Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Defence has dominated political news over the past fortnight, with the Chinese flotilla circumnavigating Australia and the prime minister opening the door to considering sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.Peter Dutton continues to capitalise on the moment, accusing the defence minister and prime minister of being at odds on the Ukraine peacekeeping issue.On Tuesday, Albanese said that he was “open to consideration” to peacekeeping requests. “Australia has historically played an important role in areas including in Africa, in Cyprus, in a range of peacekeeping areas,” he said.On Wednesday, Marles supported the prime minister’s comments, telling Sky News that “we are waiting for those requests to come in, but we’ll give them due consideration”. “In that sense, nothing has changed”.LoadingSpeaking to Chris Kenny on Sky News overnight, Dutton claimed Marles was “shocked” by the prime minister’s stance and “tried to walk it back”.“I think the Prime Minister was shooting from the hip, I don’t think it was well-considered and I think he was trying to take his moment to look tough and to look strong, but in fact, the opposite happened,” Dutton said.Dutton suggested it was the latest in a series of defence gaffes for the prime minister.“He made it in relation to what happened around the Chinese vessels as well, completely misled the Australian public. Again, he was either out of his depth or hadn’t been properly briefed, or maybe both, and it doesn’t provide that assurance, the reassurance that Australians require.”
