Labor leader Anthony Albanese has described the signing of a controversial security pact between China and the Solomon Islands as a "massive foreign policy failure on the Prime Minister's watch" and ripped into Scott Morrison's decision to send the "junior" Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja to try and stop it.
However, Mr Morrison has defended his attention on Solomon Islands and insists Australia is still the South Pacific nation's first port of call.
After it was announced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry late on Tuesday, Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare confirmed to the nation's parliament on Wednesday that the deal was signed a few days ago.
He said the deal was needed to cover "critical security gaps" and his country is not seeking to "undermine the peace and harmony of our region". It had been flagged for weeks and had caused a chill in defence circles with expectations it will lead to the establishment of a Chinese military base in the South Pacific.
In recent days - and in the middle of the election campaign - Senator Seselja was dispatched on a mission to the capital Honiara in a last-minute attempt to stop the deal, but it is now clear the mission failed.
"[This is] one of the greatest policy failures that we've seen from this government," Mr Albanese said.
Senator Seselja was also described as a "junior woodchuck" by Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong, who also referred to the pact as Australia's worst foreign policy failure in the Pacific since the end of World War II. The warning in August was given by Solomon Islands' opposition leader Matthew Wale.
"What this means is on Scott Morrison's watch our region has become less secure. And the risks Australia faces have become much greater," Senator Wong said.
"What we see again is the same pattern of behaviour from Mr Morrison, yet again, he's gone missing."
Top United States official, National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator, Kurt Campbell is due to visit Solomon Islands later this week.
'Their biggest supporter'
The Morrison government is "deeply disappointed" by the signing of security pact and is concerned about transparency, with Mr Morrison saying it highlights the "incredible pressure on Pacific nations that comes from China seeking to undermine the security of the region".
"We still have the priority relationship there. We are still the first call," he said on Wednesday.
"We have Australian Federal Police there right now supporting them with what they're doing.
"We were the government that ensured we invested in the undersea cable there. We invested in their transmission project for electricity. We are their biggest supporter when it comes to overseas development assistance. And that is true all around the Pacific."
The Labor leader said if he was Prime Minister he would have sent Senator Wong instead of the Senator Seselja equivalent, which is currently Pat Conroy.
With his personal intervention in Honiara not working, Senator Seselja said he was "disappointed" and "concerned".
"There will be ongoing discussions," he told ABC radio.
"I've been engaging with leaders and counterparts in the region, both online .. but also in person in Brisbane."
"Last week, we had a number of senior leaders from the Pacific. I've spoken to New Zealand counterparts, counterparts from Fiji, from PNG, from Tonga and other nations in the region, the head of the Pacific Islands Forum."
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Senator Seselja said he had expressed to Mr Sogavare there should be transparency in the Solomon Islands' deal with China.
"We have raised our concerns and will continue to raise our concerns about what this means for our region," he said.
Asked whether Foreign Minister Marise Payne should have been sent to Solomon Islands, Mr Morrison said it was right for Senator Seselja to visit the nation and that Australia had calibrated its diplomatic response to the issue.
Former Coalition government foreign minister Julie Bishop weighed in on Solomon Islands' security deal with China, saying the South Pacific nation appeared now to have turned its attention elsewhere.
"While we don't have all the details, this could well mean there would be Chinese military bases on Solomon Islands and that really changes the dynamic and environment in our area, in our region," Ms Bishop said.
"I would be greatly concerned and I believe that our foreign minister should be on the next plane to Solomon Islands to talk with the government to see what's actually being agreed and how that impacts on the security in the region more broadly and also on Australia's security interests."
A draft security agreement between China and Solomon Islands was revealed this month to have been "initialled" by the two nations.
The pact raises the prospect China will establish a military base on the islands, which are only 1700 kilometres from Cairns.
Influence of a rising China
Australian National University expert on aid, Stephen Howes, said Solomon Islands was not "shifting sides" from Australia but saw China as a potential partner. It severed ties with Taiwan and voted to recognise China in 2019, in one recent shift of alignment.
However Solomon Islands was internally divided and the security pact with China would not be received warmly by all sides, particularly from an opposition party that was against the deal, Professor Howes said.
Mr Sogavare's decision to proceed with the agreement would increase debate and tensions within Solomon Islands, and may make relations with Australia and the United States more testy, he said.
Professor Howes said it would be inappropriate for Australia to cut off Solomon Islands in response to its security pact with China.
"We just have to maintain a friendly attitude. I don't think it's going to have major international ramifications," he said.
Professor Howes said the Solomon Islands security pact with China didn't reflect a failure on Australia's part.
Australia had been more engaged in the Pacific than it had been in the past, he said.
"China is a rising power, and the Pacific Islands are not seeking to move away from Australia, but they are seeking more cooperation with China," Professor Howes said.
Sogavare is achieving his own political purpose, which is staying in power backed by China.
- Michael Shoebridge
ANU expert on the Pacific, Grant Walton, said China had been an increasingly important player in the Pacific for 20 years.
However it was hard to see other Pacific nations following Solomon Islands in making similar agreements with China soon, and Pacific island leaders seemed to be either openly concerned about the pact or cautious about it, Dr Walton said.
"It does show that in the region that there is a potential alternative for Pacific island countries. We have to keep in mind there are four Pacific Island countries that still recognise Taiwan," Dr Walton said.
"So now those four countries I'm sure would be looking at this very carefully, and seeing what then is delivered.
"I don't know if they'll make an immediate decision based on this announcement. But I think that, it's another issue for them to consider their acknowledgement or their alignment to Taiwan."
Sogavare 'being manipulated'
Director of the Defence, Strategy and National Security program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Michael Shoebridge, said the Solomon Islands security pact presented a major problem for Australia.
"The kind of military aggression that we've seen from the Chinese in the South China Sea, and around the Taiwan Strait and in the East China Sea, is the kind of behaviour we're going to see from a more present Chinese military in the Solomons and operating with support from the Solomons," he said.
The security pact reflected China's broader ambition to project power and dictate the choices of other nations, Mr Shoebridge said.
It was also a product of the individual personality of Mr Sogavare, who had not been a friend of Australia, Mr Shoebridge said.
The Chinese state was taking full advantage of that with money and influence, he said.
"He's being manipulated. But he's achieving his own political purpose, which is staying in power backed by China."
The federal government could continue engaging with Solomon Island government agencies and delivering aid but should not engage with Mr Sogavare and his ministers "while they persist in this damaging security partnership with Beijing", Mr Shoebridge said.
"We've got to stop pretending that the current Solomon Islands government is a friend of Australia or the region. This decision by Sogavare and his ministers has damaged the freedom of the Solomon Islands people, and it's damaged regional and Australian security."