https://www.scmp.com/rss/322392/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com At a time when China is being systematically portrayed as a bogeyman trying to take over Australia’s political system, the emergence in October of a self-proclaimed Chinese spy claiming to have a trove of insider secrets to spill about China’s intelligence operations should have been a dream come true for Canberra’s top spooks. But instead of putting Wang Liqiang in a secure location for a thorough debriefing which could take months, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation apparently... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/explosive-claims-chinese-spy-wang-liqiang-seem-more-fiction-fact/article/3040190?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/explosive-claims-chinese-spy-wang-liqiang-seem-more-fiction-fact/article/3040190?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Dec 2019 10:10:08 +0000 This article originally appeared on ABACUS While the US is still dealing with the fallout of fake news campaigns in 2016, Australia is in the midst of its own misinformation campaign, and it’s not just on Facebook and Twitter. Chinese social media platform WeChat has been bustling with misinformation as Australia prepares to elect new members of parliament this month. WeChat, the app that does everything On Monday, the Labor Party decided that the problem had escalated enough to send a letter to... https://www.scmp.com/abacus/culture/article/3029339/australia-has-fake-news-problem-wechat-and-wants-tencents-help?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/abacus/culture/article/3029339/australia-has-fake-news-problem-wechat-and-wants-tencents-help?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 May 2019 14:57:41 +0000 While the US is still dealing with the fallout of fake news campaigns in 2016, Australia is in the midst of its own misinformation campaign, and it’s not just on Facebook and Twitter. Chinese social media platform WeChat has been bustling with misinformation as Australia prepares to elect new members of parliament this month.   On Monday, the Labor Party decided that the problem had escalated enough to send a letter to WeChat owner Tencent asking the company to clean up the fake news on the... https://www.scmp.com/digital-life/australia-has-fake-news-problem-wechat-and-wants-tencents-help/article/3009522?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/digital-life/australia-has-fake-news-problem-wechat-and-wants-tencents-help/article/3009522?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 May 2019 14:57:41 +0000 Australia’s Parliament passed sweeping national security legislation on Thursday that bans covert foreign interference in domestic politics, makes industrial espionage for a foreign power a crime and offends the nation’s most important trading partner, China. The two bills covering foreign interference, espionage and influence transparency have been criticised as criminalising dissent. The Senate made them law with the support of the centre-left Labor Party opposition on the last day of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2152987/australia-warns-cold-war-style-espionage-it-passes-law-banning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2152987/australia-warns-cold-war-style-espionage-it-passes-law-banning?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 28 Jun 2018 13:41:21 +0000 Australia’s attorney general on Friday urged parliament to pass anti-foreign interference laws this month ahead of five by-elections scheduled for late July. Australia blames the legislation that would ban covert foreign interference in politics and expand espionage offences for the current diplomatic strains in its relationship with China. Australian media reported last week that two bills were the result of a classified government report commissioned by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2016... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2149943/australias-foreign-meddling-laws-aimed-china-could-take-effect?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2149943/australias-foreign-meddling-laws-aimed-china-could-take-effect?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Jun 2018 09:30:08 +0000 Did Malcolm Turnbull commit the ultimate Aussie pub sin and jump the queue? One Brisbane man certainly thought so and allegedly unleashed a torrent of abuse – and the finger – at the prime minister and his companions, at a politics-at-the-pub event in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs on Thursday night. But the 27-year-old Carina man did not even realise who he was flipping the bird to – he was just inflamed by the wait at the bar. “Police will allege the man became abusive to a group at the bar due to... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2146772/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-gets-finger-committing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2146772/prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-gets-finger-committing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 May 2018 08:10:25 +0000 Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia by Clive Hamilton Hardie Grant 3/5 stars Australian senator Sam Dastyari of the Labor Party resigned in January after a year-long scandal involving foreign donations and influence peddling. In his support for China’s claims in the South China Sea, Dastyari disagreed with the China policy of both the government and the Australian Labor Party. It was revealed that Dastyari had accepted money from Huang Xiangmo, a Chinese businessman with links to the... https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2145542/china-undermining-australian-democracy-writes-professor-public-ethics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2145542/china-undermining-australian-democracy-writes-professor-public-ethics?