Greens squabble over Cassy O’Connor’s China stance

GREENS leader Cassy O’Connor has been forced to defend herself against allegations of racism.

Greens leader Cassy O’Connor. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

GREENS leader Cassy O’Connor has been forced to defend herself against allegations of racism levelled by the national co-convener of the Young Greens.

A series of posts on Twitter has exposed a rift in the Greens over Ms O’Connor’s stance on Chinese government influence.

Queensland-based Young Greens leader Mark Clayton took exception to Ms O’Connor’s comments about Hobart City Council candidate Yongbei Tang made in State Parliament last month.

Ms Tang, the editor and publisher of Chinese News Tasmania, has been criticised for alleged links with the Chinese Communist Party, claims the Australian citizen has rejected.

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“This is straight up racist dog-whistling,” Mr Clayton wrote of Ms O’Connor’s comments.

“WTF are you doing in the Greens, the rest of us are fighting against racism and here you are standing side-by-side with Hanson.

“What Cassy has repeatedly done is attacked a migrant community for working to try and gain some kind of political representation.

“This ‘Yellow Peril’ 2.0 stuff and only steps away from calling for a new White Australia policy, the rest of us work to build a multicultural society.”

This is straight up racist dog-whistling.

WTF are you doing in the Greens, the rest of us are fighting against racism and here you are standing side-by-side with Hanson. @CassyOConnorMP you need to resign. #auspol #taspolhttps://t.co/0hQk6HtY8r pic.twitter.com/LYzJoLgycP

— Mark Clayton (@MarkClayton94) October 2, 2018

Ms O’Connor rejected the claims.

“False and a slur. It is the laying out of facts, backed by evidence,” she responded.

“These accusations give succour to a totalitarian regime that’s oppressing around 14M Uyghurs & Kazakhs, spies on its citizens wherever they live & runs influence operations in sovereign democracies.”

False & a slur. It is the laying out of facts, backed by evidence.

These accusations give succour to a totalitarian regime that’s oppressing around 14 M Uyghurs & Kazakhs, spies on its citizens wherever they live & runs influence ops in sovereign democracies like #politas
1.

— Cassy O'Connor 🍀 (@CassyOConnorMP) October 2, 2018

Greens MP Rosalie Woodruff also rejected the claim.

“Mark, it sounds like you’re well-intentioned. But you have no idea of what you’re talking about. ‘Beijing-directed influence over Aust. democratic govts’ is NOT the same as “strong migrant communities”. Ignorance is no excuse for naivety.”

Mark, it sounds like you’re well-intentioned. But you have no idea of what you’re talking about. “Beijing-directed influence over Aust democratic govts” is NOT the same as “strong migrant communities”. Ignorance is no excuse for naivety.

— Rosalie Woodruff 🌿 (@rosaliewoodruff) October 2, 2018

Author Clive Hamilton, who is visiting Hobart for a speaking engagement, also came to Ms O’Connor’s defence.

“Those who attack Cassy O’Connor as racist are throwing under the bus pro-democracy Chinese-Australians, Tibetans, Uyghurs and Taiwanese independepence activists,” he wrote.

“Are they ‘anti-Chinese’? Why are some Greens backing the dictators?”

Clive Hamilton. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

Attorney-General Elise Archer.

Attorney-General Elise Archer called for a toning down of the rhetoric.

“It’s very concerning the comments that are being whipped up in Tasmania at the moment in relation to the very longstanding relationships that we have had, particularly as a government, with China,” she said.

“We must remember that China, Hong Kong and other Asian nations are major trading partners of this state and indeed Australia.

“I am deeply concerned about comments that are being made across the media in relation to this and would like to call for calm.”