Shorten says Liberal senator must apologise over remarks about Penny Wong that ‘suggest people of Asian background all have the same name’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Bill Shorten has demanded the prime minister force Liberal senator Ian Macdonald to apologise for remarks that suggest “people of Asian background all have the same name or are all related”.

In a statement to Chinese media Shorten has taken aim at Macdonald who has so far given only a qualified apology for asking if Penny Wong is related to the Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo.

The incident occurred in a heated Senate estimates session on Tuesday, as Labor senators probed the attorney general’s department about a report that the then immigration minister, Peter Dutton, met Huango Xiangmo after he paid $10,000 to a lobbyist.

Invoking his own zero tolerance approach to comments from Labor’s former NSW leader Michael Daley, Shorten has effectively weaponised the incident through social media networks popular with Chinese Australians, including WeChat, to call for the Coalition to reject comments with “racist undertones”.

Macdonald, the chairman of the legal and constitutional Senate estimates committee, suspended proceedings three times to derail questioning about Huang Xiangmo, before the incident in which he misheard references to “Mr Huang” as “Mr Wong”.

Macdonald said witnesses were “not going to answer questions about Mr Wong” and suggested they could instead “answer … in a generic way”.

“Is it Wong, is it? Any relation to Senator Wong?”

The Labor senator Louise Pratt replied: “No, Huang, H-U-A-N-G.”

Malcolm Turnbull says PM must 'deal with' Peter Dutton China allegations Read more

The incident was criticised on social media, including by the former racial discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, who suggested it showed “one of our honourable senators needs reminding that not all people with Chinese names are related”.

Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) And yet some people will deny that racism exists in any meaningful way in this country. Here, one of our honourable senators needs reminding that not all people with Chinese names are related https://t.co/MzF0yzo5EQ

In February Liberal senator Barry O’Sullivan prompted similar outrage for use of the term “Chinaman” in a Senate estimates session.

When confronted about the remark later in the estimates session, Macdonald explained that it “sounded to me as if you were saying Wong”, adding he made the connection with the Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, “as a throwaway line”.

Macdonald said it was “hardly a smear” against Wong.

“If Senator Wong has taken offence to that throwaway comment in the context of Labor senators continuously during these hearings smearing anybody and everybody … then I will apologise to Senator Wong,” he said. “If Senator Wong has taken offence then I apologise to her, but if she does take offence she has a very thin skin.”

Shorten said it was “disgraceful that a Liberal Senator would suggest that people of Asian background all have the same name or are all related”.

“Comments like this that have racist undertones must always be called out,” he said.

“There is never an excuse … I will never accept racism. Scott Morrison needs to show leadership and make senator Macdonald apologise for this.”

In March the then New South Wales Labor leader, Michael Daley, apologised for remarks in which he accused “Asians with PhDs” of taking Australians’ jobs.

Daley was also revealed to have said he did not want Maroubra to become “Chatswood by the sea”, interpreted as a reference to the northern Sydney suburb’s high Asian population.

Daley was defeated at the NSW state election and announced he would not recontest the Labor leadership.

Macdonald cited Daley’s remarks, telling Labor senators when they accused him of smearing Wong that “I am not the leader of the Labor party in NSW where I make disparaging remarks against the Chinese community”.

Shorten noted that he had said Daley’s comments “were unacceptable and did not reflect the Labor Party’s views”.

“This is the second time Scott Morrison is letting a Liberal politician get away with offensive comments.

“Barry O’Sullivan still hasn’t apologised for his comments, and Scott Morrison hasn’t made him.”

In July Macdonald – who has previously suggested racism is limited to isolated incidents – was dumped to fourth on the Liberal-National party’s Queensland ticket. Macdonald’s position is likely unwinnable, seeing him exit the Senate at the May election.

On Tuesday the former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, piled pressure on the government to deal with the reported dealings between Dutton and Huang Xiangmo, describing the revelations as “very troubling” and warning the prime minister, Scott Morrison, he cannot “wave [them] off”.

Dutton has rejected allegations of wrongdoing as a “beat up”, explaining he met Huang as a “significant leader in the Chinese community”. Huang’s bid for citizenship failed.