NSW upper house MP Shaoquett Moselmane will take leave from Parliament but says he is not a suspect in the investigation into allegations Chinese government agents have infiltrated his office.
Mr Moselman, who was suspended from the Labor Party on Friday just hours after his south Sydney home and Parliament office were raided by federal police, said: "I have done nothing wrong".
In his first public statement since the raids, Mr Moselmane said he had been told he is not a suspect in the investigation.
"The investigation is linked to other people allegedly advancing the goals of a foreign government, namely the People's Republic of China," Mr Moselmane said.
"I am not sure what those goals are. Let me tell you at the outset, according to what I have been told, this is a Federal Police investigation.
"I have never been introduced or made aware of any ASIO officers either at my home or in my parliamentary office during the execution of the search warrants."
Shaoquett Moselmane speaking at NSW Parliament on Monday.Credit:Peter Rae
Legal representatives for Mr Moselmane contacted the clerk of the Legislative Council on Monday morning, asking the clerk to alert media that he wanted to make a statement.
His statement came after Labor leader Jodi McKay said on Sunday she would move to have Ms Moselmane suspended from parliament if he did not agree to step aside. The government also intends to move a motion to have him suspended.
In a letter to upper house MPs, Mr Moselmane said he would take leave for the duration of the investigation to ensure he was not an "unnecessary distraction" to the parliament.
He said that during his leave, neither he or his staff would access his parliamentary office, or access any emails, computers or telephones that would normally be available to him.
In his statement, Mr Moselmane said the "political lynching" had already begun.
"I am under no illusion that this is a serious investigation. The first of its kind, precedents will be set and lives changed," Mr Moselmane said.
"Let me tell you, I have done nothing wrong. I have done nothing wrong. I have never jeopardised the welfare of our country or our people."
Mr Moselmane said his views on China were the views that any Australian was entitled to have.
"As you are aware, the Australian Chinese community has been under sustained political racial and physical abuse. They do not deserve the slander that they have received and they certainly did not deserve the abuse and violent physical attacks they have so far sustained," he said
"Chinese Australians are a humble law-abiding group of citizens who go about their lives in peace, looking after their families and minding their own business.
"I am proud of them, I am also proud of my association with them and proud to stand up for them
in these tough and unjust times."
He said his views on China and its handling of coronavirus, which saw him forced to resign as assistant president of the upper house, were "consistent with those of President Trump and Vice
President Mike Pence as well as [the] World Health Organisation".
Mr Moselmane said it was clear a political witch-hunt was underway and he pleaded with the media to treat his family with respect.
The past few days had been "tough and traumatic", he said,
The Labor MP said he has never been in Labor’s shadow cabinet and has never been privy to any "secrets of the state".
He did not take questions, and would not comment on whether he intended to resign.
Alexandra Smith is the State Political Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
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2020-06-29 03:52:02Z
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