Councillor Julian McLaren
Councillor Julian McLaren was first elected to Council in 2012.
Mobile: 0459500266 councillor.mclaren@wagga.nsw.gov.au
Councillor McLaren 'claims' he has not been in contact with Humphrey Xu or Lydia Zhang since becoming a councillor, ( which was September 2012 ). Councillor McLaren made these statements at both the Council meeting and to the Daily Advertiser.
If this is a lie is it what the appellate courts describe as a lie born of a conscious of guilt. "In other words a falsehood far more telling than simply being easy with the truth.
1. Can Councillor McLaren confirm or deny a phone conversation with ACA Capital (Humphrey Xu, Lydia Zhang) in June 2013 ?
2. If ICAC were to view Cr McLaren's phone records, what if anything would they find ?
If it is true, Cr McLaren should resign from Council and walk in to the office of the ICAC and spill his guts.
We also have the contentious issue of a Councillor admitting he was offered 'support' by ACA. (We congratulate him on his honesty and integrity in coming forward). ACA seemingly have amnesia regarding the matter.
To further add to the stench Mayor Rod Kendall's (damage control) letter to the Editor (Daily Advertiser 25.7.13), is clearly an act of a drowning man. Even though there has been corroborated concerns regarding ACA Capital Investments (Humphrey Xu and Lydia Zhang), Mayor Kendall states ACA Capital are still involved in the deal.
This so called trade centre story is an evolving one and it may be in the ICAC interests to start investigating now.
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Australia First Party have on behalf of the people of the Riverina forwarded this matter to the ICAC for investigation. (Email's as below). Australia First Party encourage anyone else with information on this matter or concerns should also contact the ICAC icac@icac.nsw.gov.au
to icac
Dear Sir,
This below link has some very serious questions and information. We implore the ICAC to act sooner rather than later on this matter, as this matter goes very deep and right to the top.
The situation is urgent and the Wagga City Council must be sacked in its entirety and elections called, none of the present councillors should be allowed to run for re-election. This is scandalous.
I will attach the information from my first email to you again for reference.
Original email sent to ICAC on July 24th 2013 at 8.07pm
Dear Sir,
We call for an urgent investigation in to the corruption at Wagga Wagga City Council and the immediate sacking/standing down of the entire council and new elections to be called immediately.
The below link is the information we base our request on and seek your earliest attention to these matters.
Australia First Party calls for the immediate sacking of the entire Wagga City Council, we do however acknowledge Cr Negline and Cr Funnell who have acted with honesty and integrity, but the council as a whole must be sacked and a new election held.
The integrity of the Wagga council is in ruins and it's starting to look like a Chinese money laundering service, with allegations of bribes and favours rife.
We reproduce below a letter to the Daily Advertiser and we note the writer has taken up many of our longstanding concerns.
It's time the ICAC got involved.
More Questions Than Answers ...
Daily Advertiser (24.7.13)
By Edwin Brooks.
My story begins a long time ago, 30 years ago in fact, and it sure seemed like 'Star Wars' at times. But it didn't take place in a far - off galaxy.
Instead it occurred right here in Wagga when the Ratepayers Association, of which I was secretary, took Wagga City Council to the NSW Ombudsman with serious complaints about "maladministration".
The Ombudsman found our complaints valid, with his final report in May 1983 describing council's behaviour as "wrong".
After all these years the specific details are unimportant. (they can be easily checked).
But what 1983 showed us more generally was democracy must never be taken for granted. Lincoln may have got it right about not fooling all the people all the time, but we can certainly get well and truly fooled if we get so bamboozled, confused or silenced that we give up.
Which brings me to Wuai, because something is going on in Wagga right now which revives memories of the early 80's when the council seemed incapable of giving straight answers. When secrecy prevailed. When letters went unanswered. When the public were treated like lepers and told to withdraw from the chamber while "key documents" were shown to the guardians of the secrets.
Perhaps most seriously of all, it was a time when rumours spread about the probity of those in high places. When rumours and scuttlebutt ran riot, and there were whispered allegations of mutual back scratching, bribery and corruption.
The first news about Wuai coming to Wagga came via a beaming Premier and local member. It sounded splendid, full of sound bites and hosannas. The only thing lacking was "Sunshine" Rudd telling us that the Millennium has arrived. If it sounded to good to be true, that's because it was.
Months have drifted by with few if any reliable facts and every sign that something is seriously wrong.
Maybe not, but council seems to be totally out of its depth in negotiating with a quasi-commercial outfit with obvious yet unspecified links to China's Communist Party.
Letters and blogs show that more and more of us are becoming worried and angry that such a giant venture - as expensive as a university - is seemingly being rammed through council at the behest of those I earlier described as the guardians of the secrets.
Had the Ratepayers Association still been around, decisive action would have been taken by now to uncover just what's going on.
In the absence of that something else must be done to get to the truth, including a public meeting where vital questions can be put and (hopefully) answered. Perhaps the Ombudsman and / or the ICAC should be approached too.
In the meantime, here are some of the questions crying out for answers. I'm sure there'll be many more in the weeks ahead.
1. What's the role of the NSW Government and the local MP in the genesis of the scheme ? What information did they possess about Wuai's existing operations, and did they provide such information to council ? Or were they too, like Wagga's ratepayers have done ever since, flying blind ?
2. Is the centre purely wholesale, as originally claimed, or also retail ? Did Mr O'Farrell and Mr Maquire themselves know when they launched the scheme six months ago in a blaze of positive but vacuous publicity ?
