Sky News host Peta Credlin says offering fleeing Hong Kongers visa options is smart but ASIO needs to run the ruler over every single person to ensure they are not a “Chinese Trojan horse”.
Last week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed plans to offer some Hong Kong citizens a pathway to permanent residency, after Beijing imposed tough new national security laws.
Ms Credlin said Australian intelligence officials need to ensure incoming Hong Kong citizens are not Chinese plants trying to gain “some sort of anchor in the country”. Image: AP
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Coalition will ‘win a lot of young votes’ if it offers Hong Kongers safe haven visas | Sky News AustraliaLiberal Senator Jim Molan says he would be disappointed if by offering humanitarian visas to at risk and fleeing Hong Kongers, Australia went over the typical levels of migration.\n\n“By all means, use humanitarian visas, but the total should be subtracted from the permanent residence (visa),” Mr Molan said.\n\nIn addition to offering work rights and a path to citizenship, the prime minister has also suspended Australia’s extradition treaty with Hong Kong, and issued travel warnings to Australians contemplating travelling to China.\n\nThe national security laws aim to criminalise acts of sedition, secession or activities – including writing or speaking – which the Chinese Communist Party deem to be threatening its rule.\n\nThe laws also allow anyone arrested for such acts to be tried and imprisoned in mainland China.\n\nAustralia’s migration levels sit at around 160,000 per annum, but Mr Molan said if the incoming migration from Hong Kong was on top of that it would “put more stress on our cities” and infrastructure.\n\nThe Institute of Public Affairs’ Renee Gormann told Sky News if the government went ahead with the decision to offer safe haven visas it will “win a lot of young votes”.\n\nImage: AP
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China threatens to use new Hong Kong security laws to target pro-democracy politiciansMore than 600,000 Hongkongers turned out over the weekend to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections despite warnings from government officials.
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Questions raised over Australia's free trade deal with Hong Kong amid China crackdownThe Morrison Government faces calls to axe its free trade deal with Hong Kong after suspending Australia's extradition agreement with the city.
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Coalition will ‘win a lot of young votes’ if it offers Hong Kongers safe haven visas | Sky News AustraliaLiberal Senator Jim Molan says he would be disappointed if by offering humanitarian visas to at risk and fleeing Hong Kongers, Australia went over the typical levels of migration.\n\n“By all means, use humanitarian visas, but the total should be subtracted from the permanent residence (visa),” Mr Molan said.\n\nIn addition to offering work rights and a path to citizenship, the prime minister has also suspended Australia’s extradition treaty with Hong Kong, and issued travel warnings to Australians contemplating travelling to China.\n\nThe national security laws aim to criminalise acts of sedition, secession or activities – including writing or speaking – which the Chinese Communist Party deem to be threatening its rule.\n\nThe laws also allow anyone arrested for such acts to be tried and imprisoned in mainland China.\n\nAustralia’s migration levels sit at around 160,000 per annum, but Mr Molan said if the incoming migration from Hong Kong was on top of that it would “put more stress on our cities” and infrastructure.\n\nThe Institute of Public Affairs’ Renee Gormann told Sky News if the government went ahead with the decision to offer safe haven visas it will “win a lot of young votes”.\n\nImage: AP
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Chinese tech companies generate data which can be ‘commandeered’ by communist govt | Sky News AustraliaFears the Chinese Communist Party will commandeer the masses of data generated by China-owned tech firms for national security reasons is the root cause behind concerns from western governments according to Sky News contributor Cory Bernardi.\n\nIndia has recently banned a number of Chinese technology apps including Tik Tok and WeChat over cyber security concerns.\n\nMr Bernardi said the banning of Chinese tech companies could be the next step in the “technology battlefield” after many countries have already banned Chinese telco Huawei from their communications infrastructure.\n\nAustralia excluded Huawei from the rolling out of its 5G infrastructure, which has only recently been replicated in the UK after it initially moved to include the Chinese telco.\n\n'The concerns of Huawei and these other firms is that the technology they provide generates masses of data that can then be commandeered by the Chinese government for 'national security reasons',' Mr Bernardi said.\n\nChinese law requires Chinese companies to 'support, co-operate and collaborate in national intelligence work.'\n\nImage: AP
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Whitlam dismissal 'reinforces the need for an Australian head of state': Albanese | Sky News AustraliaOpposition Leader Anthony Albanese says the dismissal of the democratically elected Whitlam government by the Governor-General in 1975 emphasises the need for an Australian head of state. \n\nPrivate letters between Queen Elizabeth II and former governor-general Sir John Kerr have been released, revealing Sir John dismissed then-prime minister Gough Whitlam without first informing the Queen. \n\nMr Albanese said the Whitlam government transformed Australia and made it into the modern vibrant community it is today. \n\nThe dismissal of a government elected by the Australian people was a blight on Australia’s character as a nation, said Mr Albanese. \n\n“The actions of the governor general on the 11th of November, to dismiss a government, to put himself above the Australian people, is one that reinforces the need for us to have an Australian head of state,” he said. \n\n“The fact that we have waited 45 years for correspondence between the Queen and the palace and the governor general in Australia says that there is something very wrong with our structures of government.”\n
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