Australia live news updates: Katherine Deves avoids media at election forum; US warns China against Solomon Islands base

Frydenberg was also asked on Sunrise whether he was worried after his rival, Kooyong independent Dr Monique Ryan, drew the number one position on the ballot draw yesterday while he drew number seven.

There’s the luck of the draw when it comes to the ballot, you just accept it and you move on.

Josh Frydenberg was also asked about the Solomon Islands security pact on Weekend Sunrise on Channel Seven.

He said Australia could not have done more to stop it.

No. Because we’ve got a full court press with respect to our Pacific friends … we provide about two-thirds of developmental assistance.

The United States on Thursday warned the Solomon Islands that it will take action against them should the security pact with China pose a threat to US or Allied interests.

More on this from AP:

The White House said the message was delivered directly to the country’s leadership by a visiting senior US delegation. The delegation expressed concern that the deal with China raises questions about its scope and purpose, according to the White House, which also lamented transparency in the agreement and cast doubt on Solomon Islands’ officials’ claims that the deal was purely domestic.

The visit came just days after China and the Solomons confirmed they had signed a security pact, a development that has alarmed neighbouring countries and Western allies who fear a military buildup in the region.

“Solomon Islands representatives indicated that the agreement had solely domestic applications, but the US delegation noted there are potential regional security implications of the accord, including for the United States and its allies and partners,” the White House said in a statement.

“The US delegation outlined clear areas of concern with respect to the purpose, scope, and transparency of the agreement,” it said. “If steps are taken to establish a de facto permanent military presence, power-projection capabilities, or a military installation, the delegation noted that the United States would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly.”

There was no indication of what the US response might be.

The White House statement noted that Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had assured the US there would be no long-term Chinese presence on the islands and no power projection capability but stressed that the US would “follow developments closely in consultation with regional partners.”

A draft of the pact, which was leaked online, said Chinese warships could stop in the Solomon Islands for logistical replenishment and China could send police and armed forces there “to assist in maintaining social order.” The Solomons and China have not released the final version of the agreement.

In a bid to deal with the matter, the US proposed, and the Solomon Islands accepted, a proposal to launch a high-level strategic dialogue that would address mutual concerns. The US delegation was led by Kurt Campbell, the National Security Council Indo-Pacific coordinator, and Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

During the visit, the US side also discussed its plans to reopen an embassy in the Solomons capital of Honiara, as it tries to increase its presence in the strategically important country amid growing concerns about Chinese influence. The embassy has been closed since 1993.

Frydenberg would not say when the Morrison government first knew of the draft pact between the Solomon Islands and China, saying instead that “we’ve known that this was always a risk”.

He added:

We’ve known that there were discussions under way.

Frydenberg then pointed to a speech Labor deputy leader Richard Marles gave in China in 2019, which the Coalition resurfaced yesterday because they claim it shows Marles is “soft” on China.

In the speech, Marles said China’s providing of “development assistance” in the Pacific was a “good thing”. It feels important to point out that development assistance does not equal a security deal.

Incidentally, Daniel Hurst has looked into the Coalition’s repeated line of Labor being soft on China and found the instances cited by Scott Morrison and his ministers are “either factually inaccurate, misleading, or lack context”.

Frydenberg claimes Marles’s 2.5 year old speech is the “biggest story” of the day – not the deal itself, or concerns raised by the US, or what the Australian government intends to do next.

Asked why Marise Payne was not sent to the Solomon Islands to deal with this issue personally, he pointed to other visits made to the Solomon Islands by the prime minister and financial aid provided to the Pacific more broadly.

Asked if the government will provide more action on climate change, as repeatedly requested by Pacific nations, Frydenberg said Australia was “doing its part” to meet its Paris agreement targets.

Updated at 18.43 EDT

On to interest rates. Can voters blame the current government if interest rates rise before election day on 21 May?

Frydenberg says not, but unsurprisingly he reckons you can blame Labor.

Decisions about monetary policy and interest rates are ones for the independent Reserve Bank but we do know that Labor is promising to spend a lot more money through this campaign and that would put unnecessary upward pressure on interest rates.

So: you cannot blame the party that has been in power for nine years if interest rates rise but you can blame the party that has been in opposition. I feel this would fail a fact check.

Updated at 18.31 EDT

The treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has also been on ABC News Breakfast this morning.

