Senator Dastyari Steps Down From Senate Positions Amidst Chinese Communist Party Scandals

Labor Senator Sam Dastyari resigned as the deputy whip on November 30 following a string of scandals regarding his connections with Chinese government-linked donors.The embattled senator resigned from the front bench in 2016 after reports emerged of a company with Chinese Communist Party links paid a personal legal bill of $1,670 for him. The payment was prior to a speech he made, defending China’s policy regarding the South China Sea, which directly contradicted the official Australian Labor Party position.The latest allegations have once again put pressure on the New South Wales senator to resign from Parliament. On Wednesday, Fairfax Media reported that Dastyari warned CCP-linked donor Huang Xiangmo. Later in the evening, the ABC released audio of the senator defending China’s defiance of an international court ruling regarding the South China Sea.This video shows both statements Dastyari made on Thursday in the Senate, one in the morning and another in the afternoon, detailing his relationship with Huang. Credit: Australian Parliament House via Storyful