3. Why has the local MP, despite his many visits to China, been so slow to promote the project with hard evidence, and why has he been virtually mute when questioned by the media ?
4.Given the size, cost and strategic significance of this huge development for the wider Riverina - indeed for NSW and Australia as a whole - won't NSW rather the WWCC make the planning decision once the development application materialises ?
5. As council has yet to receive any documentation - other than possible confidential communications about which the public knows nothing - how can it be sure there will be no major adverse consequences for retailers, the housing market or local jobs ?
6. How does the council know there is to be a convention centre at the centre, and even if it appears on some sketch plan how can councillors know what it will eventually comprise and when, if ever, it will be completed ?
7. If such a convention centre does eventually materialise, at a currently undisclosed cost, who gave council (or at least the Mayor and GM) the authority to trade it off against immediate land costs ?
8. If the centre includes retail operations, how will these impact upon other retailers in Wagga ?
9. When can we expect to see the development application ?
10. Over what time scale will the project be completed ?
11. Will it be completed as a single project, or will it be built in distinct stages, each of which will be financed separately over an indeterminate time ?
12. What will its total cost be ? $400m ? $600m ?
13. Who gave the Mayor the authority to offer Wuai an additional block of land ?
14. When and why were the Mayor and the GM delegated the power to negotiate the land sale ? How was the valuation determined ? Was it envisaged that ACA - having insisted on the sale prior to the DA - would be able to walk away from the deal if the DA wasn't approved ?
15. What is the reason(s) for ASIC having twice in recent times threatened ACA with deregistration and why didn't council inform ratepayers this had happened ?
16. Why is it so difficult to discover details of ACA on the internet, such as its financial assets and its commercial record in Australia /
17. Who comprises the board and executive of ACA ? In particular, what are the official titles of Humphrey Xu and Lydia Zhang ?
18. Is Humphrey Xu the same person as the one called Harry Xu in an article published in The Age on April 20, 2013, which described "Harry Xu" as the boyfriend and business partner of Helen Liu ?
19. What due diligence has been conducted regarding the applicants ?
20. Why have most councillors yet to meet Xu and Zhang ?
21. What precisely is the relationship between Wuai and ACA and for how long has it existed ?
22. Why has so little information reached the public about the project ? For example, there is no documentation available at the civic centre desk, and no mention of it among the "projects" identified in council's glossy "Planning for our community" sent to ratepayers in May 2013 ?
23. Why hasn't council briefed the public about what is happening, and why has it seemed so keen to hasten the sale of the land prior to receiving and assessing a DA from the proposed developer?
24. What hard evidence exists about already existing and allegedly similar Wuai projects in China and other countries ?
25.Does council presume that the purchaser of the land is the same entity as the eventual owners and operators of the trade centre ?
26. What were the "key documents' that suddenly materialised at the July 15 council meeting ?
27. Why has councillors not been privy to these earlier, particularly if they were (belatedly) considered to be vital to informed debate ?
28. What was so secret about these documents that members of the public had to leave the chamber ?
29. When will ACA Capital Investments be required to make its in - depth presentation to council ?
A final thought.
In these days of internet shopping and video conferencing, why does Wuai feel it necessary to erect physical buildings at great expense in a remote part of the world ?
Why not simply put the existing facility in China on the web and let people all over the world view what's on display ? They could "walk around" electronically and place their orders without having to travel all the way to Wagga to do so.
Letter From Brian Mills, To National Party, Warren Truss, Michael McCormack & Peter Dutton, Regarding The Backflip On The Ban On Imported Citrus Concentrate.
Warren Truss, Michael McCormack and Peter Dutton,
As a presenter at the Senate Inquiry into Citrus I have read the proof version of Hansard.
It is my firm belief that Lion Nathan who control at least 80% of Australian orange juice paid a bribe of at least $100,000 to reverse a ban on contaminated orange concentrate.
I represent 4,000 signatories on a petition. We want Peter Dutton to be aware of the findings of Diabetes Week. We want Warren, John Cobb, Michael and Peter to curb the influence of Lion Nathan and phase in their processing of at least an additional 200,000 tonnes of Australian juice.
This should include up to 15% of juice grade navel oranges to maximise the benefit to farmers.
To summarise my request to you Warren and to you Michael:
1.What is your measurable plan to save citrus?
2.Are you prepared to use health issues to help save Australian agriculture?
3.Are you prepared to challenge multinational juice manufacturers to phase in up to at least an additional 200,000 tons of Australian oranges per annum.
4.Are you prepared to insist on up to 15% navel oranges for juice which is acceptable but does require some manufacturing adjustments? It is easier to just add carbendazim laced concentrate.
I am prepared to have a debate on this with Warren and Michael at any time.
Open Letter To Barnaby Joyce, Bill Heffernan, Warren Truss, Peter Dutton, Michael McCormack and John Cobb.
Open letter to Barnaby Joyce, Bill Heffernan, Warren Truss, Peter Dutton, Michael McCormack and John Cobb.
Barnaby, because I sent a fax to your economist on 9th July and he has not started to look at the question it would be good to know if he does intend to study the situation or should we look elsewhere?. The question - does agriculture and manufacturing less than 20% of GDP represent a government in paralysis?
Bill, the Senate Inquiry into Citrus in Griffith on 3rd July illustrated why citrus family farming could be destined for oblivion.
