is building relations with people,” he said.

“So I have developed some relationships that are important for Australia with President Prabowo is new, of course, in Indonesia.”

“I had a good relationship with him; that’s why you need a long-term leader.”

What Mr Albanese has not been able to say is that his good relationship with the Indonesian president meant that of course, he knew about this Russian request and didn’t have to seek any further information.

So it is a problem for Australia that two months ago, Indonesia accepted a request from the Russians to station in our region, just 1300 kilometres from Australia’s mainland and did not reject it publicly until the proposal was leaked to the media.

It would show that Indonesia, which says it is non-aligned, did not automatically decline the idea, even though Russia has started an illegal war against Ukraine, is a no-limits partner with China and increasingly co-operates with Iran and North Korea.

Foreign policy and national security don’t usually decide elections, but when and if they do, they usually favour the Coalition.

But Mr Dutton seems intent on reversing every Coalition strength this campaign, which has more than a whiff of “making it up” as you go along.