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   Donations row engulfs Turnbull’s team

• The Australian
• 12:00AM June 9, 2017

Simon Benson

• 
  National Political Editor
  Sydney
  @simonbenson
  

A senior member of Malcolm Turnbull’s campaign team had directly solicited a political donation prior to last year’s election campaign from Chinese-born Australian billionaire Chau Chak Wing, who is now at the centre of a political storm over foreign donations and political influence.
The Australian has also confirmed that Labor Party officials at both state and federal branch levels were even more vigorous in their approaches to Dr Chau in seeking donations for last year’s election campaign.
Dr Chau, an Australian citizen of 20 years, hit back at suggestions he was a puppet of China’s Communist Party, telling The Australian that many of the donations he had made to both side of politics were in response to approaches from political party officials. This has been backed up by senior officials from both major parties, who have admitted they saw Dr Chau as a cash cow for their election campaigns.
Election donation returns show that in the 12 months prior to last year’s election, Dr Chau donated more than $800,000 to both parties following approaches for financial support.
The Australian understands that ASIO has issued updated warnings to political officials over its concerns about China’s “soft power” influence in Australia as recently as the past month.
Bill Shorten this week tried to distance Labor from Dr Chau, claiming: “We (the Labor Party) don’t want these individuals’ or associates’ money. I do not want these two individuals who were named on Four Corners to be making donations to the Labor Party, and I have made it clear, before last night, that I don’t want our party accepting donations from these people.”
An ABC Four Corners report on Monday named Dr Chau in an attempt to make links between foreign donations and political influence. Former prime minister John Howard in 2015 described Dr Chau as being crucial in securing a key LNG deal with China.

Dr Chau said in a statement to The Australian: “These reports, and the subsequent political reaction they have triggered, have caused great distress and disappointment to me and my family. All of my political donations, which in some cases resulted from a direct approach by the major parties, have been made and declared strictly in accordance with Australian electoral laws. They have also been made with complete transparency through businesses I am clearly identified with.
“At no time have I sought to, or seen any reason to, use an elaborate corporate structure to mask a donation to a political party.
“Further, I have never sought or received any personal or commercial benefit in connection to a political donation.
“The most distressing allegation of recent days is that I am somehow acting as a conduit of information for the Chinese Communist Party, which risks jeopardising Australia’s sovereignty. For clarity, I am not and have never been a member of the Chinese Communist Party, and I completely reject the suggestion I have acted in any way on behalf of, or under instruction from, that entity.”
A senior Liberal organisational official confirmed the party had approached the family of Dr Chau, who bought James Packer’s Vaucluse mansion in Sydney’s east for $70 million in 2015, before the election asking to donate to the 2016 campaign. “He was a longstanding donor, and an Australian citizen,” the official said.
The official also defended Dr Chau, claiming there had never been evidence he was linked to the Communist Party or had sought to bear influence, despite an ASIO warning about Chinese political donors.
“He never asked for anything,” the Liberal Party official said. “All he was interested in was good relations between Australia and China.”
Labor and Liberal Party officials were warned by ASIO in 2015 about taking donations from foreign Chinese entities and companies alleged to have links back to the Communist Party.
However, Dr Chau, as an Australian citizen and proprietor of several Australian businesses, is not a foreign political donor.
He is pursuing a defamation case against a former Fairfax journalist who joined Mr Turnbull’s office in 2015. “I am immensely grateful for all of the opportunities living and working in such a wonderful country have provided me and my family, and I have sought to repay that gratitude by investing in education, cultural and health projects that will provide broad benefit,” he said.
A senior Labor source confirmed party officials had regularly asked Dr Chau for donations: “Of course we did. We got greedy.”