­China gas, telco deals set to be blocked

A Dutton government would block any bid by China’s ­Huawei to build Australia’s 5G network.

Minister for International Development Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Picture: AAP

A Dutton government would block any bid by China’s ­Huawei to build Australia’s 5G network and a bid by Hong Kong’s CK ­Infrastructure Holdings for the country’s gas pipelines, former Turnbull minister Concetta ­Fierravanti-Wells has suggested.

The comments build on a number of policies raised by Peter Dutton and his supporters as they attempt to build support among Coalition MPs for their push to replace Malcolm Turnbull with the former home affairs minister.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells also took a parting shot at the Turnbull government’s policies towards China, implying they had been ­inconsistent.

“There is a view that our position on China needs to be a lot clearer, a lot crisper and lot more definitive,” she said, adding that this view was shared by other MPs in the party.

She resigned as minister for international development and the Pacific via a letter on Tuesday in which she accused the Prime Minister of eroding the Liberal Party base and moving the party too far to the Left.

The letter exposed a split between Senator Fierravanti-Wells and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop when she said she had been lobbying for Ms Bishop to be replaced by Mr Dutton, and that she was unhappy she was criticised for her comments about China.

In January, she accused China of building “roads to nowhere” in the Pacific, driving countries into unsustainable debt and “duchessing” regional leaders.

Ms Bishop refused to endorse her comments and they were criticised by New Zealand and Pacific Island leaders.

Later, in an interview, Ms ­Bishop suggested China’s financing ­arrangements could be detrimental to nations’ long-term sovereignties and she did not ­believe highways to nowhere should be built in the Pacific.

Asked yesterday whether she felt Ms Bishop had left her hung out to dry, Senator ­Fierravanti-Wells said: “That was my view and that was the perception of some of my colleagues.

“I am pleased that, eventually, the language I used has also been the language that ultimately the Foreign Minister used.”

CK Infrastructure Holdings launched a $13 billion bid to take over Australia’s biggest gas pipeline company, APA Group, which would give the company control of most of the nation’s major gas pipelines.

The deal now hinges on ­approvals from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Some Coalition MPs and nat­ional security experts have been cautioning against the deal, but the decision is ultimately up to Scott Morrison.

Huawei has also been lobbying the government not to block it from supplying equipment to Australia’s 5G network.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells was asked what a Dutton government’s attitude would be towards China’s foreign investment in critical infrastructure over deals such as those involving Huawei and CK Infrastructure Holdings.

“Ultimately, this needs to be a matter for consideration in the nat­ional interest and taking into account national security concerns,” she said.

“We’d certainly have a much clearer position, more in keeping with what I perceive to be the general sentiment in the Australian community.”