Drew Pavlou has complaint against Chinese Consul-General Dr Xu Jie dismissed
Suspended student activist Drew Pavlou has called on the Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister to remove the highest-ranking Chinese official in Brisbane from his position, after his complaint against Consul-General Dr Xu Jie was dismissed in court.
Police & Courts
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Suspended student activist Drew Pavlou has called on the Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister to remove the highest-ranking Chinese official in Brisbane from his position, after his complaint against Consul-General Dr Xu Jie was dismissed in court.
Mr Pavlou was seeking a Peace and Good Behaviour order against the Brisbane Chinese Consul-General Dr Xu Jie, after he issued a public statement on July 24 in 2019 which labelled an anti-CCP protest at the University of Queensland, led by Mr Pavlou, as “separatist”.
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Deputy Chief Magistrate Janelle Brassington today dismissed the complaint made by Mr Pavlou in Brisbane Magistrates court, determining that Dr Xu Jie was acting within his consular functions when issuing the press release, and therefore has immunity.
“I am satisfied that the issue of the press release was well within the consular function of the Consul-General in protecting both the receipt of the interest of these nationals, individuals and bodies, safeguarding of those nationals, it’s not a matter where it’s an issue whether someone disagrees with those matters but whether it is reasonably within the consular functions.
“I am therefore satisfied that because it’s reasonably open that the consular, that Dr Jie as a consular officer, performed the issue of the press release, which is relied upon, in the exercise of his consular functions.
“I am satisfied he is not amenable to the jurisdiction of this court, it’s appropriate I consider the remedy but upon that finding is to stay the complaint.”
Top barrister Tony Morris QC, representing Mr Pavlou pro-bono, accepted the magistrate’s decision.
“That is the appropriate remedy, although in these circumstances if [your] honour considered it more efficient to simply dismiss the outcome, that might be a sensible outcome,” Mr Morris QC said.
“That might be a more appropriate outcome, I dismiss for those reasons,” Magistrate Brassington said.
Speaking outside court, Mr Morris QC said it was a “wonderful outcome”.
“A few of the older members of the press here might remember the movie Lethal Weapon 2 which ends up with Mel Gibson’s character shooting the South African Consul. We’ve avoided that, we’ve avoided that in the best possible way,” he said.
“Today we’ve seen an Australian court do what we expect Australian courts to do, that is to apply the law fairly and impartially,” he said.
“It is actually a wonderful outcome for our judicial system to see that Australian courts will protect even the representative of the most evil regime … when the law lies in his favour,” he said.
Mr Morris QC said the case demonstrated that it wasn’t an issue to be decided in the courts, but a political issue to be decided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“I take this opportunity to call on the Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Payne to do something about the Chinese Consul.”
Outside court Mr Pavlou said having the rule of law in Australia was a “beautiful thing”.
“That’s part of what we fight for, so the people of China may have the rule of law and the people of Hong Kong may have the rule of law,” he said.
“The law in Australia is applied dispassionately and fairly, the judge has made a fair and dispassionate decision, sometimes that means the representatives of the most evil regime on earth win in our courts and in our legal system.
Mr Pavlou echoed calls for intervention from the Federal Government.
“The law is quite clear that Consul-General Xu Jie has legal immunity,” he said.
“I am calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Foreign Minister Marise Payne to stand up for Australians and declare Consul-General Xu Jie persona non grata and remove him from his position as Consul-General.”
Ms Payne did not respond to questions, but a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the department respects the decision of the Brisbane Magistrates’ Court.
In the days after the protest at UQ on July 24 2019, and the Chinese Consul-General’s public statement, Ms Payne said the right to free speech and to peaceful and lawful protest is protected in Australia, even on contentious and sensitive issues.
She previously said the Australian Government expected all foreign diplomatic representatives to respect those rights, and that the Government would be particularly concerned if any foreign diplomatic mission were to act in ways that could undermine such rights, including by encouraging disruptive or potentially violent behaviour.