Likely, none of the three distinguished Australians of Chinese ethnicity appearing a Senate committee hearing expected to be comprehensively done over by two ideologues from the Australian right – Senators Eric Abetz and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.
Last week three distinguished Australians of Chinese ethnicity appeared before Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee as part of its inquiry on issues facing diaspora communities in Australia.
One of the terms of reference is the barriers to the full participation of diaspora communities in Australia’s democratic and social institutions.
The three – Ms Wesa Chau, Mr Osmond Chiu and Ms Yun Jiang – each made eloquent, balanced and thoughtful opening statements, all on point. Nothing they said could remotely be seen as being blind to failings of the Chinese government – to the contrary.
But then it was time for questions. Abetz quickly descended to the task: “Can I ask each of the three witnesses to very briefly tell me whether they are willing to unconditionally condemn the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship? It’s not a difficult question.” Quite what the question had to do with the full participation of diaspora communities in Australia’s democratic and social institutions, except to make it more difficult, is not clear.
Ms Jiang was the first to answer. In her opening statement she had been quite critical of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party. She responded: “As I have stated in a lot of my public statements, I condemn the grievous human rights abuses done by the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party, but I also have said before that I don’t think it’s fair to force all Chinese Australians to take a position or political action when similar requests are not being made to other Australians.”
Mr Chiu was next: “I support and believe in the universality of human rights. I don’t support the Communist Party but I don’t believe that it’s helpful to get into a political game of denouncements.”
Abetz came back pugnaciously: “So you can’t condemn it?” Why he said “can’t” rather than “don’t” or “won’t” is curious and perhaps disturbing.
Chiu replied: “I think my statement was quite clear about how I don’t support the Communist Party and I don’t support what it does.”
Abetz then went for the jugular: “There’s a difference between not supporting something and actively condemning a regime that engages in forced organ harvesting and having a million Uighers in concentration camps — the list goes on, and all we have is this limp statement that we don’t support it.”
Chiu was not given a chance to respond as Abetz had moved on to his next prey, Ms Chau.
She responded: “I think that all migrants should have a right to participate in Australian democracy and to be able to distinguish their ethnicity and race from dual political issues. As citizens, we should first and foremost be treated as every other citizen — and not every other Australian of any other ethnicity has been asked the same question. For example, in your distinguished political career, Senator, have you been asked to be loyal to Australia because you were born in Germany?”
Abetz leapt at the opening: “Oh, absolutely! Have you not read the terrible trolling that I receive? I am astounded that you would ask that question!” The terrible trolling Abetz gets is perhaps not as well known as he might suppose. Chau did not have an opportunity to indicate whether she was familiar with it, before Abetz warmed to his theme:
“And, sadly, if you’re of Italian origin you will be asked if you’re part of the Mafioso — If you’re Vietnamese you’ll be asked if you’re part of a triad. If you’re German, like myself, you must be a Fascist by birth, irrespective of what your public utterances might be. And so the list goes on. That is why, might I add, that in nearly every single interview that I do unequivocally condemning the Chinese Communist Party I stress that this is not a condemnation of the Chinese people — because I believe that they are just as freedom-loving as every other human being on the planet — but that I am condemning the regime under which they suffer, just as much as not all Germans were Nazis, or all Russians communists, or all Italians part of the Mafioso or Vietnamese part of the triads. But, as German-born, can I say that I have no difficulty in saying unequivocally that the Nazi regime deserved to be condemned. I’m just concerned that some of our witnesses have great difficulty in condemning a regime that has been responsible for millions of deaths; incarceration of millions; forced organ harvesting; illegal land grabs; ripping up of an international — UN-sanctioned, even — agreement between the UK and China in relation to Hong Kong; and the list goes on. I’m just concerned that in this great freedom-loving country of Australia, that has adopted all of us as part of its citizenry, we are unable to fully celebrate the great freedoms we have and to condemn some of the backgrounds from which we come — not courtesy of the people but courtesy of the ugly regimes that were inflicted over them.”
