China brought their thug tactics to the heart of Australia's democracy and Albo had NO IDEA? Pull the other one - here's why the PM was being less than sincere

Anthony Albanese wants us to believe he was channeling the three wise monkeys yesterday.

When Chinese officials attempted to block Australian journalist Cheng Lei - who was previously imprisoned in China on trumped-up charges - from being seen on camera just moments before the PM addressed the media, Albo pleaded ignorance.

He saw nothing, he heard nothing, he had nothing much to say on the matter.

Asked if it's acceptable to 'import that sort of behaviour' into 'the heart of democracy' at Australia's Parliament House, the PM obfuscated:

'I didn't see that' he claimed. 'I'm not aware of those issues', Albo insisted. Before conceding 'it's important that people be allowed to participate fully'. A morsel of strength in the end. Next question. 

The PM's personal staff of 11 media advisers missed the incident that occurred right under their noses? Not to mention the dozens of communications advisers in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet?

It was a departmental official who tried to intervene and prevent the Chinese from doing what they were doing. The former ABC journalist Dana Roberston heads up comms in PM&C.  

The incident happened at 12:30pm and was quickly reported right across media outlets. The video footage was aired on Sky News' rolling coverage soon thereafter and the PM didn't get to the room to begin his media conference until two hours after the incident.

Nobody was bothered by what happened? No TVs on in their parliamentary offices?  Was the Prime Minister's entire media team off having a bite to eat, perhaps? Or is it possible the PM thought he was being clever pretending he wasn't across the issue? Having workshopped how to avoid getting in the middle of a diplomatic incident.

It's a stark choice - either the collective spin doctors around the boss are utterly hopeless at their jobs, at sniffing out an incident that was always going to get asked at the looming media conference. Or the PM and his inner sanctum decided that ignorance really is bliss: Don't tell the Prime Minister!

Perhaps they determined that the PM would be better off not upsetting the visiting Chinese delegation, so he should just say he didn't see it. Rather than, for example, noting that an authoritarian regime throwing its weight around in our democratic parliament, elbowing journalists out of the way when it suits them, isn't appropriate.

This isn't China, we don't lock journalists up when they report uncomfortable truths.

Having borne witness to the fallout from his limp response this morning on radio the PM toughened up ever so slightly, presumably having now seen and been told about what happened. Today he says it was a 'pretty clumsy attempt' by the Chinese officials, throwing in a humble brag that he 'helped to secure her [Cheng Lei] coming home'.  

Consider how ridiculous it is to think that the PMs media professionals were too incompetent to make him aware of what happened on the day it happened. It's not exactly an inexperienced line up Albo has hired around him.

His head of communications, Brett Mason, is the former senior political correspondent for SBS. An Australian state news network devoted to covering international politics.

He didn't know Chinese officials did what they did? 

The two senior advisers who work closely with Mason are former Guardian Australia Political Editor Katherine Murphy and Fiona Sugden, who has worked for a number of Labor PMs and Opposition Leaders, including Kevin Rudd and Bill Shorten.

She didn't see the political implications of the incident? Murphy missed it too?

My former colleague at Channel 10 Stela Todorovic is also in Albo's office these days. She was one of the best next generation political reporters during her time in the gallery, someone who always knew how to sniff out a good story.

Did they all miss what happened? Or just didn't think it was notable enough to bring to the boss's attention two hours after it happened? Before he arrived at the microphone in the very same room where it happened, to answer questions from journalists who had witnessed it all unfold.

I HIGHLY doubt it.

Or was the PM deliberately kept in the dark so that he could honestly and truthfully say what he did? That he had no idea. 

Katherine the Great, one of the supreme moralisers of our time in the Parliamentary Press Gallery for decades, before switching to political staffing, thought the virtuous option on this occasion was to hide the facts from the boss? I don't believe that. 

Murphy was always quick to call to account political leaders such as Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott and John Howard when she felt that were conveniently ill-informed. She wouldn't abide such double standards, surely?

Body language expert Dr Louise Mahler isn't buying what Albo was selling either:

'Let's imagine he really did not see it and did not know', Dr Mahler says. 'In this case he would have asked more questions about what had happened and say 'of course, if that happened, it would not be acceptable'

'Instead: he had a pre-prepared answer 'I did not see it'. He then followed way too quickly with a fast onset (non-genuine) smile for the Chinese-Australian lady in the gallery.'

Dr Mahler insists the body language of the PM gives away that the fix was in: 'This was clearly something that they had discussed and pre-organised.'

If the PM's top priority was to not upset his Chinese guests, perhaps with an election just around the corner his top priority should have been to think about how the Australian public would view such shenanigans.

Politely pretending he didn't see something that happened right under his nose in our democratic parliament just doesn't pass the political sniff test. With a team of taxpayer funded media advisers larger than any other MP has at their disposal.

If they had his time again let's hope Team Albo would have done things differently.