Andrew Hastie bribery claims against Chinese Australian

23rd May, 2018

With news that Liberal MP Andrew Hastie ("Hastie"), who chairs the Intelligence and Security Committee used Parliamentary privilege to claim that Chinese Australian Chau Chak Wing ("Chau") co-conspired to bribe a senior United Nations official (being the former president of the UN General Assembly John Ashe), all Australians have every right to be concerned about just what is occurring today in Australia.

Hastie also said it was his duty to make bribery claims about Chau in Parliament, and whilst Chau is an Australian citizen, its reported that he donated $4m to both the Liberal and Labor parties since 2004 and $45m to Australian universities. Hastie also noted that Chau had sued media organisations for defamation over its coverage of him, so he chose to speak in Parliament because of his concern that defamation cases could have a chilling effect on our free press.

It was reported in The Australian newspaper that Hastie said "Any attempt to silence our media from telling the truth - provided it is the truth - through a defamation claim cannot stand" and "our democracy works only if we have a free press that can publish information that serves the public interest" is a point I fully agree with, and is a point we must all ensure is protected in our country.

In response I wish to publicly thank Andrew for notifying Australians, and it's important that this information, and any outside political influence is reported to the Australian people, the people our politicians are elected to represent.

Most importantly, all foreign political donations must be immediately stopped, and after Labor's former Australian Senator Sam Dastyari's debacle, and other examples involving our political parties and politicians alike, we need to establish a federal Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), a point I have already discussed with some federal politicians and the media.

It's time for change Australia, and together we can do it. It's also time Australians are put first and in regards to Chau, based on what we have now seen and heard, we need to determine whether he is fit to continue to hold our cherished Australia citizenship.

Philip Couper

More: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-23/turnbull-did-not-know-hastie-would-make-chau-chak-wing-claims/9790476