Title : Turnbull denies he or his Government is anti-Chinese on Q&A, says Dastyari leak did not come from ASIO
link : Turnbull denies he or his Government is anti-Chinese on Q&A, says Dastyari leak did not come from ASIO
Turnbull denies he or his Government is anti-Chinese on Q&A, says Dastyari leak did not come from ASIO
Malcolm Turnbull has vehemently denied he or his Government is anti-Chinese in a special edition of Q&A that featured the Australian Prime Minister fielding wide-ranging questions from the audience and host Virginia Trioli.
Mr Turnbull was required to explain his position on a variety of the issues at the forefront of Australian contemporary politics, including the intake of asylum-seekers, giving Indigenous Australians a voice in political matters and embattled Labor senator Sam Dastyari.
He may not have strayed far from his previously known positions on such topics, but the audience's questions ensured the Prime Minister's views were clearly laid out for the public to scrutinise.
There were confronting exchanges with an Iranian asylum-seeker and Indigenous Australians demanding a solid plan going forward, and an outburst of disbelieving laughter from observers when Mr Turnbull claimed to be close with US President Donald Trump.
'Shorten and Dastyari failing to put Australia's interests first'
Questioned about whether the timing of new espionage laws were designed to put pressure on the Labor Party over Mr Dastyari, who has been accused of improper dealings with China, Mr Turnbull said the timeframe was coincidental.
"Obviously the Dastyari scandal is very alive at the moment. It is a shocking state of affairs Bill Shorten is allowing somebody to remain in the Labor Party and in the Senate who quite clearly does not put Australia first," Mr Turnbull said.
"Dastyari has quite plainly been acting in the interests of another government or another power. It is extraordinary that Bill Shorten who wants to be PM of Australia is failing to put Australia's interests first."
Pressed on whether information about Mr Dastyari giving a tip-off to wealthy Chinese donor Huang Xiangmo came from federal intelligence agencies, Mr Turnbull denied ASIO was involved.
"I can say to you the information about Dastyari and his efforts to tip-off Mr Huang that he could be under surveillance from ASIO, and the advice that he gave Mr Huang to put their phones inside so they could not be overheard, that story that went to the media did not come from ASIO," the Prime Minister said.
He also said his Government's efforts to protect Australia from foreign interference were not based on any kind of anti-China sentiment.
"Let me say the suggestion that I or my Government or Australia generally is anti-Chinese is outrageous. Absolutely outrageous," Mr Turnbull said.
"Every country is entitled to defend its national interest.
"There are a million Australians of Chinese ancestry, a million. You could not imagine modern Australia, the most successful multicultural society in the world, without them, and among those one million Australians with Chinese ancestry is our granddaughter.
"So the proposition that someone whose granddaughter calls him Ye Ye is anti-Chinese is absurd."
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