Australia news LIVE: eSafety warns perpetrators using smart tech to control victims; Hundreds dead as floods ravage south-east Asia

Australia is monitoring a Chinese naval flotilla that is travelling through the Philippine Sea with an unknown destination, Defence Minister Richard Marles said.

“I want to confirm today that Defence is monitoring a Chinese PLA Task Group, which is currently in the Philippine Sea,” he said.

“We maintain constant maritime domain awareness in our geographic areas.

The Chinese frigate Hengyang off Australia’s coast in February.Credit: AP

“We do not have a sense of where it is going, but we continue to monitor it as we monitor all movements.”

Chinese warships operating close to Australia in February prompted a rare statement from the Australian Defence Force about monitoring their presence.

Marles revealed the Chinese flotilla was being monitored while on Monday outlining changes to the Department of Defence.

He did not concede that money had been wasted in the department under Labor, but blamed blowouts on previous Coalition governments.

“You can always do better, and … we feel an absolute obligation to ensure that money is spent in the best possible way,” said Marles, who is also acting prime minister while Anthony Albanese is on his honeymoon.

“When the last government was in power, we saw massive blowouts in defence programs, both in terms of the budget that was being applied to them, but also in terms of their schedule.

And we need to ensure, going forward, that … it’s being done in a cost-effective way, but that programs are delivered on time and on budget.”

Marles did not put a figure on how much Australia would commit to defence spending in the next budget.