This week Latika interviews Australia’s Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.

Dutton served as Home Affairs and Defence Minister in the last Coalition government before it lost power in 2022.

Under that government, Australia-China relations reached a nadir as tensions boiled over and China slapped Australia with enormous tariffs in retaliation for the government’s call for an inquiry into Covid. China ceased communicating with Australia.

Labor has stabilised the relationship and China has lifted some of those duties and resumed diplomatic exchanges, including high-level visits.

Latika asked Mr Dutton what type of relationship the Coalition now seeks with China, whether he still doubts the plan to co-build a new attack submarine with the British — he favoured buying boats from the United States — and the state of our defences.

In Ask Me Anything, Mr Dutton revisits Latika’s time as a press gallery journalist last decade in Canberra.

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