Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s tweet about the Brereton report was accompanied by an inflammatory image that appears to depict an Australian soldier cutting the throat of a civilian holding a sheep, together with the words: “Don’t be afraid, we are coming to bring you peace!”
The digitally altered image also shows a large Australian flag behind the soldier covering what appears to be a number of body shapes.
It’s not the first time this image has been posted online. An image search indicates that someone who describes themselves as a “China affiliated netizen” posted the image on Twitter on 25 November as part of a tweet complaining about Australia’s previous criticism of the Chinese government over human rights.
We have approached the Chinese embassy in Canberra for comment, but the fact Zhao also raised the issue at a regular press conference last week indicates Beijing is seizing on the Afghanistan war crimes report to accuse Australia of double standards on human rights.
Earlier today, the Australian trade minister, Simon Birmingham, brushed off criticism from Russia over the Brereton report by saying that Australia had “shown a degree of accountability and transparency through the review that we’ve undertaken, published and responding to that is sorely lacking in a number of other countries”.
He told ABC News Breakfast:
I think Australia can take pride in the overwhelming work of the vast majority of our servicemen and women. Obviously, these are terrible instances that have occurred, but unlike other countries who may well just sweep these things under the carpet, we undertook a thorough investigation. We’ve been transparent about it and we’re applying remedies to address it and you wouldn’t see that in many other parts of the world.
Updated
at 9.11pm EST
Qantas to outsource ground handling, targeting 2,000 jobs
The Spirit of Australia is moving ahead with its “restructure” plans.
Ground handling operations staff woke up this morning to find out their jobs were being outsourced.
From Qantas’s release:
Qantas has this morning notified around 2,000 employees that it will move to outsource ground handling operations at 10 airports across Australia as it works to recover from the Covid crisis.
In August, the airline announced its reasons for needing to restructure its ground handling operations, which includes baggage handling and aircraft cleaning, and commenced a review of external bids from specialist ground handlers and in-house bids from employees and their representatives.
The bids were required to meet the following objectives:
- Reducing the overall cost of ground handling operations (as Qantas anticipated it could save approximately $100 million annually, based on pre-Covid levels of flying, through the use of third-party providers).
- Avoiding large spending on ground handling equipment such as aircraft tugs and baggage loaders ($80 million over five years).
- Better matching our ground handling services, and their cost, with fluctuating levels of demand.
The Transport Workers Union submitted a bid on behalf of employees in accordance with terms in the enterprise agreement. Teams from some individual airports submitted local proposals. Unfortunately, none of these bids met the objectives.
Updated
at 9.09pm EST
After the news that Russia had raised concerns about Australian special forces’ actions in Afghanistan, China too is speaking up over the findings of the Brereton report.
Zhao Lijian, a spokesman with China’s foreign ministry, tweeted that he was “shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers”.
“We strongly condemn such acts, & call for holding them accountable.”
Lijian Zhao 赵立坚
(@zlj517)Shocked by murder of Afghan civilians & prisoners by Australian soldiers. We strongly condemn such acts, &call for holding them accountable. pic.twitter.com/GYOaucoL5D
Beijing has repeatedly objected in the past to the Australian government speaking up over the Chinese government’s human rights record, including the mass incarceration of Uighurs in Xinjiang province.
Zhou raised it at a regular press conference in Beijing last Friday, saying:
Australia and some other western countries always portray themselves as human rights defenders and wantonly criticise other countries’ human rights conditions. The facts revealed by this report fully exposed the hypocrisy of the “human rights” and “freedom” these western countries are always chanting.
The latest intervention comes amid worsening trade tensions between China and Australia, with the Morrison government giving the strongest sign yet that it is planning to launch a complaint with the World Trade Organisation over hefty tariffs on Australian barley.
Updated
at 8.27pm EST