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 May 2018 23:31:54 +0000 Five Australian lawmakers were forced from Parliament on Wednesday in an ongoing legal wrangle over a 117-year-old constitutional ban on dual citizens standing for election. The by-elections that will result from the latest turmoil create opportunities for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s conservative coalition to increase its single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to govern. But a firmer grip on power could be short-lived, with Australia facing a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2145337/five-australian-mps-quit-parliament-because-117-year-old-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2145337/five-australian-mps-quit-parliament-because-117-year-old-law?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 May 2018 06:34:58 +0000 Australia’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull marked an unwanted milestone Monday by losing his 30th straight opinion poll – a benchmark he used to justify deposing former Liberal leader Tony Abbott. Abbott was toppled in a September 2015 party room coup with Turnbull memorably citing his loss of 30 consecutive Newspolls in The Australian newspaper as the key reason why he had to go. Turnbull has been reminded about it by commentators ever since, with Abbott vocal from the backbench as the party... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2140871/australia-pm-malcolm-turnbull-loses-30th-straight-opinion-poll?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2140871/australia-pm-malcolm-turnbull-loses-30th-straight-opinion-poll?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Apr 2018 05:42:10 +0000 Australia’s former prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday hinted he still held leadership ambitions as his replacement struggles to turn around the government’s disastrous opinion polling. Abbott dropped the hint while launching a book by a former bitter political opponent Pauline Hanson, who leads the anti-Islam, anti-immigration and pro-President Donald Trump minor party, One Nation. Hanson was voted out of Parliament after a single three-year term in 1998. But the pair have put their animosity... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2139095/you-are-always-better-second-time-around-former-australian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2139095/you-are-always-better-second-time-around-former-australian?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Mar 2018 07:07:03 +0000 The junior partner in Australia’s coalition government elected as its new leader on Monday a former newspaper editor who takes over as deputy prime minister after an embarrassing sex scandal threatened a decades-old conservative alliance. Michael McCormack was chosen in a party-room ballot to replace Barnaby Joyce as the leader of the rural-based National Party after Joyce, who campaigned on family values, resigned over an extramarital affair with his former media secretary. Joyce is expecting a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134693/conservative-rural-politician-michael-mccormack-australias-new?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134693/conservative-rural-politician-michael-mccormack-australias-new?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Feb 2018 03:58:50 +0000 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has declined to offer US President Donald Trump any advice on gun control days after the latest mass shooting at a US school, despite Australia’s success in cutting gun violence. Australia has some of the world’s toughest gun control laws, introduced after its worst mass murder, when a gunman killed 35 people at Port Arthur in the island state of Tasmania in 1996. Australia has had no mass shootings since then. But Turnbull, who met Trump for talks in... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134569/australian-pm-malcolm-turnbull-declines-offer-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134569/australian-pm-malcolm-turnbull-declines-offer-donald-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 24 Feb 2018 08:57:27 +0000 Australia’s scandal-hit deputy leader Barnaby Joyce announced on Friday he was quitting and moving to the backbench amid claims of sexual harassment and controversy over an affair with a now-pregnant former aide. Joyce, whose National Party rules alongside Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberals, has been front-page news in Australia for two weeks since it emerged he had left his wife of 24 years for his younger former media adviser, who is now expecting their baby boy. The 50-year-old had... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134398/australias-deputy-prime-minister-joyce-quit-amid-affair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134398/australias-deputy-prime-minister-joyce-quit-amid-affair?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Feb 2018 03:31:32 +0000 China is not a threat to Australia because it lacks “any hostile intent”, Malcolm Turnbull has said as he embarks on his US visit. Speaking to Sky News on Thursday, the Australian prime minister sought to play down a more hostile approach to China by the US, rejecting the “out-of-date cold-war prism” of seeing the two superpowers as in competition. Turnbull said the aim of the trip – which will include regional security talks and a delegation of Australian premiers and business leaders attending... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134309/we-dont-see-hostile-intent-china-australian-pm-malcolm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2134309/we-dont-see-hostile-intent-china-australian-pm-malcolm?