Ms Chau finally got the chance to say: “I do want to say that I think Australia should defend human rights and speak up against it, and not shy away from it. But, at the same time, I also believe that people should not need to pick sides. It is unfair on the community to expect that of people, especially if it’s simply based on ethnicity and race.”
Abetz was not finished: “But can you not pick a side to condemn the oppressive ugliness of the communist regime in China? Why is that so difficult?”
Chau began to reply: “From my perspective, I do not support some of the actions of” — but was cut short because Abetz broke in: “I’m not asking you to support, I’m asking you to unequivocally condemn. Unless we condemn these activities they’ll just keep on going. It would be like somebody saying, ‘I don’t support the Holocaust.’ No. We have to unequivocally condemn the Holocaust, and a similar situation is happening to the Uighurs under the communist regime in China. Why is it so difficult to condemn it?”
Ms Chau did not take issue, as she might have done, with whether the murder of six million people by the German Nazis was quite comparable with the despicable treatment of the Uighurs. Instead she responded: “I’m also concerned that this is a Senate inquiry. For witnesses to publicly declare their allegiance to Australia by condemning a foreign government — this goes to the point I was making: when a person is putting their hand up for public office or speaking out publicly, they are required to make that allegiance and declare loyalty. This is unfair on the community. This is an inquiry about diaspora issues, and there are many other diaspora issues that need to be dealt with, including racism and including what I suggested before — that we need to have better civic education so people can really understand how a democracy works.”
Fierravanti-Wells then joined the fray: “As somebody who has been involved in multicultural activities for their whole life and over the course of a long public life, can I give you some pretty basic advice: go and read the Constitution.”
I am not sure what revelatory insight the Senator expects Ms Chau to find in that dusty document. I am reasonably confident that I am the only person who has ever read the Constitution to be recorded for the blind. It surely is in the running for the most boring recording ever made – best left sleeping in the Australian Archives.
Fierravanti-Wells went on: “That’s the first thing I would say to you, and the second is: there is nothing in any political party that I have ever come across, whether it’s Liberals, Greens, Labor or whatever, that precludes any Australian from participating, so long as they’re on the electoral roll. I think the problem here is that certain communities just don’t want to participate. I have to tell you that there is an overwhelming under-desire among people from the Chinese Australian community to participate in politics. If more of them participated, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion.”
So the Axis Alliance is alive and well. But Chinese Australians are out in the cold.
Lawyer, formerly senior federal public servant (CEO Constitutional Commission, CEO Law Reform Commission, Department of PM&C, Protective Security Review and first Royal Commission on Intelligence and Security; High Court Associate (1971) ; partner of major law firms. Awarded Premier’s Award (2018) and Law Institute of Victoria’s President’s Award for pro bono work (2005).
Comments
14 responses to “Abetz fearlessly proclaims he is not a Fascist by birth”
Horrible, … what if I think the CCP is no worse than the Republican or Democratic parties, can I freely express this view?
The CCP today is not the same as the CCP under Mao’s time. Organisations change over time. Similarly, the Democratic party once stood for slavery, and now the Republicans closely identify with white supremacy. Political parties can change over time.
“Abetz then went for the jugular: “There’s a difference between not supporting something and actively condemning a regime that engages in forced organ harvesting and having a million Uighers in concentration camps — the list goes on, and all we have is this limp statement that we don’t support it.””.. Abetz’s hypocrisy is a bit rich coming from a government that supports the Israeli regime’s 72 years of warcrimes, crimes against humanity, violations of international law and the 13 years of Palestinian families imprisoned in the concentration camps of Gaza.
Not a fascist at birth, but possessed by the wandering spirit of B.A. Santamaria not long after his birth.
Look Abetz and co. are neocons who oppose China and Russia because they wish to pave a different path away from the hegemony of the US neoliberal, neoconservative global grasp!
