Western Australian Prime Minister Mark McGowan proposes Australia should hold its national cabinet meeting in CHINA – leaving critics speechless: ‘It’s crazy, it’s bizarre, it’s insane’
- WA Premier calls for National Cabinet in China
- Mark McGowan says it would mend relations
Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan has called for Australia’s national cabinet to be kept in China in a bid to build relations between the two nations.
The WA premier’s comments come as he spends the week in China working on a number of trade deals between the Asian powerhouse and his own state, including securing the resumption of more direct flights to and from Perth.
Mr McGowan also encouraged Prime Minister Anthony Albanese not only to visit but also to bring along other Prime Ministers and Prime Ministers of the state for trade talks.
Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan has called for Australia’s national cabinet to be kept in China in a bid to build relations between the two nations.
“Hopefully, the prime minister will come to China sometime in the next six months to meet President Xi Jinping,” McGowan told The West on Wednesday.
“One of the things he could do is invite all prime ministers and prime ministers to come with him.”
Mr Albanese has previously indicated his willingness to make a diplomatic trip to China.
National Cabinet is the summit meeting between the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders established by the Morrison government to coordinate Australia’s response to Covid in 2020.
Daniel Andrews from Victoria and Annastacia Palaszczuk from Queensland also visited recently, but McGowan wants all state leaders to go as a group.
Mr McGowan said if that were done together with the Prime Minister it would be “a strong demonstration that the relationship is once again harmonious and productive”.
Anti-China government activist Drew Pavlou couldn’t contain his disbelief when he heard of the idea.
“Holy sh*t,” he said. “It’s crazy, it’s bizarre, it’s insane.”
Mr Pavlou suggested it would be strange to hold a national cabinet meeting outside of Australia, even in a friendly country like New Zealand.
‘But China? Are we a vassal state?’ he asked.
“It should just be laughed out of the room for saying something like that just to curry favor with China.”
Mr Pavlou said it was bad enough that Mr McGowan had been caught bad-mouthing Liberal MP Andrew Hastie at a table of Chinese officials.
The WA premier’s comments come as he spends the week in China working on a number of trade deals between the Asian superpower and his own state, including securing the resumption of more direct flights to and from Perth
On the first day of his five-day trading tour, Mr. McGowan was caught on a hot mike saying that Mr. Lambie “swallowed some sort of Cold War pills when he was born and he couldn’t get out of that.”
The remarks were addressed to China-Australian Chamber of Commerce President Vaughn Barber at the luncheon organized by the organization in Beijing.
Mr Pavlou also pointed out that while Russia has been an international pariah for its invasion of Ukraine, China’s support for the war is largely free.
On Sunday, during a meeting with Russian President at the Kremlin, Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu called Vladimir Putin “an extraordinary state leader” who ‘significant contributions to the promotion of world peace’.
Although the National Cabinet was created as a stopgap measure, it supplanted the previous COAG forum that brought together national and state leaders.
In 2018, then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led a so-called “mega-delegation” to the United States along with four state prime ministers, including Mr. McGowan and Mr. Andrews.
Mr McGowan’s trip was delayed by a day after a drama in the sky forced his first flight to be turned around.
A passenger on board his flight to Singapore suffered a stroke early Monday morning, causing the Singapore Airlines plane to return to Perth about an hour into service.
It means the WA Premier only landed in China on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have been contacted for comment.