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Keswick Island Discussion with Locals

Drone footage supplied courtesy of Full of BS Fishing

I travelled to Keswick Island off the coast of Mackay for Australia Day this year. While I was there I had the chance to talk to a group of local residents who are having major issues with the new owner of the head lease on the island, China Bloom. Locals allege that the developer has restricted access to the island’s airstrip and are not following the terms of use for the boat ramp.

Tourism has been decimated and it looks like the developers just want an island to use exclusively for Chinese tourism. It’s unbelievable that a foreign interest might be getting away with this right on our doorstep. China Bloom gets away with it only because the state government is not doing it’s damn job.

Transcript

Disclaimer: This transcript has been generated automatically, may contain Errors and Omissions, and is made available on the basis that the reader accepts this.

Hi, I’m Senator Malcolm Roberts. And I’m back in Mackay, after an enthralling day at Keswick Island listening to people over there. The residents have some shocking stories. It really is a microcosm of the whole of our country. Now we made a video with a group of them together and they really tell us some startling facts about what’s going on under Chinese ownership of Keswick Island. This is Australia and today’s Australia day. It’s hard to believe that this is happening, but this as I said, is a summary of what’s happening around Australia, under state and federal governments. Now the video starts a bit slowly because people are a little bit nervous but you should listen and please do, to what they start discussing. It’s amazing, what’s happening in our country, right here in Australia. Hi, I’m Senator Malcolm Roberts and I’m in Keswick Island with some of the residents of Keswick Island. And we’ve come over here to learn and to listen. And who better to hear it from, than the people themselves? Who’s going to tell us the background to what’s going on? James, Craig?

Well

Give us a bit of a history please, James.

Okay. The… I’ve owned a property here since 2003, 2004. I actually have a second property here. We built a house here with my brother, so we share it. And we’ve been here for the last 17 years, living on the island. Look, every head lessee has had their difficulties. But we have found that since China Bloom has taken over, everything’s really gone to pot. They’re really trying to force us off the island. The, the, the attitude towards all the residents has been very quiet at best. We’ve been told that we have to fill in forms to even come to our own residence on the island.

Forms?

You had to fill in a form and give them 24 hours notice to come to the island. And you have to tell every person, you have to fill out a form and tell everybody who is coming with you. You have to fill in the form to come to your own house.

Do they not know this is Australia?

Well, that’s what… I actually wrote to them And after telling them that I wouldn’t be doing it I will say, I informed them that it was extremely un-Australian to be asking something like this. They persisted with it, even two weeks ago we received another letter saying you guys are not doing what we’ve instructed you to do. And you’ve got to fill in forms. I just am ignoring all…

Is there any condition in the lease under which you signed in the first place? So you’re all lessees, right?

That’s correct.

Okay. And then what happened? When did China Bloom take over?

China Bloom took over in, around about 2019.

May?

May, June. I actually was overseas at the time, travelling and I got an email informing me that we weren’t allowed to Airbnb anymore.

So you had been running an Airbnb?

We’d been running an Airbnb, we had the reviews, as you can see this place is outstanding. I’d been, from all over the world, just saying what a beautiful place it was. You know, beautiful, we still got the reviews, you know from America, obviously a lot from Australia just saying how wonderful it was.

It is wonderful.

We had, we had, a whole lot of bookings going forward and they’ve said… they gave us seven days to block everybody coming to the island on our Airbnb. I wrote them a very polite letter saying, “Look, I’m overseas, I’m not going to argue with you about whether you’re right or wrong not allowing us to run an Airbnb. However, I have these, all of these bookings going through December, may I please use them?” And they came back and said no. At that point, I did write them a fairly terse letter saying again, I didn’t think this was very Australian and I didn’t think they actually had very much moral or sentimental value for people that have arranged and booked their holidays to come here and ask, I had to give them seven days notice to cancel.

Well, just down on the beach and driving up here with Tim I heard some pretty shocking stories. You wouldn’t believe we’re in Australia. So what are some of the restrictions they’ve put on, on people here? Capriciously?

Well, restrictions of having to fill in a form to come here. Not allowed to use the, the boat ramp anymore which we’ve been using for the last 12 years.

So that’s the way you get supplies in?

Correct. Not allowed to fly in anymore. Again, they put out a statement to say that the aerodrome’s open. Well, you would have maybe seen it today. There’s a big cross on the aerodrome and there’s an excavator on it. So I’m not too sure how they expect a plane to land on an open aerodrome with an excavator parked on the runway.

Yeah, it would be difficult.

If it is…

Unless you had a helicopter, which they have.

So they had been coming in by helicopter, and it costs $1,300, one way flight. So a round trip’s, $2,600. But again, that hasn’t happened for the last month or so. Their helicopter’s not even coming in.

And you’ve got a pilot on this, on this island?

We’ve got three, right?

Yes, we’ve got three pilots.

Craig, Reno, me.

How many times have you landed here?

Uh, 1,305 times.

1,305 times he’s landed on here.

Without incident, and the day they took over I was given 12 hours to get my plane off the island.

So there’s nothing unsafe about the airfield?

Not at all. It’s not an easy airstrip. But I maintain, if you can’t land on that airstrip you shouldn’t be flying.

How many accidents on the airstrip?

There’s been one accident, by commercial, young commercial pilot back in…

2007.

2007.

And there was an incident about fuel or something I read from a media release?

Yes. They gave me this 12 hours, no reason given at the time of why I couldn’t fly here And we, we, we come in from Mackay, we had businesses back then. And so yes… So the incident was my plane was parked right down next to the residence, the manager’s residence, and my fuel tanks were drained.

Drained?

Drained. Totally dry.

And from what I read in the media release, you got the guns or drains, checked and…

I obviously couldn’t fly, so I jumped in the boat, with some jerry cans, went to Mackay got some av gas, came back put it in the plane, flew to Mackay, flew straight to the engineers and asked them to remove my valves and put new ones in, and check them to see if there was anything wrong with them. And they said, “Nah. There’s nothing wrong with the old ones.”

So they were drained?

They were drained. Yep.

And right next to the manager’s house, for China Bloom?

Yeah, interestingly enough, yeah.

What about the, this then I’ve grilled some academics about the reef regulations that the government of the state has put in. And there’s nothing to base those reef regulations on. And those reef regulations are destroying farming and communities on the mainland. But over here, you have instances of environmental vandalism, environmental breaches of the law, and you reported them to the state government and nothing’s happened. And you have the submission for how many, how many breaches?

I’m not sure how many branches are in there, but there’s a lot.

Probably…20?

