Huawei must not be awarded WA rail contract

6th July, 2018

With Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei barred from the National Broadband Network, and concerns raised regarding their supply of equipment to, and involvement in Australia's 5G wireless network due to its links to the Chinese Government, Philip is concerned the Western Australian Government would now consider Huawei for the $120 million contract to supply a 4G communications system to Perth's rail network.

Philip's concerns relate to Huawei's previous conduct and its non-payment of accounts to West Australian rigging company Big Dog Rigging Pty Ltd, which the company advises contributed to it going into Liquidation with ten (10) West Australian employees, and several contractors losing their jobs and suppliers not being paid.

Big Dog Rigging was engaged by Huawei to install mobile phone towers on behalf of Optus and Vodaphone, and despite confirmation payment would be made, it never was and the company had no choice but to enter Liquidation, which resulted in the WA job losses. Enclosed within the company's Report As To Affairs, it listed Huawei as a debtor owing $42,626.96 for Vodafone and $48,897.60 for Optus totalling $91,524.56.

In internal emails, Huawei's WA Site Controller Mike Yu Liu confirmed works were completed and accepted in 2014, and despite the company's requests for payment, payment was only scheduled to occur in late 2015 (one year later). Those payments were never made and Big Dog Rigging went into Liquidation on the 10 December 2015 with Dino Traveglini of Cor Cordis being appointed its Liquidator.

Huawei even asked the company to contract via another entity being DMN Installations Pty Ltd to do a linkswap at a cost of $10,450, however DMN Installations advised they too were not paid by Huawei and went into Liquidation themselves with Huawei being their largest debtor. DMN Installations account is also included within the company's records, so this further amount owed by Huawei has not been paid either.

As the previous Head of Procurement for WA's Verve Energy who understands the procurement process, see http://www.philipcouper.com.au/news/article/index.php?articleID=51, our state must hold our service providers to a high standard. Philip therefore calls on West Australian Premier Mark McGowan and our Government to immediately STOP all involvement of Huawei in Western Australia's procurement process, and not allow Huawei to be considered for this, or any other WA Government contract.

We must follow the lead of our Federal government and support our security and intelligence agencies, and most importantly ensure that all Australian companies and jobs are secure. Furthermore, we must ensure the safety of all Australians is paramount and not compromise our national security.

To former Victorian Premier John Brumby and any other Australians connected with this company, Philip seriously questions why you would be involved with a company that has acted in the manner, and whose actions and non-payment have contributed, as in this case to the closing of the businesses and the loss of Australian jobs.

The director of Big Dog Rigging further advised that when Huawei realised the company had no choice but to enter into Liquidation, Huawei "panicked" and said, "they wanted to avoid liquidators." The director was somewhat concerned about their comments and believed Huawei had many experiences with Liquidators.

In any event Huawei did not pay their accounts, and Vodafone and Optus are now utilising the mobile phone towers and infrastructure provided by Big Dog Rigging.

The companies Liquidator Dino Travaglini and Philip have attempted to recover the payments from Huawei but again the payments have still not been made. The conduct of Huawei has been extraordinary and Philip therefore asks all Australians to notify Philips office of your dealings with Huawei, as Philip would like to understand if these issues have been experienced by other Australian companies and/ or contractors, especially considering the directors comments concerning Huawei and liquidators. Philip would also like to collate this information and ensure that the media, our state and federal governments and politicians are also apprised and updated as well.

It's time to protect all Australians, our industry, jobs and most importantly our national security. Philip therefore believe there's no place for Huawei in Australia, and any attempts by this company to secure any Australian contract must be rejected in its entirety, and for Huawei to go back to China.

Philip Couper

-ENDS-

We're Australian and we look after one another - It's time for change Australia and together we can do it.

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