Following their opening statements, Hansard records that the following question was put to the three witnesses with Chinese/East Asian-sounding names by a member of the committee: “(c)an I ask each of the three witnesses to very briefly tell me whether they are willing to unconditionally condemn the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship? It’s not a difficult question”. 

The AALA stated it is not apparent that the same, or similar, question was put to any other witness appearing before the committee.

Molina Asthana, national vice-president of the Asian Australian Lawyers Association said the AALA supports the right of all Australians (including their elected representatives) to free speech perhaps more so in Parliament or in parliamentary committees.

“However, we strongly advocate that all members of the Australian community should be accorded with the core Australian values of natural justice, fairness, equality and a ‘fair go’; and that persons of Asian ancestry (or any other ancestry) are not subjected to processes and inquiries inconsistent with those values in Australian public life and before any governmental and representative bodies,” the AALA stated.

The AALA said that it “urges all members of the community, including our parliamentary representatives to adhere to our core Australian values and our shared commitment to those values.”

“AALA also calls on all members of the community to demand and claim their right to speak out and engage with the institutions and bodies of civil society to maintain and build on our uniquely Australian dedication to justice, fairness, tolerance, equality and a ‘fair go’,” the AALA said.

The line of questioning also received a backlash from the public and was criticised by Australia’s race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan.

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“Australia must be a level playing field. Treating people prejudicially based on race or ethnicity is contrary to Australian democratic values of equality, and to our fundamental human rights,” commissioner Tan said.

The head of Australia’s domestic spy agency told the inquiry that members of diaspora communities were sometimes on the receiving end of threatening action or coercive direction that puts them under pressure to act contrary to Australia’s national interest.

Mike Burgess, the ASIO chief, when asked about actions by the CCP’s activities in Australia, said: “It is my preference that I don’t talk about particular countries but let me say there is more than one country that does focus on diaspora communities in Australia.”