Yep

20 breaches, so to be clear here the government, the Queensland government, keeps saying it’s not a dispute with them. So let’s be very clear here. You have the Queensland government, and a lease agreement between them and the head lease. That’s an agreement, like any agreement, when you go and buy a company or buy a car there’s an agreement with a whole lot of clauses in there. These are all the clauses that they are not adhering to. And that’s why we’re approaching the government, to say, you’re not adhering to these clauses. However the government keeps saying, “No, this is a dispute between the head lessee and the sub-lessee.” We don’t have a dispute there. There’s a dispute between, what the government should be governing. And-

So the key issue is one of governance between the lease holder, who is breaking the law and breaking their lease conditions, and nothing happening about it?

Correct.

Is that right?

Yes.

And the big question, Malcolm, is why? Why? Why are they not doing anything?

Why is the government not doing anything?

If that was done on the mainland, in Australia, there would be major, major consequences. But why are they not addressing it? That’s what we wanna know.

Just to cut it down into very simple language, The very first, the very, very first condition of that head lease says this island must be used for aerodrome, marine, tourism and residential purposes. The second sentence of that head lease says, if it is not used for those purposes, the head lease must be rescinded.

Wow.

And nothing’s happening.

Let’s just see. Are they using your aerodrome? No, they’re not. Are they using marine purposes? No, they’re not. Are they using for tourism purposes? No, definitely not.

They’re stifling them.

Stopping the Airbnb. Yeah.

And are they using for residential? Well, they’re doing their best to try us all.

And business too.

Do you want to say something either?

And business was in the…

You can’t run a business..

What do you mean Brian?

Because they say you’re in breach of the lease. You cannot have a business on this island. I had a business for 12 years. I started, we started from scratch. I had partners-

What was the business?

Clearing blocks of land, which they’re now doing through their own means. They have like four guys who used to come here and clear blocks of land.

I used to do that by myself. For a number of years.

So-

When China Bloom took over, I already had previous head lessees, two of them, Vince Alexander and KDPL, who gave me permission to run my business. China Bloom didn’t give me permission to run my business, they just forced me to stop it.

Without consultation?

And now all that work is generated through and his wi- his girlfriend, Sandy through training, who now provide the labour through her company. So he’s making the money I used to get.

So there’s a conflict of interest, I think there.

So they’re telling you who you can use or can’t use for tidying your yard and maintenance?

We can’t hire Brian to clear our…

Brian probably did my block for 10 years.

Yeah.

And it’s not easy to get contractors from the mainland.

No.

$1,300 a flight.

We used to fly contractors, for example pest control in our houses. They’d fly in the morning, do a couple of houses and fly back in the afternoon and it was affordable, you shared the cost. Now you can’t fly them in, so what options do you have?

So it’s very hard, just to even maintain your land?

Correct.

And there are some stunning locations here, fabulous views.

[Tim] Could I just jump in about the helicopters and getting over to the island?

Come and speak into the microphone please, Tim.

[Tim] Well, I’m just gonna prompt you and then you can ask, just getting the number to book the helicopter, you can’t find it anywhere. I was just, I was talking about that…

So, the sole means-

[Tim] I was gonna ask you guys for the number, cause I couldn’t find it anywhere.

So the sole means of aviation access now is helicopter, and Tim was telling me, he couldn’t get the number to get the helicopter booked.

I’ve contacted this twice by email from the website, never answered me. Not once.

You see, and what’s happened with this, this, this manager that’s running the island now, he’s ended up because he thinks he’s king of the castle, he has friendships, so people that are nice to him, He will, he will allow them to come through on a helicopter but anyone he doesn’t like, he just won’t return the call.

So it costs you a lot more to get the same services done.

Or, if

If you, if you can get them.

Yeah.

It’s unaffordable for, you know, flights every time, it’s unaffordable to pay $1,300 to go, do your shopping and another $1,300 to come back.

People even ask for back flights, you know when the helicopter’s been here, they say can we get a flight back over, for a medical emergency, not emergency, but medical. No.

Yeah, we were told that there were some seats available on the helicopters for about a hundred dollars

But only for friends.

Only for friends.

But not for residents.

So they’re trying to throw you off the island, by the look of it. They’re trying to restrict what you can do. They’re also interfering with you socially. Tim was telling me about the Christmas tree, that’s been decorated by the kids here for the last 12 years. I think, Tim was it? 12 years?

Decorated by…

Kids at heart!

Kids at heart, okay. And who chopped the tree down?

Well, the workers that were here. They were instructed to do that, they said they didn’t want to

They told you they didn’t want to cut it down but they were told to.

It was, look, it was a small tree, but a huge principle. So that was just to get, to get to us. That’s the only reason they did it.

And then they cut that huge Mackay cedar down.

Yeah and they cut that…

You know the reason.

They did say it was because it was spraying out of the bank but-

There’s one on the end of the island doing the same thing.

But don’t they understand that, if you’ve got a tree that holds it together, I mean, halfway down the hill you can see where there are no trees, you’ve got a huge landslide.

Well, speaking of trees and the environment, this, I saw something, in your media release about the turtles as well. What’s going on there?

It’s been bloody ridiculous.

Yeah. It’s interesting that-

Cole?

Yeah

It’s interesting that the Christmas tree was chopped down, so, you know they’ve basically shown us their environmental credentials, or their lack of, We’ve got a thousand year old cycad here on the island, so that was planted or that grew, when the Leaning Tower of Pisa was being built, built and that can- a thousand years ago. So, you know, if they don’t look after the local environment whether it’s on land or in, on the reef how are they going to be trusted to look after a thousand year old cycad?

Right. And you’ve made, in your submission to the state government, you’ve made comments about their environmental vandalism or environmental destruction. Can you tell us about some of them? Because that’s, what Cole’s touching on.

Yeah. Well the main one that sort of kicked it all off was the grounding of the beach. So, you know, we, we witnessed a big tele handler on the beach.

A tele handler is a…

It’s a big, grabber type-

Like a grave digger

Like an earth moving..

Earth moving, okay.

Earth moving equipment. And, yeah they basically took all the dune structure and they flattened it. So from the tree line all the way down to the beach was just a nice, gentle slope.

They pushed all the sand up to the bank

I have no idea what the purpose is.

What the motivation was.

I think maybe it’s to get hours up on the tele handler But in doing that, you know, up near the beach hut there there’s information about, you know these precious dune creatures that live there and don’t destroy their habitat, and you know, look after the turtles, it’s a turtle nesting habitat,

So there’s signs saying-

Yes, there’s signs all over… There’s three different signs advising people about all this, you know, all the stuff that happens in the dune. And they go and they spread it all out evenly, just before turtle mating season. So a couple of years ago, we would have, we’ve witnessed turtle tracks coming up the beach, where turtle have tried to lay a nest, but of course there was no dunes, So of course the next high tide just washed straight over the top of it. Yeah. This has been going on for some years now.