If you look at the history and philosophy of people like Abetz, they would always drift favorably to fascism as its dogma suppresses working people and allows the corporate oligarchs (the ones they dutifully represent ) to flourish!
If one looks at the rise of fascism take a lens on the role of the corporate sectors love affair with fascism!
https://youtu.be/-slBwfTHaxM
We keep getting back to the troubles in Xinjiang and all those oppressed Uighurs. And, yet, 45 Muslim nations have expressed no problem with China’s treatment of the Uighurs. And why might that be?
Could it be because Uighur jihadists are active in the Middle East, and the 45 sympathize with China’s wish to not see them come home?
Perhaps they also sympathize with China’s move to roll back the Wahhabi schools that have radicalized so many young Uighurs.
Once the Pakistani port of Gwadar becomes fully operational and the transit north thru Pakistan, over the mountains and into Kashgar, is open, China will avoid the geographical choke-point in the Straits of Malacca. Couple this with the other road being built thru Myanmar to Yunnan, and all this kerfuffle over the South China Sea will become a thing to read about in the history books.
Once that road thru Pakistan is fully open, the very last thing China wants or needs is radical Wahabi trouble makers running amok in Xinjiang.
I suggest our two Senators could do with taking a good look at what is happening in the world. I also suggest that the threat of the “yellow peril” is not far from their thinking.
Hypocrisy is an interesting feature of political life and often not conscious? I did hear Ferranti Wells wanted to decouple Australia’s economy from the PRC. Perhaps a step too far with the rest of her LNP colleagues. Abetz is a blunt instrument and in his own words is willing, ^to drop the D9^ blade on any views opposed to his own. With Abetz he is a stand out Pharisee. He never misses any chance to preach to the converted and shore up his base whilst onward Christian soldiers plays in the background.
Ferranti Wells is the daugther of a Port Kembla steelworker whose wages and conditions were greatly improved by the left wing leadership of the then FIA, led by an Italian migrant Nando Lelli. She has never acknowledged the role of trade unions and the left in improving her own family living standards. And she has a record of creating not one job in the Illawarra region of New South Wales.
Well said Paul, her memory is defective or warped, and playing the support act to Erica Betz does her legacy no favours at all.
Why should Chinese Australians, or anybody else, strive to become politicians when it puts them in the company of people like Abetz and Fierravanti-Wells?
It is sad to see these two Senators still have their “white supremacy mentality” in display under the protection of our Federal Parliament. Chinese Australians will take their rightful place in politic and other arena in a our successful multicultural society. But we need some proper education for these two Senators and others like them to learn the true meaning of multiculturalism e.g mutual respect and understanding; mutual tolerance and cooperation; democratic debate and discussion etc. Many Australians would dispute many accusations they landed to China relentlessly and to these three budding young Chinese Australian politicians who wish to contribute to our political life in Australia. These Senators obviously lack proper and constructive diplomatic skill in dealing with countries who have a different political system like us. I advise that they and people like them go and read “Asian voice: Wang Gungwu (East Asia Forum Oct 9, 2020)
By WANG GUNGWU | On 18 October 2020 published on this Blog so that they understanding when they said: “I oppose the CCP but not Chinese people”. What hypocrites they are too if they forget how many millions of innocent people we have helped to kill or render them refugees even since we join USA in so many unjust wars like Iraq. And Australia’s own very sad human right record with Aborigines and non-White Australians. That is another issue for an open discussion and debate.
Australia-China relations is too important for these backbenches to say what they wish without consulting our Prime Minister and Foreign Minister as Sir Houston stated recently:
“AT THE LOWY INSTITUTE LECTURE, SIR ANGUS SAID, “CHINA IS OUR PARTNER. CHINA IS NOT AN ENEMY. LET’S GET THAT VERY STRAIGHT”. Let’s hope that the Morrison government and his Cabinet are listening. He continued, “I think we need to take a hard look at our relationship with China. I think we need a reset, we need a circuit breaker because really if we are going to come out of this recession that we have at the moment because of COVID-19, we need China. “Why? We are integrated into the Chinese economy and fundamentally we need to be able to work effectively with them. “They are going to be a force that we have to deal with so [we’d] better work out the best way to work with them.”
