The phrase ‘foreign interference‘ often brings to mind the covert meddling into Australian affairs by the Chinese and Russian governments, both the foes of democracy. 

It’s fascinating to observe Australian politicians and the public’s attitude towards Russia and China. We are quick to reprimand Russia for its involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, yet our knees wobble when it comes to criticizing the Chinese Communist Party’s mass killing. And the wincing first-hand accounts of Uyghur concentration camp torture is altogether unsettling.  

The human rights abuses continue even now on an industrial scale.

Chinese money is powerful. I hear you. What about human rights? Aren’t they important too?

Liberty Itch has now revealed a pattern of influence-peddling and unrestrained foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party across Australia, from a violent CCP sycophant assaulting a pro-democracy former legislator in Sydney, to Labor and Coalition politicians sidling-up to Chinese Communist influence in an obsequious display in WA Liberal Leader scurries out the back exit.

Now, the spotlight is on Melbourne and a pivotal foreign interference test case.

Di Sanh “Sunny” Duong, a leader of the Chinese community, is the first individual charged under Australia’s foreign interference laws.

The prosecution and the Australian Federal Police claim that Mr. Duong, aged 67, contributed $37,000 in 2020 for the Royal Melbourne Hospital in an attempt to secure influence with former federal minister, Alan Tudge, which might later be used in support of Chinese interests.

Mr. Duong has, on record, written to a politician in the Liberal Party in the past and suggested that Australia should support China’s expansionist Belt and Road Initiative, a project that was subsequently terminated by the Federal Government in 2020 due to national security concerns.

Sarah Kendall, a legal researcher of foreign interference legislation at the University of Queensland, commented that this case illustrates the breadth of the laws. She pointed out how an activity which may seem harmless could be regarded as a criminal offence if the authorities can prove that the conduct had the intent of preparing for foreign interference.

The law is unusual for a liberal democracy in that it requires from the prosecution only that a defendant intends to use current influence in the future for the purposes of foreign interference.

This is a balancing act for a classical liberal.

Liberals want to protect our hard-won freedoms and an expansionary foreign power like the Chinese regime is a threat to those freedoms especially when operating inside Australia. On the other hand, liberals believe in individual freedom of movement, habeas corpus and the rule of law.

Mr. Duong was charged in November 2020 by the Australian Federal Police. He pleaded not guilty in 2022. He denied engagement in any foreign interference activity, despite that he was a leader of Chinese community associations overseen by the CCP’s United Front Work Department, about which Political Itch has written in China’s Covert Australian Ops.

Magistrate Susan Wakeling determined that there was enough evidence to proceed to trial.

This is the first time a citizen has been charged with facilitating an act of foreign interference, an offence that carries a maximum 10 year imprisonment.

Whatever the result, it will be a critical precedent.

Whether there is a conviction or not, Mr. Duong’s case will be just the first of many. Similar acts of foreign interference have happened and are still happening every day in each Australian state.

How effective are we in defending our democracy? Political Itch will be there when the judgment is handed-down.

Watch this space.

Fiona Hui

Fiona is a higher education professional based in South Australia. Following the collapse of Hong Kong freedom, Fiona became deeply concerned about the threats imposed by China within Australia. Her research covers a range of topics, including China’s soft power, influence, infiltration, interference and human rights abuses.

It’s Lunar New Year this week.

The term Lunar New Year is more accurate than Chinese New Year. The spring festival is not exclusively Chinese but celebrated throughout China, Hong Kong, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and, yes, here in Australia among communities sharing this heritage.

Liberty Itch strives for accuracy, an appreciation of all cultures which observe Lunar New Year festivities and, as you are well aware, we are not in the habit of bending to the Chinese Communist Party.

Let freedom ring!

So, terminology aside, it’s unfortunate then that the Chinese Communist Party infiltration operations within Australia are in full swing.

Liberty Itch has previously reported on the conviction in Sydney of a violent CCP thug. We’ve reported how Australia’s Taiwan visit sparked ugly CCP sabre-rattling. On these pages, you’ve even read a wincing first-hand account of Uyghur concentration camp torture. We’ve even shared how the CCP coerces Australian residents in our interview, Life as a Political Asylum Seeker in Australia.

