Via AFR:
The federal government said Labor Senator Sam Dastyari has acted against the national interest and that his position was now untenable.
Seizing on a report by Fairfax Media that says Senator Dastyari warned a Chinese benefactor that his phone was being tapped, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Attorney-General George Brandis said dealing with Senator Dastyari was now “a test for Bill Shorten”.
“Senator Dastyari’s position is untenable on the basis of these allegations,” Senator Brandis said.
Yep. But no:
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has made this statement about the Senator Dastyari story.
“I’ve made it clear publicly and privately that Labor will not accept donations from Mr Huang. Mr Turnbull has refused to do the same for the Liberal Party.”
“I receive regular confidential briefings from our security agencies. I don’t discuss the detail of those briefings with anyone, including Senator Dastyari, however I do not believe the senator is the subject of any national security investigation.”
“I have also spoken to Senator Dastyari, who has never made a secret of the fact that this meeting took place. He has again confirmed that he did not pass on any classified information, because he didn’t have any.”
“I wrote to Mr Turnbull months ago asking for the Government to consider a Foreign Agents Register and banning foreign donations. Turnbull’s monumental failure of leadership and his decision to cancel parliament this week means that these matters cannot be considered.”
“I have made it clear to Senator Dastyari that that this is not the first time his judgement has been called into question, but I certainly expect it to be the last.”
This is not a question of judgement except for Bill Shorten. It is a question of compromising the national interest for Sino Sam and he’s got to go.