Frydenberg’s electorate of Kooyong is one of those under threat from the so-called teal independents. Monique Ryan, the independent in Kooyong, drew number one on the electoral ballot yesterday.

And he is tackling that by, er, announcing a $20m upgrade to community facilities for recreational fishers, campers and boaters.

It’s a grants process and looks, on the surface, similar to grants programs that have drawn the attention of the audit office.

Frydenberg said applications for this program would be administered by state and territory governments, and local councils would be able to apply.

Host Johanna Nicholson asked: “There’s been a history of these being used to gain votes and improve the Coalition’s popularity. Will these votes be just going to marginal and Coalition held seats?”

Frydenberg replied:

As I understand it, this money will go around the country, reflecting the fact that recreational fishing is something Australians take to with great gusto. And these types of programs, these types of projects, provide great community benefit and it’s only appropriate that all governments are involved.

Make of that what you will.

Updated at 18.31 EDT

Plibersek said the Solomon Islands security pact with China followed “years of neglect” by the Coalition government.

Asked what Labor would have done differently, she said: “We wouldn’t have trashed the relationship with our Pacific neighbours in the first place”.

It is inexplicable that, having been warned about this, Scott Morrison didn’t say to his foreign minister, Marise Payne, I want you on the first plane to the Solomon Islands to talk this through. This could have happened months ago. It comes on top of years of neglect.

Updated at 18.34 EDT

The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, will be campaigning whenever his health permits, Plibersek says.

She told the ABC:

Yeah, look, there’s no good time to get Covid. As someone who has had it I can tell you there’s no good time to get it.

But of course Anthony is tough. He’ll be campaigning, whenever his health permits, from his home base in Marrickville. He’s done a few media interviews from isolation in Marrickville.

Of course, you know, we’ve got a strong team. Anthony is really proud of his team and I guess it’s a real contrast with Scott Morrison who has to keep half his ministers in witness protection because of the various scandals they’ve been engaged in.

The politicians have started campaigning early.

First up is Labor’s education spokesperson, Tanya Plibersek. Plibersek was on ABC News Breakfast to talk about a Labor policy to commit $15m over three years to fund language other than English classes at community language schools.

There are currently 780 such schools around Australia, she says.

They’re teaching about 100,000 kids, most of them learning a language that their parents or their grandparents spoke in the country of their origin and it is a great opportunity to learn a second language. We know that that’s good for all kids. We want to make sure that more kids can learn a second language and they can learn it from an earlier age. So one of the features of this fund is that it will be available to schools to expand their teaching to pre-school-aged children because the earlier you start learning a language, the more likely you’ll be fluent.

Updated at 18.22 EDT

Good morning and welcome to even more of the Australian election campaign.

Scott Morrison’s handpicked candidate for the seat of Warringah, Katherine Deves, avoided the media when she attended a “politics in the pub” style event at the Forestville RSL last night.

Deves was photographed outside the event and read a short statement but reporters and photographers in attendance were told Deves would not enter the venue if media were present and she did not take any questions from them.

The prime minister has continued to support Deves and (ironically, considering events last night) says she will not be “silenced” despite her previous comments about transgender people.

Morrison yesterday said he believed that many Australians would be able to relate with Deves in that they too “feel sometimes that they haven’t expressed things well in the past”.

(As a reminder, this is how Deves expressed herself just last year).

Morrison spent much of yesterday speaking about the Solomon Islands’ security pact with China with the US saying overnight it will “respond accordingly” if China is allowed to establish a military base in the country.

The White House said the message was delivered directly to the Solomon Islands leadership by a visiting senior US delegation. The delegation also lamented the lack of transparency over the agreement and cast doubt on Solomon Islands officials’ claims that the deal was purely domestic.

The Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, is on day two of isolation after testing positive to Covid-19 on Thursday. He gave a TV interview to the ABC yesterday, saying the party had “war gamed” the possibility of him catching Covid, including figuring out who would speak and attend official events in his stead. Deputy leader Richard Marles will represent him at the Anzac Day commemorations in Darwin, for example.

The Western Australian premier, Mark McGowan, also has Covid and one of his children is in hospital after being in a serious condition after contracting the virus. He received a positive PCR test result on Friday.

Let’s kick on. You can contact me on twitter @callapilla or via email at calla.wahlquist@theguardian.com

Updated at 18.48 EDT