And there’s been sightings of turtles, too.

Oh, lots.

And one, one was obviously, big, heavy and tired and had obviously laid some eggs.

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so that was so we were, we reported that. I think Karen reported it.

Well, I put a submission together, with three affidavits of people who saw the tele handler, and saw the turtle nest and the inundation. And photos. And I say these are location, time and date stamped photos. And I submitted it to the, Ian Hutchinson.

Who’s he?

He was the chief whip, Ian Hutchins, he’s the chief whip for Annastacia Palaszczuk,

So he’s a Labour party MP?

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

I submitted it to the Department of Environmental Science and I submitted it to GBRMPA.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Yeah.

And can I just add there, it was Ian Hutchins requested James to do that.

He did request me to do it.

So they know about it, requested details, given them details, nothing’s happened.

And then he came back and said “I can’t deal with”, something quite strange happened, and he just said, “I can’t deal with this, you gotta deal with the problem”…

I think he’s, he’s, Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Chief of Staff.

He was. But he’s not an MP.

He’s not an MP, so he’s not at liberty…

He was the Chief of Staff.

He’s a bureaucrat.

He’s a bureaucrat.

But, after six months, they, the Department of Environment Science came up, walked up along the beach, and said they can’t see any evidence of turtles or turtle nesting, so therefore it never happened.

Well, it’s basically, six months is in June, in June turtles don’t nest in June. They actually nest in December, I can’t imagine, at a government institution, whose task is to look after our Great Barrier Reef, and they do that.

So this was at GBRMPA, they did this?

This was the Department of Environmental Science.

And what about what was, the GBRMPA’s? The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s?

They’ve just kept very quiet.

Did they respond to you?

No.

Apparently their jurisdiction is below the low water mark, and Mackay regional council is above the high water mark. And who knows who’s in between?

Well, how has the council been on this issue?

Extremely poor, I think-

They think that it shouldn’t be them, it should be somebody else.

So everyone’s going, them

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We’ve had, actually had, six meetings with the council over the last few years-

And nothing?

Well, they did come out here a couple months ago because there was a lot of things that were being built without permits, without engineering and that, which is their department. They did address that, to what degree we’re not really sure. But we are disappointed with their…

So the GBRMPA, is a federal agency I think, so they’ve not done anything that you’re aware of?

No.

They certainly haven’t got back to you. The state Premier’s department, the state Environmental department, the State agencies have not done anything about it, and the local council hasn’t done anything about it.

Correct.

So you’re stuck on your own facing these people.

Yeah.

We’ve written to the new Resources Minister, Scott Stewart through the member for Mackay-

How long ago?

Julieanne Gilbert. Um, just after Christmas requesting a meeting with the new minister, to try and clarify some of these issues. Now, you know, a new minister coming into a portfolio, Sure, he’s going to be a little bit in the dark. So wouldn’t you think it would be wise for him to say, “Okay, I’ve heard China Bloom’s version of this, Surely I should go and hear what residents have to say.” Now, there has been no response whatsoever from the minister’s office or from Julianne Gilbert’s office, to our request for a meeting. And I sent that letter away, Not only as a member of the Keswick Island Progress Association, but as an island resident. So that’s where it’s disappointing.

And so, Julianne, Gilbert, the member for Mackay, she’s responsible for this area?

No she’s not.

She’s actually not.

Who is your rep?

It’s, it’s actually a weird situation, because Mackay regional council are responsible for the building, environmental things on the island, but the actual rep is Whitsundays.

So that’s, uh,

What’s her name?

Amanda Camm.

Amanda Camm, yeah.

Has she done anything about it?

Unfortunately not.

She did-

She stood up in Parliament I think in December, and read out a letter but we haven’t heard anything.

She was very active in helping us initially but we haven’t-

That was before the election?

Yeah.

Yeah, before the election.

I haven’t heard much from her at all

Since the election, no?

Nothing.

No.

Realistically, all we need is maybe 3 or 4 key groups to get together around the table. We need China Bloom, we need the residents, we need the government and possibly our local member or council to sit around a table and say, ” These are our five or six main issues. How can we resolve them?” But there’s been no appetite for that whatsoever.

Okay. Tell me something more about the boat ramp that was built down there. The previous boat ramp that was denied access to and I read somewhere, I think, in your media release that this new boat ramp, which is pretty small was built, you think without approval?

That we know.

You know that?

There was no engineering, there was no permits, no environmental study,

No environmental study.

And this is actually all in the head lease, this is what they say they should be doing,

That the Queensland government should be enforcing?

Yes.

Yep.

So none of that was done. They built the first road basically on the high water mark or just below, I can take you down and show you, they threw tyres in there, they threw top soil from another illegal road in there, and it’s all just washed into the sea, you can see the tyres sitting half-

And now, on the-

Can you imagine if I even just left a single tyre on the beach in Mackay.

And you can’t use single use plastic bags anymore.

Correct.

We’re paying for them.

Yeah.

But yet they’re letting-

I can take you down there and show you-

off the road and get into the ocean.

There was a spring tide two days after they did that. And within two days it was half gone into the reef. And James has done a fantastic video, underwater showing the silk on the coral and how the cull around that area.

It’s absolutely devastated.

It’s devastated.

I think the other important thing to note is that the Department of Resources through one of their key bureaucrats, they’ve actually identified that the so-called new boat ramp is not fit for purpose.

Exactly right.

Can I just… Can I just backtrack a bit, when, a couple of head lessees ago, probably around 2008 or so, one of the head lessees approached the Queensland state government, and said he couldn’t afford to build the marina, and

So was the lease, part of the condition was building a marina?

Was you have to build a marina.

Where’s the marina?

Precisely. So he couldn’t do that. So they came to an agreement with him that he would provide a public boat ramp and a public jetty, both free of charge for the public to use. And the barge ramp, the so-called barge ramp, was the public boat ramp that was built. And it was properly engineered, and everything was done correctly through the council. And that was the ramp that was given to us to use. And at the same time, they built, they did build a jetty at that point, it wasn’t properly maintained.

And that’s the one with the two black…

Yeah.

This is the, the actual walkway has been taken back, hasn’t it?

Correct.

So it’s unusable?

Yeah, there’s-

We’re not allowed to go there.

Yeah. They’ve cut that off for us.

So then, then, when China Bloom came along, they made the airstrip an exclusion zone and they said your free, your free public boat ramp, you may not access that anymore. And now suddenly it’s become only a barge ramp, and not designed as a boat ramp. And we’ll just build you another one, but it literally took them two months to build that other one. And it just-

Totally illegal. Everything’s illegal.

Yeah, a backdoor job.

So, tell me about the national park. How much of the Island is, is leased by China Bloom? How much is national park? How much is freehold?

