SARAH FERGUSON: We saw a very different scene to the one we saw there. Why has it taken so long to have a PNG Prime Minister address us?
PENNY WONG: Well, the first point I would make is that the Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko has clarified those remarks, but more broadly, I think I said at the National Press Club last year, China will continue to be China and it is a great power and will continue to assert its interests and utilise its power to press for those interests, and clearly it sees one of those interests as engaging in the security sector in the Pacific, including policing.
SARAH FERGUSON: Now, at the same time there are, I think the question is: What is this sentence trying to do? SARAH FERGUSON: Let me move onto the Middle East. Overnight Israel has rejected Hamas' demand for a four-and-a-half-month ceasefire to accompany any potential hostage release. Did that decision by Israel surprise you?
PENNY WONG: Well, what I can do is to use Australia's respected voice to advocate for peace. We are not a major power, a great power in the Middle East, we have not a participant, we are not obviously part of the Middle East and what countries ultimately do and what various states or entities do is a matter for them, but we are a respected voice, and we should use it to advocate that pathway to peace.
SARAH FERGUSON: I think that's the question. Is there a line in your understanding of international law that Israel cannot cross in its pursuit of what it describes as total war? PENNY WONG: Which is why we support, and we urge there to be the negotiations that are required for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and steps towards a sustainable ceasefire.PENNY WONG: Well, what I would say is it is a dreadful, I have described it as a disastrous humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
SARAH FERGUSON: Right now, I think UNRWA is says that they can keep going in the current setup until end of February? SARAH FERGUSON: I just want to stay with the basis for your decision. You spoke to him today. Are you now in possession of all the information you need that underpins your decision?