Liberal MP Gladys Liu under pressure to explain China links
Scott Morrison has stood by his rookie backbencher Gladys Liu amid calls for her resignation over ties to China, accusing her Labor critics of a “grubby” smear campaign.
National
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rubbished claims Liberal backbencher Gladys Liu should be investigated by ASIO over her ties to Chinese businesses amid a call for her to “reconsider her tenure”.
The prime minister also defended Ms Liu’s “train wreck” interview with Sky News host Andrew Bolt on Tuesday, where she couldn’t recall being a member of organisations linked to the Chinese government.
“Let’s be clear. Gladys gave a clumsy interview. She is a new member of parliament. If that were the grounds for which people weren’t sitting in the parliament, it would be a pretty empty place,” Mr Morrison told reporters today.
“None of you would have had a good story in your lives. There are clumsy interviews that are
given from time to time. On this occasion one was given by a new member of parliament.”
The prime minister accused Ms Liu’s Labor critics of a “grubby” smear campaign.
“This has a very grubby undertone in terms of the smear that is being placed on Gladys Liu and I think people should reflect very carefully in the way they have sought to attack Gladys over this matter and the broader smear that I think is implied in that over more than 1 million over Australians,” he aid.
Ms Liu has been challenged to “consider her tenure” as she faces intense scrutiny over her links to China.
The rookie backbencher is under pressure after belatedly admitting she was previously part of a Chinese government propaganda unit.
Senate crossbencher Rex Patrick said she had reached the threshold of Sam Dastyari, who was forced to resign from parliament over scandals involving Chinese businessmen.
“Ms Liu hasn’t been candid with the people, she hasn’t been candid with the media, and indeed she hasn’t been candid with the parliament,” he told ABC radio.
“There’s a standard that’s been set for the parliament (and) I don’t think she’s been open and transparent about it.
“She must consider her tenure.”
He said the controversy had become a national security issue.
The ABC reported last night that ASIO advised then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull not to attend a 2018 fundraising dinner Ms Liu was involved with.
The event was organised before she was a Liberal candidate, but Mr Turnbull instead attended a different Chinese New Year event in Melbourne.
Ms Liu yesterday announced she had cut ties with some Chinese organisations and claimed her name was being used without her knowledge.
“I am in the process of auditing any organisations who may have added me as a member without my knowledge or consent,” she said in a statement yesterday.
“Unfortunately some Chinese associations appoint people to honorary positions without their knowledge or permission.”
Former Labor senator Sam Dastyari, who resigned from the frontbench and then from parliament after scandals involving Chinese businessmen, said Ms Liu had questions to answer.
“I don’t know enough about her situation to say whether or not she should resign, that’s a matter for her and that’s a matter for Mr Morrison,” he told Sky News.
“(But) does anyone honestly believe that if she wasn’t a member of the Liberal party that the prime minister and others wouldn’t be calling for her scalp right now?”
In the interview with Andrew Bolt, the rookie backbencher also refused to call China’s actions in the South China Sea “theft”.
The Hong Kong-born MP also dodged questions about whether she had formerly been a member of groups connected to China’s covert political influence operation.
Ms Liu yesterday defended her appearance on Sky News.
“Last night in a TV interview I was not clear and I should have chosen my words better,” she said.
It comes after ABC reported Ms Liu is named as a council member of the Guangdong provincial chapter of the China Overseas Exchange Association from 2003 and 2015 in a Chinese government record list online.
Senate crossbencher Rex Patrick yesterday said the matter should be investigated by security agencies.
“The prime minister should write to the director-general of security and seek some advice in relation to the matters that have turned up,” Senator Patrick said.
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Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon described Liu’s Sky appearance as “a train wreck of an interview in which her loyalties, at the very best, seem somewhat confused.”
“She made the situation worse last night,” he told the ABC yesterday.
“I think it is now incumbent upon her to make a statement in parliament reassuring Australians, particularly those in her electorate, that she is a fit and proper person to be serving in the House of Representatives,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
LIU IN TRAIN WRECK INTERVIEW
Ms Liu on Tuesday night admitted to telling 40 Chinese groups last year they should take their concerns to their local MP about Australia not being “friendlier” to China.
In an interview with Sky News host Andrew Bolt, the Hong Kong-born MP of Chisholm in Melbourne was forced to fend off questions about her former membership of groups connected to China’s covert political influence operation.
Asked about the organisation’s links to the United Front Work Department, she said she had “no first-hand knowledge” of the body which is infamous for pushing pro-Beijing views overseas including in Australia.
Asked by Bolt about her honorary presidency of the Australia Jiangmen General Commercial Association, which has backed China’s controversial claims of the South China Sea, Ms Liu said: “As the honorary president of the organisation, they didn’t tell me everything that they do. In fact most of the time when you’re honorary president … what they do is they want to use your fame.”
Questioned over the Court of Arbitration’s ruling in The Hague that China’s actions in the South China Sea have been unlawful, she said: “This is a matter for the Foreign Minister, I definitely would put Australia’s interests first and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
When Bolt asked Ms Liu about previously being honorary president of the United Chinese Commerce Association of Australia: “What is that organisation again? I don’t think I am.”
When questioned about her attendance at a forum in which 40 Chinese groups called on Australia to be friendlier to China, she said: “I think I was there … Yes, I suggested that to any one if they have any concerns to contact our local member of parliament”.
Originally published as Liberal MP Gladys Liu under pressure to explain China links