Malcolm Turnbull is calling for Peter Dutton to explain himself, following reports that a Chinese billionaire, who was seeking a passport, paid a Liberal lobbyist tens of thousands of dollars to secure a private meeting with the then Immigration Minister.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says revelations that Peter Dutton had a private meeting with an influential Chinese businessman who was seeking an Australian passport are"very troubling".
Mr Dutton, who was immigration minister at the time, has confirmed the 2016 lunch meeting but has denied providiThe Chinese billionaire was last year banned from re-entering Australia on ASIO advice he posed a threat of foreign interference because of his links to the Chinese Communist Party. "The buck stops with him. I know what it's like to be prime minister and ultimately, you're responsible. And so Scott Morrison has to deal with this Peter Dutton issue."
Mr Dastyari, who was forced to resign from Parliament in 2017 after the extent of his dealings with the influential Chinese businessman were revealed, said he wrote to the immigration minister asking for the expedited citizenship for Mr Huang's family. "I thought there was a snowfake's chance in hell that this was going to get approved and the pace and speed of which it got approved at the time surprised me, and in hindsight concerns me," Mr Dastyari told the ABC.
Duncan Lewis, the director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, expressed the sentiment when asked about such interference at a budget estimates hearing in Canberra. They include Chinese government officials questioning two Australian citizens about their connections to former China advisor to Malcolm Turnbull, John Garnaut, who worked with ASIO in 2016 on a confidential investigation into Beijing's influence campaign in Australia.
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