Amanda Stoker (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

There's an enormous immaturity on display in the way that we have heard Labor talk about Australia's relationship both with China and Australians of Chinese descent in question time today and in the froth and bubble of Senator Ayres's contribution a moment ago. In question time they started out by demanding apologies—the politics of condemnation—by finding a one-liner from a member of the government with which they disagree and trying to make that into something that can be extrapolated into itself being the source of jeopardy for the relationship between our two countries, and demanding that there be such a grovelling approach that one cannot even exercise one's right to speak in the way that Senator Abetz has. Then, in their third question, they went on the offensive on the question of foreign interference in a way that reflects that very insensitivity of which they accuse Senator Abetz. I've got to say, that reflects an awfully shallow understanding of the significance of the relationship between our two important countries.

Let me say this at the outset: those opposite build their arguments when it comes to the relationship between Australia and China on what is fundamentally an underestimation of the impressive and strong community of Australians of Chinese descent we have in this country. Australians of Chinese descent are valued members of the Australian community. They are avid entrepreneurs. They are champions of family business. They are people who value family. They value the freedoms we have in this country for many of them, and the very reason they value them is they don't have that privilege in the country from which they came.

When I go around in my home state of Queensland and talk to Australians of Chinese descent, they are so thankful for the freedoms that we have here—freedoms from many of the most abhorrent practices that we all know happen but often don't want to talk about happening in other countries, including in China—and they say 'thank you' for a government that is prepared to ensure that they are not the subject of intimidation. They are thankful for a government that is prepared to protect those from the diaspora who have made Australia home but who want to live by Australian values.

Can I tell you: I'm so proud of those Chinese Australians. They are wonderful contributors to this country. But let's not reduce what is a really serious issue—that is, the maintenance of an effective trading relationship in the interests of the ability of Australian producers through many industries, particularly in agriculture—to something that is a glib one-liner. We always need to stand true to Australia's values. And do you know what? This government has made it very clear, in the words of the Prime Minister, that Australia will always stand by its sovereignty and that Australia will always stand by its values, will always be consistent with those and will never trade them away. We will maintain our integrity whether it's in our foreign investment rules, in our rules about interference in Australia's political situations or about the integrity of our communications networks, and all those things. Do you know what? China does exactly the same thing. They protect their integrity of their systems according to their values, and they do it unapologetically.

Australia does the same. We act in the interests of Australians—today, tomorrow and every day of the week. We won't apologise for that. We will fight for it every day in the interests of the beef producer in Longreach Queensland as much as in the interests of the Australian baby formula exporter and as much as in the interests of the Australian iron ore producer. That is the honest, subtle truth of it.