This was published 5 years ago
Gladys Liu 'confident' she's no longer linked to any 'inappropriate' Chinese organisations
By Rob Harris
Federal Liberal MP Gladys Liu is confident she no longer belongs to any "inappropriate" Chinese Communist Party-linked organisations after a "lengthy" probe of her association memberships.
The first-term Victorian MP vowed to audit any Australian-Chinese community organisations that had added her as a member without "knowledge or consent" last month after Ms Liu admitted she was at one time a member of a group that later became a Chinese government propaganda unit.
The revelation led to questions over her loyalties to Australia and triggered a fierce defence from Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who took to the WeChat social media platform to attack Labor and elaborate on his claims in Parliament that critics of Ms Liu were driven by discrimination.
In a statement provided to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, a spokesman for Ms Liu said she had spent "a considerable amount of time" over the past three weeks reviewing her association with all community organisations.
"With nearly 1000 Chinese organisations in Victoria alone it has been a lengthy task," the statement said.
"Ms Liu is confident that she is not linked to any organisations that may have inappropriate associations."
He said Ms Liu had "very clearly" stated that she does not wish to be a member of any organisation that had not received her explicit consent.
"She has asked that she be removed from all organisations that have not received her consent," the statement said.
Ms Liu and her office are set to be “micro-managed” by the offices of both Mr Morrison and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who holds the adjoining seat of Kooyong, over the coming months after giving "a clumsy interview" on Sky News Australia that derailed the federal government's week in Parliament.
Ms Liu struggled through the interview with presenter Andrew Bolt, saying she could not remember being a council member of the Guangdong provincial chapter of the China Overseas Exchange Association between 2003 and 2015.
At that time, the association was an arm of the Chinese government's central political and administrative body, which later merged with the Communist Party's United Front Work Department.
In a statement released the following day, Ms Liu said she was "not clear" and "I should have chosen my words better".
She confirmed she had an honorary role of Guangdong Overseas Exchange Association, as well as confirming other positions as honorary president of the United Chinese Commerce Association of Australia and with the Australian Jiangmen General Commercial Association.
Labor called on Mr Morrison to assure voters Ms Liu is a "fit and proper" person to be in Parliament, after a string of allegations over her connections to Beijing propaganda outfits.
Ms Liu has also faced a string of questions over her fundraising activities, which have raised more than $1 million for the Liberals.
The Victorian division was forced to cancel a $750-a-head party fundraiser last month, which promoted Ms Liu as the night’s "celebrity auctioneer".