A man posing as North Korea’s leader has gatecrashed Scott Morrison’s campaign in Melbourne, claiming a vote for the Liberals would result in Australia being controlled by the Chinese government.
The man, who would not reveal his name, burst through the doors of an electronics manufacturing facility in Melbourne on Friday morning.
The prime minister was visiting Extel Technologies in Mount Waverley, which is located in the ultra-marginal seat of Chisholm held by Liberal MP Gladys Liu.
Dressed as Kim Jong-un, he identified himself as the “supreme leader” before telling workers at the site they had supported the Chinese Communist Party by hosting the campaign event.
“Thank you for supporting Gladys Liu. If you want the Communist Party to control Australia vote Liberal,” he said.
The man tried to approach Ms Liu, but she was whisked away by security into a car. He was being spoken to by Victoria Police for the stunt.
Queensland Senate candidate Drew Pavlou later claimed responsibility for the incident.
Earlier, Mr Morrison was announcing a policy to charge foreign criminals for the cost of their own immigration detention.
Mr Morrison was asked during a press conference if he was concerned tough talk on China and national security would affect Australians of Chinese heritage.
Ms Liu in response skirted around the question, but said anyone who questioned the loyalty of citizens with Chinese heritage was “un-Australian”.
“I hear them pledge loyalty to Australia, so if anyone suggests Chinese Australians are any different from other Australians whether they are born here or not is offensive, divisive, and un-Australian,” she said.
Mr Morrison said he was “always very careful” not to conflate the Chinese community with the Chinese government.
“Chinese Australians are the greatest patriots you could hope for in this country,” he said.
“That’s why I draw a distinct and sharp line between the actions of an authoritarian government that is seeking to be coercive against Australia and to interfere in our region, and the wonderful Chinese people.”
Just a day earlier, Mr Morrison’s election campaign was sidetracked when a former high commissioner to the Solomon Islands was dragged away by security when he tried to speak to the prime minister in Tasmania.
Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said foreign criminals didn’t “deserve free rent, food and medical treatment while we go through the process of deporting them”.
“We have cancelled or refused visas to over 10,000 serious criminals through our reforms to the character test and as we go through the process of deporting even more, the free ride they are getting now ends,” he said.
Mr Morrison said under his government, foreign criminals were “punted”.
Labor was happy to look at the proposal, frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said.
But the senior Labor MP questioned the timing of the announcement.
“Isn’t it interesting that the government has been there for almost a decade. This guy has been prime minister for three years, before being treasurer he was the immigration minister,” she told Sky News.
“He could have done it at any time. Now a week out from an election he’s come up with this brilliant new idea and everyone has to fall in line immediately. It looks a bit like a policy that’s been dreamt up for a political campaign.
“(But) of course we will look at sensible proposals. We will consider the proposals thoroughly and thoughtfully.”
Ms Plibersek reaffirmed Labor’s commitment to boat turnbacks, saying there would be no tolerance of people smugglers.
Later, protesters singing April Sun in Cuba descended on a community event in Melbourne’s north as Mr Morrison arrived.
In a reference to his 60 Minutes interview, the protesters sang the song to the prime minister after arriving in Beveridge, where the Morrison government committed to building a freight terminal.
Mr Morrison, who celebrated his birthday on Friday, was presented with a cake.
