Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to commend the motion to the chamber. How many times are we going to have to do this? Honestly, I've been here now since 2014 and we're still talking about it. Let's just get it over and done with. You're embarrassing yourselves; you really are. You're embarrassing yourselves! How long is it going to take for the Liberals and the Labor Party to wake up to the fact that our relationship with China is toxic? You know it, and we know it, so, for goodness sake, come out and just admit it. While you're doing this, you're actually making yourselves look really bad, and it's getting worse. You are making it worse. How long is it going to take for you guys to see that we have a major problem here? It beggars belief that both of the major parties are still digging their heels in on this. Trust me: there mustn't be much left on that heel. It's time it went to a bootmaker! I can't believe that you have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do what's in Australia's national interest. But—mark my words you in the Liberal Party, you in the Labor Party, you in the Nats—one day you're going to have to get over yourselves, swallow your pride and actually start doing your jobs for what is in the national interest. Do your jobs. You get paid enough. It's not that hard.

The Australian people will not tolerate you talking tough for the camera and going soft—and 'soft' is putting it politely—in the Senate. Here's my promise to you: this isn't going to just blow over; it's not going away. Sooner or later you'll be forced to actually vote with your conscience. Sooner or later you'll be asked to remember where you left it. And you know what? Sooner rather than later you're going to have to support this inquiry, because the problem is not going away. If anything, like I said, you are making it worse. You actually look like cowards. It's embarrassing that you are taking so long.

What's even worse is that what you're doing is very un-Australian. You're not putting your country first. Show a spine. Better still, here's a good idea—I know it's really hard in this place—start showing some leadership. And I say this to those big-talking crossbenchers sitting on both sides of this chamber: you love to talk the talk, but, I tell you what, you're absolutely paralysed when it comes to walking the walk. You like to pretend to be brave on your Facebooks—you're right patriots, aren't you?—but when it's off the record you're about as lame as your memes. And what are you actually doing to get this inquiry off the ground? When are you going to put the needs of the country over the needs of your parties? I will call you out, Senator Abetz and Senator Paterson. I know that you know we have a point here. My goodness, I sit on the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee. I hear what's said behind those closed doors. Yet you don't have the courage to come forward and cross the floor. You don't have the courage to put your country first. When it comes to being accounted for, let's be honest: when it comes to that day when you could actually stand up and be counted, and you could actually show some courage, you go missing in action.

You guys over on that side, in Labor, are meant to be the party of the worker. What an absolute joke. The party of the worker is happily selling off our farms and our businesses to foreign investors who feel no loyalty to the people who work here. Senator Kitching and Senator Keneally, come on: how can you vote against this inquiry with a straight face? How can you? How can you defend your position knowing what you know? Honestly, you make yourselves look like a pack of muppets. You stand up on your Facebooks and, at the same time, when you're asked to put bravery where your mouth is, all of a sudden, there are no Wolverines among you guys—absolutely none. As a matter of fact, you're about the size of a miniature teddy bear. Well, do you know what? It's the 21st century and there is social media everywhere out there. Australians see through you, and not just a few hundred thousand of them—millions. This will cost you seats in an election, but you're still not getting it. People want to see courage. They want to see bravery, they want to see action and they want you to start putting your country first.

You beat your chests about being tough on China when it's Premier Daniel Andrews and the Belt and Road funding, but when you're asked to vote for an inquiry into Chinese efforts to infiltrate our universities, our political parties and our parliament itself, suddenly you get all gun-shy. You're all,' Hey, mum's the word.' Do you think people don't see what you're doing, and what you're doing to this country, through your gutlessness? You'll only stand tough against China when you aren't getting money from its state-run businesses. How much have you actually taken in Chinese money in the past? And that goes for the Liberal Party too. How much have you taken, Labor? How many leaflets have you posted out in the past that have been bought and paid for by the Communist Party of China?

