Opposition Leader Bill Shorten sees China as a strategic opportunity.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has taken to the Chinese social media platform WeChat to distance himself from damaging comments made by former New South Wales Labor Party leader Michael Daley.He distanced himself from comments made about"Asians" by the former NSW Labor leaderMr Shorten said he had received"a lot" of questions about Mr Daley and his"wrong comments" and wanted to reassure his audience that Labor was committed to a multicultural Australia.
"I just want to make clear, as the leader of the federal Labor Party I don't agree with what he [Mr Daley] said and the comments should not have been made," Mr Shorten told his WeChat audience. He bookended the 30-minute chat session with short video messages, prefacing his answers with a direct appeal to his audience to"learn a bit more about why you should vote Labor in six weeks time".
That statement provoked a sharp diplomatic rebuke from the Chinese government, which said Mr Turnbull's comments had"poisoned" the atmosphere of China-Australia relations. He urged the Government to follow the lead of the Labor Party and preference One Nation and other extreme right wing parties last in the upcoming general election.
"I believe everybody living in Australia should study conversational English, but university English test is a standard that this Government put into place to make it harder for some people to become Australians."
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