Hansard shows that a letter from Catherine King to Nick Xenophon advised that there would be a complete ban on Brazilian concentrate from April 2012. Hansard then there were sprinkles the word “lobbying” throughout the meeting and names were named.
To me, Senate is not likely to provide any hope so a book will be printed in a month. It will feature these exhibits: 1. Graph of Rural Farm Debt showing $17bn growing at $1bn per annum 2. Columns showing agriculture as a percentage of GDP of 3% in 1996, reducing to to 2% in 2011 and 1.2% in 2013 3. Graph showing an apparent inverse relationship between tariffs and farm debt from 1970 to now
Bill, you said that the Inquiry was not the forum for columns showing agriculture reducing from 3% of GDP. Well, the forum will change to newspapers, emails and Social Media.
Bill, Hansard shows you cut me off while I was suggesting that a review of The Lima Declaration was overdue and that it could help citrus by..............
Peter, do you think that the ban on contaminated Brazilian concentrate which was due to apply as from April 2012 was based on health concerns?
Warren, Michael and John, we are not holding out much hope with the Senate so our emphasis is now with you when it comes to agriculture. We have these questions:
1, Do you have different figures to suggest for 1. and 2.?
2. Your policies obviously cannot accept our contention for item 3. ,so how do you explain the increase in farm debt to the seemingly unaffordable figures which now apply?
3. What is your plan for saving citrus?
a. Our assessment is that your principal policy appears to be the elimination of the Carbon Tax and the Mining Tax. On our graph of farm Debt this would slightly reduce the slope of the growth of debt since 1970 as shown on our curve.
b. Another plan attributed to you appears to be Truth in Labelling. However, Warren you claimed to have initiated the first legislation. The Senate Inquiry in January 2012 made Recommendation 8 to achieve truth in labelling. Neither are working. What legislation changes are you planning and can you project on our graph (or a graph of your choosing) the timing and extent of the improvement?
c. Another plan you referred to is the lowering of the Australian dollar. This has now started so can you make a projection of changes to a curve.? This projection should be a Work in Progress. Whichever curve you use should already be influenced by the value of the dollar coming off highs.
4. Are you prepared to discuss a plan to consider health issues to assist in saving citrus? Either you or we can involve Peter Dutton. Information accepted by the Senate is available in which Steve McCutcheon the CEO of Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) admitted to lobbying being involved. Did he set the levels of carbendazim too high? Some big juice manufacturers and others continue to hide behind the FSANZ to shield the damage they are causing the citrus industry.
6. Perhaps these questions have been answered above but can you anticipate the ever increasing farm debt topping out and what might make it happen?
All, are you prepared to consider:
A.An investigation into who in the Government accepted how much in money and/or favours to reverse the ban. Bill seemed to indicate a range between “Given that there was lobbying—like 'I'll take you out to dinner, Minister,' and “no doubt some lobbyist somewhere got $100,000 out of it.” Your estimates are welcome.
B.An investigation into which multinational juice manufacturer(s) did the lobbying and why. (There are no prizes for suggesting the profit motive due to lower cost but contaminated concentrate).
C.An investigation into the quoted comments relating to Mr. Steve McCutcheon who admitted that there was lobbying. Our assessment is that his implication there is no health risk in drinking carbendazim should be investigated. As we import more and more imported processed food of dubious quality what else can we expect? There is a related question. Can we afford our ever increasing health costs?
Yours faithfully,
Brian Mills,
Representing 4,000 Australians ( and growing nationwide ) who have signed the petition to ban contaminated concentrate.
In order to put a little perspective on the Nationals true position as to Australia's strategic agricultural assets we need to refer to The Daily Advertiser (20/07/13) There you will see the Nationals have taken out a full page advertisement promoting another of their talk fests. They have rolled out Warren Truss to protest the sale of Graincorp. Mr Truss is just another of a long list of heavyweights the Nationals use in the grand deceit to make it look as if they are actually doing something for the man on the land.
Of course this is nothing more than electioneering and will achieve absolutely nothing, in fact it is a complete ruse and the Nationals know all too well they have already sold the Australian people out. Surely Mr McCormack knows his political history and the vile act that the Nationals were party to when signing GATS with their Liberal masters. It was Warren Truss's predecessor, Mark Vaile who was one of the signatories of GATS and is a supporter of the free trade and globalist agenda that has put us in the situation where all of our strategic infrastructure was floated and sold off. Warren Truss in the meantime has been a supporter of free trade deals with the US and China, and more ominously Truss is a strident advocate for the "Asian food bowl" in the north, which will see the north of Australia ceded from Australia. http://www.irrigator.com.au/story/1593064/foodbowl-furore-mccormack-stands-against-his-party/
The GATS treaty obligates our country to privatise all public services including electricity, health, welfare, water and most definitely strategic agricultural assets. The major parties have agreed with the UN and the WTO (World Trade Organisation) that these areas should be opened up to foreign corporate ownership.
In his book, GATS, How the WTO's New `Service' Negotiations Threaten Democracy, Canadian researcher Scott Sinclair identifies the three priorities of the current round of negotiations. First, GATS officials will attempt to expand corporate access to domestic markets. Governments will be under great pressure to list more of their services and exempt fewer. The most potent weapon will be the push to have `National Treatment' applied horizontally. National Treatment is a fundamental tenet of free trade; it forbids governments from favouring their domestic sectors over foreign based companies. Already, National Treatment applies to certain services in the GATS; the goal is to apply it across the board.
