Presented in association with The Unshackled. Trans-Tasman Talk (TTT) is hosted by Tim Wilms from Melbourne and Dieuwe de Boer from Auckland. The show debuts every Tuesday at 9pm New Zealand time (and 7pm Melbourne time). Episodes are broadcast live on the Right Minds Youtube channel and also on The Unshackled.
Our second show explores similar issues currently affecting our nations and how they’re being handled differently on either side of the Tasman. From China, to the waning perception of Jacinda, to the abortion bills before Parliament.
The elephant in the room this week was China. Gladys Liu, an Australian Liberal MP, was found to have extensive connections to the Chinese Communist Party and took large undisclosed donations from businessmen associated with Beijing. She held a disastrous, and hilarious, interview with Sky News.
This week also marked two years since it was revealed that New Zealand National MP Jian Yang failed to disclose his connections with the People’s Liberation Army, having served with them for fifteen years as an intelligence officer. He accompanied his party leader, Simon Bridges, on a trip to China last week which resulted in an embarrassing interview where Bridges praised all the good work and great progress of the CCP.
In both countries, organisations connected with the CCP give large donations to both major parties—sometimes even funding two competing candidates in an electorate. This leads to the party hierarchies protecting their Communist Party handlers due to their fundraising potential, and call any criticism of dodgy dealings as “racist”.
In Australia, the intelligence agency ASIO has been very vocal in educating the public of the very real threat of CCP influence and interference in local politics, but in New Zealand the only professor Anne-Marie Brady and economist Michael Reddell regularly focus on the issue.
The Labour Party sex scandal has dominated the headlines in New Zealand, with there being rumours that it might bring down Jacinda Ardern’s government. That is far fetched, but it goes to show how quickly Jacinda’s political capital has been squandered to protect a dirty staffer. The litigation of the scandal is largely taking place in public or behind closed doors in the Labour Party. The police are not involved as the accusers have refused to lodge a claim with them.
Jacinta Price got a mention too, with the aboriginal woman being told she needed permission to speak in Coffs Harbour. She’s on a speaking tour and is vocal about issues that need to be addressed in aboriginal communities, and in particular how Labour has failed them. This has made her a target for the grievance politics activists. Tim remarked that the “t” in Jacinta is for “terrific” and the “d” in Jacinda is for “dunce”.
The final topic covered was that of the abortion bills before both the New South Wales and New Zealand parliaments. This nearly triggered a leadership spill in the NSW Liberal Party with possible high-profile defections. Both bills are about as radical as each other, and the people of NSW have received no consultation on the bill, while the NZ public has had a truncated 6 weeks to provide feedback.
The pro-life movements in both counties are getting more active and younger too, so there is hope for the future.
Tim Wilms also hosts the Wilms Front, a new show which is broadcast live on his own channel thrice weekly.