Solomon Islands Opposition Leader Matthew Wale says he spoke with the Australian High Commissioner around August 2021 about the Solomon Islands-China security deal after he became aware of it.
Mr Wale said he “left it at that” after receiving no calls from Australia to discuss the topic further.
“I did ask him specifically to relay this to Canberra and to see what Canberra would do, but there was no further communication from him or from Canberra, so I assumed that they’d looked at it and discarded it as not important,” Mr Wale told Sky News host Chris Smith.
He said he thinks Australia should stop “propping” the Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare up with aid funding.
“Australia ought to become smarter and more creative in the way that it delivers its aid program in the Solomons without propping this behaviour.”