A Chinese naval task group sailing off Australia's east coast is a "wake -up call" showing distance between nations in the Indo-Pacific no longer guarantees protection, New Zealand's defence minister has warned. The Australian Defence Force is monitoring three Chinese navy ships which were spotted about 280km east of Sydney, after having moved down the coast. The vessels, which have been operating in Australia's exclusive economic zone over the past week, are acting within international law. Judith Collins said the activity by the Chinese military was real evidence New Zealand's distance "means nothing now". "It's a wake-up call," she told Radio NZ on Friday. "New Zealanders have been told for years ... that we can just rest easy, do nothing on defence and expect that our distance from much of the world will protect us." Australian ships and aircraft are working with the NZ military to monitor the Chinese ships. Ms Collins said as the task group was complying with international law, there wasn't much to be done. "This is the Chinese PLA (military) showing us that they can do this and they're showing the Australians as well," she said. "It's an unusual show." The projection of power by Beijing is meant to send a message to Canberra about China's capability. It follows another run in with the Chinese military last week, where a fighter jet fired flares in front of a RAAF surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea during a patrol. The Albanese government lodged a complaint with Beijing over the incident, fearing for the lives of the Australian personnel. Cabinet Minister Jason Clare said a similar incident with the Chinese military had happened in 2021 under the former coalition government. "The key thing ... is that all of this has got to be done in a safe and professional way, not in the way that the Chinese pilot acted last week," he told Seven's Sunrise. "So are there any concerns here? Well, we want to make sure that we're keeping an eye on what the Chinese vessel is doing."