Pauline Hanson calls for shipping baby formula to China to be illegal

Pauline Hanson has called for shipping a product to China to be made illegal after blasting the nation for “putting their tentacles” through Australia.

Pauline Hanson has called for exporting baby formula to China to be made illegal, saying she doesn’t “give a damn” about the Asian nation and that the focus should be on Australian mothers and children.

The One Nation leader’s comments come after a Sydney woman was found to have raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars by exporting stolen formula to China.

Lie Ke, 50, admitted to buying and shipping the formula after it had been stolen as part of a shoplifting ring across Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle in 2018 and 2018.

Speaking to Sky News, Ms Hanson said sending baby formula overseas should be banned completely.

“Stop it at the boarders. Make it illegal for anyone to ship baby powder back to China or anywhere else,” she said.

“If it has to be shipped let the company themselves do a deal with China and ship it back to China. But we have to make sure we have enough to supply our own mothers and children in Australia.

“I don’t give a damn about China, I really don’t. I want to make sure that we have what we need in Australia.”

Pauline Hanson said shipping baby formula overseas should be illegal. Picture: Sky News

Ms Hanson said she had met mothers who couldn’t get formula for their babies because supermarkets had been cleared out.

She blasted the practice as “disgusting”.

The One Nation leader also commented on the harsh tariffs China has recently put on Australian barley, which many have suggested may be a punishment for advocating an investigation into the coronavirus pandemic.

“They have been putting their tentacles throughout Australia and their attitude is we’re in a great position in the world for the Chinese to actually have infiltrated Australia more and take over more of Australia and utilise our production of food her and ship it back to their own country,” Ms Hanson said.

“Their attitude was they thought they would actually scare us into threats about barley and about beef and there was talk about the wine, what’s next?

“Well they have had to back-pedal because Morrison didn’t back away from them, for which I am proud of him as prime minister of this country.”

“They can’t just throw their weight around and tell us what to do.”

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham addressed reports China was considering even stricter checks on Australian exports. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham challenged China to respond to unsourced reports it is drawing up a hit list of Australian exports.

Bloomberg reports Chinese officials are considering stricter checks for some Australian seafood, oats and fruit, and state media could encourage consumer boycotts.

“This is an unsourced claim for Chinese authorities to respond to,” Senator Birmingham told AAP on Wednesday.

“Australia notes recent comments from Chinese spokespeople emphasising the mutual benefits that flow from our trading relationship.

“We share those sentiments and will continue to work with China to uphold the commitments we both made under CHAFTA (China-Australia Free Trade Agreement).”

Originally published as Pauline Hanson calls for shipping baby formula to China to be illegal