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Feb 2018 08:54:44 +0000 A conservative Australian politician who posted a photo of himself on Facebook holding a gun in a dig at environmentalists was reported to police and accused of being insensitive after a mass shooting at a US school. George Christensen put up the image on Saturday showing him at a shooting range with the comment: “You gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky, greenie punks?” He said it was a tongue-in-cheek reference to the “Dirty Harry” films starring Clint Eastwood who takes on “people who are... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133836/australian-politician-under-fire-posting-gun-range-photo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133836/australian-politician-under-fire-posting-gun-range-photo?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2018 09:25:18 +0000 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his disgraced deputy Barnaby Joyce met face-to-face in Sydney on Saturday to try to resolve the damaging public crisis engulfing the coalition government. The pair are understood to have met at about midday for more than an hour. Joyce has been under pressure to quit after it was revealed he has been having an affair with one of his staff, who is now pregnant. It’s just the latest controversy Joyce has managed to find himself in, after he was caught... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133664/malcolm-turnbull-and-barnaby-joyce-meet-resolve-row?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133664/malcolm-turnbull-and-barnaby-joyce-meet-resolve-row?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Feb 2018 09:21:44 +0000 The Australian government was thrown into turmoil on Friday after Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce hit out at Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, calling the prime minister’s criticism of his extramarital affair with a former staffer “inept” and “unnecessary.” The rare public dispute between the two top government officials followed Turnbull taking the extraordinary step of banning sexual relations between ministers and their staff on Thursday. Joyce, who is also leader of a governing coalition... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133586/australias-government-turmoil-pm-malcolm-turnbull-and-deputy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133586/australias-government-turmoil-pm-malcolm-turnbull-and-deputy?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Feb 2018 05:01:00 +0000 Australia’s prime minister imposed a formal ban on sex between ministers and their staff on Thursday after his deputy made “a shocking error of judgement” by having an affair that left an aide pregnant and the government reeling. Malcolm Turnbull announced the amendment to the ministerial code of conduct at an extraordinary press conference during which he slammed deputy Barnaby Joyce for causing “terrible hurt and humiliation” to his wife and four children. “Barnaby made a shocking error of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133493/australias-scandal-hit-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-take-leave?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133493/australias-scandal-hit-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-take-leave?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Feb 2018 06:23:41 +0000 Australia’s deputy prime minister was under mounting pressure on Wednesday to resign as his party’s leader over revelations of a relationship with a former staffer. Newspapers revealed last week that Barnaby Joyce and his former media adviser are expecting a baby together, and the scandal has angered many within Joyce’s conservative, rural-based Nationals party. As leader of the junior party in the governing coalition, Joyce is both the deputy prime minister and acting prime minister when the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133386/australian-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-facing-pressure-own?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133386/australian-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-facing-pressure-own?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Feb 2018 10:16:26 +0000 Pressure was mounting on Australia’s deputy prime minister on Tuesday amid fresh allegations that his affair with a younger former employee, who is pregnant with their child, breached ministerial rules. Barnaby Joyce has been under intense scrutiny since the relationship was splashed across the front page of Sydney’s Daily Telegraph last week, with his wife of 24 years making clear she and their four daughters were devastated. He public apologised to them on Tuesday and defended the two jobs,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133174/pressure-mounts-australias-deputy-pm-over-affair?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2133174/pressure-mounts-australias-deputy-pm-over-affair?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Feb 2018 06:27:12 +0000 If you have not heard spoken palawa kani, you are not alone. Few have. Among Tasmanians, at least, that is about to change. In an Australian first, a television advertising campaign by activists has been produced in a revived Aboriginal tongue. Tasmanians will hear it spoken (and see it subtitled) on breakfast television and during prime time over the coming weeks of the state election campaign. The advertisement targets the premier, Will Hodgman, for what Indigenous leaders say has been a... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2131932/using-our-language-defend-our-heritage-aboriginal-activists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2131932/using-our-language-defend-our-heritage-aboriginal-activists?