China blasts Australian media over Gladys Liu ‘witch hunt’; issues warning to Scott Morrison over Donald Trump meeting
There was a familiar face in Question Time today, with Olivia Newton-John watching on from the public gallery. And she did not go unnoticed from the nation’s pollies.
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Olivia Newton-John was a surprise visitor to parliament today as Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese locked horns in Question Time.
The Australian actress and singer watched the fiery question time from the public gallery while she was in Canberra to promote her cancer research institute.
Prime Minister Morrison subtly paid tribute to the star by weaving in lyrics from her Grease hit You’re the One That I Want as he hit out at Labor over a question on the economy.
“We are the ones the Australian people wanted at the last election … And you are the ones they didn’t want,” he said.
The singing and movie icon waved at politicians during Question Time, as she watched on from the gallery.
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PM QUIZZED OVER STANDARDS
Mr Morrison was grilled in Question Time by Labor over whether there had been any breach in the ministerial standards by Assistant Minister for Customs Jason Wood.
Labor claimed Mr Wood had allowed an associated entity of the Liberal Party, The Pinnacle Club, to operate out of his taxpayer-funded office.
“I have no information in front of me that would suggest that any of the matter that they have alleged is falling foul of what the standards are,” Mr Morrison told the House.
LIU FACES LEGAL CHALLENGE
China’s state media has praised Mr Morrison’s defence of Liberal MP Gladys Liu while accusing Australian media of a “21st century witch hunt”.
It also issued a thinly-veiled warning to the Prime Minister not to be America’s pawn on China relations but to keep “Australia’s national interests in mind while savouring foie gras at the White House” on Friday.
The Global Times opinion piece also calls Ms Liu’s interview with Sky News host Andrew Bolt last week a “television lynching”.
It comes as Ms Liu and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg face challenges to their eligibility to sit in parliament.
The case, which centres on Chinese language campaign posters used at the federal election, will go to trial in the Federal Court after Justice Michelle Gordon made the direction at the High Court, sitting at the Court of Disputed Returns, today.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann this morning defended Ms Liu as a “proud Australian and a committed Liberal”.
In a statement to the Senate, Senator Cormann said Ms Liu “has the Government's full support”.
It comes amid new revelations in The Herald Sun today that Ms Liu promised on Chinese social media that she would write references for foreign students who volunteered on her campaign at this year’s federal election.
“The target of this ferocious attack was not Gladys Liu herself, but China,” Australian Studies Center professor Chen Hong writes in his Global Times editorial about Mr Bolt’s interview.
“By insinuating Liu was a Chinese agent who had infiltrated Australia's federal political arena, Cold War combatants have sounded the alarm once again on China as an evil menace to Australia's political sovereignty and national independence.”
The “fear and smear campaign” against China was a “21st century witch hunt” with the “unmistakeable aftertaste of McCarthyism,” he writes.
“They ceaselessly split hairs in search of the slightest traces and nuances of the imaginary 'Red Peril'.
“Linkage with any organisation or individual with Chinese connections is misinterpreted as a threat to Australia's interest and has created a Sinophobia among the public and inside political circles.”
The Global Times article praised Prime Minister Morrison's “clear reason and judgment” in defending Ms Liu over links to groups with ties to the Chinese government.
“Recognisably, Morrison's justification of Liu is not without partisan motive, but for the 1.2 million Chinese Australians who have been subject to unjust suspicion and bigotry, such remarks are significant,” it said.
“In contrast to his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull's reckless spoiling of the Australia-China relations, clear reason and judgment have prevailed for Morrison.”
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The article questions whether Canberra will “fall for” the US's “heinous trap” and serve as Washington's “legionnaire” in the Asia Pacific, while saying Mr Morrison should keep “Australia's national interests in mind” when he heads to the White House.
It comes as a High Court challenge over Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Ms Liu's eligibility to sit in parliament has its first directions hearing today.
Earlier, Labor frontbencher Penny Wong labelled Senator Cormann’s statement regarding Ms Liu “inadequate”.
The Finance Minister had not discussed Ms Liu’s links to groups with ties to the Chinese government but instead said her Labor opponent at the federal election, Jennifer Yang, had also had ties to some of the same groups.
“Her Labor opponent was a member of a number of the same organisations Labor is now using for its disgraceful, unsubstantiated smear and dog whistle,” Senator Cormann said.
“In fact, her Labor opponent was the honorary Chairman and seemingly unbeknownst to her of at least one of those organisations.
“The truth is Gladys Liu is a proud Australian and a committed Liberal.”
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