Wong warns Australia not to go it alone Daniel Flitton Labor's Penny Wong has warned against Australia turning inward from the world at a time of rising concern about security threats and the cost of living. 
Senator Wong, pictured, took over as shadow foreign affairs spokeswoman this week against a backdrop of global bad news - the shock of Brexit, China's artificial islands, the steady march of Donald Trump and a spate of deadly terrorist attacks in the US and Europe.
At home, the political resurrection of Pauline Hanson has led to high-profile calls to ban Muslim immigration, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Friday also put the kibosh on Kevin Rudd's ambition to lead the United Nations.
But Senator Wong said Australia should resist an isolationist attitude.
"Who's going to be the next president of the United States is a matter for the American people," she told Fairfax Media.
"The Brexit was a decision of the British people. But ultimately the principle that I have always advocated, from when I first came into Parliament ... is that isolationism is not conducive to prosperity or security."
Senator Wong was heavily involved with international diplomacy when climate change minister in the Labor government and then was shadow trade minister.
Labor backbencher Nick Champion - also from Senator Wong's home state of South Australia - said he wasn't surprised that she moved on to foreign affairs.
"She's got a good eye for detail and understands how things work internationally," Mr Champion said.
Senator Wong pledged to continue Labor's call to negotiate a maritime boundary with East Timor in what has become a bitter dispute with Australia over rich under-sea oil and gas fields.
Mr Turnbull has knocked back East Timor's request for a fresh deal following revelations of Australian espionage during negotiations on a Howard-era agreement.