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 04 Feb 2018 09:04:30 +0000 Hundreds of top-secret and highly classified cabinet documents have been obtained by the ABC following a breach of national security. The documents, which the ABC has dubbed The Cabinet Files, were found in two locked filing cabinets sold at an ex-government sale in Canberra and span nearly a decade. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on Wednesday announced an urgent investigation into the leak. Almost all of the files are classified, some as “top secret” or “AUSTEO”, which means they... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2131437/australian-broadcaster-reveals-hundreds-top-secret-files-found?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2131437/australian-broadcaster-reveals-hundreds-top-secret-files-found?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jan 2018 12:14:18 +0000 The Chinese government uses a sophisticated network of supposedly non-political organisations to suppress criticism, cultivate relationships and exert influence over Australia’s business, academic and political worlds. MPs investigating foreign interference have been handed evidence with unprecedented detail of the complex network of soft power used by extensions of the Chinese Communist Party in boardrooms and on university campuses across Australia. The submission, by prominent Charles Sturt... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2131309/how-chinese-government-uses-front-organisations-influence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2131309/how-chinese-government-uses-front-organisations-influence?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jan 2018 02:56:57 +0000 The US government, in an ominous move last month, required the RT (formerly Russia Today) news network to register its American office as a “foreign agent”. Later in the same month, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a committee of the US Congress, proposed that all official Chinese media personnel working in America comply with the same requirement. Had Hong Kong ­required foreign media outlets to do the same, it would have been met with howls of protest and accusations of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2125301/how-america-wrote-rule-book-foreign-agents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2125301/how-america-wrote-rule-book-foreign-agents?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:33:52 +0000 Australia’s government avoided losing its slim majority in parliament on Saturday, voting showed, as it claimed victory in a bitterly fought by-election that had threatened its hold on power. The poll in the suburban Sydney seat of Bennelong was triggered by a constitutional crisis that has seen a host of parliamentarians resign over an obscure rule barring dual citizens from federal office. They included Bennelong MP and former tennis star John Alexander, from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2124603/australian-government-scrapes-through-election-test?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2124603/australian-government-scrapes-through-election-test?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Dec 2017 11:29:22 +0000 Voters began casting ballots in a Sydney by-election on Saturday that could determine the future of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is hoping to regain his parliamentary majority and safeguard his leadership. The election campaign in the blue-ribbon Sydney seat of Bennelong has been bitterly fought between the centre-right government’s candidate, former tennis star John Alexander, and the Labor opposition’s Kristina Keneally, a high-profile former premier of New South Wales,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2124589/australian-prime-minister-malcolm-turnbulls-leadership-stake?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2124589/australian-prime-minister-malcolm-turnbulls-leadership-stake?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Dec 2017 07:33:55 +0000 Wedding venues were preparing for a rush of couples eager to tie the knot after same-sex marriage was signed into Australian law on Friday, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull already boasting several invites. One economist suggested gay couples could spend as much as A$650 million (US$489 million) next year. The historic reform was given royal assent, the final step in a process that began with a national postal vote in September. “The act has now passed into Australian law,” said the Queen’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2123438/australian-gay-couples-could-spend-us490-million-weddings-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2123438/australian-gay-couples-could-spend-us490-million-weddings-next?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Dec 2017 04:20:23 +0000 Australia’s parliament has legislated for marriage equality, passing a bill almost unanimously to allow two people, regardless of sex, to marry. On Thursday the House of Representatives passed a cross-party bill after an unprecedented national postal survey gave unstoppable momentum to legislate the historic social reform. Australia, which changed the law in 2004 to say that marriage is only between a man and a woman, has now become the 26th nation to legalise same-sex marriage. The lower house... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2123320/australin-celebrates-day-love-parliament-passes-same-sex?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2123320/australin-celebrates-day-love-parliament-passes-same-sex?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 Dec 2017 08:03:38 +0000 Australia, concerned about rising Chinese influence, will ban foreign political donations as part of a crackdown aimed at preventing external interference in domestic politics, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday. Turnbull told reporters in Canberra that foreign powers were making “unprecedented and increasingly sophisticated attempts to influence the political process” in Australia and the world. He cited “disturbing reports about Chinese influence”. Australia and neighbouring New... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122976/threat-real-australia-ban-foreign-political-donations-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122976/threat-real-australia-ban-foreign-political-donations-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Dec 2017 08:45:45 +0000 Right-wing British provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos blasted those who do not agree with him as “petulant babies” on Tuesday after violent protests in Australia. The polarising former Breitbart editor is touring with his “The Troll Academy” speaking show. Hundreds of protesters clashed with police and supporters of Yiannopoulos outside a supposedly secret venue in Melbourne on Monday night. Television images showed officers working to keep the groups apart, but violence erupted. Police responded... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122969/they-are-petulant-babies-far-right-firebrand-milo-yiannopoulos?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122969/they-are-petulant-babies-far-right-firebrand-milo-yiannopoulos?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Dec 2017 08:24:52 +0000 A lawmaker from Australia’s conservative ruling party proposed to his gay partner in parliament Monday just moments after a bill paving the way for same-sex marriage was introduced. Tim Wilson, who has reportedly been engaged to Ryan Bolger for nine years, fought back tears as he thanked his fiancé for enduring a marriage debate that “has been the soundtrack to our relationship”. “In my first speech I defined our bond by the ring that sits on both of our left hands – that they are the answer to... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122747/australian-lawmaker-proposes-gay-partner-parliament-speech?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122747/australian-lawmaker-proposes-gay-partner-parliament-speech?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Dec 2017 05:12:06 +0000 Australia’s embattled conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has shaken off speculation about the security of his leadership, declaring on Sunday he will lead his coalition government into the next election in 2019. Turnbull, who has faced a tough few weeks after losing his one-seat majority and being called to step down before Christmas, said he “runs the government” and his party’s policies would soon be converted into public support. “I have every confidence that I will lead the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122657/australian-pm-vows-lead-government-next-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122657/australian-pm-vows-lead-government-next-election?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Dec 2017 09:00:18 +0000 Australia’s former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce cleared the way for his return to parliament on Saturday, winning a by-election just over a month after he was kicked out over a dual citizenship crisis that cost the government its majority. Joyce was not only returned in his New England seat in New South Wales but was forecast to have lifted his primary vote by at least 10 points, giving Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull a welcome boost after a tough few weeks. “This has been a stunning... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122611/australias-former-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-wins-election-much?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122611/australias-former-deputy-pm-barnaby-joyce-wins-election-much?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Dec 2017 13:55:16 +0000 An Australian lawmaker resigned from his leadership roles in the opposition party on Thursday over scandals involving a wealthy Chinese businessman and political donor that have raised accusations of China buying influence. Senator Sam Dastyari had been deputy whip in the centre-left Labor Party and chairman of a parliamentary committee examining the future of journalism before resigning over his dealings with Chinese Communist Party-linked businessman Huang Xiangmo. Fairfax Media reported this... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122307/australian-lawmaker-sam-dastyari-resigns-roles-over-dealings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122307/australian-lawmaker-sam-dastyari-resigns-roles-over-dealings?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Nov 2017 09:18:55 +0000 Australian ministers have questioned the loyalty of the strife-prone Labor Senator Sam Dastyari to Australia after a report that he tipped off a Chinese political donor that his phone was probably being tapped by security agencies. Fairfax Media reported on Wednesday that Dastyari had warned the Chinese Communist Party-linked political donor Huang Xiangmo last year that his phone was probably tapped by government agencies, including the US government. The warning was reportedly made... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122087/australian-senator-sam-dastyari-under-fire-allegedly-tipping?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2122087/australian-senator-sam-dastyari-under-fire-allegedly-tipping?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Nov 2017 05:44:57 +0000 The resurgence of Australian nationalist politics has been halted at a state election in Queensland, with Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party at risk of being almost completely wiped from the state assembly. Australia’s centre-left Labor party was leading in the tight race after three-quarters of votes were counted following Saturday’s poll, while Hanson’s party had yet to confirm victory in a single seat. The official result may not be known for several days although political analysts believe... