Canberra - Australia's first Chinese-born parliamentarian suddenly quit a state branch of Mr John Howard's Liberal Party yesterday, saying it had failed to oppose the divisive race politics of populist, Ms Pauline Hanson.
Ms Helen Sham-Ho said she had been considering standing for the presidency of the upper house of the New South Wales state parliament but fellow Liberals had told her not to stand because her ethnic origins might offend supporters of Ms Hanson's One Nation Party, which campaigns against Asian immigration.