Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Bernardi caught me on the hop. I thought he was going to make a contribution to the debate. This is actually a very, very serious issue. I thank Senator Patrick for demonstrating the persistence he has in attempting to convince the major parties—or in fact either one of the major parties would be enough—to ensure that this parliament can adequately and comprehensively assess Australia's relationship with the Communist Party of China through the mechanism of a parliamentary inquiry.

What the continued response of the major parties has been and will continue to be to these efforts by Senator Patrick shows us is in fact that both major parties in this place are riddled with CCP influence. It's not a claim that I make lightly, but it is a claim that is absolutely backed by evidence. There's abundant evidence. Senator Patrick went through some in his contribution; other senators went through some of it in their contributions. Ultimately, if you want to look for evidence, look at the vote that's about to happen in this place, where the two major parties will together vote no to a simple but important inquiry by this parliament and by its Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee.

I say to the LNP and to the ALP: what are you worried about? What have you got to hide? If you haven't got any issues, you actually have nothing to worry about. We are in the ludicrous situation where the ALP have asked for briefings. They asked the government for briefings from security agencies. Government has said, 'No, you can't have briefings,' and Labor have once again fallen in a screaming heap and is refusing to stand up for our national interest. In fact, as Senator Patrick has just reminded the Senate, Labor to date have not even contributed to this debate and clearly have no intention of contributing to this debate. They have been gagged by the powerbrokers in their party, who know that Labor is riddled with CCP influence and we know that the LNP is riddled with CCP influence.

Democracies are an incredible, robust, vibrant system of government, but they are like sponges. As water infiltrates into a sponge so can foreign influence infiltrate a democracy. We had the laughable situation yesterday—it would have been laughable if it weren't so serious—where we discovered that former Senator Nick Xenophon, who has now been engaged as the mouthpiece for Huawei, seemingly does not have to register under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme. That's a scheme that was created relatively recently, in political terms, in order to, amongst other things, require that agents of a foreign influence register on an official government document. If Mr Xenophon is now going to act as a mouthpiece for Huawei—which, I might add, is effectively acting as a mouthpiece for the CCP—and he's not required to register under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, that scheme needs amending and it needs amending urgently.

We're dealing here—in the CCP—with a government that has no regard for the rule of law. Their so-called justice system is actually a conviction factory. We've right now got Australian citizens in prison being tortured by the CCP, and the Australian government seems incapable of resolving that situation. We've got a young child who was recently found to be an Australian citizen of Uygur descent. The mother of that child has a visa to visit Australia, and the CCP will not allow them to leave China. And remember, Uygur children are often adopted out into CCP state-run adoption agencies, have their names changed and are adopted out to Han Chinese couples. That is what this young, Australian citizen baby is currently facing. We've got millions of Uygur people—some estimates put that number at over two million—locked up by the CCP in brainwashing camps or worse. In the middle of the last century, we saw a concerted effort to eradicate the Tibetan culture and many Tibetan people from the face of this earth. In the CCP, we are dealing with a government that does not respect the values of the rule of law, does not respect human rights, does not respect cultural integrity that is different from theirs and, ultimately, is exerting extreme influence in our country. And nowhere can you see that more than in my home state of Tasmania.

The day before President Xi visited Tasmania in 2014, I predicted that he was coming to case the joint, and in fact that's just as it has turned out. So we need to have a serious look at our relationship with the CCP and the state of China. And that's what Senator Patrick is attempting to deliver here—a serious look at this issue through the mechanism of a parliamentary inquiry.

But the LNP and the ALP—riddled with CCP influence as they are, riddled with dirty CCP money as they are—are going to collude, once again, to vote such an inquiry down. I'm telling you now, you're all standing on the wrong side of history here. History will be written one day. History will record those who stood up and tried to address this situation, and history will record those who rolled over and let the CCP tickle their collective bellies. And unfortunately, it remains the case that both major parties in this place will be on the wrong side of history.