Senator Questions Australian Opposition Deputy Leader’s Concealment of Pro-China Past

Liberal Senator James Paterson in the Senate at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Nov. 21, 2016. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Hot on the heels of federal government claims that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would be “very happy” to see the Australian Labor Party (ALP) win the next election, the chair of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Liberal Senator James Patterson, has launched another volley at the ALP, this time targeting Deputy Leader Richard Marles.

On Feb. 14, Patterson posted in a thread on Twitter questioning why Marles’ team removed from his website a September 2019 speech to the Foreign Studies University in Beijing, where the deputy leader said defining the CCP as an enemy would be a “profound mistake.”

Marles, who was then-shadow minister for defense, was conciliatory in his speech on Beijing’s relations with democratic nations.

“The vital work of deepening our two countries’ engagement must also include the strategic dimension of our relationship,” he said.

“Our starting point has to be that we respect China and deeply value our relationship with China. We must seek to build it. And not just in economic terms, but also through exploring political cooperation and even defence cooperation,” he added.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition Richard Marles addresses a media conference in the press gallery at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Dec. 7, 2020 Sam Mooy/Getty Images

While Marles welcomed the government’s Pacific Step-up policy, designed to counteract Beijing’s growing hegemony in the South Pacific, he said Australia did not have “exclusive right to engage with the Pacific.”

“The basis of our interest in the Pacific cannot be about attempting to engage in the strategic denial of others. This is not a foundation upon which to build better relations in the Pacific, and in any event, it will not work,” he said.

“To define China as an enemy is a profound mistake. To talk of a new Cold War is silly and ignorant.”

The deputy leader’s speech was delivered at the height of the Trump administration’s U.S.-China trade war and followed the Turnbull government’s decision in the previous year to block Huawei’s participation in the 5G network. At the time, Australia was also coming to grips with several incidents of foreign interference, which contributed to the downfall of former NSW Labor Senator Sam Dastyari.

“What is he trying to hide? What is in this secret speech he’s now so embarrassed about?” Senator Paterson wrote. “Perhaps, with Labor now trying to feign bipartisanship on China, the speech he delivered in Beijing as shadow defence minister and deputy Labor leader is no longer helpful.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) flag encroaches onto the Australian flag. Oleksii / Adobe Stock

“But is it still Labor policy to forge closer relations with the People’s Liberation Army?”

Paterson also pointed to Marles’ failure to broach with CCP officials the issue of wrongfully detained Australian citizen Yang Hengjun, noting as well the Chinese regime’s positive impression of the leader with the International Department Central Committee vowing to “strengthen exchanges” with the ALP.

Marles responded to Paterson in his own post on Twitter, “Don’t let the facts get in the way of another lame Liberal scare campaign. My speech was widely circulated THREE years ago.”

“This isn’t the first time you and the Libs have tried to push this rubbish. How about you focus on fixing the horrible mess in aged care, mate.”

Marles also referenced Exercise Pandaroo in his response, which saw 10 People’s Liberation Army troops participate in small-scale exercises with Australian soldiers.

Paterson’s salvo comes as both major political parties ramp up campaigning for the federal election, as well as new revelations placing the ALP at the center of an espionage plot disrupted by Australia’s domestic spy agency. The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation revealed that a foreign state had tried to bankroll candidates to join and run for Labor’s New South Wales division.

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation ASIO Director General Mike Burgess preparing for his annual speech at ASIO headquarters in Canberra, Wednesday, March 17, 2021. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Last week on Feb. 10, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also told the House of Representatives that the government would not look to appease those seeking to “coerce Australia.”

“The leader of the Labor Party said he’s happy to trade away and ask China—to accept some and stand by some of their coercion,” Morrison said.

While Defence Minister Peter Dutton doubled down on those comments claiming there was evidence of who the CCP would back at the next federal election.

“That’s open. That is obvious. And they have picked this bloke, the leader of the opposition, as their candidate.”

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