It’s 15%, is…

20%…

85% national park, and I’ve read that their access to the national park has been restricted, and that’s illegal, isn’t it?

That’s what I keep saying to the DNR, it is illegal. Actually it says so in the lease again, it says in the lease it refers to Clause 373, et cetera,

Th, three-

3.3?

3. 43, it says refer to this deed of agreement. And in that deed of agreement, it clearly states access to certain areas of national park. And we brought this up with the DNR and they said, “Oh it’s not part of our head lease agreement.” And we said, show us the head lease agreement. And they said, “Oh, but it doesn’t clearly state that we have to adhere to that.”

What?!

Yeah, I mean-

When you sign an agreement, there has to be a clause in there that says you must agree to it, before you-

Why put the clause in?

I know, it’s ridiculous.

Yeah.

So China Bloom also claim, and this is in your media release, the majority of them, being you guys, are in breach of their leases. And you’ve said that that is not the case. Do you want to expand on that so that people can hear?

Well, I think what that’s referring to is the people that haven’t built their houses just yet.

And one of them being Glenn Leigh-Smith.

One being Glenn Leigh-Smith, who just, yeah, he just put out a recent, pro media for China Bloom.

But he is in their pocket.

Never built on his house. But he works for them, so.

Okay.

Sorry for that.

What about, what about the, no, if it’s fact you don’t have to apologise. What about the, the people who’ve been trying to sell their houses? Well, first of all, what’s happened to the value of the properties here now, since China Bloom’s taken over and done these behaviours, and second, secondly, what is happening to the properties that you’re trying to sell? Some, some people are trying to sell?

Well our property values have gone down, this house here has gone down about probably, 75%.

Yeah, 75, 80%, I heard.

Decrease?

About 20% of what it was worth.

So just to give you an example, properties, I picked up a real, dead bargain on the property at 137,000. So they ranged between about 130,000 and 450,000 for the property, blank property.

Yep.

Some of the lessees are handing them back, at this stage.

And there’s someone trying to sell, I think and someone trying to buy his property, but they can’t settle?

Well, Lee is in that position. He’s-

Will you tell us about that?

Well, well, we went to contract-

Speak up a bit, there’s a microphone.

We went to contract on a property about six months ago and it has to go to the minister’s office, to be signed off on, which went through no problem. Went to China Bloom to be signed off, nothing. Then next thing you know, our solicitor gets a big list saying that we want this done, and we want a hundred thousand dollar security bond to make sure that you fix the solar power, a couple of minor things which would be nowhere near a hundred thousand anyway, but they don’t want to sign off. And we’re the second people, there’s more people that are trying to do the same thing. And China Bloom just will not sign the contracts, yet in the lease agreement it states that they will not impede, they are not to impede on the sale of a property.

Right. There’s a break in the lease agreement again.

Yeah.

Also, in your media release it says China Bloom claims that, it describes the residents and sub-leasers as anti-development. You’ve put up a counter to that, what is the reality? Are you anti-development?

No. I can see that.

We don’t want to lose money.

Not in the least. You know, many of their statements, if not all of them were absolutely, at best, I would say factually incorrect. I don’t want to use the L-word, but that’s how I would say that.

How can they say there’s no turtles on the island?

Well, it strikes-

I can say there’s no aerodromes, even though the aerodromes been up for four years.

It strikes me, James, as either they’re extremely incompetent or they’re lying.

Well, that’s the way I would say it.

That’s my interpretation.

It might strike me in the same way.

That’s my conclusion.

What we are anti, is anti-development that hasn’t been approved, and properly engineered and designed, because that just ends up as a disaster.

Well, I don’t think we want development at any cost. We want a sustainable island that people can live in harmony. And it’s not just residents. It’s for, it’s for all Queenslanders.

How many of you people-

It’s for all Australians.

How many of you people are here to make a quick buck? Or how many people are here to stay and enjoy yourself for a long time? That’s what comes through very, very clearly.

And in turn Malcolm, when we first all bought our land here, the future development at that stage was fantastic, wasn’t it? Peter Marshall, the original head lessee, had a fantastic… it was an eco type development. And, and that’s what we bought into. And it’s never arrived. Unfortunately, Peter couldn’t hold on to the head lease, he had other issues that need… and it was taken off him by the bank, but he, he had a fantastic vision and it’s just, it’s a shame that the next three head lessees, which the government, state government chose, have not worked out.

But the only development on this island, all the houses, were built during Vince Alexander’s time, there was nothing proposed while KDPL were here, and there’s been nothing since China Bloom took over.

Okay.

I think, you know, you as a Senator in the Australian government, I think this is an opportunity for you too, to have a look at the original sale to China Bloom. Now, who is China Bloom? Is China… What entity does China Bloom have? What resources, what, what equity do they have in China Bloom? Is it just a shelf company? Is it a $2 company in Hong Kong? You know, we’ve asked, we’ve tried to find this information but you know you as senator, and George Christensen as our local member, I would say that you would had the better chance than us to determine…

That’s actually, a property title and so on, That’s actually a state government responsibility, but I’ll see what my office can do anyway.

I think that there should be an overview of just what’s happening all around us here. And, it’s cause it’s affecting Australia.

Right.

You look at all the islands that have been sold to Chinese around here. I think there’s 6, no…

5, I think, yeah.

5.

What are they?

St. Bees, Tengolan, Lindeman, South Molle, Daydream Island.

And another big one that people don’t think of is Laguna Quays, on the mainland. It’s a big property, there’s a big resort, marina, and there’s a, it’s an unfinished three kilometre airstrip on there.

That’s the key is that, Laguna Quays, think of it this way, is Laguna Quays is very key, it’s a three kilometre. We measured it the other day, three kilometre landing strip which can land international jets. They have a huge harbour there, that’s beautifully developed. And coming from overseas, you just land there. You don’t even have to visit anywhere in Australia. You go straight from the Laguna Quays to, to the harbour of, to all these different islands.

So let’s… it’s getting close to wrap up time. So, China Bloom accuses some of the residents of building non-compliant illegal structures but in response, you said the only non-compliant and illegal structures have been built by the island manager themselves. And you’ve pointed at two specific examples, the temporary illegal boat ramp and the manager’s new double story residence.

Built without approval, structure.

Yeah.

I mean, if you did that in Mackay, the council would make you pull it down.

And we don’t know about those toilets they’ve put in at the shop either.

So we go back to that original question, why is the government not doing something about it? Why? We’d like to know why this has just been pushed under the rug.

This has got atrocious governance and loss of sovereignty stamped all over it.

