Liberal’s ‘extraordinary’ claim helped Labor secure big swings with Chinese voters

A Liberal frontbencher’s unfounded claim of Labor getting help from spies at polling booths backfired against them in key seats.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has revealed the Liberal Party’s unfounded claim that “Chinese spies” were handing out ALP how-to-vote cards was a factor that helped swing votes in key electorates for Labor.

It now emerged there were huge swings of up to 26 per cent to Labor in specific booths with significant Chinese Australian populations, helping to deliver significant big swings across key electorates.

In Bennelong, where more than 40 per cent of people have Chinese ancestry, Labor’s Jerome Laxale was expected to lose the seat given he was on a wafer thin margin of 0.1 per cent.

Instead, in individual booths such as Meadowbank, there was a 19 per cent swing to Labor delivering a 70:30 split of votes between the two major parties over two elections.

Labor MP Jerome Laxale hands out how to vote cards in the seat of Bennelong. Picture: NewsWire/Damian Shaw

In two booths – Chatswood and Eastwood – suburbs in Bennelong where more than 40 per cent of people have Chinese ancestry there were swings to Labor of 15 per cent and 26 per cent.

“They had no faith that they could represent the Chinese Australian community effectively,’’ Labor MP Jereome Laxale told news.com.au.

“Peter Dutton, Scott Morrison, their language. They’ve got a record of poor performance.”

On current counting that appears to have blown out to Bennelong to almost 10 per cent.

Liberal candidate Scott Yung was unable to claw back the seat once held by John Howard. Picture: NewsWire/Damian Shaw

‘Chinese spies’ claims

The Coalition finance spokeswoman told Channel 7’s Sunrise on the Wednesday before the election that people associated with the Chinese Communist Party had organised campaigners for a teal and Labor MP, before the latter rejected the arrangement.

Her observation followed a newspaper article outlining the claims.

“There might be Chinese spies that are, you know, handing out for you,” Ms Hume said to Clare O’Neil. She offered no evidence to support the claim.

Jane Hume’s comments came back to bite her party. Picture: NewsWire/Monique Harmer

“But for us, there’s dozens, thousands, hundreds of young people that are out there handing out how-to-vote cards for the Liberal Party because they want a better life.”

Sunrise host Nat Barr appeared shocked by the claim asking her, “Chinese spies?”.

Claims weaponised

Accusing the Liberal Party of questioning the loyalty of Chinese Australians, Ms Wong used new social media advertisements targeting Chinese voters on WeChat and RedNote.

“I was out expressing the same thing I’ve been saying for a long time, which is that the Liberal Party’s approach to a whole range of issues are of concern to the Australian-Chinese community,’’ Ms Wong said.

“I thought Jane Hume asserting that Labor volunteers – Chinese volunteers – were spies was an extraordinary thing to say.

“And it continued a pattern of comments and behaviour by the Liberal Party that Chinese Australians were rightly concerned by.

“And we did see, in many seats – in Bennelong, in Chisholm, in Menzies, in Reid, and beyond – Chinese-Australians being really clear about their views about the Liberal Party.”

Ms Wong sought to weaponise Liberal frontbencher Ms Hume’s extraordinary and unsubstantiated claim in the advertisements.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong used social media to amplify the comments. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

“He didn’t care about the consequences for us, for our communities. And now, when he wants your vote, he says something different,’’ she says in the ads.

“But Chinese Australians know what Peter Dutton is like.”

Ms Wong then speaks in Chinese before translating her words to English.

“He won’t change,’’ she says.

Capping off a challenging campaign for Ms Hume, who was also at the centre of the work-from-home backflip, the comments have infuriated Liberal colleagues.

Ms Hume previously claimed public servants who were “working for home” were in fact driving around in campervans while travelling Australia.

‘Beat up’ over Voice

Ms Wong also expressed the view that the blow up over her comments regarding the Voice, which were made to the Betoota Talks podcast, were disappointing and an inaccurate “beat-up”.

“I think more importantly, what it did show Australians is that the reflex for the Liberal Party was to have a culture war and get very aggro, let’s be frank,’’ she said.

“Whereas most Australians weren’t there. You know, most Australians wanted to talk about Medicare and schools and cost of living and tax cuts and fee-free TAFE and childcare and 20 per cent off their HECS debt.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shakes hands with Penny Wong after Labor’s win. Picture: Saeed Khan/AFP

“That’s where most Australians were. But the Coalition – yet again – their reflex is to have a culture war, which is often very hurtful to First Nations Australians but, more generally, to people who care about reconciliation. So I think it was a demonstration of why the Liberal Party has done so badly in Australia’s cities and suburbs.

Ms Wong said the projected seat count of around 85 seats was a stunning result.

“Can I just say, it’s at the upper end of my expectations,’’ she said.

“But I think if you look at the metropolitan electorates around the country, overwhelmingly – overwhelmingly – Australians live in cities and suburbs, and they looked at the Liberal Party and said, ‘You don’t represent my aspirations. You don’t reflect the things I’m worried about.

You don’t reflect where I want to go.’

“And that is the clear message from the election. As I said, we’re really humbled by and grateful for the opportunity, and we understand what it means.”

Peter Dutton and China

During the 2022 election, the Liberals took a big hit among Chinese voters after taking an anti-China stance during the pandemic.

In the Liberal Party’s review of its election performance, undertaken by former party director Brian Loughnane and Ms Hume, it was reported: “In the top 15 seats by Chinese ancestry the swing against the Party (on a 2PP basis) was 6.6 per cent, compared to 3.7 per cent in other seats.”