Undisclosed donation from Chinese government insider revealed as Dastyari quits politics
MALCOLM Turnbull insists Sam Dastyari must leave parliament immediately, a day after the embattled Labor figure announced he would quit the Senate.
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MALCOLM Turnbull insists Sam Dastyari must leave parliament immediately, a day after the embattled Labor figure announced he would quit the Senate.
The prime minister believes Mr Dastyari foreshadowing his resignation was not enough after he “betrayed” Australia over his links to a Chinese political donor.
“He’s still taking money from the taxpayers of the country that he put second,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney today.
“It was extraordinary, disloyal conduct and should be out of the senate now.
“He did not put Australia first, he betrayed Australia by tipping people off about the activities of our intelligence agencies.”
Mr Turnbull placed the blame at the leader of the labor parties feet, saying the spectacle was “Shorten’s failure.”
“Sam Dastyari has behaved shockingly, but it is Bill Shorten who wants to be Prime Minister, he wants my job, and if you want to be Prime Minister you have to show that you always put Australia first — Shorten has not done that.”
Treasurer Scott Morrison joined other senior Turnbull government ministers in describing the saga as a failure of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s leadership. “Bill Shorten failed another test by not kicking Sam Dastyari out of the Labor Party,” he told ABC radio.
Mr Dastyari sensationally quit politics yesterday as new revelations emerge about his advocacy on behalf of the Chinese, which was then followed by donations to the Labor Party.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Mr Dastyari praised Chinese officials and condemned Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s criticisms of China on the same day he and Opposition Treasurer Chris Bowen attended a lunch with a prominent Chinese donor, who, gave $500 to the ALP.
Institute, which is closely linked to the Chinese Government, made a $500 donation to the Labor Party at a lunch with Mr Dastyari and Mr Bowen on August 27, 2014, Electoral Commission of NSW records show.
The donation was disclosed by Dr Zhu but not by the ALP.
A NSW Labor spokeswoman said the $500 donation had not been disclosed because it was under the reportable donations disclosure threshold.
It was eight months later, in April 2015, that the Top Education Institute paid a Department of Finance travel overspend of $1670 for Mr Dastyari, which he gave to charity when a subsequent scandal erupted.
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The very same day as the lunch with Dr Zhu, Mr Dastyari gave an extraordinary speech in the Senate in defence of China and critical of Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for her tough stance.
Mr Dastyari spoke of “challenging the Foreign Minister for asserting that Australia should prioritise our relationships with the United States and Japan at the expense of our relationship with China, for publicly ranking our diplomatic partners and for placing a misguided sense of Australian identity over our future national interests”.
“It is worth noting the significance the Chinese government has placed on its relationship with Australia,” he said.
“That is best highlighted by the quality of the people and the delegates they have sent to represent them here. I want to note the outstanding word done by Ambassador Ma and the team at the Chinese embassy, who have played a very important role in maintaining and building our friendship and our relationship.”
Dastyari slams ‘provocative and prejudicial slurs’ about Chinese
The new revelation follows Mr Dastyari yesterday ending the turmoil around his political future, announcing his resignation from the Senate.
“Today, after much reflection, I’ve decided that the best service I can render to the federal parliamentary Labor Party is to not return to the Senate in 2018,” he said. “I’ve been guided by my Labor values, which tell me that I should leave if my ongoing presence detracts from the pursuit of Labor’s mission.”
Opposition leader Bill Shorten, along with Labor frontbenchers Penny Wong, Jim Chalmers and Tim Hammond yesterday said Mr Dastyari had made the right decision to resign.
It followed frontbenchers publicly calling for Mr Dastyari to reconsider his political life on Monday, following revelations in The Daily Telegraph that he had urged then foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek to cancel a meeting with a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong in 2015.
The Daily Telegraph also revealed Senator Dastyari had hounded Australia’s top defence and foreign affairs officials with 115 questions representing China’s interests in three years after he entered the Senate.
In the Senate on August 27 — eight months before Top Education Institute paid his legal bill — Mr Dastyari said that: “Recent remarks about China by our friends on the cross benches and in the government compel me to reiterate to parliament that the strong and enduring relationship and friendship between the governments of China and Australia is something that, rightfully, we can be proud of.
“I joined members of the Australian Chinese community in Sydney last month to remind the Prime Minister that his comments praising the sense of honour of Japanese soldiers in the Second World War were needless and hurtful to many people.”
WATCH DASTYARI’S FULL SENATE SPEECH
Mr Dastyari’s speech in the Senate began with the Chinese words “da jia hao”, which means Hello everyone, and ended with “Xie xie” which means “thank you.”
“Our words and actions resonate beyond this chamber into our vibrant multicultural communities and among our diplomatic friends and shape both the challenges and opportunities facing Australia on the world stage,” he said.