When personal issues become a national problem

If you saw Clive Palmer on Q&A last night, you might be a little worried for our country’s diplomatic stance today.  I suspect Abbott will have to divert his attention from national security issues he was planning to promote, to international relations today… all thanks to Clive.  And I am, as an Australian citizen, embarrassed and concerned that Clive Palmer is letting his personal business interests and concerns spill over into our nation’s international relations and attitudes.  Are you?

The truly fearless leader was asked about China on the Q&A panel last night and responded with a nasty tirade that displayed  the depths of his challenges with one of our Country’s largest trading partner.  He sat on the panel with the Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, Labor Senator Penny Wong all set to debate some of the budget’s most controversial measures.  And debate they did. And they finished that debate by discussing Chinese investment in Australia in a way few in our country could possibly be comfortable with.

He called the Chinese Government “Communists” then went on to say…

“I’m saying that because they’re communist, because they shoot their own people, they haven’t got a justice system and they want to take over this country,” he said.

“We’re not going to let them do it.”

“I don’t mind standing up against the Chinese bastards and stopping them from doing it” .

This is the same man who excitedly went into partnership with the Chinese company Citic Pacific and took their money in 2006, being hailed by the public for his commercial smarts.   But it is all coming undone with Palmer now embroiled in accusations of the misappropriation of their funds to fund the PUP political campaign, which he strenuously denies and is fighting in the Supreme Court.

Surely this latest verbal spray taking it too far?   Clive Palmer is clearly letting his personal business interests cloud his political representation of our country, a big no no in political terms. This from a man who controls 7% of our nation’s voting power at the latest poll in late July.

China represented two-way trading activity for Australia of nearly 151 billion dollars in 2013 and its country’s growth has underpinned Australia’s economic prosperity for the last decade.  They are one of the only reasons our nation was able to come through the GFC relatively unscathed.  They are also setting up to be the source  of the regeneration of our tourism industry over the coming decade, should people keep national relations on firm footing.