ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

A local lawyer who recently started working for Chinese telecommunications giant, Huawei, as their legal counsel has lashed out Australians who fear the company’s expansion into the nation may have a nefarious motive.

Former Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenophon, is now working for Huawei in a role where he advises them on a number of things in exchange for millions of dollars.

Earlier this week, he called a press conference to say people shouldn’t fear Huawei.

“Do not fear Huawei,” said Mr Xenophon.

“I know what you’re saying. I do not have a conflict of interest now that I work for Huawei. This is my own opinion of Huawei. Huawei is the best telecommunications company in the world. We should give them every single contract to build telecommunications infrastructure in this country,”

“It is a privately-owned company. It is not owned by the Chinese Government. If you think Huawei should be barred from building network infrastructures like 5G or the NBN, you are racist. Do not fear Huawei. That will be all.”

Mr Xenophon’s odd comments have triggered widespread condemnation, mostly from the Coalition. A number of Labor, Green and Independent members of parliament have also called on Xenophon to just ‘shut up’ and ‘go back to counting his franking credits’.

However, The Advocate reached out to a number of them for comment and have yet to receive a reply from someone willing to go on the record.

One who was willing to comment on the matter explained that our newspaper should prepare for the inevitable DDoS attack that comes with publishing anything remotely critical of Huawei or that government.

More to come.

