Aussie PM, Shanghai Scott, is on the back foot, at The Guardian:
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has told parliament he misheard a question from a journalist when he denied using the term Shanghai Sam, as Labor continues to attack the government over embattled Chinese-born MP Gladys Liu.
In question time on Monday, the Labor leader, Anthony Albanese, asked Morrison why he had denied using the term about former NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari when he had used the phrase 17 times, including in the House of Representatives.
Morrison told Albanese he needed to “grow up”, and claimed he had misheard the question put to him during a press conference on Friday.
“I heard the word racism used twice in that question and that is what I was referring to,” Morrison said.
“If the best that the leader of the opposition can drum up is that withering attack, then I’m sure there is a lot of optimistic people who sit on the backbench of the Labor party who can see a big opportunity for themselves,” Morrison said.
Labor has continued the attack on Liu’s background following a series of revelations about her alleged ties to organisations linked to the Chinese Communist party and fundraising activities that have attracted the attention of security agencies.
Wokester central dedicated much of the night to Gladys Liu:
Will we see AFP raids on MPs involved in taking cash from Chinese developers with close ties to mainland China? #QandA pic.twitter.com/MR4hHCDxXr
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) September 16, 2019
Madeleine King, Eva Cox, and John Lee discuss distrust, democracy, accountability and absolution. #QandA pic.twitter.com/Vdr1lTLe4B
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) September 16, 2019
“How do we bring the discussion in Australia, about China, back to a less hysterical and more rational basis”? #QandA pic.twitter.com/RtI2AIqZh0
— ABC Q&A (@QandA) September 16, 2019
The only difference between Sam Dastayari and Gladys Liu is that the former took the Chinese drugs of influence while the latter pushed them. Who is worse to the national interest, I ask you?
Meanwhile, the genius Ms Liu is onto herself, at The Australian:
Embattled Liberal Gladys Liu has cancelled an $80-a-head political fundraiser slated to be held in her electoral office next week, with special guest former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu, because it would have breached parliamentary rules.
Organised by the Chisholm Club 200, a Liberal Party fundraising group in Ms Liu’s Melbourne electorate, the “Cocktail Party with special guests” was scheduled for next Tuesday in Ms Liu’s Burwood office from 6.30pm until 8.30pm.
An invitation for the fundraiser says club members could gain entry for free but non-members would be charged $80 a head.
As is Bob Katter:
Independent MP Bob Katter has backed calls in Parliament to require Liberal backbencher Gladys Liu to explain her past membership of groups linked to the Chinese Communist Party.
The maverick Queenslander laughed off his decision to sit alongside Ms Liu in a key vote in Parliament on Monday by saying he made a mistake and “nearly died of shock” when he realised who was next to him.
While Mr Katter voted with the government to reject a Labor attempt to attack Prime Minister Scott Morrison, he said this did not mean he backed Ms Liu against Labor’s call for her to speak in Parliament.
“I nearly died of shock when I found out who I was sitting next to,” Mr Katter said.
You’re not on your Pat Malone there, Bob.
And the tax office is onto another agent of influence who met with, and bribed donated to, all parties wherever he went:
Exiled billionaire Huang Xiangmo, a central figure in the NSW corruption watchdog’s investigation into Labor Party donations, has had his Australian assets frozen as the Tax Office pursues him for $140 million.
The ATO sought urgent orders in the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday to freeze the local assets of Mr Huang and his wife Jiefang as it seeks to claw back millions in allegedly unpaid tax and penalties.
Mr Huang, a wealthy property developer and major political donor, has resided in Hong Kong since his Australian permanent residency visa was cancelled on December 5 last year for reasons including character grounds.
Ms Liu has to go.