Governance, the government and this state has got so many things to address. You’re saying, I’ll just quote it here: “It is our position, that number one, the head lessee must use the leased land for commercial business purposes, being tourism, residential, marine facility marine works, and aerodome purposes. And then number two, this lease may be forfeited if not used for the purpose stated above.” Let’s finish by saying, what do you want?

Them to forfeit the lease.

Yeah.

Yep.

They’re not doing their job. And it’s as simple as that.

And get a head lessee who has some interest in actually doing something…

And that’s actually touching on another point, we have three Australian investors who were shut out of this latest purchase.

Shut out.

Shut out, and they were told, two of those people have told me personally.

So Australian investors were shut out in favour of a Chinese investor

Yes.

Who is not fulfilling the, these conditions.

Correct.

Yes.

And nothing’s being done about it.

Nothing.

And that raises huge questions. That’s exactly what we’re asking. What assets do these people have, to develop this island? If it’s a, it’s a shelf company sitting in Hong Kong, where are they getting their money from? Are they getting it from within China? Are they getting it from the Chinese government? Are they getting it from the communist party?

We need some serious investigative reporting done on this. We need some digging to find out what’s behind it all.

What we wanna know, Annastacia Palaszczuk, what is she hiding from us? You know?

Okay.

Just briefly, that’s true, why doesn’t the state government meet with us, face to face?

Tell the camera. So we’ve met with them… Why doesn’t the state government why doesn’t the minister meet with us and, and go through the issues that we’ve raised? What are they scared of?

And I’ll just finish up by saying that, no one’s raised this with me, but I want to make it very clear. None of these people are endorsing me or One Nation. They’re just independent citizens. Correct? I wanna make that very clear, we’re not here to do this politically, but I am in the sense that I’m very disappointed in the state government because it’s clearly dropped the ball. Can I just say one other thing is that, so what is the motive behind all this? I would suggest that the motive behind it is to force us off the island buy our properties that are up at a basement price, and then we’ll take, whatever, or then bring in Chinese people. In China, there’s 372 billionaires. There’s 4.4 millionaires.

Yeah.

Unbelievable. You know, like this is, you know, we don’t have that wealth.

But that, that reminds me, some of you people are here as a result of your superannuation investments, right? Is that correct?

Yep. Correct.

So that’s been destroyed.

Yeah Absolutely. And this…

This is just basic human living.

This is, as James said, and Craig said earlier, at the start of this video, this is happening right around the country. This is not just a Keswick Island issue, this is a Queensland issue and an Australian issue.

It’s probably a global issue.

Maybe if you look around you, look what’s happening in China at the moment with Vietnam. They’re building walls between China and Vietnam. So, are they building walls to keep people in or to keep people out.

I don’t know, but we need to make sure we have a political system that maintains our sovereignty and our government. And I want to thank you very much. Thank you for the host for your wonderful residence.

Yeah. Thank you for coming.

Yeah, I thank you for standing up and fighting. As I said, this is not political. It’s about sovereignty and Australia. And some people say, you know, I’m from the Southern tip of Africa and I shouldn’t be here, I’m more Australian than a lot of people, like these people down there at the runway.

We welcome anyone, any colour, any religion so long as they comply with our values, uphold our laws and fit in with our philosophy.

Absolutely.

I would just hope that your visit today led to you actually writing to the Queensland government on our behalf, asking the questions to Perth and the questions we’ve put. We’re not getting a response anywhere else.

George has helped us. George Christensen has helped us.

If it’s any reassurance, we’ve asked the Premier for, data behind some of their policies. She’s pointed us to two areas, no data. So these guys are just winging it, in my experience, the, we, we will, we have come here to listen, to try and understand, one of our staff who, who is a lawyer will be getting in touch with you.

We hope you can help us with our basic human rights.

Hope so.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

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China take advantage of weak Australian governments

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Transcript

 I move:

That the Senate notes that the current dispute between China and Australia is more deep-seated than a trade spat involving wine, coal and timber.

The motion I moved is the opening paragraph in Robert Gottliebsen’s newspaper article in The Australian yesterday, and I’ll quote it again:

When China declared that Australia had been “evil” it suddenly became clear that the dispute between the two nations is more deep-seated than a trade spat involving wine coal, timber etc.

As a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia who is involved in the governance of Australia, I want to focus on Gottliebsen’s meaty fourth paragraph:

From President Xi down, there has been little respect for Australia for a long time and many in China believe we are a foolish country that makes mistakes at almost every turn, led by defence.

He then details serious flaws in the governance of three Defence projects, the submarine ‘shemozzle’, as he calls it, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters and the Hunter frigates. We obviously are ‘a foolish country’ based on this, and the obvious point of his article is our shoddy governments over many decades, both Liberal-National and Labor.

People in this country are feeling concerned about the seriously deteriorating state of our country. We have lost our economic sovereignty. We’re losing our national sovereignty. We’re plunging towards catastrophe economically, and dependence with a complete loss of security. People are fed up and, across many communities and industries—and I mean right around the country—people are feeling dispirited, hopeless, confused, aimless, wary, concerned and even fearful, because most can sense our country’s destruction. Yet, 100 years ago Australia was No. 1 in the world in income per person and had the highest GDP—gross domestic product—per person.

There’s a worse aspect beyond economic demise though. Bullies like China prey on those perceived as being weak. Gottliebsen rightly says that, due to poor, and even stupid, decisions, we’re rightly perceived as being weak in defence. Yet he barely scratches the full extent of the deterioration of our security, because our productive capacity has been dismantled, and our economic security has been smashed, destroyed. We are vulnerable. Now, as a servant to the people of Queensland and Australia, that is what I will discuss, because, like bullies in a schoolyard or in a workplace, China preys on those it perceives as weak or foolish. By the way, when I raise China, I refer to the Chinese Communist Party and not the millions of Australians of Chinese descent now in our country, descendants of those who came during the gold rushes almost two centuries ago, and those who immigrated more recently.

Not only does the Chinese Communist Party assess other nations against China’s values and standards; the Chinese Communist Party assesses our country against our own values, and from that it finds out: Does our government have courage? Does our government have integrity? Do the politicians in this country and this parliament have the strength of character needed to lead a country? I’ve been thinking about this for some years now and I’ve made a list of Australian values: mateship; a fair go; support; loyalty; being fair dinkum; telling the truth; honesty; fairness; freedom to live; freedom of speech; freedom of thought; freedom of belief; freedom of religion; freedom of faith; freedom of interaction; freedom of exchange; democracy; our flag; our nation; family; care; respect for people; respect for community; respect for the law; respect for the environment; making sure government fulfils its three primary roles, which are protecting life, protecting property and protecting freedom, and stays out of everything else; and our Constitution. We value our Constitution, especially competitive federalism, and we value human progress. Australia has led that improvement in progress in the past 150 years. It has been amazing progress, right across the world.

