Daniel Andrews says no need to vet China-linked staffer Nancy Yang

In a heated parliamentary exchange, the premier defended Nancy Yang, and the Belt and Road Initiative with China.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Nancy Yang.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says he does not believe a member of his staff with high level links to the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front should have been vetted by security agencies, because she is an Australian citizen.

During a heated exchange with Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien in Question Time in state parliament, Mr Andrews defended his electorate officer Nancy Yang, and his government’s Belt and Road Initiative agreement with the Chinese government.

The questions come after The Australian on Tuesday revealed Ms Yang, who has worked for the Andrews government since 2013 and previously worked for the Chinese consulate in Melbourne, had posted a series of articles and videos on social media suggesting coronavirus was created by the US and transported to China by the US Army.

Asked by Mr O’Brien what vetting was undertaken by security agencies before Ms Yang was hired, Mr Andrews said: “Speaker, I reject the assertion from Leader of the Opposition that Australian citizens ought to be vetted by security agencies.”

“I think that is a very, very interesting proposition that the Leader of the Opposition has put forward.”

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien. Picture: AAP

Mr O’Brien said it was “standard practice” for federal parliamentary staff members to be vetted by security agencies as a condition of employment.

“I'm not entirely sure that electorate office staff are ‘vetted’, as the Leader of the Opposition puts forward, and one wonders what the term ‘vetting’ actually means in the context of what the Leader of the Opposition has put forward,” Mr Andrews said.

“The Leader of the Opposition and his conspiracy theories, well you stick at that, and we’ll continue to grow jobs and investment, profitability, prosperity.

“The electorate officer in question is not only doing an outstanding job supporting her local community, and constituents in my electorate, and other electorates, where she proudly lives, but she's an outstanding Victorian and one I'm pleased to have on my staff, and as a staff member to other members in the Labor government.”

Ms Yang has previously worked for former Labor Member for Clarinda Hong Lim, and continues to work for his successor Meng Heang Tak, as well as working one day a week in Mr Andrews’ electorate office.

In March, Ms Yang posted an article on her Facebook page under the heading “Chinese official suggests US Army to blame for outbreak”, commenting: “U.S. owe an ­explanation.”

She subsequently posted YouTube clips entertaining conspir­acy theories about US respon­sibility for COVID-19, including one entitled: “The coronavirus CONSPIRACY – Did COVID-19 come from America?”

Mr O’Brien said he was “very pleased” Mr Andrews had raised the subject of conspiracy theories.

“Nancy Yang, who works for the Premier, has publicly promoted a COVID-19 conspiracy theory,” he said.

“Do Ms Yang's comments reflect Andrews government policy, and if not, why is she continuing to work for the Premier?”

Mr Andrews responded with a barbed reference to suggestions Mr O’Brien’s outspoken front bench colleague Tim Smith has leadership ambitions: “The answer to the question is no, (Ms Yang is) doing an outstanding job, I would have thought, if I might offer an opinion, that the Leader of the Opposition would be the last person to be to be running an argument that anything that's said by anybody who's associated to you, like for instance someone who's part of your parliamentary team, for instance, who wants your job, yeah, very much wants your job, is apparently the formal position of say, in that example, the Leader of the Opposition, or the leader of the government or a minister,” Mr Andrews said.

“Free speech is great until it's not. The government's position is very clear on these matters. The Leader of the Opposition can attack this staff member all he likes. I reject the attack. I reject the attack the Leader of the Opposition is putting forward. It's baseless. It is a conspiracy theory and I don't sign up to any of them.”

Ms Yang founded United Front-linked group the Melbourne Chinese Youth United Association in 2006, and served as its chair until 2016.

Alongside Mr Andrews’ senior adviser on China, Marty Mei, Ms Yang is also a committee member of the Chinese Community Council of Australia (Victoria) — described by Chinese influence scholar Clive Hamilton as the “foremost United Front ­organisation in Victoria”.

The United Front Work Department is the Chinese Communist Party’s primary overseas influence and interference network.

In her role as MCYUA chair and during her time at the Chinese consulate, Ms Yang was an organiser for a rally at the Olympic Torch relay in 2008 that saw thousands of Chinese students from around Australia bussed to Canberra to engage in an at times violent protest against Tibetans and their supporters.

The MCYUA has a “propaganda department” and seeks to “organise (members) to serve the motherland in various forms”.

In a blog post still online on Monday, Ms Yang wrote about meeting United Front head Liu Yangdong during a 2007 trip to Beijing to attend a “Returned Western Scholars Association” forum. She says she told reporters after the meeting: “No matter how long the shadow of the tree is, the roots will always be entrenched in the land; no matter where we are, we will always care about the motherland.”

China Questions for Pallas prompt yelling from Labor, Lib kicked out

Mr O’Brien made several attempts to ask Treasurer Tim Pallas about China’s imposition of barley tariffs on Australia, having to restart his question several times amid yelling from Labor MPs which prompted Labor Speaker Collin Brooks to reprimand several of his colleagues, including the Leader of the House, Jacinta Allan, and Deputy Premier, James Merlino.

Last month Mr Pallas said China’s 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley was a consequence “of the way that the federal government have conducted themselves”, and suggested China’s decision to suspend meat imports from four abattoirs in NSW and Queensland was “inevitably a consequence of the use of language that I think has seemed to vilify China”.

Following Mr O’Brien’s third unsuccessful attempt to ask his question, Liberal frontbencher Ryan Smith yelled that he was unable to hear the question being asked.

