Sheets pulled back in search for reds in bed with the ALP

 

Friday’s raids on the office and home of openly pro-Beijing NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane will attract the close attention of intelligence and security agencies across the Western world.

The raids came after a complex and sensitive inter-agency operation and represent a decisive step in the federal government’s determination to give effect to Australia’s world-leading foreign interference law.

The law criminalises activities conducted covertly on behalf of a foreign power and aiming to influence government processes or undermine the exercise of democratic rights. After two years in which none of the relevant departments and agencies would take responsibility, in December Scott Morrison announced the formation of a special taskforce, led by ASIO and funded to the tune of $90m, to pursue prosecutions under the new law.

 

But perhaps as important has been a change in personnel at the top, especially the appointment of Andrew Shearer as cabinet secretary and Mike Burgess to lead ASIO. Both are strong enough to resist bureaucratic pressures to tread lightly and not upset Beijing. And they are backed by the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

Last year, Paul Keating, who has built a post-politics career backing the Chinese, attacked the heads of intelligence agencies as “nutters” and pressed Bill Shorten to fire them when he became prime minister in order to improve relations with Beijing.

It was an illustration of how deeply CCP sympathies run in the NSW Labor Party.

When my book, Silent Invasion, was published at the beginning of 2018, the big beasts of the NSW Right came out to monster me because I’d written about the Right’s links with Communist Party front groups and agents of influence. Bob Carr, Keating and Graham Richardson attempted to trash my reputation and make me out as a Sinophobe and racist. They were embarrassed because I drew attention to evidence of the deep penetration of the Chinese state into their part of the Labor Party. Some pro-Beijing NSW politicians lobbied to stop passage of the foreign interference law, which Beijing has denounced with the usual claims of “anti-China sentiment” and “McCarthyism”.

Carr has been a strong backer of Moselmane in the ALP, speaking at his events and even choosing him to give a speech to launch his memoir. In a June 2018 speech, Carr said no one would dare question the loyalty to Australia of his “great friend” Shaoquett. Carr, still a force in the party, frequently ridicules the “China panic”, the one that presumably led to Friday’s raid. Of course, Carr was hand-picked to run a new think tank by Chinese businessman and political donor Huang Xiangmo. Huang is now banned from re-entering Australia on ASIO advice, and his “Aldi bag” stuffed with cash is being investigated by ICAC.

There’s an irony in Moselmane being investigated as a potential conduit for CCP influence here, because in 2018 he praised the way China managed to block “Western intrusions into China’s internal ­affairs”. He has expressed admiration for the CCP regime and has a history of close links with United Front organisations in Sydney. He’s met a number of times with top Communist Party officials.

The fact someone with his views was backed by party heavyweights into parliament suggests something might be rotten in the Labor Party. Some in the party are acutely aware of the rot and are working to dig it out. A handful of people with CCP links have been forced out.

Moselmane is of course not an isolated figure in the NSW ALP. Leadership aspirant Chris Minns, for example, is a frequent attendee at events staged by United Front organisations and is listed as an honorary consultant to the Australia China Economics, Trade and Culture Association. And federal member Chris Bowen has managed to fly below the radar.

No one understands how CCP influence works better than its foremost victim, Sam Dastyari. Unlike Moselmane, he never swallowed the CCP Kool Aid but was seduced by the bags of cash, and now shares a rueful story of how he allowed himself to be duped.

It may be the activities of Moselmane’s staffer, John Zhang, attracted the attention of authorities. He has links with CCP agencies in China. And Zhang is listed as a vice-chairman of the Australia China Economics, Trade and Culture Association, which seems to have taken over the mantle as the leading United Front organisation in NSW after Huang was banned from entering Australia.

There are a number of staffers suspected of close links to the CCP working out of NSW Parliament House. The Andrews government in Victoria has also been exposed as heavily influenced by United Front operatives over some years, reaching to the very top.

Nor should the Liberal Party crow too loudly at Labor’s difficulties. It has its own skeletons in the closet and would be advised to do a thorough cleanout before ASIO and the AFP come knocking on its doors too.

Clive Hamilton is a professor at Charles Sturt University in Canberra and co-author with Mareike Ohlberg of the just-published Hidden Hand: How the Chinese Communist Party is Reshaping the World.