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Billy McMahon, one of Australia\u2019s silliest prime ministers, performed one of the great political gutsers when, in July 1971, he attempted to trash the then Labor opposition leader, Gough Whitlam, for visiting China.<\/p>\n
Learning that Whitlam had met Zhou Enlai, the premier of what was called \u201cred China\u201d in those Cold War days, McMahon claimed Whitlam had been \u201cplayed like a trout\u201d by the communist leader.<\/p>\n
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Gough Whitlam arrives in China on July 11, 1971.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>John Stubbs<\/cite><\/p>\n Hardly were the words out of his mouth when McMahon learned that Henry Kissinger, the US secretary of state, had visited Beijing four days after Whitlam, secretly arranging with Zhou for the US president, Richard Nixon, to visit the previously closed nation, too.<\/p>\n McMahon was mortified that Nixon \u2013 president of Australia\u2019s greatest ally \u2013 had consigned him to the outer darkness concerning the biggest foreign policy turn-around in the second half of the 20th century.<\/p>\n McMahon was a stunned mullet, guffawed Whitlam\u2019s deputy, Lance Barnard. Within 18 months, McMahon\u2019s Coalition government was smoked trout and Whitlam was prime minister.<\/p>\n For the next half century, Australia prospered as trade with China grew and grew.<\/p>\n High-flyers Anthony Albanese, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Monique Westerman<\/cite><\/p>\n Since Whitlam, prime ministers Fraser, Hawke, Keating, Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott and Turnbull all made it their business to visit China, holding their noses at its human rights record.<\/p>\n Every PM, that is, except our nation\u2019s second-silliest leader, Scott Morrison.<\/p>\n His ham-fisted approach to fears of China\u2019s rising influence saw the China-Australia relationship enter something approaching a freeze, complete with bans on Australian agricultural products.<\/p>\n This weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is off to try to give the relationship a new start while commemorating 50 years since Whitlam recognised China.<\/p>\n And wouldn\u2019t you know it?<\/p>\n Scott Morrison and conservative acolytes are doing a modern version of Billy McMahon\u2019s exploding cigar.<\/p>\n Morrison was quoted in The Age<\/em> this week warning Albanese that \u201cthe Chinese Communist Party could exploit his visit for propaganda purposes\u201d. Gosh.<\/p>\n Peta Credlin, once Tony Abbott\u2019s chief of staff and now a stern commentator on Sky News, suggested Albanese\u2019s visit could be seen as \u201cdancing to China\u2019s tune\u201d.<\/p>\n The criticism comes wrapped in a wider campaign by members of Peter Dutton\u2019s Coalition and various radio and TV shock jocks to portray Albanese as more interested in flying the world than dealing with domestic problems.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Dutton and Co deviously urge him to fly to Israel, ignoring that Israeli leaders have their hands a little full with other matters right now.<\/p>\n \u201cAirbus Albo\u201d is the term the tryhards are attempting to pin on Albanese, though it\u2019s taking a while to get much traction.<\/p>\n \u201cIt didn\u2019t take long under the previous Labor government for Kevin 07 to be known as Kevin 747 because he loved getting on a plane so much,\u201d Coalition frontbencher Paul Fletcher told Sky News in June 22 last year.<\/p>\n \u201cNow we\u2019ve got Airbus Albo\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n At that point, Albanese had taken only two overseas trips as prime minister, to Japan and Indonesia, and was about to take a third, to NATO in Madrid, on to Paris to repair relations after Morrison had cancelled a submarines contract, and to war-struck Ukraine.<\/p>\n Fletcher\u2019s moaning, in truth, was simply a re-run of a re-run.<\/p>\n Back in July 2014, the Australian Financial Review<\/em> ran the headline \u201cTony Abbott ties \u2018Kevin 747\u2019s\u2019 travel record\u201d.<\/p>\n Peta Credlin and Tony Abbott.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cWhen Tony Abbott arrives home from India and Malaysia the weekend after next, he will have matched a record he lambasted former prime minister Kevin Rudd for barely a year ago,\u201d the story began.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Abbott\u2026 will have made 11 trips overseas by the time of the September 7 anniversary of the election of his government.\u201d<\/p>\n You might have imagined the afore-mentioned Peta Credlin could have recalled her old boss\u2019s travel habits before she got stuck into Albanese for his frequent flying.<\/p>\n But no. \u201cSky News host Peta Credlin has blasted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for spending too much time on the \u2018diplomatic rounds\u2019 overseas rather than being behind his desk in Australia to focus on issues affecting Australians,\u201d read a Sky story last week.<\/p>\n Paul Fletcher, previously one of Scott Morrison\u2019s ministers, might also have recalled that in Morrison\u2019s first year as PM, he\u2019d created his own frequent flying record.<\/p>\n \u201cHigh-flying Scott Morrison spent $1.3 million on travel in first year as PM\u201d, shouted a headline on the SBS website after Morrison notched up 12 months.<\/p>\n The story, citing freedom-of-information documents, revealed Morrison had embarked \u201con more overseas trips in his first year in office than each of his predecessors\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Morrison jetted off on 12 international trips, visiting 17 nations, in the first 12 months since he took office in August last year,\u201d SBS reported. The list didn\u2019t include the famous holiday in Honolulu.<\/p>\n Morrison\u2019s office protested that \u201che only travels overseas when it is necessary and will deliver outcomes that benefit Australian families and businesses\u201d.<\/p>\n And now it is Anthony Albanese\u2019s turn. In his first year, he made 11 separate overseas trips, visiting 16 nations. In short, he tied with Rudd and Abbott\u2019s reported excursions, and fell short of Morrison\u2019s epic first-year travel.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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