Via the ABC:
Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo paid $55,000 to have lunch with Bill Shorten in October 2015, documents uncovered by the ABC reveal.
The revelation comes as Mr Shorten faces pressure to expel senator Sam Dastyari from the Labor Party over his links to Mr Huang, who intelligence agencies warn is closely linked to the Chinese Government.
Mr Huang attended the function organised by a Labor fundraising arm with Mr Shorten in Sydney on October 5, in the midst of a heated political debate about Labor’s opposition to the China-Australia trade deal.
The donation was disclosed with the Australian Electoral Commission but the specific details were not known until a local Sydney council forced Mr Huang’s company, Yuhu Group, to list the benefactor as part of a property development application.
The Yuhu Group disclosure statement lodged with the City of Ryde states the donation was for a “boardroom lunch with Hon. Bill Shorten, ALP National”.
The donation was made through a linked company, Mandarin International Investments Pty Ltd, which is registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) at the same north Sydney location as Mr Huang’s Yuhu Group.
The meeting occurred during the same year the Australia Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director Duncan Lewis warned major political parties about Mr Huang’s links to the Chinese Government.
It is not clear whether the meeting occurred before or after the warning.
Mr Huang’s application for Australian citizenship has been stalled by the intelligence agency.
A spokesman for Mr Shorten said he had “always acted in accordance with the advice of security agencies”.
At the time of the meeting, Mr Shorten faced a coordinated union campaign against the trade deal and vocal opposition from backbenchers worried about Australian jobs.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions held town hall meetings to condemn the deal and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) warned it would allow Chinese companies to ship in overseas workers and steal local jobs.
The ABC understands the trade deal was discussed at the lunch.
And the inevitable:
Embattled Labor senator Sam Dastyari has quit Parliament after a series of revelations about his links to Chinese Communist Party-aligned interests in Australia.
The 34-year-old senator and powerful former boss of NSW Labor announced on Tuesday he had decided to resign from the Senate.