So let’s assess governments against these values and their impact on our productive capacity. Productive capacity depends on many things, but particularly energy costs—the primacy of energy. An ever-decreasing cost of energy has led to 150 years of human progress. Australia has gone from having the world’s lowest electricity prices to having the world’s highest, yet we’re now the world’s largest exporter of energy—gas and coal. China imports a lot of our coal, but the production of coal in their own country is eight times our total production—not just our exports but our total production. They make us look like small producers of coal. They have the largest coal reserves in the world, along with the United States. They use our coal. They’re building steel power plants out of our coal, and they’re building hundreds of coal-fired power stations.

We legislate to use their wind turbines and their solar panels. We subsidise them. It drives up the cost of our electricity, and we pay them for unreliables—their solar and wind generators. We pay them for components of electric vehicles, which we also subsidise. And then we have Chinese companies, affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, owning electricity networks in our major cities. Then we have the Queensland Labor government stealing $1½ billion a year through the generators. All of this destroys jobs and destroys competitiveness.

Then taxpayers pay people, quite often foreigners, to come in and squat on the land, just to get carbon dioxide credits. It’s called carbon dioxide farming. It takes good farmland and destroys it with noxious weeds and feral animals—pests—and then that has to be reclaimed at some later date; who knows when. Then we have Angus Taylor, the Minister for Energy and Emissions, a farmer. He knows that the EPBC Act is hurting him—I’ve had conversations with him—but he just smiles, rolls his eyes and puts up with it. He is a sceptic on climate change—sceptical that we are affecting the climate. He’s been slammed, and he’s now coming back into parliament and driving up electricity prices. Matt Canavan, Barnaby Joyce: strong sceptics in their beliefs. Barnaby Joyce was the Deputy Prime Minister. The Chinese know that. They watch him. They saw him come into cabinet and they saw him run for election in New England, when he moved out of the Senate and into the lower house. And Malcolm Turnbull, to get Mr Joyce elected, showered $400 million of taxpayer funds on unreliable wind power. Then Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce were both in the cabinet, and they suddenly became alarmists, spouting alarm about carbon dioxide.

So I asked Matt Canavan in the Senate one day where his evidence was, and he just slid away from me. Now that he’s out of cabinet and Mr Joyce is out of cabinet, all of a sudden they’re becoming a little bit sceptical again in their words. But the Chinese Communist Party see this and that tells them a lot about the lack of leadership in this country.

The Chinese have their own agreement within the Paris Agreement. It says, ‘We will continue doing whatever we want, continue growing our economy, continue constructing our country, developing our country and putting in place infrastructure, and then in 2030 we may consider something.’ Meanwhile, this parliament in this building has legislated to destroy our economy to comply with Kyoto. That’s not an agreement; that is stupidity and economic suicide. The Chinese Communist Party watches us pay academics to tell lies about climate and to misrepresent the climate science. We even put some of them in charge of or in senior places in the CSIRO and pay them $800,000 a year to destroy our country. Dr Andrew Johnson went from head of the climate research agency department in the CSIRO to become head of the Bureau of Meteorology. Under him and his predecessors, the Bureau of Meteorology has been shown to be concocting the data and misrepresenting temperatures.

We pay people like Ove Hoegh-Gulberg and Ian Chubb, former chief scientists, to destroy the science, to misrepresent the science. In 1975, Whitlam signed an agreement saying we’ll comply with the Lima Declaration to shut down our manufacturing and export it. The following year, Liberal Prime Minister Fraser ratified the deal. In 1992, Paul Keating’s Labor government signed the Rio Declaration, which is about 21st century global governance. Then we had the Kyoto protocol destroying our country, stealing our farmers’ property rights. And now we have the Paris Agreement exporting jobs and shutting manufacturing.

Then the current Prime Minister has the temerity to say, ‘We will fiddle with the industrial relations system to bring back manufacturing.’ How the hell can you bring back manufacturing when you have the highest electricity costs in the world and a big component of manufacturing—the largest component, usually—is the cost of electricity? How the hell can you do it with a tax system that favours multinational companies and lets them off scot-free? How the hell can you do it with overregulation? How the hell can you do it with a lack of water? How the hell can you do it with a lack of infrastructure? The Chinese are watching this and they’re helping us destroy our electricity sector and export even more jobs, because our prices for electricity are going up, businesses are shutting and then the jobs start up in China.

We are now reversing the last 170 years of human progress, because the key to human progress is decreasing the price of energy, which raises productivity, raises wealth, raises the standard of living. That ended in this country 24 years ago. We have ceded governance to the UN: Lima, Kyoto, Rio, Paris and many other agreements. How does this comply with Aussie values? How does it comply with being fair dinkum? Worse, the granddaddy who concocted this climate change rubbish was Maurice Strong. He concocted it when he created and then took over as head of the United Nations Environment Program. He pushed that program, starting from the 1970s, and in the 1980s he ramped it up. In 1988 he formed the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a fraudulent organisation. And the Liberals, Labor, the Nationals and the Greens have fallen for it all. Maurice Strong was a crook. He was wanted by the police in America and died in exile in China. Who’s the beneficiary of all this destruction of Western civilisation? The Chinese government.

That’s what the people in this chamber and the chamber across the hall there have done to this country by blindly following the UN diktats. How does that comply with our values? It doesn’t. It breaks our values. What about water ownership? Destroyed by separating water ownership from property ownership. What about the Murray-Darling Basin and the corruption that is rife? What about the family farms shutting down? What about water projects? What water projects? That’s it; there aren’t any. And yet look at what amazing water projects the Chinese Communist Party has put together to develop its country.

What about infrastructure? Hardly anything built and no plan. The north is exposed without the Bradfield scheme and we see floods destroying Townsville. There is destruction and a waste of water flowing out to sea. We see the state governments joining in. The Labor Party in Queensland has reef regulations which are shutting down agriculture. Vegetation protection legislation is destroying agriculture. Firebreaks aren’t allowed and are being destroyed when farms are under fire. We put animals and fungus ahead of humans.

The Queensland Labor government put a Chinese company in charge of the electoral roll and then there is Queensland local council corruption linked to the Labor state government. This extends well beyond Ipswich and Paul Pisasale; it is systemic and it is widespread. We have foreign banks that were deregulated under John Howard and we saw the result of that through the Hayne royal commission. We see Adani frustrated by both the Liberal-National and Labor governments in Queensland and by the federal government, which was weak. That’s one man from India, which has a booming, growing economy, who wanted to spend $17 billion in our country. He was thwarted for eight years. That’s a blight on us that not even the Chinese can miss—that no-one in the world can miss. We go on and on and on.

