Don’t mention the detainees

There are a series of unwritten conventions of politics. One is to recognise that Parliamentarians are diplomats, often in informal ways, for their country. They have opportunities when travelling or when speaking with foreigners to promote Australia. As a consequence, they do not engage in partisan Australian politics. Nor do they involve themselves in the local politics of the country they are visiting. Whether in government or opposition, I always endeavoured to observe this rule.

Not so, it seems, the Premier of Western Australia who was caught on camera last week engaging in blatant partisan politics while in China. Seated with the Australian Ambassador and senior business leaders from China, with a video camera trained on him, the Premier launched into the Shadow Defence Minister Andrew Hastie. ‘He swallowed some sort of cold war pills back . . . when he was born, and he couldn’t get his mindset out of that.’

These were comments by a former naval lawyer about a former SAS officer who had served in war zones!

McGowan’s office distributed the film clip to the media.

Apart from the insult to a distinguished Australian Defence Force officer, the remarks played into the hands of the Chinese regime.

Xi Jinping and his cronies regularly accuse the west of engaging in a cold war (while prosecuting a hybrid war themselves!)

Instead of displaying some remorse for his diplomatic gaffe, McGowan doubled down. First, he sat down for an interview with the CCP mouthpiece the Global Times.

He observed that the calls to ‘decouple’ economically were receding without acknowledging that the process had been driven largely by the CCP. Playing into the hands of Beijing’s rhetoric, he added: ‘Obviously, they are dangerous and inflammatory sentiments that those people were promoting. It appears to me that they have largely stopped.’

While acknowledging that foreign affairs is the responsibility of the Commonwealth Government, McGowan nonetheless pushed the role of the states to influence outcomes by conducting such visits.

The WA premier then proceeded to suggest that the National Cabinet meet in China!

No self-respecting Prime Minister would countenance such a proposal. Imagine, eight premiers and chief ministers parading around China, all pushing their own causes, none of them with any responsibility for national security or foreign affairs. Nothing would project an image of Australia as a vassal state more than such an event.

But these are minor considerations for the premiers who are desperate to borrow even more money to fund their otherwise unaffordable projects. China’s trade sanctions on various Australian products still remain in place while they pretend that relations are back to normal.

Unlike the Victorian premier who visited China in early April, McGowan at least took a business delegation with him.

It is entirely appropriate for premiers to lead trade delegations overseas. But engaging in partisan politics is unacceptable and damaging to our national interest.

It is notable that neither the Victorian nor the Western Australian premier was prepared to raise human rights issues with the CCP. Not only has the regime an appalling record, which has been documented by various inquiries, including the United Nations, there are Australians being held in custody in China.

Prior to the WA premier’s departure, the family of the Australian journalist, Cheng Lei, the former prominent news anchor and business reporter for the state-owned, English language China Global Television network, sought Mr McGowan’s intervention.

The mother-of-two was arrested in 2020 and accused of providing state secrets to foreign organisations – a charge which allows the CCP to hold secret trials.

Her partner, Nick Coyle, contacted the Premier’s office about the matter but received no response. ‘It’s obviously disappointing the Premier has decided not to advocate for Lei on his trip to China and that his office has refused the genuine offer to discuss the issue,’ My Coyle said. ‘It is certainly puzzling that this is the second Labor premier heading to China in recent weeks, with clear reasons to raise, carefully and in consultation with the federal government, a case that rightfully concerns all Australians.’ Cheng’s father lives in Perth.

A WA government spokesman said ‘The premier will not raise specific foreign policy matters as they are the responsibility of the federal government.’ Yet the premier was happy to inform the Global Times that his visit could help to influence Australia’s foreign policy.

McGowan is the second premier to refuse to raise the issue. Earlier the Victorian premier said it was ‘too sensitive’ to raise the issue with his hosts during his visit, despite the fact that her children live in Melbourne.

Neither premier raised the case of another Australian, writer Yang Hengjun, who is also detained in China. The prominent scholar is facing a charge of espionage, but again the details have not been disclosed. Former Prime Minister Scott rejected the suggestion that he had spied for Australia. Yang claims to have been repeatedly tortured while in jail.

It is not uncommon for government ministers to raise these types of cases with overseas governments when visiting other nations. It is not unexpected by foreign officials in my experience. Not to do so, sends a message that these cases are unimportant or to be subjugated to economic and trade issues.

Not that human rights abuses are unrelated to trade.  In a leaked 2014 speech, Xi Jinping asserted that his Belt and Road Initiative required a stable security environment. It was in jeopardy, he said, if the situation in Xinjiang province was not brought under control. The world has since discovered what such control has meant for the Uighur population of the region: mass ‘re-education’ camps, forced labour and a policy of suppression of their religion and culture. Many of the Uighurs have been transported to other parts of the country to work in factories which export merchandise globally, including to Australia.

The left in Australia once prided itself on its human rights advocacy. Today its leaders cannot bring themselves to raise even specific human rights cases when overseas.

Instead, Mr McGowan engages in petty partisan politics that demean his office.

First published in the Spectator Australia.