Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Saturday (Dec. 3) that he will not be going to Taiwan with a group of federal MPs for a rumoured five-day visit to express Australia's desire to keep the Indo-Pacific peaceful.

CNA News reported that the team, which consists of members of Taiwan's opposition Liberal-National alliance and Australia's ruling Labor Party, is the first of its kind to travel to Taiwan since 2019, according to newspaper the Australian, which reported on Saturday.

Albanese on Saturday described the trip as a "backbench" visit to Taiwan, not a government-led one.

"There remains a bipartisan position when it comes to China and when it comes to support for the status quo on Taiwan," Albanese told reporters in the town of Renmark in South Australia.

Asked about the travelling politicians' intentions, Albanese said: "I have no idea, I'm not going, you should ask them."

Former National Party leader Barnaby Joyce is among the group, a Joyce official told Reuters on Saturday. Also rumoured to be departing are two Labor MPs.

According to a spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, MPs from different parties frequently to Taiwan before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the current delegation "represents a resumption of that activity".