Foreign Minister Julie Bishop must be ruing her junior colleague International Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells' decision to put the boot into elements of China's Pacific aid program earlier this week.
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In addition to starting a fresh bushfire the Turnbull government doesn't need after ending 2017 on a high, it has further strained relations between this country and our most significant trading partner.
These were already fraught as a result of the fallout from the Dastyari affair last November and December and Australia's strong support for Donald Trump's position on North Korea.
The arguably ill-considered comments, which accused the Chinese of "building roads to nowhere", have also exposed Australia to allegations of hypocrisy, mendacity and deviousness.
Senator Fierravanti-Wells' comments, which also included claims the Chinese were lending tiny island nations national development loans they could never hope to repay for "white elephant" projects of dubious economic value, seem to be motivated by fears of a "soft power" incursion into Oceania by the Middle Kingdom.
This is, on the face of it, a matter of serious concern to Australia given the strategic significance of the Pacific to this nation for close on two centuries and the fact we have been the local "super power" since the end of World War II.
Foreign incursions into what Canberra has long regarded as its own front yard, whether it be French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll or China's $2.3 billion aid spend over the last decade, were always going to raise eyebrows.
Unfortunately it appears Senator Fierravanti-Wells overstepped the mark, prompting the Chinese to lodge an official protest with the Australian embassy in Beijing.
Chinese officials have described her comments as being driven by "ignorance and prejudice" and China's Xinhua newsagency has said Australia "should refrain from behaving like an arrogant overlord".
The reality is that if the Chinese, and to a lesser extent, the Taiwanese, are moving into the Pacific then it is in response to a vacuum of Australia's making.
While we remain the largest single aid donor to the region, a succession of governments have been scaling back our spending on foreign aid and other forms of soft power for close on a decade now.
Australia's track record on investments and aid project selection in that part of the world has also been less than perfect in the past.
Perhaps people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
That was essentially the message being put out by Save the Children Australia policy and advocacy head Majella Hurney earlier this week.
Ms Hurley said it was necessary to lead by example before criticising the efforts of others.
"If we are to have any credibility [in criticising investments in the Pacific by China] we should restore our overseas aid budget and commit to further aid investments that will promote sustainable development," she said.
The Pacific is one of the poorest regions on earth. If it is as important to us as the government apparently believes it to be we need to put our money where our mouth is.