Recent talks were aimed at developing new GATS rules and restrictions, intended to further restrict the use of government subsidies, such as those used in public works, municipal services and social programmes. A particularly threatening development is the demand for an expansion of the `Commercial Presence' rules. Commercial Presence allows an `investor' in one GATS country to establish a presence in any other GATS country and compete not only for business against domestic suppliers but for public funds against domestic publicly funded institutions and services. Together, these proposals will hugely expand the authority of the WTO in the day to day business of governments. They will make the exercising of democratic control over the future of basic public services a virtual impossibility. Investment houses like Merrill Lynch predict that public education will be globally privatised over the next decade and say there is an untold amount of profit to be made when this happens. The GATS serves this corporate, profit driven vision of society. It's important for those attending Mr McCormack and Mr Truss's meeting on Wednesday to understand in no uncertain terms what is at stake and that Mr McCormack and Mr Truss are signed up to the very thing that is destroying them, regardless of what they may say.
If the Nationals were truly up in arms about the ADM takeover of Graincorp, they would have split from the Liberals years ago and would have stood against the privatization and sell off of essential infrastructure. They could have also publicly rescinded their position on the GATS agreement (they haven't). They have refused to take a real stand and continue to scrape and bow to the major parties as we lose the last of what was Australian owned infrastructure and this included the single desk. Is the MDBP just a means to facilitate the sell off of our water infrastructure via GATS?
Australia First can see why Mr McCormack was in rural Canada and Mongolia recently "learning" about the fly in, fly out situation, Mr McCormack already knows what the future holds for the Riverina, he's just not telling the people of the Riverina.
Australia First if ever in power would rescind all free trade deals, tear up the GATS treaty and buy back all Australian infrastructure. We support Australian owned and grown and not a country where our future will be decided in a foreign boardroom. What do you want for your children's future?
The duo, who head up ACA Capital Investments, are the figures driving the wholesale trade centre project but have chosen to keep a low profile thus far.
Mr Xu is the company’s director, while Ms Zhang currently holds the title of general manager at ACA Capital Investments and was previously a director as recently as three years ago.
Curiously, Mr Xu is purported to never hand out business cards to people he deals with, as part of his efforts to keep out of the spotlight.
Deputy mayor Andrew Negline, who has extensive experience doing business in the Asian landscape, describes this as unusual practice among Asian business circles.
“When an Asian businessperson doesn’t hand out a business card, they are holding you with discontent,” he said.
Ms Zhang is the point of call for what little public contact ACA Capital Investments chooses to make.
“Lydia (Zhang) is the fall guy,” Councillor Negline said.
“She takes the hits – she can say things with no accountability.”
Both Mr Xu and Ms Zhang split their time between ACA Capital Investments’ offices in Sydney and China and have been doing business in Australia for more than 20 years.
Prior to being elected to council last year, Julian McLaren had dealt with Ms Zhang on a number of occasions.
He believes, given the amount of time the pair have spent in Australia, they should be well aware of the commercial landscape.
“There is no doubt in China that business is transacted in a very different manner to how it is in Australia,” he said.
“Given Lydia and Humphrey are residents of Australia they should be very aware of our rules, regulations and processes.”
Cr McLaren claims to no longer be in contact with Ms Zhang now that he is a sitting councillor.
But most Wagga councillors have never been introduced to either Mr Xu or Ms Zhang, who have dealt mainly with director-level staff at council.
It’s believed that the bulk of official communications between ACA Capital Investments and Wagga City Council regarding the trade centre have gone through council commercial and economic development director Peter Adams.
Mayor Rod Kendall has told The Daily Advertiser that he has had limited dealings with the ACA Capital Investments duo outside of signing documents requiring his approval.
Despite this, it is believed Ms Zhang has attempted to cultivate a relationship with at least one Wagga councillor behind the scenes and she is in regular contact with Member for Wagga Daryl Maguire.
Mr Maguire, currently in China, is steadfastly refusing to comment on any aspect of the trade centre deal until its development application is finalised.
Cr Kendall has often talked about the “good for Wagga” test in relation to the trade centre project.
But does council continuing to negotiate with these two individuals pass muster?
The Daily Advertiser put this question to Cr Kendall, but he declined to comment.
“The good for Wagga test is about the development,” he said.
Cr Negline believes the duo have no respect for the people of Wagga and its council.
“During this process we’ve been treated like country bumpkins,” he said.
Introducing Humphrey Xu A.K.A Harry Xu A.K.A Jian Xu
ALP donor guilty of sham marriage and Migration Fraud
By Richard Baker, Philip Dorling, Nick McKenzie
A Chinese businesswoman who has been a generous Labor Party donor and long-time benefactor of influential federal MP Joel Fitzgibbon engaged in a sham marriage and swore false statutory declarations to obtain permanent Australian residency.
Fairfax Media has uncovered evidence of Helen Liu's migration fraud despite the Immigration Department aborting its own probe into the matter without conducting a thorough investigation or interviewing key witnesses. The federal opposition is now demanding to know why the Department of Immigration and Citizenship failed to conduct a proper investigation after its immigration spokesman, Scott Morrison, referred the case of ''a possible act of migration fraud'' involving Ms Liu and others to the department's secretary last year.
Fairfax Media has spoken to key players involved in the sham marriages that occurred more than 20 years ago - none of whom was contacted by Immigration - and obtained documentary evidence to show that Ms Liu obtained permanent residency after she and her then Chinese boyfriend and business partner, Harry Xu, married two young Australians in a bogus arrangement that fooled immigration officials.