Sir Angus Houston says Australia’s relationship with China needs a reboot.
If only I were invited to front with those three Chinese Australians, I might have gravitated to asking Eric Abetz if he morally regrets that he minimised capital gains tax by doing a commercially legal deal with the developer who bought his investment parcel of of land and his adjoining residence.
As for Connie I would have chided her for her rank ignorance, as usual, and pointed out how Francis Lee was rejected by Eric Rozenthal, then NSW State Secretary, because Francis would not buy the 20 or so tables as requested for a Chinese restaurant fundraiser. That is the sort of John Chinaman the old Parties still hanker for. Remember Gladys Liu’s boasting about the $1M donations she collected for her Party before pre-selection?
Ah, perhaps the tone and substance of my submission was not that of a mendicant. I should know my place, eh?
Sir,
Sadly, I concluded after reading this article that bullying beyond the schoolyard is alive and well among adults who are now in the highest place in government. It smacks of the McCarthy era. Mr Abetz’s and Ms Fierravanti-Wells’ views of China are those of ultra right-wing hawkish condemnations that derives commonly from geopolitical propaganda. Never mind the controversy surrounding these claims, or the propaganda sources from whence they came (organ harvesting is the favourite claim of Falun Gong – pro-Trump religious cult movement). China is tried by a kangaroo court and found guilty – regardless of the fact that 45 Muslim countries have signed a statement indicating that they approved of the methods used in Xinjiang; and that the Chinese government have a high approval rating among its citizens. No one is saying that China is incapable of wrongdoing. However, it is one’s responsibility as a citizen to distinguish fact from fiction before one, especially someone in a significant position in government, to go around condemning other neighbouring countries, especially our most important trading partner. The behaviour of the two Senators is the exact opposite of the democracy that they claim to promote – it is a form of fascism in which the powerful, in the name of righteousness (trawled from right-wing hawkish sources), use on the weaker.
I see these as young Australians of Chinese descent who were well behaved and were doing their best to keep the democracy in their homeland alive. They are evidence of the desire of the Chinese community to participate in politics – in direct contradiction to Ms Fierravanti-Well’s claim. One also senses that in order to prevent certain communities from participating in the politics of this country, that Senate duo attempted to nip the the initiative of the community, represented by these three young people, in the bud. We, the overseas Chinese that have lived for generations as minorities are familiar with the hypocritical and cruel ways of the bigoted. They use the misfortunes of others as political football. Sometimes, they are not misfortunes but manufactured ones. Before the US/China conflict arose, non of the types of Eric Abetz professed concern for the Chinese people under “the regime in which they suffer”. It is also difficult for experienced people to take the professed liking or concerns for Uyghur people, or Chinese people as a whole by people like Abetz.
It is very well for Abetz to say that he condemns Nazism. It is another thing for him to be compelled by a panel of authoritative Senators to condemn Nazism because he is of German descent; or for the present German government if the conservative Australian government were to take a dislike for it. I am not even sure if he would condemn Nazism if the Axis had won the WWII.
In democracies, governments win people over by persuasive arguments, not by bullying. Reading the Australian constitution is no guarantee of deep understanding. If Abetz and Fierravanti-Wells are advocates of human rights, they would not have behaved as they did.
Sincerely,
Teow Loon Ti
Eric is prefectly placed to lead the extreme right wing nationalist regime of Tasmania, sheltering a ragged collection of fleeing neo-nazi’s, closet fascist admirers of strong men with jutting jaws (yes thats you Connie) and Murdoch prpagandists after the revolution.
“Abetz fearlessly proclaims he is not a Fascist by birth.”
“Not a Fascist by birth”, is that like not accepting the premise of the question, but not denying the accusation?