'No doubt' about China concern despite PM's rhetoric
The prime minister is wrapping up a six-day trip to China where he met with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang as part of annual leader level talks, this time with a focus on trade and increasing business links.
But Mr Albanese largely tempered his public rhetoric on differences with China and Australia's concerns about Beijing's military build-up and aggressive actions in the Pacific during his trip.
Foreign affairs expert David Andrews said this was a normal part of diplomacy when leaders travelled abroad as it would be counterproductive to insult the hosts while trying to achieve greater trade ties.
"Diplomacy is a fairly subtle and nuanced exercise and there's definitely a time and place for everything," he told AAP.
Human rights abuses and Chinese aggression were still important issues that were raised and acknowledged by the prime minister but a balance needed to be struck with public rhetoric, Mr Andrews said.
"I don't think the Chinese have any doubt Australia has concerns about their actions in the South China Sea or the Tasman or their military build up," he said.
"It's unambiguous we view China to be a big threat to security and destabilisation in the region.
"But we can't not have a relationship with China, they're our biggest trading partner ... there isn't an easy way to slice this."
The coalition has been trying to balance its own rhetoric over the prime minister's trip.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley welcomed greater trading ties with China.
"We wish him well, trade and tourism links should be strong and we want them to be strong," she told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.
But she also criticised Mr Albanese for not more forcefully raising security concerns.
"I was disappointed that in his meeting with President Xi he didn't get the assurances that he should about the unacceptable nature of the circumnavigation of Australia by the Chinese Communist Party's navy warships," she said.
Mr Albanese said he raised the issue and sought assurances Australia would be better informed of Chinese military drills in the region, noting the live fire exercise didn't break international law as it was in international waters.
The opposition also sustained its criticism of Mr Albanese for not securing a meeting with US President Donald Trump face-to-face, saying he hadn't put enough focus on the relationship with Washington.
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It found Australian businesses were less prepared to implement AI than they were in the previous year, falling from a score of 46 points out of 100 to 35. The lower grade reflects one in three business leaders saying their companies had a clear vision to change using AI, and 37 per cent said they had the right mix of skills and talent in their workforce. The result was particularly surprising, ServiceNow emerging technology director Dani Magnusson said, as most Australian companies planned to increase AI spending over the coming year. "We've got 82 per cent of organisations investing in AI but only a third of those organisations setting a clear vision and strategy for how it gets implemented across the organisation," she told AAP. "Businesses aren't planning for AI." 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"It's now our responsibility to start individually using AI and working out how do I use it in my everyday life, how do I use it at work to build skills and understanding," he told AAP. "We should be embracing AI and training people on how to use it, training them on the risks, and that becomes a broad responsibility."
