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A
poll for The Australian newspaper showed centre-left Labor
maintaining its 53-47 lead on a two-party preferred basis
against the conservative Liberal-National coalition, even as it
showed Morrison extending his lead as the preferred leader.
With Australia going to polls on May 21, national security has
dominated the election campaign after China last week struck the
security deal with the Solomon Islands, stoking concerns in
Canberra and Washington.
Morrison, who has often attacked Labor as being "soft" on China,
said the opposition was "playing politics with the Pacific and
the only ones who are benefiting... is the Chinese government."
Morrison on Sunday said China building a base in the Solomon
Islands would be a "red line" for Australia, even as Beijing
insisted the pact would only help the Solomon Islands maintain
social order and cope with natural disasters and humanitarian
relief.
Morrison said "it would not be responsible for me to be
speculating in public about what Australia, the United States
and others would be doing in circumstances such as that."
His political opponents cast the security pact as a failure of
Morrison's government.
"This has occurred on Morrison's watch," Shadow Foreign Affairs
Minister Penny Wong told reporters, as she pledged A$525 million
($379 million) to boost defence aid for Pacific countries if
Labor wins the election. "(The government's) response appears to
be more chest beating. There is no point in beating your chest
if you're beaten to the punch."
($1 = 1.3852 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Renju Jose. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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