I give Senator Rex Patrick credit for moving a motion to get an inquiry into the relationship between China and Australia six times—and I supported him every time. Both the Labor Party and the Liberal-Nationals squashed it. This is what the Chinese are seeing, yet Australians are wanting far more. Australians want leadership. Australians want security, reassurance, confidence, leadership, trust, pride and freedom—a restoration so that we can be No. 1 in the world again. What does Australia need? It needs principled leadership based on values. It needs disciplined leadership based on data and facts instead of ideology paying off donors. It needs honest leadership and strength of character. It’s the simple ability to say: ‘I’m wrong, I’m sorry—can you help me? Please explain.’ We need visionary policies, and that is what will take us back to being No. 1.

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Questioning the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) over CuDeco

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This round of questioning occurred in the October/November Hearings of Budget Estimates, focusing on large concerns I had brought to my attention over the sale of CuDeco. FIRB provides recommendations to the Government in relation to the risk of certain foreign investments.

Transcript

Senator ROBERTS: Thank you for appearing today. My questions are with regard to the sale of assets of the delisted stock exchange minor CuDeco Limited. The receivers have claimed on 12 June 2020 that approval had been recommended by FIRB for this. Would FIRB confirm whether or not it recommended that Copper Resources Australia may purchase CuDeco assets, including its major copper mine, on or shortly before that date of 12 June?

Mr Hamilton: Certainly, we’ve been following media articles in relation to CuDeco, which, as you know, entered voluntary administration in July 2019 and, as you said, was delisted from the ASX in February 2020. As you know, we don’t comment on the specifics of individual cases, but we do understand that ASIC has looked into this matter. Questions about some of the concerns that have been raised in the public around allegations of phoenixing by CuDeco should be directed to ASIC.

Senator ROBERTS: Are you aware that this copper mine is reputedly one of the largest in the world—or the copper reserves, sorry?

Mr Hamilton: Senator, I was not aware of that myself.

Senator ROBERTS: Was FIRB aware that Copper Resources Australia was only incorporated on 20 May 2020?

Mr Hamilton: Senator, again, I’m not aware of these details. But, as I said, we would be limited in what we would wish to talk about in a public forum in relation to these entities.

Senator ROBERTS: I’ll just ask the other questions, because they raise important points, and whatever you can answer, you can answer, and whatever you can’t, tell me. Was FIRB aware that Copper Resources Australia is basically a shell company with no significant assets and lacks the funds to buy the firm, and that it had no mining experience or funds of its own to complete such a purchase?

Ms Kelley: I think that’s the matter that we said ASIC was looking into.

Senator ROBERTS: Was there a recommendation made by FIRB?

Mr Hamilton: Personally I’m not aware of that, but we would not comment on that in any case, as we’ve said.

Senator ROBERTS: Is FIRB aware that a change of beneficial ownership form 484 was submitted on 14 July 2020, shortly after the approval was given, assigning the beneficial ownership to Chinese controlled company Dragon Field International Ltd?

Mr Hamilton: I refer you to my previous answer.

Senator ROBERTS: Was FIRB aware that it has been suggested that collusion of the Chinese directors and their actions brought the company into liquidation through fraudulent conduct intended to make the company fail and make it a cheap buy?

Mr Hamilton: I refer you to my previous answer.

Senator ROBERTS: Is FIRB aware that the bid of $30 million from Copper Resources Australia promises to be paid to only non-Australian creditors when an Australian bid of $60 million—double the price—to purchase was declined by the receiver?

Mr Hamilton: Again I refer you to what I said previously.

Senator ROBERTS: Is FIRB aware that, if this purchase is allowed to proceed, Chinese interests will allegedly acquire more than $100 million of Australian assets for less than $30 million, leaving Australian investors and creditors unpaid, with reportedly the plant valued as scrap metal?

Mr Hamilton: Again I refer you to my previous answer.

Senator ROBERTS: Can you explain how this recommendation—if you made that recommendation—could be in Australia’s best interest?

Ms Kelley: We’ve noted in previous hearings that we’re very happy to discuss these sorts of matters in a private hearing. The legislation has particular constraints on us around sharing protected information, but we have previously discussed particulars of certain matters in private hearings with senators. We’re happy to consider making that offer. There is another committee looking at foreign investment. We’ve appeared before them and we anticipate we will appear before them again.

Senator ROBERTS: Could you tell me when that would be?

Ms Kelley: I’m not sure when the next one is, but I think we are scheduled to appear.

Senator ROBERTS: Can my office get a briefing from you at all? Ms Kelley: We can certainly put that to the Treasurer’s office.

Senator ROBERTS: So you’ll get back to my office?

Ms Kelley: We’ll talk to the Treasurer’s office about that.

Senator ROBERTS: And then get back, thank you.

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Wagga Wagga Councillor sticks up for Aussies

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This morning I interviewed Paul Funnell who is a councillor in Wagga Wagga NSW.

Paul put to the council that they should cut ties with their Chinese sister-city Kunmin because the “Chinese Communist Government that delights in lies, subterfuge and coverups” has brought “death and destruction across the world with COVID-19”.

The motion passed.

Since then, Paul has been attacked by the usual control freaks labelling him racist and xenophobic.

Here is his story

Transcript

[Malcolm Roberts] Hi. I’m with Paul Funnell on Skype, and Paul is a sheep and irrigation farmer from southern New South Wales around Wagga Wagga. He’s also a councillor on the Wagga Wagga council. And last week he moved a motion to repeal or to end the sister city relationship that Wagga Wagga has with Kunming in China. You didn’t expect it to pass, but it did.

[Paul Funnell] No, I didn’t, Malcolm. It was about putting it up out of principle because I don’t want to be in a relationship with the CCP, which is what the Kunming provincial government actually is, it is the CCP. And with the coverups, etc., with COVID-19, I just felt it was time, enough’s enough. And that’s why I stood my ground. But of course it got up, right to my surprise.

[Malcolm Roberts] So here’s an everyday Aussie standing up for his beliefs, getting it through the council, and you’re just doing what you think is right. Now, you have got nothing against the Chinese people. In fact, you’re getting a lot of support from Chinese people including those in Communist China. But what your beef is is that you don’t want to be associated with the Communist Party of China that’s ruling that country by force, and you just want to dissociate yourself from it, not continue to condone them.

[Paul Funnell] That’s correct, Malcolm. This is nothing to do with the Chinese people. In fact, I’m trying to help the Chinese people. And that’s what this is all about. It’s not just a totalitarian regime, it is the most brutal regime in world history. And we are tacit in approving what they do by remaining in this soft infiltration. Because this is what they do through the sister city programmes. And eventually, you have to draw a line in the sand. And that’s what I’ve done.

