Sam Dastyari must realise his time is up: he should quit

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari. Picture: AAP

The time has come for Sam Dastyari to follow the lead of NSW ALP general secretaries who blazed a trail to the Senate but knew when it was time to fall on their swords.

It’s not because Dastyari has been further exposed — what he has done is already enough to warrant a resignation. It’s because he is now damaging the ALP and its chances of being elected. No single MP should come before the party. All his predecessors have known when to walk away for their own good and for the good of the party.

Malcolm Turnbull and the ­Coalition are in a perilous place, but the disclosures about Dastyari’s warnings to Chinese political donor Huang Xiangmo about potential Australian intelligence surveillance and advice on how to avoid it are providing political traction.

The Prime Minister is able to spread the blame for stupid and dangerous behaviour to Bill Shorten and the opposition at large. Using parliament to accuse Dastyari of betraying Australia, he declares: “This is a test of the character of the Leader of the Opposition. Does he stand for Australia? Does he stand up for our national security? Well, if he does, then he knows Dastyari has to go.”

Dastyari flavours every ­Coalition utterance and attracts blame for every ill it can think of. He is giving Turnbull desperately needed momentum that will see him survive to Christmas with the opportunity to rebuild next year.

It is ironic that Dastyari’s best work in the Senate was on trying to get justice for victims of financial rip-offs. As the Coalition folds and calls a royal commission into financial institutions, he cannot speak because of Chinese money he took to pay a debt.

This is the problem for Dastyari: the Labor leader says he can’t see a revival for a long time; he can’t speak about his chosen area; and every day of parliament brings new condemnation.

The former NSW ALP general secretary needs to look at those who went before — Graham Richardson, Stephen Loosley and Mark Arbib. All faced their own pressures and carried their own baggage from their days in NSW HQ, but all put the party first when the time came. And were able to build post-political careers.

Richardson knew he had to resign from the ministry in 1992 and later knew it was time to go despite having helped wrangle election victories. Loosley also knew when the time was right, and even Arbib knew when to go, trying to draw some of the factional poison with him and describing his departure as an attempt to “heal” Labor rifts.

Dastyari needs to follow them and be gone before parliament ­resumes next year.