Tanya Plibersek says it’s important Australia’s politicians don’t inflame tensions with China by speculating through the media.

Labor’s Minister for Education and Women told Scott Emerson the ALP doesn’t “do diplomacy through the media”.

“What we say is we need to acknowledge that China has become more assertive under Xi Jinping,” she said.

“We have to look for ways on keeping the lines of communication open, we need to continue to assert our values as Australians, but look for a way we can do that constructively.

“I thought what Peter Dutton said about being in peace time and wanting to stay in peace time was the right thing for him to be saying.

“It’s very important we don’t exacerbate any difficulties at the moment by having lots of speculation from a government or opposition, members of parliament in the media.

“We just need to stay grown up and sober and mature and responsible and keep working on keeping lines of communication with China.”

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Australia’s Home Affairs Department Secretary Mike Pezzullo warned that the drums of war are beating when it comes to China.

Executive Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings the comments weren’t dissimilar to what others have already said.

“The essence of his comments would really be no different from what any senior person inside Australia’s national security community is thinking these days, which is that we are facing a really difficult strategic outlook, where the risk of conflict has significantly grown over the last few years.”

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