‘Woefully inadequate’: PM played ‘no role’ in Red Sea warship decision

Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham has slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for his government’s “woefully inadequate” response to a US request for Australia to send a warship to the Red Sea. Yesterday, the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed that the prime minister had no involvement in the decision for Australia to not send a warship to the Red Sea. “This is another truly remarkable revelation through the Senate estimates process yesterday. “Our closest ally, the United States, makes a request for Australia to play a role in the response to the Houthi rebel assaults in the Red Sea, where some 12 per cent of world trade flows through that critically important shipping channel. “The decision is left entirely in the hands of the defence minister – the prime minister doesn’t seem to play any role in the decision; he doesn’t call a National Security Meeting of the Cabinet. “This is not proper process, and, particularly not when you think about the way in which the government responded, which was woefully inadequate.”