Will Albo’s crocodile diplomacy discourage China’s flotillas?

Mr Albanese appears to be feeding the crocodile and hoping it eats us last.

It was the Labor Party that spent a decade mocking the idea that China could ever be a threat, dismissing concerns about foreign interference as ‘anti-Chinese racism’, and attacking any politician who dared mention the words ‘strategic competition’. It was Labor’s punters who ridiculed the 2018 foreign interference laws, who whinged about the calling-out of Confucius Institutes, who sneered at the Coalition’s Pacific Step-Up as ‘climate denialism in disguise’.

And it is Albanese himself who, as Prime Minister, has gone out of his way to cosy up to Beijing by increasing defence expenditure somewhere in the distant future while simultaneously ignoring calls from Washington to protect, not restrict, freedom of speech.

My article in The Spectator Australia, Will Albo’s crocodile diplomacy discourage China’s flotillas? 

As China’s latest flotilla sails closer, Australians are entitled to ask their Prime Minister whose side he is on... 🤔

Crocodile diplomacy is the belief that sweet words and shared hatred of America will buy you safety in a world of hard power.

The same ideological current… pic.twitter.com/tlOonQbBJ5

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) December 3, 2025

If this is Germany’s post-colonial democracy, bring back Bismarck

Horrid graffiti consisting of zero artistic talent is all over the monument.

The Bismarck Monument stands high above the port and looks down the River Elbe towards the sea. Symbolically, the statue portrays Bismarck as the protector of the city and the German Empire’s maritime ‘gateway to the world’.

The monument was completed in 1906 with some funding provided by Hamburg’s merchants. It was opened by Kaiser Wilhelm II and remains the largest Bismarck monument in the world.

In 2024, a €13 million restoration project, funded by the City of Hamburg and the federal government, was completed to address structural issues caused largely by additional concrete added during the second world war to create an air raid bunker.

Barely a year later, the statue looks disgraceful.

In the Morning Double Shot newsletter, Terry Barnes wrote:

Michael de Percy is in Germany. He writes about the disgraceful vandalism of a Hamburg monument to Otto von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor who united Germany and founded the Second Reich. Apparently German activists hate him like activists in Australia hate James Cook. Those ignorant bratwurst-eaters should bone up on Bismarck, and the consequences of Wilhelm II dropping him in 1890. Bismarck would have renewed the non-aggression ‘Reinsurance Treaty’ he had with Russia, would have kept Austria-Hungary in check, and would never have antagonised Britain with a naval arms race. Thus, there would have been no World war I, and therefore no Hitler, Nazism and World War II. The world would have been a much better place.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, If this is Germany’s post-colonial democracy, bring back Bismarck.

Germany cannot protect its statues, let alone its people.

A lack of leadership and pandering to idiots who have no clue of history has resulted in a colossal eyesore. Instead of being awe-inspiring, the monument now symbolises the decay of democracy that destroyed ancient… pic.twitter.com/jG2hw06hiK

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) December 1, 2025

Barnaby Joyce quits Nationals to sit on crossbench

Barnaby Joyce has always been more than a politician. He’s a force of nature.

Today, Barnaby formally resigned from the Nationals, the party he once led with a mix of charm and chaos. He’s indicated he’ll sit on the crossbench and won’t run for New England at the next election.

That would be a mistake.

Reports indicate that Barnaby is considering running for a Senate seat with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

I think he needs to stand up as a One Nation representative for New England.

Alexandra Marshall had this to say in the Unfiltered newsletter:

‘My concern was Barnaby’s welfare,’ muttered Peter Dutton, in response to Barnaby Joyce’s claim that he asked the Nationals MP to quit. Twice.

As expected, today was the day Barnaby finally had enough of the factional games being played inside conservative politics. After a steak dinner with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, he announced his defection to the crossbench as an independent. Most suspect that he will hang around in no-man’s land for a while and see if the Nationals make him a frontbench offer. If not, it’ll be over to One Nation and – probably – onwards to a Senate seat.

‘I haven’t made that decision … I don’t know. Walking away in part from the party in Canberra is easy. Walking away from the membership is very, very, very hard. It’s just quite obvious, when they talk about generational change, that’s code for “get out of here”.’

He has expressed this sentiment on many occasions and yet the party has been quite happy to leave one of their most effective fundraisers in the wilderness.

There has also been some disappointing commentary from Senator Matt Canavan, who has perhaps also forgotten that many of his supporters moonlight as One Nation voters. ‘One Nation are good at stunts in the Senate, but they’re not so crash hot at winning votes in Parliament.’ True, but that is in large part thanks to the major parties stitching up democracy with preference voting – entrenching the powerful grip of the two-party system. Still, Mr Canavan says he has not ‘given up hope that we can convince him to return’. And he might be right – but it is doubtful that Mr Joyce would return for anything less than Nationals Leader.

Michael de Percy has the full story.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Barnaby Joyce quits Nationals to sit on crossbench,