Independents have ‘questions to answer’ over China comments, Coalition says

The Coalition says two prominent independent candidates have “questions to answer” after they attended a fundraiser hosted by an unregistered Chinese community charity and, in one case, directly criticised the government’s approach to China.

North Sydney candidate Kylea Tink and Bradfield candidate Nicolette Boele attended a fundraising gala dinner hosted by the fledgling Alice in Wendyland Charity Ltd on April 29. Liberal Ryde mayor Jordan Lane and former state Liberal MP Helen Sham-Ho also attended the function at Haymarket restaurant The Eight.

Bradfield independent candidate Nicolette Boele and North Sydney independent candidate Kylea Tink at the Alice in Wendyland gala dinner.Credit: Social media

Speaking from notes, Boele said there was fault on both sides in the breakdown of Australia-China relations but “in my opinion, the government is unable and unwilling to pick up the phone to Beijing”.

“Australia needs to establish a relationship with China built on mutual respect. You can’t talk about China unless you can talk to and with China,” she said.

“Australia and China have had strong relationships in the past – in fact this is the 50th year of our relationship, and we can have strong relationships again, we just need the political will.”

Tink did not address China in her unscripted remarks, but while she was on stage, a translator told the audience in English: “We want to change the government. We want to change the relationship between China and Australia. We need your vote and we need your support.”

The Coalition seized on the remarks, with campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham saying it was “scary to see a candidate in this election stand there grinning and nodding right next to someone parroting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) talking points”.

China maintains Australia is to blame for the poor relations between the two countries. Last year foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the Australian side must “face up to the crux of the setbacks” and decide whether it sees China as a partner or a threat.

Alice in Wendyland Charity Ltd was registered last June with ASIC, the corporate regulator, but not with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Its website says it raises money for disadvantaged children. Tickets to the gala dinner started at $128.

One of the event’s sponsors was the Australia China Economics Trade and Culture Association, an organisation which China influence expert Clive Hamilton claims is part of the CCP’s United Front Work Department. The ACETCA denies this, previously labelling it “absurd”.

Kylea Tink and Nicolette Boele both said they attended the event as invited guests and did not take donations from the organisers.Credit: Social media

Tink and Boele both said they attended the dinner as invited guests and did not pay for tickets, nor had their campaigns taken any donations from Alice in Wendyland or organisers.

Tink said she was not aware the event was a fundraiser until she arrived, but “it seemed like an appropriate evening for the short time I was there”. A Tink campaign spokesman said her speech spoke for itself and “we hope her words were accurately [translated] in the room at the time”.

In a statement, Tink said Australia’s response to China must be measured and respectful while recognising the consequences of Beijing’s “increased assertiveness”, and “we should always defend our territorial sovereignty and the values that underpin our social democracy”.

Boele stood by her marks. “There is fault on both sides. China is not going away. Its size, military, economic and cultural power are realities with which we need to deal,” she told the Herald.

Coalition campaign spokesman Simon Birmingham.Credit: James Brickwood

“China is also a one-party state. I do not like that, I wish it were not so, but it is a fact. Petulance is not a policy or an option, it is posturing ... we must have open dialogue to de-escalate tensions.”

Birmingham, who is also finance minister, said the Australian government had repeatedly made clear it was open to dialogue with China but the Chinese government insisted on unacceptable concessions.

“These candidates clearly have questions to answer about their involvement with this ‘charity’,” he said.

Professor James Laurenceson, director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at Sydney’s University of Technology, said it was “overly simplistic” to suggest the Australian government should just pick up the phone to Beijing.

But the Morrison government was partly to blame for Australia’s relationship with China being “even worse than every other US ally in the region”, he said. To suggest the comments were “somehow treacherous or parroting CCP talking points” was bizarre, he said.

“Do we want better relations with Beijing? Of course we do. Surely that’s just a statement of the obvious,” Laurenceson said.

John Fitzgerald, an emeritus professor at Swinburne University of Technology and a contributor to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said there was a tendency in opposition parties and many independents to “hold the Australian government to account for all that’s gone wrong in relations with China”.

The reality was three pro-business prime ministers - Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison - each took different approaches to President Xi Jinping without success, he said.

“That’s because we face structural problems balancing Australia’s national interests with those of China under Xi Jinping. No change of government in Australia will change that,” Fitzgerald said.

Tink is running against Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney while Boele is challenging Paul Fletcher in Bradfield. Both candidates are receiving financial support from Simon Holmes a Court’s Climate 200.

The two north shore seats have high levels of Chinese ancestry; 15 per cent in Bradfield and 10.4 per cent in North Sydney. The NSW average is 5.2 per cent, as per the 2016 census.

Lane, the Liberal Ryde mayor, said he routinely attended such events in Ryde and elsewhere. Sham-Ho, the former state MP, said she was no longer a member of the Liberal Party.

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