The revelation comes at an awkward time for Labor, which has made immigration an even bigger election issue through Prime Minister Julia Gillard's comments on the 457 visa system for foreign workers.
Ms Liu and her companies have donated thousands of dollars to the ALP's NSW branch and paid for two trips to China for Mr Fitzgibbon in 2002 and 2005, which the then opposition MP failed to declare. Ms Liu is also close to Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr and his wife, Helena.
It can be revealed that the two Australians who married the Chinese pair, David Shultz and Grace Clague, did so on the basis that they believed they would be at risk of persecution if they returned home.
Mr Shultz and Ms Clague, who were about 20 and 18 at the time, had two of their three children together during the period they were supposedly married to the Chinese pair, who were several years older. The supposed couples never consummated their marriages or lived under the same roof.
Contrary to Ms Clague's statement that she was told the Chinese couple were at risk of persecution, Ms Liu has regularly returned to China to do business with top politicians, received millions of dollars in loans from the Bank of China and swore in a Federal Court affidavit in 1997 that her father was a ''ranking official'' in the Chinese government and many other of her relatives occupied ''high-level positions in the Chinese government''.
Ms Clague, who is the daughter of Aboriginal activist Joyce Clague and Colin Clague, who was an ALP candidate in the 2011 NSW election, said she and Mr Shultz were ''young, naive and stupid'' when they agreed to marry the Chinese couple.
Ms Clague said she and Mr Shultz had become friends with the couple after being introduced through a man who worked for an immigration consultant. ''They seemed honest, caring people and I believed their lives were at stake,'' Ms Clague said.
''I saw their love, I wanted to be part of it and share it … the final decision was made when I was told their lives were at stake.''
More than two years after the marriages, believed to have taken place in 1989 or 1990, Ms Liu received permanent residency after signing two statutory
declarations stating she was in a long-term and genuine spousal relationship with an Australian.
The marriages and residency applications were overseen by migration agents later de-registered for improper conduct.
Making false declarations to the Commonwealth and entering sham marriages for migration purposes are criminal offences that can result in a custodial sentence or substantial fines.
Despite Mr Morrison's referring the matter to Immigration Department secretary Martin Bowles, immigration officials closed the file last year, claiming there was ''insufficient evidence'' to proceed.
Documents released under freedom-of-information laws show senior Immigration Department officials regarded the case as politically ''highly sensitive'' because of Ms Liu's association with Mr Fitzgibbon, a former defence minister who was last year chief government whip.
Mr Morrison said he would again write to Mr Bowles to seek an explanation on his department's failure properly to investigate the fraud allegations.
''The investigation of possible migration fraud should not be subject to any sort of political censorship,'' he said on Friday.
In response to questions, an immigration spokeswoman said the department took ''allegations of fraud seriously''.
Ms Liu and Mr Xu used their permanent residency to obtain Australian citizenship and build a property empire worth $40 million by the mid-1990s, when their personal and business relationship soured.
Ms Liu also cultivated several useful contacts in the NSW ALP, most notably Mr Fitzgibbon, his father, former federal MP Eric Fitzgibbon, and Senator Carr, who was then premier.
She rose to prominence in March 2009 after revelations of her substantial financial support of the ALP and the Fitzgibbon family.
Ms Liu helped fund Joel Fitzgibbon's first federal election campaign in 1996.
The Immigration Department has refused on privacy grounds to release any documents under freedom of information that record its handling of Mr Morrison's request for the weddings and residency applications to be investigated.
But in other documents released in response to a separate FOI request, the department has revealed that senior immigration officers described the Liu inquiry as "highly sensitive" in the context of "media attention in regard to her relationship with former defence minister Mr Joel Fitzgibbon and his father Mr Eric Fitzgibbon".
The office of former immigration minister Chris Bowen, a close ally of Mr Fitzgibbon, was briefed on the processing of FOI applications relating to Mr Morrison's request for an investigation.
Ms Liu is engaged in litigation against Fairfax Media with the aim of forcing the disclosure of confidential sources that provided information about her business dealings and association with Joel Fitzgibbon.
New claims over Fitzgibbons' trip
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Richard Baker and Philip Dorling
ASSOCIATES of controversial businesswoman Helen Liu claim Chinese intelligence services asked them to cultivate a relationship with Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon and his father after they were flown first-class to China in 1993.
Sources with close ties to the company that paid for the Fitzgibbons' trip also allege that Chinese agents had electronically monitored the pair on their visit to Shandong province.
It was on this trip that Mr Fitzgibbon, who was then a NSW ALP official, and Eric Fitzgibbon, then a federal MP, first met Chinese-born Helen Liu, who has since become what the Defence Minister has described as "a very close" family friend.
Sources intimately familiar with the details of the 1993 trip allege Chinese intelligence services eavesdropped on the private conversations of Eric Fitzgibbon, who as a serving Australian MP had attracted their interest.
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The sources, who are close to Ms Liu's then business partner, property developer Humphrey Xu, confirmed the trip was organised and paid for by Mr Xu through his company Diamond Hill International.
According to the sources, Chinese intelligence officials expressed interest in the Fitzgibbons' preparedness to accept benefits from Mr Xu and Ms Liu, and encouraged them to continue to develop their relationship with the Fitzgibbon family back in Australia.
Mr Xu was first introduced to Eric Fitzgibbon through a NSW business acquaintance in the early 1990s. Sources claim he boosted Mr Xu's credentials as the businessman sought to negotiate a major property development in China.
