Discover under a response from the Workplace of the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC twenty sixth Prime Minister of Australia to this put up.
Pity your correspondent, for I’ll now must reply with out assistance from taxpayer largesse.
Your column1 reflecting on Dr Rudd’s JG Crawford Oration relies on a collection of half-truths and false premises.
For instance, you level to the Dastyari affair, however ignore how the Rudd Authorities tried to ban international donations lengthy earlier than then – laws that was blocked by the Liberal Get together within the Senate.2
You declare Labor resisted efforts to counteract international affect in Australia – with out proof – when the Turnbull Authorities’s laws really loved sturdy bipartisan cooperation and assist. 3
You counsel Labor resisted banning Huawei from 5G rollout – additionally with out proof – when that additionally had bipartisan assist. 4 Against this, the Liberals savaged Labor’s resolution to dam Huawei from the Nationwide Broadband Community in 2012.5
You declare Labor resisted Liberal requires transparency on the origins of COVID-19 can be a fabrication, amongst a number of others.6
The notion the Coalition recognised the size of the China problem lengthy earlier than Labor is equally ahistorical. The ALP management has been clear and constant on the China problem for at the least 15 years, whereas the Liberal Get together has swung between extremes of hostility and appeasement.
For instance, on defending Australian residents, Labor refused to ratify the Howard Authorities’s signed extradition treaty with China between 2007 and 2013.7 Labor maintained that place in opposition (regardless of Peter Dutton demanding Labor’s compliance).8
On defending human rights, the Liberals criticized Kevin Rudd for publicly criticising the 2008 crackdown in Tibet, together with in a speech in Chinese language at Peking College.9 When Labor granted visas to Uighur dissidents to tour Australia in 2009, the Liberals criticised the federal government for not “working constructively” with Beijing.10
On defence posture, Labor’s 2009 Defence White Paper explicitly recognized China’s altering behaviour to lift defence spending and increase the Navy.11 Malcolm Turnbull mentioned it made “no sense” to make coverage on “extremely contentious” predictions of China’s rising assertiveness.12
Within the Pacific, Labor greater than doubled the regional assist finances to $1 billion13 and invested in publicly owned Australia Network14 and Radio Australia. The Coalition smashed the help budget15 (then denied it16) abolished Australia Network17 and surrendered Radio Australia’s shortwave radio frequencies to Chinese language broadcasters.18
Tony Abbott additionally took recommendation from James Packer and Kerry Stokes to ingratiate himself with China by sweeping human rights off the agenda19, main Abbott hailing Xi’s ambitions to make China “totally democratic”. 20
On strategic positioning, Labor refused China’s overtures to designate Australia a “complete= strategic associate” of Beijing – an association that was jumped at by Tony Abbott 21 and touted by Scott Morrison all through his management. 22
Anthony Albanese opposed the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin by the Liberal Get together from day one.23 The federal Liberals not solely defended the sale as “within the public curiosity”, 24 however they supplied a $20 million incentive to make it occur.25
Hopefully in future, readers of Macrobusiness will suppose twice earlier than accepting such baseless historic revisionism at face worth.
We ask you to publish this assertion in full with references.
Brisbane 23 November 2022
1 https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2022/11/kevin-rudd-declares-war-with-china/
2 https://www.smh.com.au/nationwide/secret-donations-business-intact-20090311-8vca.html
3 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/show/show.w3p;question=Idpercent3Apercent22chamberpercent2Fhansardrpercent2F7b4c2cb8-
1498-4872-92f7-c93540b9c054percent2F0008percent22
4 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/obtain/media/pressrel/6049937/upload_binary/6049937.pdf
5 https://www.9news.com.au/nationwide/opposition-slams-nbn-exclusion-of-huawei/4246bad0-6f2b-44cc-8377- d93821b670f1
6 https://www.smh.com.au/nationwide/we-need-to-rethink-our-china-relationship-but-disengagement-is-no-option- 20200426-p54nbq.html 7 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/obtain/media/pressrel/TA7O6/upload_binary/ta7o6.2.pdf 8 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/obtain/media/pressrel/7059801/upload_binary/7059801.pdf
9 https://www.theage.com.au/nationwide/red-carpet-and-a-rebuke-for-rudd-20080411-ge6yce.html 10 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/information/bishops-bad-move/news-story/48bdbd59dfc035c1ea2bafde07ed4116 11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/nickbryant/2009/05/fortress_australia.html 12 https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/opinion/government-errs-in-its-strategy/news-story/6f4bdcd12bf8fe17d74039f0ad0dd706
13 https://www.dfat.gov.au/websites/default/recordsdata/performance-of-australian-aid-2013-14.pdf 14 https://www.afr.com/politics/fed-abc-wins-contract-for-australia-network-20111205-i45vq 15 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/coalition-begins-to-quietly-reverse-deep-foreign-aid-cuts-20210120- p56vn9.html
16 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/obtain/media/pressrel/8492674/upload_binary/8492674.pdf
17 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/demise-australia-network
18 https://www.abc.internet.au/information/2018-06-22/china-takes-over-radio-australias-old-shortwave-frequencies/9898754
19 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/james-packer-accuses-kevin-rudd-of-damaging-asian-relations-praises-tony-abbott-20140408-zqs8o.html
20 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/17/tony-abbott-xi-jinping-china-democracy
21 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/obtain/media/pressrel/3512574/upload_binary/3512574.pdf
22 https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/launch/transcript-43576
23 https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/obtain/media/pressrel/4212603/upload_binary/4212603.pdf
24 https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/hansardr/83163a85-c413-4318-b2e3-8cd22553fd24/&sid=0095
25 https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australian-taxpayers-paid-almost-20-million-to-sell-the-port-of-darwin-20220511-p5akc8.html
