As BFD readers will know, I have been nothing if not forthright about the threat that the Chinese communist regime poses to Australia, New Zealand and indeed the entire Pacific region. Time and again I have warned that Beijing is steadily infiltrating our institutions, seeking to influence politicians, stealing state secrets and spying on and intimidating Chinese nationals (such as students) living here.
That said, the pursuit of freshman parliamentarian Gladys Liu leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
Attorney General Christian Porter has compared Labor’s pursuit of embattled Liberal MP Gladys Liu to the White Australia Policy.
Ms Liu has pledged her allegiance to Australia and confirmed she was previously a member of three Chinese Communist Party-linked organisations, after being forced to publicly declare China as an “authoritarian state”.
While the MP for Chisholm released a written statement on Wednesday, Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus pushed a motion demanding she make a similar statement vocally.
Are we really going to start making Australian citizens make humiliating public speeches avowing their loyalty, simply because of their ethnicity? What is especially galling (and must be particularly so for Australia’s Chinese community) is that this McCarthyist racial witch-hunt comes from the very party which was responsible for the White Australia Policy.
“Earlier this week we had a condolence for the last living member of the Menzies Government (Jim Forbes), who helped unravel the White Australia Policy, and all these years later this is where we are,” Mr Porter said.
“The fundamental proposition that they are putting is that a Chinese Australian, with a wonderful heritage, who overcame domestic violence, who came to this country, who came to this country and has natural associations with Chinese organisations, by virtue of those associations is not a fit and proper person to be here.”
Gladys Liu has undoubtedly behaved very foolishly. She claims that her membership of the associations was purely diplomatic, and that is probably so. Nevertheless, she was stupidly wrong-footed in the now-infamous Andrew Bolt interview where she fudged on her membership and equivocated on Beijing’s South China Sea activities. But – would you want to be a freshman politician being grilled by Andrew Bolt?
Meanwhile, Labor have more than a few questions of their own to answer.
Mr Porter went on to argue that Ms Liu’s links to CCP-linked organisations was comparable to those held by other members such as Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen — who travelled to China in 2015 as a guest of the Communist Party.
theaustralian.com.au/nation/christian-porter-compares-labors-pursuit-of-gladys-liu-to-white-australia-policy
Then there’s this staggering Labor hypocrisy:
Labor attacked Ms Liu in parliament yesterday despite its candidate for Chisholm in the federal election, Jennifer Yang, having similar links to CCP-linked organisations.
In December, Ms Liu and Ms Yang appeared at a seminar in Melbourne for potential Chinese members of Australian political parties, organised by groups that are part of the United Front network.
Ms Liu said Ms Yang, who did not respond to requests for comment, was also listed as an honorary president of the AJGCA and was associated with the UCCAA.
theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/gladys-liu-now-cleareyed-on-china-groups-membership
That’s just the beginning, though.
It was only last week that the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption heard how the state Labor party had been handed Aldi shopping bags full of cash by Chinese Communist Party-linked businessmen. It was only last year that Labor powerbroker Sam Dastyari was exposed as allegedly tipping off the same Beijing-linked businessman that he was under surveillance by ASIO.
Are Labor going to demand that, say, Penny Wong, make a humiliating public declaration of loyalty?
Labor has a sorry history of launching these opportunistic witch-hunts, with no regard for the consequences. The late 90s “travel rorts” scandal ended in an attempted suicide. The “Section 44” saga has culminated in the unsavoury pursuit of Jewish-Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenburg.
Where will this racist witch-hunt end?