After one meeting on the trip, where it is claimed Eric Fitzgibbon told Chinese businessmen that Mr Xu was "as big as Kerry Packer" in Australia, the then MP allegedly asked his benefactor, "Are you happy with that?"
Eric Fitzgibbon yesterday said he had never likened Mr Xu to Mr Packer and maintained he had "done no paid work" for Mr Xu or Ms Liu. He said he last saw Mr Xu about 18 months ago at a banquet at the Chinese embassy in Canberra.
When asked about the 1993 trip, Joel Fitzgibbon said in March this year that he went in a private capacity and that his father "was invited to turn the first sod at a tourist development in China".
Both Mr Fitzgibbon and Eric Fitzgibbon deny receiving $US20,000 for their services on the all-expenses-paid 1993 trip. Eric Fitzgibbon declared the trip in the House of Representatives register of members' interests.
In late 1995, Diamond Hill International subsequently contributed $20,000 to Mr Fitzgibbon's election campaign for the February 1996 federal election. At the time, the donation was declared by the NSW Labor Party as a donation to a "party unit" with no direct reference to Mr Fitzgibbon.
Sometime in 1996 the personal and business relationship between Mr Xu and Ms Liu broke apart and she took control of several joint companies including Diamond Hill International, Wincopy and Vision Wise Holdings.
Mr Fitzgibbon's office has confirmed that he assisted Ms Liu in obtaining legal advice in the late 1990s.
Wincopy, under Ms Liu's control, subsequently donated $20,000 to Joel Fitzgibbon's 1998 re-election campaign. Her companies gave a further $50,000 to the NSW ALP between 2001 and 2007.
Mr Fitzgibbon has been living in a Canberra townhouse owned by Ms Liu's family.
She also gave him an expensive suit, which he later returned because, his office said, he would have had to declare the gift to Parliament.
Mr Fitzgibbon put his ministerial career in jeopardy after it was discovered earlier this year that he had failed to declare Ms Liu had paid for two trips to China he had made when he was an opposition frontbencher in 2002 and 2005.
Ms Liu, who is now living in China, has denied ever being involved in spying.
ASIO released a statement in March saying it had "no information relating to Ms Helen Liu which would have given rise to any security concern regarding her activities or associations".
Australia First Party preferences for the 2013 Federal Election, as follows:
Vote 1 Australia First Party.
( putting Australians first )
2. DLP
( Although the DLP has serious issues with their open the doors immigration policy and their connections to the Roman Catholic Church, they must be rewarded for their opposition to the Chinese Trade Centre in Wagga ).
3. Bullet Train Party
( A single issue Party with limited thrust but not anti-Australian, the rest of the Candidates do not deserve third position).
4. Labor.
( Undeserving of fourth spot due to their manic and destructive policies and general incompetence , unfortunately as we go down the list we have no alternative but to place Labor in fourth position).
5. National Party.
( Mr McCormack receives the Thespian award for his efforts in the Riverina and his general dishonesty ).
6. Greens
( Socialist Internationalist mayhem, pro refugee extremists and other anti-Australian policies, but at least they admit it ).
7. RUAP.
( The leader of this Party is criminally insane, although he does claim to raise people from the dead, so who knows what miracles he will perform )
8. Palmer United Party.
( Lex Stewart, has been involved in and wrecked more parties than he's had hot dinners. This candidate is a political shonk, he has no policies, he changes parties so often he will spruik Palmer today and perhaps return back to CEC, One Nation, Australians For Honest Politics, Great Australians, or Liberal tomorrow. He has no place in Australian politics ).
Unless Australia First are merciless attacked in some way by the above Parties, or other Candidates enter the fray, this will remain our line up.
Warren Truss Confirms Our Allegation: The Northern Food Bowl Will Partition Our Country
As a reaction to the strident propaganda and outreach of Australia First in the Riverina, the calculating liar Michael McCormack MP, has distanced himself (really: how?) from his leader in the Nationals – Warren Truss.
McCormack has bleated that he does not agree with the Nationals’ plan for an “Asian food bowl” in the north of Australia. Among other things, Mc Cormack has said:
"Why would we be trying to create something like this somewhere else when we already have a world-class food bowl in the Riverina?"
"Why should we be wasting our time and energy on something like that? "There is already such an investment here ... we have the best farmers who work under the best practice to produce the best quality food for this nation.”
"I've made my feelings known in the party room, to Warren Truss and to Tony Abbott on this issue. Before we even contemplate doing anything in the north, we should be enhancing what we already have."
We regard Mr. McCormack as a lying, typical, representative of the partyocracy.
If Mr. McCormack does not agree with Truss, then he should resign from the National Party. If he does not agree, he should study the issue more deeply and draw further conclusions.
Of course, moving the Asian food bowl from the north to the Riverina is hardly an option either. There is an absolute difference between the exports of foodstuffs and the grab for Australian resources that Chinese imperialism is practising.
This story was carried in the Leeton Irrigator newspaper.
However, we may thank that paper for reporting something unreported elsewhere. Truss said a lot more which confirms the analysis of Australia First party – the open conspiracy to detach the north of into a special economic zone of food production and mining to the chief benefit of the Chinese superpower.
The Leeton Irrigator added:
“The plan is part of the Nationals Regional Investment Strategy that was launched two years ago by party leader Warren Truss.”
