Loose lips could sink Liberals’ Bennelong ship

The Coalition and some commentators have mishandled a key part of the China influence debate, with loose rhetoric leaving some Chinese Australians offside.

And Labor is trying to have it both ways on foreign interference, playing into the Chinese government’s hands.

In their pursuit of senator Sam Dastyari, Coalition MPs have been throwing around phrases such as “Shanghai Sam” and labelling him a “double agent”, while 2GB’s Ray Hadley played the Monty Python song I like Chinese, the basis for the “I like Bing Lee’’ ad campaign.

Since the revival of the Dastyari controversy coincided with the introduction of the laws to counter foreign interference, this loose language could easily muddy the waters and suggest the government is targeting not just the Chinese government but Chinese culture and people.

This is dangerous for the Liberals as they face the Bennelong by-election, with Labor historically stronger at organising in the Australian Chinese community and media — which mostly operates under Beijing’s censorship regime.

NSW Labor MP Ernest Wong, a prominent figure in the Australian Chinese community, writes regular columns for Chau Chak Wing’s New Express Daily, while Labor leader Bill Shorten has published op-eds in Sydney Today.

Singtao has an online survey that is currently favouring Kristina Keneally over John Alexander by 65 per cent to 35 per cent.

As Keneally made clear yesterday, Labor has no qualms in taking advantage of this confluence of the release of the interference laws and loose rhetoric, saying the Liberals are casting suspicions over all Chinese Australians.

Beijing couldn’t be happier with these lines. China’s foreign ministry has also implied the laws and reporting by Australia’s free press are racist, while Labor MPs such as Doug Cameron suggested reports that Senator Dastyari warned Tanya Plibersek against meeting with a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist was a beat up.

This comes as analysts on the left bemoan the decline of liberal values under Trump.

With Alexander’s deep links in the Chinese community in Bennelong, it’s still unclear to the extent to which the Liberal vote will be affected but the party, and their supporters, should watch their language.