We are about to discover what Hong Kong is really made of, via Bloomie:
Hong Kong will use an emergency ordinance for the first time in more than a half a century in order to ban face masks at public gatherings, according to local media outlets including the South China Morning Post and news channel TVB.
The government will enact the Emergency Regulations Ordinance after a special meeting of the city’s Executive Council on Friday, TVB reported, citing people it didn’t identify. First passed by the British government in 1922 to quell a seamen’s strike in Hong Kong’s harbor, the law was last used by the colonial administration to help put down riots that rocked the trading hub in 1967.
…The government re-evaluated the situation after clashes in multiple districts on National Day, Cable TV reported, citing unidentified sources. Authorities believe the anti-mask law can help restore order, the report said, adding that it would only target occasions like certain rallies and marches. Details were still being studied, it said.
There are similar calls for a curfew. This is the beginning of martial law.
We are also discovering what Australia is really made of, via News:
Victoria Police have been accused of “honouring a police state” by flying the flag of the Chinese Communist regime on its 70th birthday.
Box Hill station in the city’s east raised the flag on October 1 in honour of the National Day of the People’s Republic of China and to mark the beginning of the Whitehorse Chinese New Year Festival.
As many as 45 million people died in four years under Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward, making him the greatest mass murderer in world history. The Box Hill event was attended by the mayor, state and federal ministers and local business representatives.
“The flag-raising ceremony honours the local police station’s strong relationship with the local Chinese community, retailers and local business stakeholders,” a Victoria Police spokeswoman said in a statement.
How does that represent Australia in any way? Better ask Gladys (and the ALP), via The Australian:
A Victorian Labor MP raised the Chinese flag and controversial Liberal MP Gladys Liu cut the cake at a suburban Melbourne police station’s event to mark the 70th anniversary of Chinese Communist Party rule.
Box Hill MP Paul Hamer accepted an invitation to raise the flag, alongside an Australian flag, during a ceremony on Tuesday which also featured the singing of the Chinese national anthem.
Ms Liu’s office said she had skipped the flag raising event but attended a subsequent community safety month event also hosted by Box Hill police on Tuesday.
However, photographs show a beaming Ms Liu cutting a “70th anniversary” cake featuring the Chinese and Australian flags.
Peter Dutton described Sam Dastayari as a “double agent” for taking the very Chinese donations that Glady’s Liu funnels into the Liberal Party. As the pusher of the drugs she is clearly worse not better than the taker. She should be forced to step down.
But ScoMo’s “double agent” has instead been unleashed upon the Australian public once more, also at The Australian:
Team Morrison has given Gladys Liu the green light to get back on the speaking circuit.
Margin Call has confirmed that Liu, the much discussed new Liberal member for Chisholm, will tonight speak at the Victorian branch of the Hong Kong-Australia Business Association.
Liu, who was born in Hong Kong in 1964, has previously spoken out in support of the city’s anti-government protestors, praising their “passion and commitment to democracy”.
But nobody knows what she said to the party room about it. Previously at Domain, which leaked that Ms Liu addressed the Coalition party room on Hong Kong last week, reportedly leaving everyone bemused and concerned about her stance:
David Crowe returns today to ask another prickly question:
While the FTA has been agreed between the Australian and Hong Kong governments, it is yet to be ratified by the Australian side. Parliament will not vote on ratification, as such, but will decide whether to pass the trade laws that enable the new agreement.
The conventional wisdom is to act like Hong Kong bankers: put the protests to one side and keep the commercial deal on course. The treaties committee, chaired by Liberal backbencher Dave Sharma with Labor’s Peter Khalil as deputy chair, received 29 submissions on the Hong Kong deal. Most made no mention of the protests. But Demosisto, the pro-democracy party in Hong Kong, lodged a submission asking Australia to add a human rights clause to the trade deal. Hong Kong Watch asked for this as well, so the FTA could be suspended if human rights standards were not met. Australia’s official position, put forward by chief negotiator Elizabeth Ward of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, appears to be to complete the deal despite the protests.
…Some committee members are not so sure. Khalil has questioned whether it is realistic to ratify this agreement while the Hong Kong police are suppressing protests. Another member, Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John, is against ratification.
Of course ratification should be postponed or given freedom clauses. Just as Gladys Liu should be forced to step aside. The Box Hill police censured. And the ALP put a CCP broom through itself.
What are we made of?