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2121618/pauline-hanson-party-bid-balance-power-australias-queensland?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2121618/pauline-hanson-party-bid-balance-power-australias-queensland?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Nov 2017 08:36:39 +0000 New South Wales authorities will introduce new laws to stop greyhounds being shipped to cruel and degrading conditions, after a large-scale export racket sent 70 animals to a Shanghai zoo known for racing dogs against cheetahs. The new rules seek to place a greater onus on racing greyhound owners to prevent their animals being sent to places with shocking animal welfare records. But critics have already dubbed it a “Band-Aid” solution that will mean little unless the federal government toughens... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2121268/new-law-prevents-australian-greyhounds-being-taken-china-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2121268/new-law-prevents-australian-greyhounds-being-taken-china-after?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Nov 2017 07:31:48 +0000 An Australian state parliament on Wednesday stepped closer to passing a voluntary euthanasia bill, 20 years after the country repealed the world’s first mercy killing law for the terminally ill. The Victorian Legislative Council passed the bill on doctor-assisted suicide 22 votes to 18, after hours of passionate debate that ended with several lawmakers in tears. The vote was the last significant hurdle to euthanasia becoming legal in Australia’s second-most populous state from 2019. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2121075/australian-state-poised-legalise-mercy-killings-following-long?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2121075/australian-state-poised-legalise-mercy-killings-following-long?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Nov 2017 08:01:20 +0000 Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is at risk of losing his one-seat parliamentary majority with a new poll showing the ruling Liberal-National coalition running neck and neck with the opposition Labor Party in a by-election in the Bennelong district of Sydney to be held on December 16.   The by-election came after incumbent Liberal MP John Alexander resigned because of doubts over his citizenship status amid a dual-nationality crisis that has caused eight lawmakers to resign. A Galaxy... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2120523/australian-prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-could-lose-house?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2120523/australian-prime-minister-malcolm-turnbull-could-lose-house?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Nov 2017 11:26:27 +0000 Australian lawmakers on Thursday vowed to push through laws legalising same-sex marriage by early December, after a national survey found the majority of Australians favoured the move. Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition government and the main opposition Labor Party said they were aiming to pass the law through parliament by December 7. That timeline was even earlier than the Christmas deadline named by Turnbull on Wednesday after the country’s statistics agency... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2120247/aftermath-landmark-vote-same-sex-marriage-australian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2120247/aftermath-landmark-vote-same-sex-marriage-australian?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Nov 2017 09:38:28 +0000 It was early morning last Thursday when Pauline Hanson’s rented “battler bus” started hissing so loudly the election campaign was halted at a service station on a stretch of desolate highway near a remote edge of Australia. Unable to get to the rural Queensland state voters she is relying on to deliver her anti-immigration One Nation party its best result in two decades, her supporters came to her. Stranded near the gemstone mining town of Marlborough, with a population of just a few hundred,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2120200/firebrand-australian-senator-hanson-takes-far-right-campaign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2120200/firebrand-australian-senator-hanson-takes-far-right-campaign?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Nov 2017 06:49:21 +0000 A constitutional crisis roiling Australian politics claimed a new victim on Tuesday with the resignation of the eighth lawmaker to be felled by a once-obscure rule barring dual citizens from federal office. The departure of Jacqui Lambie, a colourful independent senator from Tasmania, came after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s centre-right government lost its grip on parliament as MPs were toppled by the citizenship issue. Lambie announced her resignation in a tearful speech, telling MPs she... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2119861/jacqui-lambie-becomes-eighth-australian-lawmaker-resign-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2119861/jacqui-lambie-becomes-eighth-australian-lawmaker-resign-over?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Nov 2017 08:17:22 +0000 Charles Sturt University author and ethicist Professor Clive Hamilton says his book exposing the Chinese Communist Party’s activities in Australia will still be published, despite Allen & Unwin cancelling plans to print it at the eleventh hour. On Monday, Hamilton revealed legal advice that the Chinese government may sue for defamation had spooked Allen & Unwin. The book, called Silent Invasion, is a comprehensive analysis of the Chinese government’s methods of asserting influence in Australia –... