Did Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo try to buy his way to Australian citizenship? Former PM Malcolm Turnbull demands successor investigate allegations against immigration boss
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison had defended the government’s record, citing Turnbull’s foreign interference laws
Turnbull, who introduced foreign interference laws in 2017, said the allegations contained in a Four Corners report regarding a meeting between Dutton and Huang following a payment to former Liberal minister Santo Santoro were “very troubling”.
“The allegation is that Santo Santoro received money in return for securing privileged access to the minister on behalf of Huang Xiangmo and all of that, in circumstances where there has been rising concern about lobbyists, about foreign influence,” Turnbull said. “Look, Peter Dutton has got a lot to explain about this.”
Earlier in the day, Morrison had defended the government’s record citing Turnbull’s foreign interference laws.
You can’t wave this off … This is the national security of Australia
“I think when it comes to these issue, our government’s record is squeaky clean,” Morrison said.
But Turnbull said Morrison could not waive off the allegations.
“This has to be addressed at the highest level of security, priority, urgency by the prime minister,” Turnbull said. “The buck stops with him. I know what it is like to be prime minister and, ultimately, you are responsible and so Scott Morrison has to deal with this.
“I met with an individual from the Chinese community and he was interested obviously in politics and other issues of the day,” Dutton said.
“He didn’t make representations to me in relation to [citizenship] matters. As it turns out, this individual is now offshore because an agency within my department took a decision to take certain action in relation to his visa so that person wouldn’t be able to return to Australia.
“So the suggestion that somehow I’ve provided anything to this individual is just a nonsense.”
What’s driving China conspiracy theories in Australia?
Meanwhile, a security adviser to Turnbull said he warned a Chinese-Australian writer not to travel to China before the blogger and critic of China’s Communist Party was detained on arrival at a Chinese airport in January.
John Garnaut was commissioned in 2016 by Turnbull to write a classified report on Chinese influence on Australian politics, leading to sweeping laws in 2018 banning covert foreign political interference and a diplomatic rift between Australia and China, its biggest trading partner.
“He was asked about me, what was the nature of our relationship, what was I doing. What was I working on,” Garnaut said.
He was asked about me, what was the nature of our relationship, what was I doing
Yang, a 53-year-old visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York and a former Chinese diplomat, did not take Garnaut’s advice and flew to China with his wife, Xiaoliang Yuan, and his 14-year-old stepdaughter.
Yuan said she had not seen her husband since they were separated by Chinese officials when they landed at Guangzhou Airport on January 19.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in January that Yang was “suspected of engaging in criminal activities endangering China’s national security.” He is being held in Beijing, where the Australian Embassy has been allowed consular access to him.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
