Australia showing ‘weakness’ through failure to send warship to Red Sea

Sky News contributor Gemma Tognini claims Australia has shown its “weakness” with the government’s decision to reject a request from the United States to send a warship to the Red Sea. The US launched a multi-country coalition to protect ships passing through the Red Sea after weeks of drone and ballistic missile attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Defence Minister Richard Marles knocked back the request for a warship and opted to send a few more ADF personnel instead. The decision not to send a warship was then praised by the Chinese Communist Party. “First, it demands a ceasefire in Gaza without concurrently demanding a surrender of Hamas's war criminals and an immediate return of the remaining hostages,” Ms Tognini said. “Now it says to our allies, you lot can do the heavy lifting, we'll just sit over here and have a cuppa.”