“Mr Truss said the reasoning behind the push was Australia's population, which is expected to double by 2050, along with the world population that is forecast to be more than nine billion people. “
"And half of these people will live in the Asia-Pacific region, literally on our northern doorstep …. We unashamedly want to establish a northern food bowl, treble mineral exports, see major new energy developments, a larger high-value northern tourism industry, and world centres of excellence for tropical medicine and health research all in Australia's new northern frontier.”
"Building dams and water storages to protect us from droughts and floods have the capacity to make regional Australia, especially the north, more productive.”
"These are the right priorities at the right time for northern Australia and, more broadly, Australia's growth and prosperity."
The frankness of the Nationals’ leader was refreshing. The increase in Australia’s population? From where? And it’s just the way it is. Really? Who decided? And the vision? Who will really profit?
A northern zone with hundreds of thousands of visa workers, with new immigrants skewed towards it – will very quickly become a new country. It is a partition of our Australia.
Australia First Party, unlike any other party in the country, swears that those who commit this type of treason must be held accountable for it. Warren Truss and the rest of these running dogs of Chinese imperialism, must be punished at some point in the future with the harshest of penalties. The men of Kokoda – did not sacrifice for this.
Thank-you all for your many interested and kind responses to our articles on our Riverina Blog-site for Australia First Party.
What a welcome surprise that so many of you are like-wise awake to the lies and deceptions of "Mainstream" Politicians.
It's so good to hear that many of you are now discussing with friends and family, the serious issues we are presenting on our Blog-site.
I expect to be back soon, with more on my earlier articles. In addition, as soon as I can, I will address such matters as:-
1). The "457" High-rollers from Communist China, being brought in to make Mr Packer richer at his new "CHINESE LAUNDRY".
2). "INVESTMENTS"/Bribes from Communist China - How much of this is GENOCIDAL MURDER MONEY from the Regime which has a system of PRODUCTION-LINE MURDER Of Its Own People FOR THE PURPOSE OF "HARVESTING" HUMAN BODY-ORGANS From The Victims ??? The Regime has AMASSED Possibly $BILLIONS From This SUB-HUMAN "ENTERPRISE" !!! In ACCEPTING "INVESTMENTS" COMPRISED OF THE PROFITS OF THIS SATANIC PRACTICE, WE AUSTRALIANS BECOME PARTY TO THAT GENOCIDAL MURDER !!!! Does that make you "feel good" ????
3). The HIGHLY SUSPICIOUS "Chinese Trade Centre" and the proposed CHINESE ENCLAVE OF OVER 4,000 HOMES For Chinese Workers At this. CTC, ALL At Wagga Wagga. Homes for China's "Resident Spy Battalion" - IN A STREET NEAR YOU ????
4). Libs/Nats and ALP/Greens Policy - ANYTHING FOR COMMUNIST CHINA !!!!
5). STOLEN GENERATIONS From European Australians - By Our Education System, By D.O.C.S., And By The Family Court. Also includes SMASHED FAMILIES - VICTIMS Of The Same "Institutions".
6). LEX STEWART (Clive Palmer Candidate) - Will "Stand" For ANY Party In Hope of getting "ELECTED" So He Can "Play With The 'GROWN-UPS' ". EXPERIENCED SABOTEUR OF SMALLER NATIONALIST PARTIES !!! Supports The Chinese Trade Centre But Wants Australia To Hold 50% Of Ownership, ie, He Wants US DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN AN "ENTERPRISE" FUNDED BY CHINA'S GENOCIDAL MURDER PROFITS !!! CLIVE PALMER WILL BE HAPPY TO TURN RIVERINA FARMS INTO A MINERS' PARADISE ............AND ULTIMATELY A WASTE-LAND.
7). The KATTER AUSTRALIA PARTY. Uncle Bob - ANOTHER 'CHINA-LOVER'. HE ALSO WANTS TO CHANNEL NORTHERN WATERS To The RIVERINA .......FOR ..... MINING - NOT For FARMING !!! We Should Also be Asking Uncle Bob about The DISAPPEARANCE OF HUGE SUMS FROM HIS PARTY FUNDS .......AND...... ABOUT ALLEGATIONS OF PROLONGED ELECTRONIC SPYING/SURVEILANCE ON OFFICE STAFF IN BRISBANE !!!!
8). PALMER & KATTER. NEGOTIATING EXCHANGE OF PREFERENCE VOTES ??? BOTH Want to CONTINUE The MINING RAPE & PLUNDER OF AUSTRALIA TO MAKE CHINA MORE POWERFUL .......AND AUSTRALIA POORER & LESS PRODUCTIVE FOOD-WISE. AUSTRALIA DOES NOT NEED MINING -- GOVERNMENTS Have DESTROYED Our Manufacturing Industries which might have depended on Mining.
9. Katter Party seriously sabotaged in Qld & NSW by Aiden McLindon (now with 'Family First Party'), and huge departure of Members & Supporters. Now Uncle Bob's lost his best SABOTEUR. But if he fields a Candidate in Riverina, at least he'll have a chance to work with that other Class Saboteur - Clive Palmer's LEX STEWART !!!
10. Mr McCormack. Supporter of the Chinese Trade Centre HAS NOT ANSWERED OUR NUMEROUS QUESTIONS re this "Trade Centre" - WHY ??? Revelations of a trail of CORRUPTION Before, During and After the Fitzgibbon Affair CONTINUE TO EMERGE !! DOES MR McCORMACK SUPPORT ALL THE CORRUPTION BEHIND THIS 'CTC' ??? So far, HE HAS NOT DENIED HIS SUPPORT FOR IT !!!
