During the China Australia agreement signing ceremony at Parliament House, Chinese officials appeared to block the view of Australian journalist Cheng Lei who was detained in China for three years.
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00:00There are five of you who have signed today, but for those who have not signed, I ask that
00:15each of you please stand.
00:22The first government is the Memorandum of Understanding between China, Australia and the United States.
00:28The second government is the Memorandum of Understanding on Further Enhancement in
00:48China.
00:49This government is the chair and vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission
00:55and the Honourable Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer.
01:02Well, it's typical, right, with these events, especially if they're attaching importance
01:08to the friendly facade that they're, you know, carefully staging, that voices of discord
01:17or, you know, the presence of someone who's a bit controversial not harm that.
01:23They went to great lengths to block me from the cameras and to flank me, and I'm only
01:32guessing that it's to prevent me from saying something or doing something that they think
01:38would be a bad look.
01:40But that in itself was a bad look.
01:43Well, I didn't see that.
01:45I saw Chang Le and we smiled at each other during the event.
01:53Look, I'm not aware of those issues.
01:56It's important that people be allowed to participate fully.
02:01And that's what should happen in this building or anywhere else in Australia.