George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Two days ago my colleague Senator Bernardi raised serious allegations concerning the payment to Senator Dastyari revealed in the Register of Senators' Interests of a financial benefit described as 'Support for settlement of electorate staff travel budget overspend paid by Top Education Institute'. That entry, which seems to have been written in deliberately opaque language, refers to the apparent payment to Senator Dastyari of an undisclosed sum of money to meet a personal debt. Yesterday in a brief statement to the Senate Senator Dastyari said that the amount of the payment was $1,670.82. However, he provided no further information. He did, however, acknowledge that he should not have accepted the payment and offered to donate the equivalent sum to charity.

Senator Dastyari's explanation, which ran to a mere 66 words, was woefully inadequate. It raised more questions than it answered. We now know that Senator Dastyari's benefactor, the Top Education Institute, is a Chinese company with links to the Chinese government, in particular through its principal, Minshen Zhu. Senator Dastyari must provide more information about this payment. He must explain to the Senate, as he significantly failed to do yesterday, why it is that this company paid a personal debt of his. What is the nature of his relationship with this company? Why has it chosen to act as Senator Dastyari's financial benefactor?

It is very important to emphasise that we are not talking about a political donation. This is the payment of a personal debt. Whether the Top Education Institute has made donations to political parties is not the issue here. Indeed, many of us have met Mr Minshen Zhu and had dealings with the Top Education Institute, but it appears that only Senator Sam Dastyari has accepted money from him in settlement of a personal debt. The issue is why this company is paying Senator Dastyari's personal debts.

In relation to the payment of a debt by Top Education Institute, I call upon Senator Dastyari to answer the following questions. What travel did the electorate staff overspend relate to? Which of his staff undertook the travel and for what purpose? What was the specific debt in relation to the electorate staff overspend; in other words, was it the sum, disclosed by Senator Dastyari, of $1,670.82 or was it a larger sum? On what date was—