Here to stay: Huawei renews sponsorship with Canberra Raiders

Blocked from Australia’s 5G rollout, Huawei hasn’t given up on the Raiders. Or 5G.

Canberra Raiders players Josh Hodgson, Jarrod Croker and Sam Williams pose for photographs with Huawei Technologies Australia Chairman John Lord (second left) and Huawei Australia CEO Hudson Liu (left) outside Parliament House in Canberra today. Picture: Lukas Coch/AAP

Huawei chairman John Lord has used Parliament House and Canberra Raiders stars as his backdrop to declare the Chinese telecommunications giant was “here to stay” and had no intentions of dropping its ambition to participate in the rollout of Australia’s 5G network.

Mr Lord said the company’s 700 Australian staff would “bleed green” after extending Huawei’s sponsorship of the football club for two years, in a deal worth more than $2 million.

“This is a partnership for the future for us. Why? Because we are here to stay in Australia,” Mr Lord said in Canberra this morning.

“We want to be and are part of Canberra. And we want to be part of the Raiders in the future. We’ve joined each other, we have supported each other’s sponsorships and foundations and support for communities.

“And we do that both ways. The players give their time freely to us and we hope that we pay the Raiders back with our support for them.”

Under the deal, Huawei will also sponsor the Raiders’ centre of excellence, to be completed in December, and provide WI-FI and IT equipment for the club.

Mr Lord was flanked with Canberra’s key players Josh Hodgson, Sam Williams and Jarrod Croker as he declared the group remained committed to changing the government’s mind about its future in Australia’s 5G network.

Raiders coach and rugby league legend Ricky Stuart was also at the event outside Parliament House.

The federal government last year blocked Huawei’s involvement on national security grounds, because of concerns about Huawei’s links with the Communist Party of China.

Former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson — who was at the event as a director of the Canberra Raiders — refused to say whether he believed Huawei had links with the Communist Party of China.

“That has been gone over in the media. You know the answer to that, as I do and that has nothing to do with the Canberra Raiders and (Huawei’s) sponsorship of the Canberra Raiders,” Mr Richardson said.

“I’m not here to talk about my personal views about matters like this. I’m a director of the Canberra Raiders, I am here to support the Canberra Raiders and I welcome Huawei’s sponsorship.”

He also refused to say whether the federal government was correct in barring Huawei from participating in the 5G network.

“I don’t have to support or otherwise the decision of the government. I support the Canberra Raiders and I welcome any sponsorship that we get from Huawei,” he said.

Raiders chief executive Don Furner would also not say whether he thought Huawei should participate in the rollout of 5G.

He said he was not concerned about being associated with a company that the federal government believes could be a security risk to Australia.

“We wouldn’t accept them if we had any concerns. As I said matters of national security are matters for government. We are an NRL team,” he said.

Mr Furner said he took pride that the Raiders were the first sporting team Huawei ever sponsored.

“Eight years ago we stood here and they chose us over anybody else. Little old Canberra and little old Raiders and they have still shown that faith in us as they did then. We want to repay that faith by winning a premiership for them,” he said.

“It is by far the biggest company that has sponsored us and I think it would be the biggest company that has sponsored any team in the NRL and we are very proud they have chosen us.”