The Speaker immediately ordered him to leave the chamber for two hours, to which Smith replied: “You’ve got to be kidding”.

Ms Allan then moved that Mr Smith be suspended from attending parliament for two days.

Due to coronavirus social distancing restrictions, there are currently 15 Labor MPs in the chamber, three independents, one Green, six Liberals, two Nationals and the Speaker.

All non-Coalition MPs sided with Labor, meaning the motion to eject Mr Smith passed 19 votes to eight.

“You are a very, very weak man,” Mr Smith told the Speaker as he left the chamber.

Mr O’Brien described the turn of events as a “travesty”.

“The members of the government, including the Premier, were howling me down. My question could not be heard,” he told the Speaker.

“You kept calling them to order. They kept refusing your call to order. The Premier was the worst offender, and when I get supported by one of my members, you choose to throw him out of the chamber.

“This is an absolute Joke. It is unfair. It is ridiculous. We need to see some democracy and some decency and some lack of bias demonstrated in this chamber, because if this is to be the pattern that continues, this side of the house will have no confidence in you to continue as Speaker.”

Acting Manager of Opposition Business Louise Staley accused Labor of deliberately trying to prevent Mr O’Brien’s question being heard.

“They repeatedly shouted down the Leader of the Opposition while he attempted to ask this question, largely so that there was no clear feed for the media, in my view,” Ms Staley said.

“It is outrageous, utterly outrageous that they can be allowed to continue with that behaviour, yet, when one of our side, and we've only got six in here, makes a comment, he's thrown out. It is just not fair.

“Speaker, you and I, I believe have a good relationship, and I don't think this has been the best decision you've made, and I really would ask you to allow the Leader of the Opposition to ask this question in absolute silence.”

Nationals Leader Peter Walsh urged the Speaker to watch footage of the interjections and “reflect on who was actually making the noise”.

‘The Speaker’s clearly terrified of Daniel Andrews’

Outside parliament, Mr Smith said that in an environment “where the Victorian government is about to sign a very controversial deal with a foreign government, and in a time where Victorians are suffering under some pretty restrictive lockdown measures”, Mr Andrews didn’t want to answer questions.

“In the chamber today during Question Time, the Leader of the Opposition’s questions were continually shouted down, and when that was brought to the Speaker’s attention, I personally got thrown out for what I could see being no good reason,” he said.

“Daniel Andrews might want to operate in a system akin to Communist China, but the reality is we have a thriving democracy, we’re allowed to come in and try and talk to the Premier and ask him questions on behalf of Victorians about what’s going on.

“That’s what democracy’s about, and having the opposition shouted down by government just isn’t on, and is certainly not what Victorians expect.

“The Speaker’s clearly terrified of Daniel Andrews, terrified of his boss, who has a propensity for bullying people.

“I mean, Daniel Andrews doesn’t want an opposition. He actually just wants an audience.”

Mr Smith said he agreed with Mr O’Brien that the opposition was losing confidence in Mr Brooks’ ability to act as an impartial speaker.

“There’s been increasingly examples of where the Speaker demonstrates a degree of what could be termed bias at times,” he said.

“We’ve seen the Premier direct him by virtue of nods or shakes of the head. It’s quite common, everyone sees it, we’ve seen it regularly, we see it on our side of the chamber.

“As I said, the Speaker’s clearly terrified of Daniel Andrews and will do what’s asked of him.”

Why has the BRI ‘failed at the first hurdle’?

Inside parliament, Mr O’Brien resumed questioning Mr Pallas.

“When the Chinese government imposed 80 per cent tariffs on Victorian barley growers, the Treasurer sided with the Chinese government, choosing to blame the federal government for using language that he claimed vilified the Chinese government,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Does the Treasurer stand by his assertion that the Australian government is to blame for the Chinese government’s 80 per cent tariff on Victorian barley growers?”

Mr Pallas said the Andrews government stood for “free and fair trade with all nations”.

“It's about enriching Victorians, it's about creating jobs for Victorians, so certainly what we've seen as a consequence of our relationship with China, and our other trading nations, but China in particular, we've seen a 61 per cent growth since this government's been in power, $31 billion, $31 billion in growth of opportunity, and of course our agricultural sector have been very substantial beneficiaries of that, so if you're interested in knowing what we stand for, we stand for free and fair trade.”

Mr O’Brien followed up by quoting federal Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching’s comment last month that the Belt and Road agreement had “failed at the first hurdle”, because Victorian barley growers had not been protected from the tariff.

Mr Pallas said the government supported farmers accessing markets, “whether it’s in China, the United States, any trading partner that is interested in participating in free and fair trade.”

Mr O’Brien interjected.

“On a point of order, Speaker, one of the claims by both the Treasurer and the Premier is that the Belt and Road Initiative was actually supposed to open up trade with China, and actually protect Victorian agriculture and promote Victoria agricultural trade. Can you bring the Treasurer back to actually answering the question that was asked: Why has the Belt and Road Initiative failed at the first hurdle?”

Mr Pallas said he had completed his answer.

Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade figures for show Victoria’s trade with China rose by an average of 9.7 per cent per year in the five years to 2018-19, compared with 9.6 per cent for NSW, 22.5 per cent for Queensland, 16 per cent for Tasmania, 11.8 per cent for the Northern Territory, 6.5 per cent for WA, and a decline of 2.3 per cent for SA.

No other state has entered into any Belt and Road agreements with China.