The revelation that the CCP illicitly acquired the details of 220 million U.S. voter files is an “attack on the democratic way of life,” says one Australian MP who called for the safeguarding of electoral integrity locally.
“Tens of millions of voters’ data in 18 states have been bought, stolen, or hacked by China. Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Trump said.
In response, the conservative-leaning Joyce said the situation revealed how there were still those who would “do anything in their power” to undermine democracy and freedom.
“There'll always be those who dislike the right of the people to determine their own future, and will do anything within their power to pull the rug out from underneath. And it is true, it is an attack on our democratic way of life,” Joyce told The Epoch Times.
The member of New England warned against being “blind” or “outright dismissive” of the possible threat of foreign interference.
“When the Telstra network went down, and I said you should rule out that there’s no malfeasance in this … people said, ‘Oh, you’re a conspiracy theorist,’” Joyce said. “Of course, no one did rule it out. No one in the proper office ruled it out.”
United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet called the news “disturbing” and that we “now know that the U.S. election software contained huge vulnerabilities,” in a statement to The Epoch Times.
The chair of the parliamentary Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters Jerome Laxale was also contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, President Trump also spoke of other initiatives by the CCP.
“The cover up of this colossal security breach is even more disturbing in light of the additional information showing that China engaged in other election related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign,” Trump revealed.
“The Chinese government sought to identify U.S. journalists who had reported negatively on the U.S. president and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him—as many as they could.”
In response to inquiries from The Epoch Times, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said election integrity was of utmost importance to the agency.
“This includes maintaining the integrity of the electoral roll, running election processes effectively and ensuring ballot papers are counted securely and transparently,” a spokesperson said.
“There are a number of measures in place to ensure these outcomes, including regular integrity checks of the electoral roll. Australia is fortunate to have one of the most complete electoral rolls in the world, with the national enrolment rate currently sitting at 97.6 percent.”
The AEC also pointed to the fact Australian elections still use a manual process involving pen and paper ballots.
“There are countless security measures to protect the integrity of ballot papers, including a documented chain of custody, ballot boxes and transportation containers secured with unique security seals, and secure ballot paper storage zones.”
The Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce (AIAT) is also tasked with monitoring potential threats to elections, including foreign interference.
“The EIAT brings together agencies from across government and has provided assurance to the Electoral Commissioner that it has not identified foreign interference in federal elections,” the AEC spokesperson said.
