I have just returned from two days in South Australia’s Riverland district. It’s a beautiful and productive part of the state with a tight-knit community.
They have been rocked by the murder of one of their own who was killed during the most recent London terror attack. It’s a tragic reminder that no matter how far away these events may seem, they often reach closer to home than we first realise.
The most recent barbarity by the pigs attached to Islamic fundamentalism seems to have woken Australian politicians from their slumber. Some are even now using the words ‘Islam’ or ‘Islamic’ in the same sentence as ‘terrorist’!
It’s clear that for many, political courage emerges in baby steps and only when it is safe to do so.
It’s also clear that the Australian people are fed up with that approach. They want their leaders to grasp the issues confronting our nation with a firm hand and an iron grip, not with some sweaty-palmed, dead-fish embrace. The terror incident in Melbourne led by a Somali refugee with a string of criminal convictions demonstrates how the system is working against us.
An individual is granted asylum, becomes a criminal, goes back to his oppressive country for some training and then is allowed back into our country. He commits further crimes and is paroled, only to commit an act of terror. There were plenty of opportunities to deport this creature but instead he was allowed to commit a final atrocity.
How can we excuse this approach any longer? If those who seek our assistance aren’t prepared to obey our laws and adopt our values then I don’t want them here. Send them back to wherever they came from.
There’s another seedy element that we don’t want here either – the foreign agents attempting to influence our body politic with money. The ABC’s Four Corners program highlighted just how murky the world of politics and foreign cash has become.
The major parties have accepted millions of dollars from ‘influencers’ bankrolled by the Chinese Communist Party. The money kept flowing even after our top spy agency warned the Liberal, National and Labor parties.
The Four Corners exposé was a damning insight into politics for sale in Australia and casts a huge shadow over many recent decisions including our free trade agreements, foreign investment regime, South China Sea protocol, the lease of the Darwin port and proposed Chinese extradition agreement.
That cloud is caused by Chinese Communist Party cash and it needs to disappear.
Unfortunately, the suggestion is that so many players in mainstream politics have been exposed to the cloud of cash that the major parties cannot be trusted to investigate themselves. If we want to strip away the shield of self-protection that inevitably kicks in when major party politics is involved, the investigation needs to be handled by an independent third party.
Nothing less than a Royal Commission will expose the true extent of foreign influence on Australian politics. It is only that process that will provide the transparency needed to prevent further erosion of confidence in our political system.
I have always been loath to pursue a Royal Commission but it is warranted in what appears to be the systematic attempted corruption of our political system by foreign agents.
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
