Gladys Liu (Yue Chinese: 廖嬋娥, pronounced [liːu̯ siːm ŋɔː]; born 6 April 1964) is a Hong Kong-born Australian politician who currently serves as a councillor of the City of Melbourne.
[4] During her time in federal parliament, Liu had been the subject of media and intelligence investigations over her connections to entities and figures that had ties to the CCP.
After graduation, Liu worked for the Victorian Education Department for 14 years and owned a share of two restaurants in Box Hill and Richmond.
“The significant number of people in Hong Kong who have taken to the streets to voice their concerns demonstrates to the world the kind of passion and commitment to democracy that the people of Hong Kong hold.”[14] In September 2019, it was reported that members of Liu's Liberal Party branch had called to relax foreign investment laws related to China at the 2017 Victorian Liberal Party Conference.
[17] In a separate interview with The Age also published in May 2020, Liu criticised Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and the Labor Party for their 2018 Memorandum of Understanding with China, which nominally signed up the state as part of the Belt and Road initiative.
"[18] In November 2020, Liu joined with several other Australian MPs in condemning the disqualification by China of four members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council.
[28] Zhao claimed that he had been offered over $1 million by an unnamed Chinese businessman to infiltrate the Australian Government by running for the seat of Chisholm.
[28] Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has expressed his support for Liu and stated that criticism of the MP was racially motivated.
[32][26] It was alleged by Labor Senator Penny Wong that Liu promised to write references letters for foreign students' residency applications if they volunteered on her campaign.
[33] In December 2019, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Liu assisted in securing meetings with federal politicians for the Australian subsidiary of Brighsun, a Chinese-controlled energy group.
[34] In January 2021, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that ASIO was investigating a donor with ties to Liu over foreign interference risks.
When questioned about this in 2019, Liu originally called the recording “fake news”,[36] later claiming she meant these remarks to be representative of the Chinese community rather than her own views, although this was fact-checked and debunked by the interviewer.