CANBERRA: The Albanese Government has moved to clarify statements made by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister, Richard Marles, at a news conference yesterday (main picture) that provoked nationwide panic about an imminent armed attack by Australia on the People’s Republic of China.

Police in all states and territories reported massive traffic jams and chaotic scenes in major cities and towns as people fearing the outbreak of war fled built-up areas and sought shelter. (below)

The Wednesday afternoon news conference had been called by Mr Marles to respond to the test firing of a ballistic missile by a Chinese Navy submarine from somewhere near China into the Pacific Ocean earlier this week.

“It seems that people began panicking under the misapprehension that Mr Marles had said at his news conference that the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) would respond with a missile attack of its own on China at about 20 minutes to nine o’clock Wednesday night,” an Albanese Government spokesperson said.

“Naturally, given the late afternoon news conference it’s understandable that people panicked when they thought they did not have long to take shelter for when China inevitably retaliated.

“The misinformation has been traced to the specialised in-screen translator who, unlike AUSLAN sign-language translators, actually dubs over the Deputy PM’s voice after instantaneously translating from Marles to English. (inset in main picture)

“It’s a tough job but unfortunately he got it wrong on Wednesday because what the Deputy PM said was that the RAN could respond to the Chinese missile test by firing its own missile once it takes delivery of the first of its new AUKUS nuclear submarines in about 2040.

“It’s easy to see how the translator got that bit wrong and sparked the panic, but he’s only human,” the spokesperson said before adding: “Nevertheless, he’s been sacked.”

The spokesperson admitted that the nationwide panic could have been far worse.

“Thankfully the Telstra outage prevented people spreading the unfounded panic, so that’s a silver lining even if a couple of dozen folk died when triple-zero calls went unanswered,” they said.

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