By Nick Butterly and Geof Parry
The internal enemy: Pierre Yang is in the army stand-by reserve.
Embattled WA Labor MP Pierre Yang could face a please explain from the Australian Army, with the backbencher admitting he failed to tell the Defence Department of his links to Chinese Communist Party-linked bodies.
Yang, who finds himself at the centre of a damaging factional brawl amid claims of ethnic branch stacking, said he was seeking advice from the Australian Defence Force as to whether he must declare past membership of the groups.
Yang sobbed last week as he told Parliament he had made a mistake in not disclosing his membership of two Chinese organisations, which appear to advocate policies such as China’s territorial grab over the South China Sea.
He has since cancelled his memberships with the North-East China Federation and the Association of Great China.
Yang, who is a captain in the Australian Army stand-by reserve, said he ask the ADF about declaring links with the Chinese groups.
“If I am instructed to disclose the former memberships in those two organisations, I will comply with the direction of the Australian Army,” he said.
Yang, who finds himself at the centre of a damaging factional brawl amid claims of ethnic branch stacking, said he was seeking advice from the Australian Defence Force as to whether he must declare past membership of the groups.
Yang sobbed last week as he told Parliament he had made a mistake in not disclosing his membership of two Chinese organisations, which appear to advocate policies such as China’s territorial grab over the South China Sea.
He has since cancelled his memberships with the North-East China Federation and the Association of Great China.
Yang, who is a captain in the Australian Army stand-by reserve, said he ask the ADF about declaring links with the Chinese groups.
“If I am instructed to disclose the former memberships in those two organisations, I will comply with the direction of the Australian Army,” he said.
For security reasons, the Defence Department demands scrupulous disclosures from members, from changes in family situations to memberships of social groups and trips overseas.
Labor State president Carolyn Smith made a strong defence of Yang at the weekend after complaints from sections of the party the backbencher was using many Chinese-Australians to stack branches.
Smith complained of “senior members” of the party leaking information on Yang.
Smith and Yang both come from Labor’s Left faction.
Labor State president Carolyn Smith made a strong defence of Yang at the weekend after complaints from sections of the party the backbencher was using many Chinese-Australians to stack branches.
Smith complained of “senior members” of the party leaking information on Yang.
Smith and Yang both come from Labor’s Left faction.
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