You say you're getting serious about foreign investment. You say you care, and then you go and sell off all of our critical assets. And it happens all the time. You say you're standing up for the national interest on trade, and you sign us up for free trade agreements that let Chinese companies sue us if they don't like changes to the law, but, by jeez, it doesn't work the other way. You say you're cracking down on human rights violations by Chinese nationals, but you vote down inquiries into Chinese nationals coming into Australia and gambling away dirty money through Crown Casino, who have in the past given all of you political donations. You're all for Australian sovereignty, until it hurts your political donation bottom line. That's the truth of the matter. We're being bought and sold by Chinese money. It's painful to watch. You pretend to take a firm line on China while you're stuffing their money into your own political pockets. By all means go hard on the national interest—but don't tell me you're serious about this while all you do on Chinese aggression in our region is wave your finger at it and say, 'Hey, tut-tut, bad little boys.' Please! Once again, courage—it's called courage.

I'd show you how much China cares about your disappointment, but there isn't a microscope big enough or strong enough to see it with. Just be honest and up-front with the Australian people and say, 'We're not sure why we're angry, but we're angry, and we'll figure it out later.' You jump around from one side of the fence to the other, and go back and to and fro on what you choose to be outraged about so often that it's like you're being paid to pretend to give a damn about this stuff, and, quite frankly, you don't. And that even comes through on national security. You'll have one side worrying about our national security; you'll have Senator Keneally going at Minister Dutton all the time about national security. Neither of you actually give a stuff about national security. That's been made quite clear.

Well, guess what? I've got news for you. Some of us over here actually care about this. We love our country and put our country first, and our national security means everything to us. For some of us this isn't just an applause line. Some of us care about selling at the farm gate for rock-bottom prices, and when you in the Liberals and you in the Nationals and you in the Labor Party—all of you—let it happen it breaks our hearts. You are selling our national soul, and I tell you it is slow and it is painful. Some of us actually care when a member of parliament—someone with undisclosed links to the Chinese Communist Party, someone who's hosting dinners for people on ASIO's watchlist of potential foreign agents—is paying for their own election with some filthy, dirty, disgusting money from China.

Let me be very clear here: I'm not trying to have a go at Chinese people. There are plenty of people in China and in Australia who are just as horrified as I and millions of other Australians are about what is going on in Australia's backyard, but we have to be able to call out the aggressive actions of a foreign country that is trying to undermine our national security and our national sovereignty. Asking questions about foreign influence in our parliament is not about race. Calling out a supposed ally that is literally hacking our parliamentary computer systems is not about race. This is a country that we have banned from building our 5G network because we think they'll hack us. But if you say anything about it you're being racist. And that's rubbish. I don't understand it. We don't trust Chinese money to build a mobile phone network, but we trust it to bankroll our election campaigns. You go figure! Go work that one out.

You guys want to look tough, but you're being asked to put your hand on your heart and vote with your conscience instead of your chequebook, and all of a sudden every Wolverine in the room is reduced to a wimp. The cowardice and the dishonesty from both parties on this are absolutely astounding. Everyone in this chamber knows that we have a problem. Goodness me, even the communist Chinese know we have a problem! And do you think they're going to stop coming at us? Do you think, by us rolling over like a dog, they're going to stop coming at us? What you're doing is showing them fear. You're giving them everything they want.

We all know that we have a problem. This inquiry is the first step to finding a solution. It's a very simple, straightforward idea. All we're asking for is a Senate inquiry into Australia's future relationship with China. What's the problem? All we want to do is have a conversation about what's going on and what we need to do to protect Australia's national interests. It shouldn't be that controversial. But the major parties' masters in the Chinese Communist Party have called them to heel and, once again, they're rolling over like a dog, as they always do. These are the people who are running the country. It's shameful, and shame on you for allowing it.

I'm not just talking about the ministers and shadow ministers. Each and every backbencher who has had a hand in voting this down should take a damn good, hard look at themselves and start putting their bloody country first before it is too late. Show your courage. Start leading for your country. That's what your voters expect of you, and that's what your country deserves. Stop being a pack of cowards. It has gone far enough.