[Malcolm Roberts] Well, good on you, mate. And now, you were expecting a lot of pushback, but surprisingly you got it through. Then the pushback came with the left and the control freaks in our society.

[Paul Funnell] Correct. And I thought it might upset a few people of the left-leaning persuasion, and the nice people. And there’s nothing wrong with being nice, but they don’t understand what they’re dealing with here. They don’t realise that we’re actually in bed with a brutal communist regime. So yes, I thought we might get a little bit of pushback around here in Wagga, but it absolutely exploded. It has gone global.

[Malcolm Roberts] But it’s been in support of you, not against you.

[Paul Funnell] In support of me, yes. I am getting support from all over the world. Obviously a lot of the Chinese nationals and Chinese Australians and people from all over. Some of them, however, only contact me directly through my text or email privately, because, as they say, they still have family living in China and they’re afraid. And of course, this speaks volumes to what this whole situation has brought out. But if that doesn’t make us stop and think, “We don’t want to be in this relationship,” and if we can’t stand up. And they are so pleased. So many of them have said, the majority, they’re so pleased that they finally found a politician, which, of course, local government is certainly far from being a politician, has actually stood up to help them. So it’s just been overwhelming. But of course the vitriol and the hatred that has come from the opposition is just absolutely astounding. But that speaks volumes.

[Malcolm Roberts] Here in Australia, Paul?

[Paul Funnell] Here in Australia, absolutely. I’ve received many threats, as in death threats. I can produce those documents. And it’s quite disheartening, actually, to think that people could be so vitriolic and so interested or disinterested in wanting to stand up for people and for what is right. But unlike in China, I will defend their right to do so, because we have a democracy where they have that choice.

[Malcolm Roberts] So you’re standing up on behalf of your constituents and on behalf of your own principles, and what you’ve been surprised by is the lack of interest from the mainstream media in this country, the vitriolic response and attacks on you personally, just by voicing your concerns, which got through council. Now you’re expecting it to be rescinded tomorrow, Wednesday, at the shire council meeting, correct?

[Paul Funnell] Correct. The mayor has called an extraordinary meeting because, as he said, he’s appalled. He thinks we’ve done irreparable damage, and there’s an absolute pile-on. But of course all that’s done is built my resolve to show, because he wants to apologise to the CPP for causing any harm, to the extent where the council general, I mean, this has drawn the ire of the council general of the Chinese embassy in Sydney, where he put out a media release last week. And in it, he actually states that my actions and I should be restrained. I mean, doesn’t that speak volumes? So we have drawn the ire of the Chinese consulate. This has has gone global. It is being reported in China and all over the world. And it’s interesting that the ire actually proves my point, as this is what we’re dealing with.

[Malcolm Roberts] And what’s happening is you’re getting a lot of support from mainstream Australians, everyday Aussies. You’re getting a lot of support from Chinese people all around the world. You’re getting interest from all around the world. And yet, the locals, media, won’t pay any attention and you’re getting attacked by some people who oppose what you’re doing. They just won’t leave you alone.

[Paul Funnell] No, that’s right. It runs from about six o’clock in the morning to one o’clock the following morning every day. but that’s fine. What they don’t realise is in, probably being a typical Aussie or whatever, I’ll just dig my heels in. I’m a reasonable person. I will defend their right to having a differing opinion to me. I will absolutely defend their right. Interestingly, the local media here immediately around Wagga, I can only say, must be left-leaning, because they’re giving an absolute dump and pile-on, even to the editorials, to say that my moral judgement should be assessed and I should be turfed out. I mean, it’s quite mind-boggling. Professors from our wonderful academic institutes are saying, it’s in the Daily Advertiser today, actually stating that Australia and America are also complicit in this COVID-19. I mean, it’s just astounding that this is the way our media has gone.

[Malcolm Roberts] Yeah, it’s crazy. Last week, I came out and made a tweet. Two weeks ago, I made a tweet that went around the world. And it’s got enormous support from just about every continent, saying that we need to hold the Chinese Communist Party responsible for the COVID virus, because they suppressed the news of it, they shut down doctors who wanted to talk about it publicly, to raise public awareness. The World Health Organisation came in and supported that shutting it down, and the World Health Organisation and China have colluded to make sure that the West didn’t know what was going on. That’s cost us more lives, delayed our response. We’re having a pandemic because of something that was released in China and because of suppression of that in China. And what you’re saying is you want truth, and just to wrap up, you’re saying we should end the sister city relationship between Wagga Wagga and the Kunming area because of the Chinese Communist Party’s role and rule over Kunming. That’s what you’re against.

[Paul Funnell] That is absolutely what I’m against. This is the same municipal government that actually has, it’s documented, in current times, of torture camps, of abuse against their own people. That is who we are in the relationship with, not the good people of Kunming. It’s the regime we’re in the relationship. That regime is the CCP, who has allowed this unleashing of this COVID-19, which has absolutely devastated world economies. Hundreds of thousands have died. Millions are infected. It’s going to take generations to pay back the debt. And everyone wants to turn around and walk everywhere else, but yet remain in our city council wants to harangue me and turn around and say, “Oh, no, it’s all nice. “We want to remain in a relationship with these people.” You’ve got to be kidding me.

[Malcolm Roberts] To be in a relationship, it has to be mutually respectful. And when they’re talking about cutting you off or suppressing you, what was the word?

[Paul Funnell] Restrain.

[Malcolm Roberts] Restraining you. Then that’s hardly mutually respectful, because you’re a citizen of a foreign country and their consulate wants to restrain you for that. Now, as I understand it, a lot of people have now contacted the Wagga Wagga council and are wanting this to continue, not to be rescinded tomorrow.

[Paul Funnell] That’s correct. There’s been enormous amount– The pendulum has swung the other way, actually. There’s been dozens and dozens of emails going through to all councillors. And there’s hard, factual evidence that’s being put through as to what we’re dealing with. So this will be on their conscience. This will be their decision. And all I want is an open and transparent and a fair relationship with any governing body anywhere in the world. But if we can’t have that, we cannot be complicit and give tacit approval and say, “Oh, we want to do our economic up here but we’re not going to look at what’s going over there.” There comes a point in time. I believe this is the time. And I urge everyone to stand up. I urge councils everywhere, people of all levels.

[Malcolm Roberts] And you’re getting a lot of support from the Chinese people themselves under Communist rule, also around the world, who are outside of China. And in Australia, local Chinese people who you admire and respect, and you’re trying to help them as well.

[Paul Funnell] That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to help the people. I want to be in a relationship with the people. I do not and will not be in a relationship with a brutal regime that has unleashed this on the world, and we know that that is a fact.

[Malcolm Roberts] Thank you very much, Paul.

[Paul Funnell] My pleasure, Malcolm. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me.

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