Social media has been flooded with pictures of the artery-clogging meal as snack pack appreciators paid tribute to Senator Dastyari after he resigned over the Chinese donation controversy.
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Mr Dastyari forfeits his role as manager of opposition business in the Senate, which he began after the July election. “I refuse to be the reason they escape proper scrutiny”, Senator Dastyari said. “I fell short of the duty I owe to the people I’m so proud to represent”.
And what he did wasn’t illegal, nor outside parliamentary rules.
”I made all the necessary disclosures and what I did was within the rules but it was wrong”, he said. “I accept that and I’m here to make it clear that I accept the consequences”.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had asked whether Senator Dastyari’s reported divergence from Labor’s policy on the South China Sea was because of the donation from the Chinese-linked company.
The Coalition has strongly attacked Mr Dastyari for his actions, while Labor has been adamant the mistake is an example of why Australia’s political donations system needs an overhaul.
The Senator said no donors had asked for anything in exchange for the funds, but despite repeated questioning, he has not explained why he chose to ask Top Education to cover his bill.
Shorten said in a statement: “Sam made a mistake and now he’s paying a heavy price”.
Senior government figures also latched on to the personal payment – dubbing him “Shanghai Sam” – perhaps to avert attention from an embarrassing series of vote losses in last week’s parliament.
The company’s billionaire chairman Huang Xiangmo is behind several pro-Beijing organisation’s in Australia and the group donated $435,000 to the Liberal Party and $100,000 to federal Labor between 2013 to 2015.
“I am prepared however to give him a second chance because I think he can make a contribution to this country”, Mr Shorten said.
“It was the wrong thing to have done”, he said.
The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, told ABC’s AM that Dastyari had not broken the law and had disclosed the gifts.
Treasurer Scott Morrison said the issue of donation reform was a matter for the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters and the Special Minister of State.
Speaking in Germany Bishop said there was “absolutely no correlation between political donations from, in some cases, Chinese-Australian residents and the circumstances that Sam Dastyari found himself in – touting for a personal payment from another entity”.
The senator apologised yesterday, but said today that “he reflected on that and decided that wasn’t enough”.
The shadow consumer affairs minister and leader of opposition business in the Senate thanked Mr Shorten for his “incredible support”.
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