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/2119616/author-vows-book-exposing-frightening-extent-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/books/article/2119616/author-vows-book-exposing-frightening-extent-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Nov 2017 05:05:14 +0000 Another Australian lawmaker announced his resignation on Saturday over a constitutional ban on dual citizens sitting in parliament, triggering a second by-election that could cost the government its fragile grip on power. John Alexander revealed on Monday that he was waiting on advice from the British Home Office on whether he had inherited citizenship from his English-born father who migrated as a child in 1911. On Saturday, the 67-year-old former professional tennis player told reporters the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2119459/another-australian-lawmaker-quits-over-dual-citizenship-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2119459/another-australian-lawmaker-quits-over-dual-citizenship-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:32:44 +0000 Australian politicians will have to prove they are not foreign citizens under plans proposed on Monday as the conservative government grapples with a constitutional crisis that has cost it a majority in parliament. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced a set of measures making it compulsory for MPs formally to declare they are not dual citizens and provide evidence to support it. “Every member of the [lower] house and every member of the Senate has a personal obligation to ensure that they... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2118666/australian-politicians-told-they-need-prove-citizenship?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2118666/australian-politicians-told-they-need-prove-citizenship?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Nov 2017 12:29:41 +0000 The 606 men refusing to leave an Australian immigration camp in Papua New Guinea were without power and many of their toilets on Wednesday as reports emerged saying one of them had resorted to harming himself while others needed urgent medical treatment. The camp inside a Manus Island navy base was declared closed on Tuesday afternoon based on the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court’s ruling last year that Australia’s policy of detaining asylum seekers there was illegal and unconstitutional. But the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2118005/some-refugees-are-very-sick-australian-immigration-camp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2118005/some-refugees-are-very-sick-australian-immigration-camp?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Nov 2017 12:14:18 +0000 Anyone seeking political office should have their nation at heart. It is reasonable to expect that they would know the laws of the land and be committed to following and enforcing them. Australia’s deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, and others in the federal parliament therefore only have themselves to blame for ignoring nationality requirements laid out in the constitution. Their disqualification from office by the country’s highest court has nothing to do with political mudslinging, but... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117691/lessons-learn-australian-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117691/lessons-learn-australian-scandal?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Oct 2017 17:44:03 +0000 The Australian state of Queensland, home to the Great Barrier Reef, has called a snap election that is set to test support for both the populist party of Pauline Hanson and an environmentally sensitive Indian coal mine project. Campaigning began Monday in the state, a major tourist destination, after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk of the Labor Party set down a poll date of November 25. Labor won power from the Liberals in a 2015 landslide, but most opinion polls indicate it will be a closer call... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2117602/queensland-state-election-test-far-right-australian-firebrand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2117602/queensland-state-election-test-far-right-australian-firebrand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Oct 2017 07:00:32 +0000 Australia’s High Court ruled on Friday that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is ineligible to remain in parliament, a stunning decision that cost the government its one-seat parliamentary majority and forced a by-election. The Australian dollar fell a quarter of a US cent after the unexpected decision. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he accepted the court’s ruling, even though it was “clearly not the outcome we were hoping for”. Turnbull did not name a new deputy leader during... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2117247/australias-government-crisis-deputy-pm-ejected-parliament?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2117247/australias-government-crisis-deputy-pm-ejected-parliament?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Oct 2017 04:02:21 +0000 Gambling giant Crown has strongly refuted allegations by an Australian politician of machine tampering and serious misconduct at one of its flagship casinos as “outrageous and unfounded”. Independent MP Andrew Wilkie last week used parliamentary privilege, which grants him legal immunity, to make the explosive claims that Crown Casino in Melbourne engaged in “illegal machine tampering” and “software manipulation”. Citing whistle-blower claims, he added that the company’s key gaming house also... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2117099/australian-gambling-giant-crown-denies-outrageous-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/2117099/australian-gambling-giant-crown-denies-outrageous-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Oct 2017 07:33:39 +0000