“Espionage and foreign interference is insidious,” he said. “Its effects might not present for decades and by that time it’s too late.
“You wake up one day and find decisions made in our country that are not in the interests of our country.”
Clive Hamilton, a professor at Charles Stuart University, published a book about the threat, titled ‘Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia’.
Citing fears of legal threats from China, the original publisher backed off, showing how much fear and influence China already posses in Australia.
As reported by NPR, "I was shocked," remembers Hamilton. "I felt betrayed. We knew this was a difficult subject. We knew that Beijing has some powerful friends in Australia. We knew that the Chinese government would be highly critical of the book and of me. Of course, it was great comfort to have a really good, solid publisher behind me, and all of a sudden I was left out there on the battlefield, looking over my shoulder, saying, 'Where is my support?' "
"It's a massive red flag," says Hamilton. "And if Australia capitulates on this question, in other words, no book seriously critical of [the] Chinese Communist Party will be published in Australia. I mean, this essentially means we've sacrificed our democratic freedoms."
Three publishers refused to publish the book, before a fourth decided to do so.
A government report initiated in 2016 revealed that the attempt to influence the political system had gone on for over a decade, as reported by Australia’s ABC:
“A top-secret report has raised concerns that the Chinese Government has attempted to influence Australia's political parties for the past decade.
One intelligence source told the ABC there had been infiltration at every layer of Australian Government, right down to local councils.”
And, in one of the most disturbing examples of attempted subversion, Australian Liberal Party member Nick Zhao (who had many ongoing legal problems) said he was offered $1 million by agents of China’s Communist Party to run for office and ‘infiltrate’ Parliament.
Zhao did the right thing, refusing the offer and informing Australia’s spy agency.
He was later found dead in a Melbourne hotel, with the question of whether he was killed by angry ‘business’ associates’ or the CCP left up in the air.
What does this mean for Canada?
You could be wondering, what does all this Australia stuff have to do with Canada?
Well, despite how bad things already are in Australia, they may be even worse here.
In fact, it’s so concerning that Clive Hamilton says he is “deadly worried.”