Today, our focus is on Perth, Western Australia, and how the CCP is wooing major party politicians there.

Soft-power, you understand.

The Perth Chinese Consulate invited key Western Australian legislators and Commonwealth bureaucrats to their Lunar New Year function. Attendees included the Hon. Sue Ellery MLC, Minister for Finance, Commerce and Women’s Interests from the Australian Labor Party, and the Western Australian Liberal Leader Dr David Honey MLA.

Pro-Beijing, United Front Work Department affiliated organisations – reminder, the UFWD is the Chinese Communist Party’s official propaganda arm – were also present at the function, including the executives and founders from the Chung Wah Association Inc, the CCP Media Perth Post and Australian Chinese Times, the WA Beijing Association, and the Australian Peaceful Unification Association.

Unsurprisingly, given the Chinese regime’s constant civil liberty infractions and growing interference here in Australia, there was a human rights protest self-described as “End CCP” out the front of the consulate.

Political Itch has spoken to a key figure of that protest, Richard Lue. His account is that, at the end of the function, Minister Ellery and Dr Honey sought to avoid the peaceful protesters at the front by taking the back exit. Then, surprised the protesters were documenting the comings and goings from the consulate, Dr Honey ‘ran away quickly’ when he spotted their camera.

This is not the behaviour of MPs confident of their actions.

Why scurry through the back exit? Why run to avoid the camera?

Would it not have been better for a Minister and a Liberal Leader to boldly walk out the front door and talk with the protesters about their grievances?

Both the Minister and the Liberal Leader were given a red bag by the consulate on departing. Given the CCP has embroiled other politicians in career-ending activities, we thought this at the very least worth questioning.

Political Itch reached out to Labor’s Sue Ellery to ask what was in the red bag and to find out why she took the back exit rather than just hear the protesters’ complaints. Sue Ellery’s office did not respond.

Dr Honey’s office did respond, as follows:

Please give me a call just so I can clarify a few things.

But basically, Dr Honey left via the front door, not via a back or side door and walked directly to his car which was parked on Royal Street.

The red bag he was holding was a party gift bag that was given to all attendees – it contained some low value trinkets etc… (it was a cap, a fan and a poetry book). 

The function was held by the Chinese Embassy to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Political Itch has subsequently received photos from an eyewitness that the Liberal Leader exited the Chinese Communist Party’s Perth Consulate from the back door on Royal Street. The front gate of the Consulate is on Brown Street, not Royal Street, according to the Consulate’s official address.

Whether these politicians exit from the front or back, or whether they receive minor trinkets in a gift bag is not the point, of course.

What is relevant is that our politicians prefer to immerse themselves in the hospitality of an abhorrent regime which regularly abuses human rights, rather than listen to the victims of that regime.

There were so many questions we wanted to ask. One which came to mind was the persecution of Christians in China.

Political Itch took up Dr Honey’s invitation to call multiple times over a two day period. In the absence of a call back, we then wrote the following email to his office:

Dear Sir,

We are unable to get hold of you on the phone.

The answer as to which exit Dr Honey used is in dispute by eyewitnesses.

A follow up question for Dr Honey –

According to ChinaAid’s 2021 Annual Persecution Report, more than 50,000 Christians were arrested in China in the Shanxi Province alone. Will Dr Honey be willing to speak up on behalf of Christians within and outside the Liberal Party and talk to the Perth CCP Consulate about the persecution of Christians in China?

On this more serious question, Dr Honey’s office did not respond.

It would be generous for you, the reader, to conclude that they are all too busy to respond. These are serious issues.

It is more than disappointing that Labor and Liberal politicians in Western Australia hob-nob with the communist elite, operatives who are actively undermining our democracy, but not able to advocate for victims of human rights abuses and persecuted Christians.

Take note. Chinese Communist Party infiltration is deep. Worryingly, WA Labor and Liberal are lulled into forgetting who they represent and are not acting like the principled democratic leaders they should.

Fiona Hui

Fiona is a higher education professional based in South Australia. Following the collapse of Hong Kong freedom, Fiona became deeply concerned about the threats imposed by China within Australia. Her research covers a range of topics, including China’s soft power, influence, infiltration, interference and human rights abuses.