Here is my response to the Office of Kevin Rudd’s rebuke of my recent article arguing that it is time Labor acknowledge that the Morrison Government China stance was not (only) about domestic political wedging.
- KR: “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.”
MB: My article was clearly about the political period after the Dastayari Affair in which Labor lagged the Coalition in recognising that “China had changed”. We all know that before 2017 both political parties were fastened on the China tit, as were large parts of Australia.
- KR: “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.:
MB: Here’s the evidence: https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2018/02/labor-fight-foreign-influence-bill/, https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/10/alp-and-lnp-have-understanding-to-protect-ccp-influence/, https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2017/12/keating-forced-register-chinese-foreign-agent/, https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2019/05/keating-triggers-washington-alarm/
- KR: “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.”
MB: See points 1&2.
- KR: “You claim Labor resisted Liberal calls for transparency on the origins of COVID-19 is also a fabrication, among several others.”
MB: Hardly fabrication as Labor walked the “fine line”: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/06/labor-says-government-must-explain-claim-it-called-for-covid-inquiry-so-it-could-make-an-announcement, https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/coronavirus-in-australia-labor-accuses-scott-morrison-of-offending-china-with-call-for-a-covid19-inquiry/news-story/ed49b78b1197402968442c3e9039685b
- KR: “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.
MB: Rudd’s examples of Labor resisting Chinese influence and the Coalition not doing so are all pre-Dastayari. See point 1.
Finally, I note that KR did not respond to my gravest charge: “when Morrison ripped the mask off the evil CCP by goading it into issuing the 14 demands to end democracy, the most fundamental attack on Aussie liberalism since Japan took Singapore, and the critical document in uniting the liberal world behind Australia, Labor blamed Australia.”
Here is the evidence of that: https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2021/08/payne-slams-chinas-14-conditions-as-albo-kisses-beijings-ring/
Conclusion
Basically, I find the office of Kevin Rudd’s response defensive and one-eyed.
Everybody knows that both aisles of the parliament house were increasingly influenced by China over twenty years from the Millennium.
From around 2013/14 when it became clear that this influence was turning malign under Xi Jinping, MB spent many, many man-hours fighting a near lone hand against this phenomenon. History has proven this to have been the right judgment.
Any rereading of the MB archive shows that we were equally fearsome with the Coalition and Labor on the issue, not to mention exposing Beijing’s many useful idiots around the place.
It is clear that the Coalition led Australia from under Beijing’s skirts while Labor was slower to recognise that “China had changed”. This phrase did not even appear in Labor rhetoric until later in 2021 as the election approached. Even then, Labor’s own young MPs were spooked by the party’s China soft-pedaling as the election approached and the Morrison Government plus the Australian people had long made the shift to China hawkishness.
Ironically, my article this week was aimed at ensuring that this history was not rewritten to favour Labor.
