Has Australia’s prickly relationship with China become the ‘new normal’?

Experts fear that Australia’s prickly diplomatic relationship with China has settled into a “new normal”.

Relations soured last year after Australia called for an investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak and China responded by banning some Australian products.

A normalising of exports to our biggest trading partner is unlikely to resume if the stalemate continues.

Two experts, Natasha Kassem from the Lowy Institute and Professor James Laurenceson from the UTS Australia-China Relations Institute, talk us through the dilemma.