Chinese billionaire seeking citizenship paid lobbyist for lunch with Peter Dutton
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on Scott Morrison to act after Peter Dutton’s “concerning” links to Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo were revealed.
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Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has dismissed any wrongdoing after it emerged Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo paid a former Liberal minister at least $10,000 to meet with him when he was Immigration Minister.
ABC and Nine Newspapers report Mr Huang paid former Liberal minister turned lobbyist Santo Santoro at least $10,000 to arrange a one-on-one meeting with Mr Dutton in March 2016.
It came months after Mr Huang’s Australian residency was revoked and his bid for citizenship knocked back after ASIO raised concerns about his ties with the Chinese Communist Party.
Dutton has insisted he did no wrong by attending the lunch.
“He was a significant leader within the Chinese community. I was the Immigration Minister. There is nothing unusual in that at all,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Rockhampton today.
“That’s the facts. Again, strip it back to the facts and tell me what the allegation is.”
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Earlier, Mr Dutton received the backing of the Prime Minister.
“When it comes to countering foreign interference, my government, our government, has put in place the legislation to ensure that we counter that foreign interference,” Scott Morrison told reporters in NSW today.
“We put around $36 million into our security agencies in the Budget last week to ensure that they can be countering foreign interference and I think when it comes to these issues, our government’s record is squeaky clean.”
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has also weighed in saying Dutton and Santoro have “a lot to explain about this”.
“It is concerning and very troubling for everyone, every Australian concerned about ensuring that our politics is not influenced by foreign actors and that our politics and political decisions and axis is not available to be hopped around in the way that it is alleged it was,” Mr Turnbull said.
Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus echoed Turnbull’s thought saying “Peter Dutton needs to give a full explanation of his dodgy dealings with disgraced former Liberal MP Santo Santoro”.
“Now this is cash for access. Mr Dutton the Immigration Minister, has to explain all of his dealings with Mr Santoro,” Mr Dreyfus said.
The meeting reportedly took place at Master Ken’s seafood restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown. Just Mr Huang, Mr Dutton and the minister’s senior staffer were at the meeting.
Mr Huang reportedly reached out to Mr Santoro after his bid for citizenship stalled.
Nine and the ABC have a leaked secret recording which they claim shows Mr Santoro saying Mr Dutton was one of his “best friends” and requesting payment “upfront” to set up a meeting.
“There is nobody else anywhere who is better placed than me to help you through this particular part of the project. Nobody,” a male said to be Mr Santoro can be heard claiming.
“I can go to somebody in the Minister’s office and say ‘can you have a close look at this,” he reportedly says.
The male also claims Mr Dutton is “the most honest politician that I have ever come across” but also that he “tries to be helpful” if a “capability or a critical mass of investments” comes into Australia.
He can be heard saying: “If I am going to be doing the work and going to Canberra with a copy of the visa application and hand it over to somebody and say, ‘Can you help?’, no, no, I want to get paid, and get paid upfront.”
In January 2015, the ABC says Mr Huang’s family was also allowed to have a private citizenship ceremony inside former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari’s office, after then-Immigration Minister Peter Dutton approved a request from Mr Dastyari.
“Peter Dutton needs to be held accountable for what happened here,” Mr Dastyari said.
“I thought there was a snowflake’s chance in hell that this was going to get approved and the pace and speed of which it got approved at the time surprised me, and in hindsight concerns me.”
Mr Dastyari resigned in 2017 in disgrace over his own dealings with Mr Huang.
Mr Dutton told the ABC and Nine in a statement that Mr Huang “has never made a donation to my campaign” and that he had been introduced to the billionaire as “a leader in the Sydney Chinese community and had lunch with him on that basis”.
“I have certainty never made representations on his behalf to the Department or anyone else,” Mr Dutton said.
The minister added: “Mr Dastyari will need to answer questions around his request for a citizenship ceremony.”
Mr Santoro confirmed Mr Huang’s lunch with Mr Dutton had taken place but told Nine and the ABC the meeting hadn’t been designed to give the businessman direct access to Mr Dutton.
The former Queensland senator also denied offering to help Mr Huang with his citizenship application.
He also would not reveal why he was paid by Mr Huang for at least a year beyond saying it was to “assist him to understand Australian politics”.
A spokesman for Mr Huang told Nine and the ABC he had dealt with Mr Santoro for “advice regarding business” including “development of the volcano area in Sicily, Italy”.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud defended his colleague this morning, saying: “Peter Dutton has clearly enunciated that what happened at that meeting was all above board.”
Mr Littleproud told ABC radio he wasn’t aware of the details of the meeting but said he believed Mr Dutton when he said Mr Huang’s citizenship was not discussed.
“Unless someone has got evidence to the contrary, that’s the reality of where I would sit on it,” he said.
— with AAP
Originally published as Chinese billionaire seeking citizenship paid lobbyist for lunch with Peter Dutton
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