One company, Top Education Institute, covered a travel bill of $1 670 after he overspent his allocated budget.
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Labor frontbencher Sam Dastyari has apologised to his party, the Senate and Australia in an exhaustive train wreck press conference in Sydney over his acceptance of a payment from a Chinese Government linked company.
Yuhu Group CEO Huang Xiangmo and Sam Dastyari at a press conference for the Chinese community in Sydney on June 17.
“He made it clear to me that he’s learned his lesson”.
“In the Senate last thursday, I asked 47 specific questions about the two donations and I called upon Senator Dastyari to explain the circumstances of those donation and we have not heard a word from him and, more importantly, we haven’t heard a word from Mr Shorten”.
And he has re-stated his support for Labor Party policy over freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea, suggesting he may have been misquoted in Chinese media reports.
The Coalition has said Senator Dastyari allowed the payments to influence his comments on China and has demanded he step down.
He said he did not offer his resignation to Bill Shorten and he has not been asked to.
In a tense back and forth with media, Senator Dastyari rejected any insinuation “any of my statements or decisions have been made for any reason other than the national interest”.
“I’ve just said to him that he shouldn’t have done it and he said he won’t do it again”, he said.
However, the prime minister would not rule out backing donation reforms saying the issue would be considered by a parliamentary committee on electoral matters in the usual way.
“We’ve got an opportunity in this country to reform election donations, transparency is what the public need to have confidence in the public process and I absolutely believe that Mr Turnbull now needs to act”, he said.
Speaking in China, Prime Minister Turnbull said after the conclusion of the G20 Summit, that Mr Shorten was “seeking to distract attention from the very real issue; the very real failure of his leadership in not removing Sam Dastyari from the frontbench”.
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Earlier in the day opposition Leader Bill Shorten stepped up his criticism of Mr Dastyari saying he’s spoken severely to the “junior senator”.
