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

No, I can't confirm that, Senator Farrell. You may be right, but I would have to check the record. But the fact is, Senator Farrell, we're not interested. The Australian public aren't interested in what may have happened eight or nine years ago. They're interested in what's happening today. They're interested in the fact that one of your colleagues who sits behind you on the opposition benches, Senator Dastyari, has been suborned by a foreign influence. Given the opportunity to deny the allegations made by credible journalists, that he was suborned by Mr Huang Xiangmo, he declined to deny those allegations.

The fact is that Mr Shorten, in failing to take decisive action to tell Senator Dastyari that he is no longer welcome in the Labor caucus, has shown his weakness yet again. He has shown his weakness yet again. Why might that be, Senator Farrell? Might it be that Mr Shorten owes his position to Senator Dastyari, just as, if I may draw a comparison, Kristina Keneally owed her premiership to Mr Eddie Obeid? You would know more than me about the ecology of the Labor factions, I suppose, Senator Farrell, but you would know that they are all bound together by these unpleasant relationships of power, dependency and influence. That is why Mr Shorten is just too weak to take the action that the Australian people are demanding in relation to a man who has allowed himself, for whatever motives, to be used as a Chinese agent of influence, to overturn your own party's policy. He is still welcome in the Labor caucus. Senator Farrell, that is a disgrace.