Peter Dutton has weighed in on the treatment of Sky News journalist Cheng Lei by Chinese officials, labelling their actions “completely unacceptable”.
The veteran journalist was in Canberra on Monday attending media events in relation to Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s visit, however her presence appeared to make Chinese staff uncomfortable, after she spent almost three years detained in Beijing.
During a signing ceremony, Cheng’s view was obstructed by Chinese embassy staff who made an effort to block her.
Mr Dutton slammed the incident and revealed to Sky News host Peter Stefanovic the issue was discussed with Chinese leadership.
“We raised the issue with the Chinese premier and it was appropriate to do so because the behaviour against your colleague was completely unacceptable and we made that public at the time,” he said.
The Opposition Leader was forced to address controversy surrounding his own media team, after Cheng revealed in an op-ed for Sky News on Wednesday she was barred from a second major government press event in Canberra just hours after the bizarre blocking incident.
Cheng was prevented from entering a press event at the Hyatt in Canberra later on Monday where Premier Li was in attendance, despite being registered well in advance.
The Hyatt incident marked the second time Cheng was prevented from effectively reporting on the Chinese delegation.
The Sky News journalist described the series of events that led to each incident on Monday.
She said she was stopped from entering the media event from representatives on both sides of Australian politics.
“I was still confident I could go in, because the man from Dutton’s media team had assured me he could get me in,” she wrote for Sky News.
“But when people started to go in and I followed, calling his name loudly several times, he didn’t turn around.
“I was then tapped on the shoulder by the PMC media staffer, motioning that I can’t go in.
“‘It’s just for the picture journalists, sorry,'” she said. I could see she was under strain and it cannot have been easy dealing with the Chinese delegation.
“I sighed and waited outside.
“After the talks started, I saw someone slip in. I asked the PMC staff, “how come anyone can go in but me? Who’s checking credentials? So all this is just about keeping me out?”
“She reiterated the line that both sides agreed, I wasn’t on the list.
“A while later, she came to ask me, “were you recording our conversation? Because the story’s really hot.”
“She was worried I would blab about her role.
Mr Dutton claimed he was only allowed to have eight media positions in the room, which were allocated to photographers, adding there were “no journalists in the room otherwise”.