Tim Cheung (@TimCheung)

Volunteers wearing Monique Ryan campaign T-shirts have been captured on video saying a community organisation, which has historical links to the Chinese #Communist Party’s foreign influence operation, told them to #vote for the teal #MP. In the footage, a woman says the instruction came from Ji Jianmin, who is the president of the #Hubei Association, an organisation representing people from the #Chinese province that has also been accused of working with the United Front Work Department, a central party agency that advances #CCP interests at home and abroad...Ji’s alleged endorsement of Ryan, and the #MP’s decision to attend an event hosted by another one of his organisations earlier this month, raise questions about Beijing’s ongoing interest in #Australia’s election after Liberal identities, including Peter Dutton, were forced to distance themselves from a CCP-linked figure they were photographed with in February. In a video taken by Tharini Rouwette, who runs a group called COMPELL that advances multiculturalism in Australian politics, and uploaded to a Kooyong community Facebook group on April 22, two people wearing Ryan T-shirts claim Ji told them to vote for Ryan. 'The Hubei Association President Ji Jianmin, how should I say this, he required us Chinese diaspora to support her', says one of the Ryan volunteers, whose name is given only as Jessica. Another #volunteer in the video, Stephen, adds: 'Monique [Ryan] is an independent federal MP, her policies are quite suited to the needs of us Chinese diaspora. It feels like she can give a voice to us, so we want to support her'. The video has since been deleted from #Facebook but remains on #TikTok. In a statement, Ryan’s spokeswoman confirmed one of the volunteers signed up to campaign against Liberal opponent Amelia Hamer after an April 21 dinner organised by another group Ji leads...Liberal campaign spokesman Senator James Paterson said the footage was disturbing and called on authorities to investigate. 'If confirmed, this would constitute an act of foreign interference in our democracy. Australian #elections must be decided by Australians only. The Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce, led by the AEC and incorporating #ASIO and the #Australian Federal Police, must urgently investigate'. Ji leads the Hubei Chamber of Commerce and the Australian Hubei Association, both of which are for people from the central Chinese province home to almost 60 million residents and the seventh-largest economy in the country. He also oversees the Huaxing Arts Group, which is a performing arts organisation. The groups were formerly run by Tom 'Mr #Chinatown' Zhou, who was arrested and extradited to China in 2020 over suspected #moneylaundering and corruption following an investigation by this masthead into Crown #casino junkets...A 2018 submission by researchers Clive Hamilton and Alex Joske to a federal parliamentary inquiry cites the Australian Hubei Association as among 'United Front-linked business groups'...The #Huaxing group writes biannual reports to United Front and includes its database of Australian political figures and community groups, according to research published in 2020 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute." https://www.facebook.com/ChinaCreepingAuthoritarianism/posts/pfbid029v1MqYuz5va5esdhicUbYLFRHq5hwH4jstNe9RWAVGzjXYjePXtakk89QktCPeC2l