Suspended NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane denies he’s Chinese Communist Party pawn

Suspended NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane has fervently rejected allegations he is a pawn of the Chinese Communist Party, saying the claims are ‘McCarthyism on steroids’.

Suspended NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane. Picture: John Feder

Suspended NSW Labor MP Shaoquett Moselmane has fervently rejected allegations he is a pawn of the Chinese Communist Party, saying the claims are “McCarthyism on steroids”.

In his first interview since police raided his home and office, Mr Moselmane responded to allegations that he had been influenced by the CCP, saying Australian Federal Police had told him “point blank“ he wasn’t a suspect in their investigation.

“This is becoming McCarthyism on steroids. Just because I‘ve got a Chinese person, doesn’t mean there is secrecy and espionage going on,” Mr Moselmane told ABC television program 7:30.

“In other words, the 1.2 million Chinese we have in Australia are all potential agents. This is unacceptable. This is really dangerous stuff.”

Despite accepting hospitality gifts from China and part-time political staffer John Zhang attending a propaganda training course in 2013, Mr Moselmane said he had no concerns that he might be influenced, saying the allegations against him didn’t stack up under scrutiny.

“I am a backbencher, I have no portfolio. I don‘t have anything to provide, if you like, that would be of interest to the Chinese,” he said.

Referring to an opinion piece written for the East China Normal University on February 5, in which the Labor backbencher praised the Chinese government and ostensibly warned “the obsolete scum of White Australia” had re-emerged, Mr Moselmane said the furore was a case of mistranslation.

“I never said that. What I actually said, this is the old White Australia fear of the yellow peril resurfacing. I never said white Australian scum,” he said.

“It is completely stupid of any member of parliament to say that white Australians are scum. I reject it totally and absolutely.”

Two independent translations of the essay commissioned by 7:30 supported Mr Moselmane’s claim, instead saying he was referring to outdated white Australian prejudices.

With the spotlight focused on Mr Zhang, Mr Moselmane said his former staffer had never lobbied him to change the party’s position on China.

“No, he never wrote any speeches. He basically translated what I wrote. So if I gave a speech in the House, an adjournment speech and that is of interest to the wider Chinese community, I would ask him to translate it,” he said.

With his political career hanging by a thread, Mr Moselmane said the allegations against him, including a group chat which several members used to supposedly discuss furthering China’s interests, were unsubstantiated and had been made to “sound like something covert”.

“They beamed the whole operation to the world. I mean, the Federal Police inside told me that I‘m not a suspect, but outside I was a criminal. It’s just a shocking event. It has and will leave a scar on us for many, many years to come,” he said.