Jacqui Lambie warns about Chinese political interference in Australia: ‘We’re sitting ducks’

Jacqui Lambie has accused Australia’s major political parties of turning a ‘blind eye’ to Beijing’s foreign interference, warning they are letting China ‘undermine our democracy’. 

JACQUI Lambie has accused Australia’s major political parties of turning a “blind eye” to Beijing’s foreign interference, warning they are letting China “undermine our democracy”. 

In a fiery speech on Tuesday night, the Tasmanian senator warned there were “no security checks” to stop the Chinese Communist Party bankrolling a major party candidate and winning a seat in Parliament. 

“We’re sitting ducks here,” she said. 

“We’re leaving ourselves open and we’re letting the Communist Party in China come in here and undermine our democracy.”

Australia was too reliant on China economically and “our fisheries and farms are being bought up,” Senator Lambie warned.

FULL SPEECH: JACQUI LAMBIE ON CHINA

Senator Jacqui Lambie in the Senate Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

“Did you know that over 25 per cent of Tasmania’s agriculture land is foreign owned,” she told the Senate. 

“Across Australia we’ve sold off everything from our ports to our infrastructure.

“Now we find out that after buying Bellamy’s Organic milk for $1.5 billion, the China Mengniu Dairy Company struck a deal to buy Lion Dairy and Drinks, up in my end of town, for $600 million.

“I don’t think there’s much left for the Chinese to buy down in Tassie, I’ll be honest,” she said, adding: ”We’re not up for bloody sale.” 

Senator Lambie clarified she wasn’t speaking about Chinese Australians, who had made a profound contribution to the community.

The crossbench powerbroker, who wielded her deciding vote today to help the Government repeal Australia’s refugee medevac laws, questioned why Australia had put all its “eggs in one basket” with China. 

A man waves a China flag at the racecourse in Hong Kong during the National Day celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary of communist China's founding on October 1. Picture: Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images

China accounts for a quarter of Australia’s two way trade, more than it’s trade with the US and Japan combined.

It was worth $194 billion in 2018.

Almost a quarter of agricultural land in Tasmania has some level of foreign ownership, according to the latest statistics.

It’s the third highest level of foreign ownership of farmland in the country.

The United Kingdom is the biggest foreign owner of Australian farmland, followed by China and the United States.

“We’re selling off Australian values for a quick buck,” Senator Lambie said, warning Australia was too reliant on China for trade and international students to boost the coffers of the university sector.

“We have to start putting in more protections against China’s attempts to influence our political processes,” she said.

“We have to pull back our economic reliance on them to buy up all our exports. 

“We need to think more carefully about how much more we can share of our research and innovation.

“This government can and should be doing more to protect our way of life and our Australian values.”

Senator Lambie’s speech was in support of a crossbench motion to establish an inquiry into Australia’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China.

The motion was launched by Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick and backed by One Nation, Senator Lambie and Cory Bernardi.

It was rejected by Labor and Liberal senators, meaning the inquiry will not be established.