THE HON DAVID COLEMAN MP
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Member for Banks

THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
Shadow Minister for Defence
Shadow Minister for Defence Industry
Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel

JOINT MEDIA RELEASE
ALBANESE NOW ADMITS HE KNEW OF THE RUSSIAN REQUEST TO INDONESIA

26 April 2025

The Albanese Government should immediately grant a briefing to the Opposition on Russian plans for military expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, following admissions in media that the Prime Minister has been briefed concerning Russian plans in Indonesia.

In a stunning backflip, Anthony Albanese is reported to have admitted that Russia lodged a request with Indonesia to place military aircraft with our northern neighbour.

The Prime Minister and senior Labor figures have spent much of the last two weeks twisting and turning about any knowledge of the Russian request. But in an article today by Paul Kelly and Dennis Shanahan in
The Australian, Mr Albanese reportedly said he had been told about it:

THE AUSTRALIAN: “Mr Albanese conceded he had been advised of a Russian request to Indonesia."

But when the Coalition sought a briefing on the report of the request in the respected Janes journal, Mr Albanese sought to cast doubt on the veracity of the report, saying: “you're assuming the Janes report is correct and there is no basis for you assuming that.” He likened our request to asking for a briefing on “who faked the moon landing.”

Did Penny Wong mislead Australians when she was asked on Sunrise, did she know about the approach from Russia to Indonesia before it was made public?

FOREIGN MINISTER: “Well, hang on, we have not got confirmation of that approach. So I just want to be really clear, we have not got confirmation of that approach.” (Sunrise, 16 April 2025)
Penny Wong has some serious questions to answer.

The Prime Minister has now acknowledged that there was a request. So either the Foreign Minister misled the Australian people, or she had no knowledge of the request at that time.

If the Government was unaware of the request - as the Foreign Minister stated - that is a shocking failure of diplomacy.

Let’s also remember that Labor’s Murray Watt told Sky News that: “There is no proposal from Russia to have a base anywhere in Indonesia.” He had also said: “The Opposition is asking for a briefing on something that doesn't exist. I mean they might as well ask for a briefing on the Loch Ness monster. This is something that doesn't exist, that they fabricated.”

The Government needs to stop mocking the concerns of Australians who are worried about apparent attempts to establish a Russian military presence 1300 kilometres from our territory.

Their story keeps changing. Labor has been slipping and sliding with the truth on what is a serious national security issue.

It’s been clear since this report was published that the Government wants to hide from scrutiny.

The questions it must answer are: when did it become aware of Russia’s request? Was it before or after the Janes report? And if the Government was aware of the request before the Janes report, what did it do about it?

Today’s reporting confirms why Richard Marles was wrong to refuse our request for a briefing. During the last election campaign, the Coalition provided a briefing to the Shadow Defence Minister Defence on a national security issue which did not require a decision of Government.

ENDS