South Wales (2016/08/16)
The decision to grant Zhu Minshen and his Top Group the right to issue law degrees is exceptional not only in Australia but in the world.No other country is known to have granted a China controlled entity the privilege of overseeing the training and regulation of its lawyers.
While Australian authorities may be reluctant to say or do anything about the exception granted Zhu, regulatory authorities in especially Malaysia and Singapore are quite likely to have launched their own investigations into the matter given the security implications. Australian lawyers often find work in Malaysia and Singapore and are often engaged in complex, high end work. Security has not likely to have been an issue for these were graduates of well known universities of known heritage. Having lawyers trained in a Chinese linked organisation changes things, and raises questions about the types of links that these lawyers may have to Communist Party Of China entities.
Zhu Misnhen's Communist Party China links and political activities are an obvious red flag for any security agency, even if these are ignored in Australia. In his 2018 book "Silent Invasion" Professor Clive Hamilton reports that Top Education Group's Zhu Minshen organised students, including students from his Top Education Institute to protest against Tibetans at a 2008 Olympic Torch rally which counted towards the Top students’ assessment. As Hamilton put it, Zhu’s Top Institution is “perhaps the only accredited degree program in Australia that counts agitating for a foreign power towards its qualifications.”
Other Commonwealth jurisdictions are likely to be concerned as well, given that Australian admitted lawyers can seek admission to practise law in other Commonwealth jurisdictions with relative ease.
The United Kingdom is likely to be especially interested, given the number of Australian admitted lawyers that have sought work and admission in the UK over more than a century.
Zhu and Top owe their exalted position in Australia and NSW's legal establishment to the NSW Legal Profession Admission Board and its chairman, the NSW Chief Justice Tom Bathurst (pictured above) who granted Top and Zhu the license to issue law degrees and create lawyers for admission to practise in NSW and Australia.
The NSW LPAB and the Chief Justice are already under scrutiny in Malaysia, where the conduct of the College Of Law Sydney over which they have regulatory oversight, is being investigated. Issues of concern include the College's exaggerated claims about its historical contributions to the Malaysian legal profession. The NSW LPAB and Chief Justice Bathurst ignored information against the College provided by Malaysian authorities, including the Registrar of Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court. They then attempted to discredit the investigation into the College's conduct led by this writer.
The Chief Justice has refused to answer all and any questions about his and the NSW LPAB's dealings with Zhu Minshen.
END
TO BE READ IWTH
NSW Chief Justice Tom Bathurst will soon admit to legal practise Zhu Minshen's law graduates: Bathurst met with China Ambassador Cheng Jingye in 2016 & must explain what was discussed; Cheng's threat to harm the Australian economy demands that Bathurst provide complete details of dealings with Cheng,and Zhu.
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