SPORT:

CANBERRA: Foreign Minister, Senator Penny Wong, has secured a wildcard place in Australia’s national track-and-field athletics team after cutting short a news conference under questioning about a speech she made earlier this week.

At an event on Tuesday night, Senator Wong took aim at China’s recent rapid expansion of its military activities and presence in the Pacific region.

“We see the worrying pace of China’s military build-up, without the transparency that the region expects, as we saw in Pacific reactions to China’s ICBM [inter-continental ballistic missile] test last year,” she said in her speech.

Today’s news conference had just begun when Senator Wong was asked if shovelling almost $400 billion at the US and UK arms industries under the AUKUS pact and waiting until the 2030s to receive second-hand US Navy submarines and then waiting perhaps a further decade to obtain new nuclear subs was the best way to respond to China’s “worrying” rapid expansionism.

Instead of answering, Senator Wong bolted from the lectern and – based on timing calculated from TV camera vision of her departure – set a new world record for both men and women over 400 metres. (main picture)

The camera vision showed the Senator covering the distance in 43.02 seconds – just a shave under the men’s world record of 43.03 seconds and well under the women’s record of 47.6 seconds.

A spokesperson for Australian Athletics said Senator Wong’s office had been contacted with an offer for her to join the Australian team immediately.

“If she can maintain that pace we’ll certainly be including her in our team heading to the next big international meet, the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland in March next year,” the spokesperson said.

“if she does well there we’ll also be looking to keep her on and include her in our team for the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.”

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