Gavin Hawtrey was an Australian Foreign Secretary who appeared on The Day Today to discuss a trade deal between Hong Kong and Australia.
War with Hong Kong[]
Speaking to Chris Morris about the treaty, Hawtrey stated that "Martin Craste and I can be pretty satisfied. It's a good day". Pressed on the hypothetical scenario of Hong Kong meeting hypothetical exceeding of the agreement by Australia with a "firm line", Hawtree replied that Australia "would just reimpose sanctions". When Craste responded that, in that hypothetical scenario, Hong Kong "would have to retaliate with appropirate measures", Hawtrey commented that he would "have to go back to Cabinet", and that "maybe it's a matter for the military". Craste replied that "military measures is totally inappropriate a reaction", yet Hawtrey responded that "of course I'm not being inappropriate" and that "Martin Craste knows that full well". When Craste commented that "this is the sort of misunderstanding that I thought we'd laid to rest during our negotiating period", Morris observed that they were "both at each other's throats" and "backing [themselves] with arms". He asked "what are you going to do about it?", and Hawtrey said that he "would not flinch from war". Hawtrey formally declared war shortly after Craste.