Find below a response from the Office of the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC 26th Prime Minister of Australia to this post.
Pity your correspondent, for I will now have to reply without the aid of taxpayer largesse.
Your column1 reflecting on Dr Rudd’s JG Crawford Oration is based on a series of half-truths and false premises.
For example, you point to the Dastyari affair, but ignore how the Rudd Government tried to ban foreign donations long before then – legislation that was blocked by the Liberal Party in the Senate.2
You claim Labor resisted efforts to counteract foreign influence in Australia – without evidence – when the Turnbull Government’s legislation actually enjoyed strong bipartisan cooperation and support. 3
You suggest Labor resisted banning Huawei from 5G rollout – also without evidence – when that also had bipartisan support. 4 By contrast, the Liberals savaged Labor’s decision to block Huawei from the National Broadband Network in 2012.5
You claim Labor resisted Liberal calls for transparency on the origins of COVID-19 is also a fabrication, among several others.6
The notion the Coalition recognised the scale of the China challenge long before Labor is similarly ahistorical. The ALP leadership has been clear and consistent on the China challenge for at least 15 years, while the Liberal Party has swung between extremes of hostility and appeasement.
For example, on protecting Australian citizens, Labor refused to ratify the Howard Government’s signed extradition treaty with China between 2007 and 2013.7 Labor maintained that position in opposition (despite Peter Dutton demanding Labor’s compliance).8
On defending human rights, the Liberals criticized Kevin Rudd for publicly criticising the 2008 crackdown in Tibet, including in a speech in Chinese at Peking University.9 When Labor granted visas to Uighur dissidents to tour Australia in 2009, the Liberals criticised the government for not “working constructively” with Beijing.10
On defence posture, Labor’s 2009 Defence White Paper explicitly identified China’s changing behaviour to raise defence spending and expand the Navy.11 Malcolm Turnbull said it made “no sense” to make policy on “highly contentious” predictions of China’s rising assertiveness.12
In the Pacific, Labor more than doubled the regional aid budget to $1 billion13 and invested in publicly owned Australia Network14 and Radio Australia. The Coalition smashed the aid budget15 (then denied it16) abolished Australia Network17 and surrendered Radio Australia’s shortwave radio frequencies to Chinese broadcasters.18
Tony Abbott also took advice from James Packer and Kerry Stokes to ingratiate himself with China by sweeping human rights off the agenda19, leading Abbott hailing Xi’s ambitions to make China “fully democratic”. 20
On strategic positioning, Labor refused China’s overtures to designate Australia a “comprehensive= strategic partner” of Beijing – an arrangement that was jumped at by Tony Abbott 21 and touted by Scott Morrison throughout his leadership. 22
Anthony Albanese opposed the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin by the Liberal Party from day one.23 The federal Liberals not only defended the sale as “in the public interest”, 24 but they provided a $20 million incentive to make it happen.25
Hopefully in future, readers of Macrobusiness will think twice before accepting such baseless historical revisionism at face value.
We ask you to publish this statement in full with references.
Brisbane 23 November 2022
1 https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2022/11/kevin-rudd-declares-war-with-china/
2 https://www.smh.com.au/national/secret-donations-business-intact-20090311-8vca.html
3 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F7b4c2cb8-
1498-4872-92f7-c93540b9c054%2F0008%22
4 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/6049937/upload_binary/6049937.pdf
5 https://www.9news.com.au/national/opposition-slams-nbn-exclusion-of-huawei/4246bad0-6f2b-44cc-8377- d93821b670f1
6 https://www.smh.com.au/national/we-need-to-rethink-our-china-relationship-but-disengagement-is-no-option- 20200426-p54nbq.html 7 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/TA7O6/upload_binary/ta7o6.2.pdf 8 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/7059801/upload_binary/7059801.pdf
9 https://www.theage.com.au/national/red-carpet-and-a-rebuke-for-rudd-20080411-ge6yce.html 10 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/bishops-bad-move/news-story/48bdbd59dfc035c1ea2bafde07ed4116 11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/2009/05/fortress_australia.html 12 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/opinion/government-errs-in-its-strategy/news-story/6f4bdcd12bf8fe17d74039f0ad0dd706
13 https://www.dfat.gov.au/sites/default/files/performance-of-australian-aid-2013-14.pdf 14 https://www.afr.com/politics/fed-abc-wins-contract-for-australia-network-20111205-i45vq 15 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-begins-to-quietly-reverse-deep-foreign-aid-cuts-20210120- p56vn9.html
16 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/8492674/upload_binary/8492674.pdf
17 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/demise-australia-network
18 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-22/china-takes-over-radio-australias-old-shortwave-frequencies/9898754
19 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/james-packer-accuses-kevin-rudd-of-damaging-asian-relations-praises-tony-abbott-20140408-zqs8o.html
20 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/17/tony-abbott-xi-jinping-china-democracy
21 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/3512574/upload_binary/3512574.pdf
22 https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-43576
23 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/4212603/upload_binary/4212603.pdf
24 https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/83163a85-c413-4318-b2e3-8cd22553fd24/&sid=0095
25 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australian-taxpayers-paid-almost-20-million-to-sell-the-port-of-darwin-20220511-p5akc8.html
