Trade Minister Don Farrell is to dash home from the Prime Minister's historic trip to China to make Senate duties this week after Finance Minister and ACT senator Katy Gallagher was struck with COVID-19.
Senior sources have told The Canberra Times that Senator Gallagher is feeling the effects of the virus, but is OK and is recovering at home. It is her first bout of COVID, despite it affecting her household very early on in the pandemic.
Infectious disease experts are calling for Australians to be up to date with vaccinations as COVID cases again rise as the nation heads into summer and a likely eighth wave of the virus.
It is understood Senator Farrell will start his return from Shanghai late Sunday and arrive back in Australia in time for the Monday return of Parliament. The South Australian is particularly needed in Canberra as it is a Senate-only sitting of Parliament this week.
He is meeting his Chinese counterpart the Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao for trade talks on Saturday night and is still due to appear with Mr Albanese on Sunday at the sixth China International Import Expo, one of the world's largest trade shows.
The situation has brought to a head a cabinet conundrum for the Albanese government. There are too few senators in cabinet. The four Labor Senate frontbenchers are Senator Gallagher, Senator Farrell, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Agriculture Minister Murray Watt.
Senator Wong is also on the China trip, so without the Trade Minister's return, Senator Watt would have had to hold the fort by himself.
Senator Farrell, who departed for China on Friday before the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, was due to return on Tuesday and be in the Senate chamber on Wednesday.
The revelation emerged just as Mr Albanese readied to board his flight from Darwin for his historic three-day state visit to China which will include meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. The need for the urgent return was not raised at Mr Albanese's morning press conference.
Mr Albanese said the first visit by an Australian prime minister since 2016 was a result of the "patient, calibrated and deliberate approach" that the government has taken with the Australia-China relationship.
He said he will be seeking the removal of remaining trade impediments in a "constructive" way and advocating for the resolution of the case of detained Australian citizen Yang Hengjun.
"I'll be speaking about his human rights, the nature of the detention and the failure to have transparent processes," the Prime Minister told reporters.
"Just as we stood up, I've raised this issue before, we will always raise the issues of Australian citizens when we meet with international leaders."
Senator Gallagher was last seen at a public event on Thursday presenting an award named in honour of her late mother Betsy Gallagher to a young mental health worker.
The senior Labor politician and her son managed to avoid infection when the delta strain of COVID came to her home in August 2021, however she managed "two different wards" of home hospital in house quarantine as her daughter and partner became ill.
The Senate is expected on Monday to debate sea dumping legislation and, in the wake of the Scott Morrison secret ministries scandal, a Bill which would require the Governor General to publish all ministerial appointments.
