The shadow home affairs spokesperson has labelled TikTok a “bad faith actor” and a “serious threat” to Australia’s national security, urging the Albanese government to follow the United States in its crackdown on the video-sharing app. The Liberal senator James Paterson said he was not advocating for a total ban on the popular app but wants Australia to emulate the United States in its bid to force the Chinese tech company that owns TikTok to divest its business in the US. Paterson told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday he hoped changes…
Tag: Liberal party
Ex-Liberal candidate found guilty of using donation to attempt to influence Morrison government for China
A Melbourne businessman has become the first person found guilty of preparing or planning an act of foreign interference under recent federal laws, over a $37,000 hospital donation. Di Sanh Duong, 68, faced a month-long jury trial in Melbourne’s county court after being the first person charged under the laws, created in 2018, which ban covert foreign interference in domestic politics. Prosecutors argued at the trial that Duong planned to gain political influence with the former federal education minister Alan Tudge, on behalf of the Chinese Communist party (CCP). He…
Ex-Liberal candidate denies using donation to influence Morrison government for China
A businessman accused of using a hospital donation to gain political influence was trying to raise the money for healthcare workers and to combat anti-Chinese sentiment during the Covid-19 outbreak, his lawyer claims. Di Sanh Duong, 68, faced the second day of a jury trial in Melbourne on Friday over allegations he used a $37,450 donation, fundraised from members of the Chinese community, to gain influence with a federal minister. He has pleaded not guilty to the commonwealth charge of preparing for or planning an act of foreign interference. Duong’s…
‘What if there was a war?’ Chinese Australians wear the scars after bitter years of hostile rhetoric
Yun Jiang doesn’t mince her words when reflecting on how the recent decline in Australia’s relationship with China has affected Chinese Australians. “It’s almost as if we’re already at war,” the scholar and former government policy adviser says. “During times of war, we are kind of forced to choose.” Australian government rhetoric on China may have cooled since Labor came to office, but Chinese Australian communities are still dealing with the consequences of “drums of war” fears stoked over the past few years. Some say the media’s negative portrayal of…
Australia news live: councils to get $100m energy efficiency fund; tributes flow for James Hardy
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Australia news live: total fire bans in parts of Victoria, NSW and SA amid autumn heat blast
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Australia news live: Penny Wong flies home after China talks; Liberal brand ‘not fit for purpose’
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Chinese-speaking voters critical of Coalition’s ‘militaristic’ stance on China in lead-up to 2022 election, WeChat study shows
The Coalition’s muscular position toward China is not going down well with Chinese-speaking voters, while Labor is facing criticism over its more generous approach to humanitarian immigration, an analysis of WeChat audience comments reveals. The study of more than 3,000 political news stories and associated comments appearing on the Chinese social media platform, WeChat, has been undertaken by researchers at Monash and Deakin Universities over the past 11 months, including during the election campaign. It provides an insight into the Australian political news reaching Chinese speakers and how they are…
Solomon Islands-China pact is worst policy failure in Pacific since 1945, Labor says
Labor has lashed the Coalition in the wake of the newly signed security agreement between China and Solomon Islands, branding it “the worst Australian foreign policy blunder in the Pacific” in decades. The Coalition government sounded the alarm over the deal, arguing the pact has been negotiated in secret and could “undermine stability in our region”. The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, and the minister for the Pacific, Zed Seselja, said they were “deeply disappointed” by the deal, and would “seek further clarity on the terms of the agreement, and…
Labor warns China it should not ‘take comfort’ from Russian invasion of Ukraine
Labor’s shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should not embolden China’s regional ambitions as she called for the “strongest possible sanctions” against Moscow by the Australian government. While declining to comment specifically on whether events in Europe increased the likelihood of China moving on Taiwan, Wong said no country should see Russia’s invasion as “any justification” for challenging the status quo in the region. “It is the case that what is occurring is relevant to our region, is relevant to the whole world, where…