Pierre Shuai Yang ( zh, s=杨帅, t=楊帥, p=Yáng Shuài; born on 27 January 1983) is a

Chinese Australian Chinese Australians () are Australians of Chinese origin. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups within the global Chinese diaspora, and are the largest Asian Australian community. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chine ...

lawyer and politician. He was elected to the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

at the 2017 state election, as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member in South Metropolitan Region. His term began on 22 May 2017. Yang moved to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

when he was 15-years-old (1998), as an overseas student. Around three years later, in September 2001, Yang joined the Labor Party, stating (of the party) in his inaugural speech in the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

: “The Labor Party believes in a fair and compassionate society where a fair day’s work will return a fair day’s pay and the most vulnerable of our community are supported and protected. The Labor Party believes in giving voice to the voiceless and creating jobs for the jobless, and the Labor Party believes in giving people a fair go.” Yang was a member of Gosnells City Council before entering state politics. He joined the

Australian Army Reserve The Australian Army Reserve is a collective name given to the military reserve force, reserve units of the Australian Army. Since the Federation of Australia in 1901, the reserve military force has been known by many names, including the Citize ...

in 2006, and at the rank of captain, was assigned as a liaison officer and translator on board the Chinese salvage/rescue vessel ''Dong Hai Jiu 101'' during the search for

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned de ...

. On 16 May 2018, Yang was elected by the Labor Caucus to the position of Government Whip in the Legislative Council, following the resignation of the position by Martin Pritchard. In December 2022, he became a parliamentary secretary to

Simone McGurk Simone Frances McGurk (born 5 December 1963) is an Australian politician. She is the member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly for the seat of Fremantle, and Minister for Creative Industries, Heritage, Industrial Relations, Aged Car ...

, the minister for training, water, and youth.

Foreign agent allegations

In 2018, it was reported that Yang had not declared to parliament his membership of the Northeast China Federation and the Association of Great China, which are allegedly affiliated with the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

through its

United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department (UFWD) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) tasked with " united front work". It gathers intelligence on, manages relations with, and attempts to gain influence over ...

. He subsequently stated that he had resigned from the two organisations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Pierre 1983 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Chinese emigrants to Australia Australian people of Chinese descent University of Western Australia alumni 21st-century Australian politicians Australian politicians of Asian descent Western Australian local councillors