Opposition Leader Peter Dutton derided Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s response to Chinese navy ships lingering off Australia as “limp-wristed” – a term that dictionaries define as slang or offensive way to describe gay men, referring to effeminacy.

The slur came in a foreign policy speech by Dutton at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Thursday, when he was asked about China’s recent live fire drills off Australia’s coast.

“[Albanese’s response] was the weakest, most limp-wrist response you could see from a leader,” he said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong slammed Dutton’s choice of language in an ABC interview with Patricia Karvelas, while defending Australia’s response to the Chinese.

“What I would say is this is a bloke who opposed marriage equality, so it’s an unsurprising use of language from him,” she said.

Wong said the government had been “upfront” with the Chinese and made Australia’s views clear publicly.

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“Defence put a number of statements out, the minister for defence and the Prime Minister and I all gave very public comments about it,” she said.

“I raised directly with Foreign Minister Wang Yi our concerns about the lack of adequate notice.”

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Independent MP Allegra Spender said Dutton’s language was “completely inappropriate and offensive to many in the LGBTQ+ community”.

“By all means criticise the government response, but don’t do so in a way that plays into offensive stereotypes about gay men,” Spender posted to X.

A spokesperson for Dutton said limp-wristed was a phrase that “shouldn’t have been used”.

“No offence was intended from Mr Dutton,” they said.

In his speech address, Dutton said strengthening of defence was needed in response to growing threats in the region.

“Australians know that we face a far more uncertain and dangerous world today than at any time in recent memory. The imperialistic Putin seems to be determined to swallow up Ukraine,” he said.

“The Chinese Communist Party is asserting itself militarily in our region and indeed across the world, often in aggressive ways that have endangered our men and women in uniform.”

Despite the comments, Dutton said he would seek to foster better ties with China, which remains Australia’s biggest trading partner.

“We naturally seek a stabilised and respectful relationship with China and a healthy trading relationship which benefits our two peoples,” he said.

His speech was interrupted by two protesters from climate group Rising Tide, who were demonstrating against the Coalition’s plan to build nuclear power plants should the party win the election.

Dutton also told the audience he would seek to meet US President Donald Trump in his first days as prime minister, if the Coalition wins this year’s federal election.

“The United States remains our most important military partner and there is a lot of repair work to do in that relationship,” he said.

“President Trump’s been elected to put America first. My job is to put Australia first and I will stand up firmly against President Trump or anyone else in our country’s best interests,” he said.

Dutton also used the speech to call for Australia’s defence force to be more self-reliant.

“If our sovereign interests are threatened, Australia must never be in a position where we are totally relying on friendly cavalry to come over the hill, and sadly, that is the reality for our country today,” he said.

“History has shown that acquiescence or appeasement ends in a cul-de-sac of strategic misfortune or worse, the government I lead will be fair and firm in its dealings with others.”