Sam Dastyari admits error in Chinese donor scandal, but says he did not do any political favours
UPDATE: EMBATTLED Senator Sam Dastyari has cancelled a speech he was due to give in QLD tonight, as former PM John Howard said Dastyari should be taken off the frontbench because Chinese “cash for comment” allegations against him.
NSW
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- DASTYARI: ‘I’M SORRY, I MADE A MISTAKE’
- SAM ASKING A CHINESE FIRM TO PAY HIS BILLS
- DASTYARI IN HOT WATER OVER ASIAN INVESTOR LINKS
- BOLT: HOW MUCH HAVE THE CHINESE PAID THEIR MATE
FORMER prime minister John Howard believes Labor’s Sam Dastyari should be ditched from the frontbench because Chinese “cash for comment” allegations against him are damaging his party.
This comes as the embattled senator cancelled a speech he was due to give tonight at the University of Queensland.
Senator Dastyari was scheduled to deliver the W. Forgan Smith Lecture to the university’s ALP Club but pulled the pin at the eleventh hour.
The ALP Club said Senator Dastyari was “unable to make it up from Sydney”.
Former Treasurer Wayne Swan will instead give the address.
Earlier today, relying on the “true Westminster principle” that a frontbencher goes if their continued presence damages the team, Mr Howard said Senator Dastyari definitely fell into that category for asking a Chinese donor to pay a personal debt.
“And that was the rule in the end that I applied when people got into difficulty and I think (Senator Dastyari), on that ground, he has gone a million,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra at lunchtime.
Dastyari admits he was wrong to have a Chinese donor pay outstanding bills, but was defiant he had not provided political favours in return for the payments.
Mr Dastyari broke his silence as The Daily Telegraph today reveals he orchestrated a $200,000 Chinese fundraising dinner in 2013 for Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen’s election campaign and the NSW ALP’s election coffers.
Treasurer Scott Morrison today insisted “Shanghai Sam” must resign. “’I resign’ is what he should say,” Mr Morrison told Sky News. “He won’t say that, so Bill Shorten must order his walk to the pavilion.”
COMEDY ACT: SHANGHAI SAM’S PERFORMANCE A COMIC CLASSIC
The Senator yesterday held a bizarre 25-minute media conference where he used the word “mistake” about 30 times and struggled to explain why he asked a Chinese donor to fund a $1670 bill from the Department of Finance instead of paying it himself.
He also struggled to explain whether he had been misquoted or misspoke after Chinese media reported he supported their action in the South China Sea during a media conference alongside a donor who had paid one of Mr Dastyari’s bills.
“No one ever asked for anything in return, nor would I have done anything in return,” he said.
Mr Dastyari at times struggled to make sense as he explained the saga that has been labelled “cash for comment” in some quarters.
“While all these matters have been clearly outlined on my register, which is an open book which I’m sure everyone has been through and asked me questions about, there is a higher test which is — does it pass community standards and the interests quite clearly of this $1670 payment I should have made that payment myself?” he said.
“I should never have asked them to do that. I should have made the payment myself and I should have reflected on that before doing so.”
OTHER NEWS: NINE’S $1 MILLION PAYOUT TO BEIRUT PRODUCER RICE
Mr Dastyari said he would take more time before making decisions.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten confirmed he would give Mr Dastyari a “second chance” and not dump him from the Labor frontbench despite growing accusations the shadow consumer affairs spokesman is embroiled in a “cash for comment” agreement with Chinese interests.
The Telegraph can reveal the dinner held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Sydney on February 25, 2013, was labelled a “Labor fundraiser”. Mr Dastyari, who was then general secretary of the NSW ALP, was credited with orchestrating the event, which raised $100,000 for Mr Bowen’s campaign and $100,000 for the NSW ALP head office.
Mr Dastyari’s role in organising the event was credited by former Foreign Minister Bob Carr in his recently published diaries.
Yesterday The Daily Telegraph revealed that Mr Carr’s Australia China Relations Institute had funded an event in 2014, organised by Mr Dastyari, for a senior Chinese official to introduce him to federal MPs.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT SHANGHAI SAM
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: “Bill Shorten is standing up for Sam Dastyari’s right to take cash from a company associated with a foreign government and then express a view on foreign policy that undermines the Australian Government.”
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten: “I’ve spoken to him severely and I’ve made it crystal clear that this behaviour is not the behaviour I expect in the future from him ... I am prepared, however, to give him a second chance.”
Greens Leader Richard Di Natale: “Quite rightly people are concerned that our democracy is for sale.”
Treasurer Scott Morrison: “Shanghai Sam must go. It’s that simple ... [He] needs to walk to the pavilion, and if he doesn’t walk to that pavilion, then frankly Bill Shorten has to make sure he does that.”
Labor front bencher Anthony Albanese: “Let’s be clear here. The only reason we know about the issue of the donation is because Sam Dastyari stuck to the rules and declared it.”
Liberal front bencher Christopher Pyne: “If Bill Shorten doesn’t act to sack him, he’s saying to the Chinese government, ‘I am a weak leader who’s prepared to allow my ministers to be compromised by the Chinese government or Chinese business interests’.”
Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi: “The Labor Party needs to release him from witness protection.”
Labor front bencher Stephen Conroy: (On Julie Bishop’s foreign gifts) “Ms Bishop accepted an iPad, airfares and accommodation from a Chinese-owned company, and her WA division of the Liberal Party pocketed more than $500,000 from donors with links to the Chinese government. Ms Bishop isn’t some junior senator — she is the foreign minister of the country and deputy leader of the Liberal Party.”
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