Cheng Lei: Anthony Albanese calls out Chinese officials’ ‘ham-fisted’ treatment of journalist

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia has complained to the Chinese embassy about their officials’ “ham-fisted” attempt to block cameras from filming journalist Cheng Lei in Parliament House.

“There should be no impediments to Australian journalists going about their job, and we’ve made that clear to the Chinese embassy,” Mr Albanese told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has blasted Mr Albanese after he initially pleaded ignorance about the incident, telling him to “grow a backbone and stand up for our country”.

Chinese embassy officials sparked outrage after attempting to block cameras from filming Ms Cheng during a press event featuring Chinese Premer Li Qiang, Mr Albanese and senior Labor ministers.

Ms Cheng spent almost three years in a Chinese prison in an ordeal that added to the tensions between Canberra and Beijing.

She returned to Australia last October and works for Sky News Australia, which she was representing at the event.

Australian officials repeatedly asked the Chinese official blocking Ms Cheng to move – but he refused to budge.

Ms Cheng then swapped seats with another journalist, only for another Chinese official to attempt to block her from a different direction.

Australian bureaucrats stepped in again, standing in front of Ms Cheng to prevent the Chinese official’s advances.

The Australian officials were seething at the conduct of the Chinese officials and made their displeasure clear after Mr Li and Mr Albanese left the room.

Mr Albanese was asked about the treatment of Ms Cheng on Monday afternoon but said he was unaware of what had happened.

The PM finally addressed the incident in interviews on Perth radio on Tuesday morning ahead of another day of events with the Chinese premier.

Mr Albanese described the attempts to block Ms Cheng as “ham-fisted”, saying the behaviour was an example of the clear cultural and political differences between Australia and China.

He said Australia had expressed its concern directly to the Chinese embassy.

“When you look at the footage, it was pretty clumsy attempt, frankly,” he told ABC Perth.

Mr Albanese praised Ms Cheng as a “very decent human being and a very professional journalist”.