Former federal trade minister Andrew Robb says he has quit his A$880,000-a-year consultancy job with Chinese-owned Landbridge Group because it didn’t have anything for him to do.
Former Victorian premier John Brumby says he has quit as a director of Chinese tech giant Huawei in Australia because he has too much else to do.
Former federal foreign minister and ex-NSW premier Bob Carr has quit his job as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, an organisation bankrolled by a Chinese billionairewith a history of using donations to cosy up to politicians.
It might be just a coincidence that these decisions have come just days before new foreign influence transparency laws come into effect on March 1.
I’m sure it was coincidence.
This is what made the tawdry scandal involving former NSW senator Sam Dastyari so alarming.
Though a humble senator, Dastyari was a key Labor Party fundraiser and powerbroker. He later admitted that vanity and arrogance made him susceptible to the charm offensive of Huang Xiangmo – the billionaire who courted Bob Carr to head up the Australia-China Relations Institute.
Dastyari accepted financial gifts from Huang’s company, including a A$44,000 payment to settle a legal dispute, along with payments from other donors connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
I’m really surprised the NZ Labour Party invited Bob Carr to come to New Zealand, to tell us that we should not have closer relations with Australia through AUKUS. Very undiplomatic to have foreign former politicians intervening in NZ policy discussions.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
2 comments:
Also, I don't think we should overlook the role the grubby hands of a former NZ PM has played in this.
Hmm interesting. Watch this space. Keep up the great work.
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