Cut & Paste: Turnbull hides from Abbott as Beijing deal pulled

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pulls the Australia-China extradition treaty. The Australia website, yesterday:

The Turnbull government will not ratify the 10-year-old China extradition treaty amid a backbench revolt over the deal.

Extraditing people to China? Was that a thing? Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2017, January 12:

Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping … the outlook for fundamental human rights, including freedoms of expression, assembly, association and religion, remains dire.

Nobody told Steve Ciobo the deal was pulled. The Trade Minister on Sky News, yesterday:

Frankly the range of arguments put forward to not support this extradition treaty … don’t stack up.

Can someone tell Barnaby Joyce the deal is dead? The Deputy Prime Minister in Canberra ­yesterday:

As sure as God made little green apples, there are people in China who think the way they can get out of a crime is to get on a plane and get somewhere else as quickly as possible.

Julie Bishop was thrown under a bus. Canberra, yesterday:

I don’t recall any of those now (objecting in the Coalition partyroom) raising concerns during the treaty-making process.

But Bishop always survives. The Australian, March 2, 2013:

Bishop was once dubbed “the cockroach’’ …

This deal has smelled like death for a really long time. ABC News online, December 15 last year:

Labor MPs remained sceptical about the treaty, and have issued a dis­senting report calling for tougher safeguards. They want Australia to ­retain the right to refuse an extradition request where such extradi­tion would be “unjust or oppressive”.

So why did Malcolm push it now? Oh … yeah … he has all the political nous of a brick. David Crowe at The Australian online, yesterday:

The sudden reversal highlights two flaws. The first was the mistake in assuming support in parliament. The second was the clumsy handling on Tuesday morning when the Prime Minister dropped the attempt to ratify the treaty.

Anyone else? Hey, Tony. The former Prime Minister speaks to Greg Sheridan, The Australian, yesterday:

I’d be very, very, very cautious about ratifying this treaty at this time.

Malcolm wishes he could extradite Tony to China every single day. Sky’s Kieran Gilbert on Twitter, ­yesterday:

Govt sources tell me Tony Abbott gave China green light on extradition treaty when President Xi was here.

Sources close to Mal questioning Tony’s handling of foreign affairs? Sounds a lot like the fight at the US Studies Centre over Turnbull son-in-law James Brown’s anti-Abbott comments. The Sydney Morning Herald, yesterday:

(Brown’s Quarterly Essay) reported that staff in former prime minister Tony Abbott’s office had considered deploying a brigade comprising up to 3000 Australian and Dutch soldiers to Ukraine after the shooting down of MH17. (Former US Studies Centre colleague Tom) Switzer called the story “crap” … Switzer’s most damaging claim, though, was the last: “The consensus was brown (sic) was doing his father-in-law’s bidding,” Switzer wrote.