11. AND REMEMBER, BOTH CLIVE PALMER AND BOB KATTER WANT "457" FOREIGN WORKERS TO TAKE YOUR JOBS (And Eventually YOUR COUNTRY !!!).
Well, friends, with those happy words I'll leave you to ponder these matters seriously.
More than 200 households in eight streets have been left without mail deliveries after Australia Post slapped a ban on a troublesome area in West Dubbo.
The action followed the latest in a series of attacks on postal delivery officers.
Police said a group of youths surrounded a female postie in O'Donnell Street on Wednesday, "handling'' her motorcycle and allegedly stealing a parcel.
The next morning residents of Crum Avenue and Leavers, Alcheringa, Illura, Coolabah, O'Donnell, Wattle and East streets were told Australia Post had enough.
"We are ceasing daily mail deliveries to your area from today,'' an official letter said.
"A series of incidents that have occurred since April (pose) a serious safety risk to our postie and an unacceptable environment in which to work.
"As our postie has once again been targeted by unprovoked and unnecessary intimidation, we have made a decision to cease mail delivery to the area and make mail available from collection at the West Dubbo LPO (post office).
"We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, however the safety of our people is paramount and Australia Post will not put the health and safety of our postie at further risk.''
The Daily Liberal has been told postal delivery officers working in the troubled spot had been subjected to attacks from groups of out-of-control youths, some as young as five.
Posties had been spat on and hit by rocks and bottles. Some had returned to the mail delivery centre with bruises the size of cricket balls on their backs.
"It's hard to comprehend that small children can create so much havoc and continue to get away with it,'' a worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said.
"The violence and intimidation has been unbelievable. It's terrible that the delivery of mail has been stopped but action was needed to protect the posties.
"I just feel sorry for the people who live in the area. They put up with so much because of these youths and now they can't even get their mail.''
A man who has lived in Leavers Street for 43 years yesterday expressed his disgust with the behaviour of "rampaging youths''.
"I swore out loud when I got the letter about the mail delivery ban,'' he said.
"It's all due to feral kids. People living in the area were warned back in April that delivery would be stopped if attacks on posties continued.
"It's the same gang of kids, ranging in age from five to 15. They offend in small and large groups and terrorise the neighbourhood.
"Residents lock themselves inside their houses when things get bad. We're not even brave enough to go into our gardens.
The resident said he would be able to drive to the Delroy shopping centre to collect his mail from the post office.
"It will be inconvenient but at least I have a car,'' he said.
"Some of the people who live in this area don't have transport and a number are frail aged or disabled.
"I'd love to give the troublesome kids a kick in the tail. Something has to be done to stop them. They are out of control and starting to run the town.
"They cause trouble all over West Dubbo and in the central business district. It's particularly bad when they get on drugs and alcohol. I fear what these kids will be like when they get older.''
A spokesperson for Australia Post said everyone in the community had a role to play in keeping posties safe.
"We apologise for the inconvenience (caused by the cessation of mail deliveries in the area) but we won't compromise the safety of our people,'' the spokesperson said.
"Nor will we tolerate this type of behaviour from a small minority who are putting the health and safety at risk.''
After being sworn in as Prime Minister last week Mr Rudd said he was "revolted" by the reports of corruption coming out of NSW Labor. "I am revolted by what I have seen unfold through the ICAC inquiry. I am revolted that this could've been seen to have been acceptable practice," he said on Friday.
The new rules will be aimed at heading off corrupt practices and make it harder for developers to influence the ALP by standing for election and being involved in candidate selection.
The new rules would also ensure any party member subject to investigation for improper conduct could be immediately suspended from the ALP if they bring the party into disrepute.
Source, The Australian.
Rudd also said "I want a Labor Party which is free from the taint of some of the things we have seen emerge in ICAC in NSW", concerning O'Beid and friends.
Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party must think the Australian people have amnesia, as Kevin Rudd himself is still under on-going scrutiny regarding the Heiner Affair and the shredding of documents during his time in the QLD Goss government in relation to child sexual abuse.
Further to the stench that still surrounds Kevin Rudd and the Heiner Affair days, is the matter of the Fitzgibbon Affair, the very same Fitzgibbon a well known Rudd supporter that Mr Rudd has appointed to the front bench as Minister for Agriculture. The matter of Mr Joel Fitzgibbon and his 16 years of involvement with Chinese developers and matters of espionage. http://www.theage.com.au/national/fitzgibbons-150000-from-developer-20100202-nb4w.html
Australia First Party call for Mr Rudd and Mr Fitzgibbon to be stood down under Kevin Rudd's new anti corruption laws, until the Heiner Affair and the Fitzgibbon Affair are resolved.
And of course she's right: as soon as the female Asian driver glimpses the figure of Jamie blocking her way, the windows shoot up and door locks thump down. There's a stand-off for about two minutes; the driver's too scared to get out and confront her and Jamie's enjoying herself too much to bother moving.
It's only when the woman's face tightens into an exasperated scowl, when we see her silently curse and thump the steering wheel, that Jamie gives way. She slowly backs off and, as the terrified driver slams down the accelerator, Jamie leaps onto the footpath and begins to laugh.
As a Returned Service Person , I was led to believe I put my life on the line as did my mates , who fought - and some of whom died- along side me - for Democracy and to preserve Australian Identity and Australian Sovereignty ? To contact Australia First Party in the Riverina: e-mail us at: afriverina@gmail.com
