Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In recent times, it's been suggested I've occasioned some controversy by taking a principled stand against the brutality of the Chinese dictatorship. Australians have been let down by the fake news media coverage. Tonight, I set out the facts.

A Labor operative with the Twitter handle @redrabbleroz submitted his article for the China Matters think tank as a submission to a Senate committee. The submission spoke of the difficulties the Chinese diaspora have in engaging in Australian politics. Everything was thrown up, including the foreign interference debate, skewing perceptions, but no mention of the chilling impact of CCP interference here in Australia. The well-documented works of Professor Hamilton, who has exposed the insidious interference of the CCP dictatorship amongst the Chinese diaspora in Australia, were unbelievably and dismissively brushed aside as 'unverified claims' by this Labor operative, despite the volume of references provided. Nowhere was actual interference even acknowledged.

Having attacked Australian politics as being too white, using racial identity politics, the question was asked of whether character was more important than racial heritage. In that context, of values and beliefs, someone who submitted as an expert think tank contributor on China was asked about their willingness to condemn the dictatorship. Their answer: 'A link I don't support'. A think tank contributor on all matters China should be able to provide a clear view on the brutal dictatorship.

Three separate groups of witnesses of Chinese ethnicity appeared before the committee. Only this group, with Labor operatives from academia and a think tank, were asked if they were willing to condemn the dictatorship. Since then, this question has been falsely described by Labor and elements in the media as 'a demand of loyalty'. Those making those suggestions studiously avoid quoting the Hansard. Tellingly, the only person willing to circulate the Hansard is myself. The Sydney Morning Herald printed an article with a made-up, fake-news headline by the subeditor; they admitted as much in correspondence to me. The accusation seems to be: if you ask a person who is of Chinese heritage a difficult question, that is somehow a racial attack. Guess who said that? In fact, it was Senator Wong. I happen to agree with her. It didn't fit the desired narrative, so of course that was wilfully ignored by our media.

At all times, when I have discussed matters China or officiated at countless Chinese diaspora openings, launches and functions, I have been meticulous to differentiate between the Chinese people and the brutal regime under which they languish. The question was based on testing beliefs, not race. Any reading of the Hansard confirms this, as do the substantial number of the Chinese diaspora who have emailed their support to me—as have the Chinese YouTuber Edgar Lu, with 100,000 followers; The Epoch Times, with its 60,000 circulation, which trumpeted a headline 'Chinese-Aussies support Tassie senator'; and human rights activist Caroline Dobson. Why the mainstream media can't provide balance, I do not know. But I thank the many who have offered support and especially the few detractors who, on receiving the actual Hansard, have acknowledged the egregious misreporting.

This brutal regime needs to be called out: one million Uighurs in concentration camps; the brutal treatment of Tibet and Mongolia; pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong; cyberattacks; and forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience. It is this record which compelled me to oppose the outrageous proposal for an extradition treaty with China proposed by Mr Turnbull, whose ire I aroused, and the inappropriate deal sought by an official from the discredited Huawei company.

If there is a choice between comfortable, silent betrayal of the oppressed and fake-news name-calling because I seek to expose brutality, I will side with the latter. Those who fail to condemn the oppressor are no friends of the oppressed. Calling out a brutal dictatorship is not racist, as the CCP would have you believe; it's simply the right thing to do.