Pauline Hanson has slammed the Prime Minister’s “double standards” after an awkward interview in which he dodged questions over his attendance at a dinner held by the son of a Chinese billionaire once chased for $273 million in unpaid taxes
Anthony Albanese tried to deflect scrutiny about the function at Sydney businessman Felix Lee’s Point Piper mansion last Monday, under questioning from David Speers on Insiders.
“I attend lots of functions in lots of places,” Mr Albanese repeated in the interview aired on Sunday.
The Australian Financial Reviewbroke the $10,000-a-head dinner story last week and reported Mr Lee, 25, had promised a $1 million donation to Labor.
But news.com.au understands the event raised less than $100,000.
Other notable attendees at the knees up hosted in the $40 million mansion were former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, Commonwealth Bank chief Matt Comyn and former ASIC chair James Shipton.
On Monday, One Nation Leader Ms Hanson joined the criticism of Mr Albanese by sharing the Insiders interview and calling out the allegations against Mr Lee’s father.
“Look at the Prime Minister squirm and refuse to answer questions about the dinner he attended allegedly in return for a $1 million donation to the Labor Party,” she wrote on X.
“The Prime Minister hits Australians with some of the highest taxes in the world, then dines with the family of a man the tax office reportedly chased for a quarter of a billion in unpaid tax,” she added.
“If Labor didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any.”
Ms Hanson has faced attacks from the Labor Party over her backing from mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, who this year donated a $1 million plane to the Senator.
National Party leader Matt Canavan also took issue with the dinner party, calling on the Labor Party to refuse the donation.
“This does stink,” Senator Canavan told Sunrise.
“At the very least here, the Prime Minister needs to explain why he didn’t know these issues.
“What the Labor Party should clearly do here is just give back the money or not take the donation.”
Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek defended the Prime Minister and the donations made at the dinner, and spruiked the government’s recent changes to political donation laws.
“What they do is say no-one can make a donation larger than $50,000,” Ms Plibersek said.
“And secondly, would have to disclose (donations) in pretty much real time.”
Mr Lee is the son of Phillip Dong Fang Lee, who was accused by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) of funnelling money from China into Australian bank accounts and property.
The ATO chased Mr Lee senior and his wife for $273 million in unpaid taxes in 2021, before settling the following year.
Mandalay, the family’s Point Piper trophy home which hosted the dinner, reportedly has a security placed on it by the ATO.
Nine Newspapers have reported the tax office has previously investigated the source of the family’s money, and whether Phillip Lee still controlled business assets in China after telling Australian authorities he had sold them off.
Phillip Lee was also a key figure in the 2022 inquiry into Sydney’s Star Casino, with it emerging he turned over more than $2 billion at the Pyrmont site.
Mr Albanese’s attendance at the dinner last week has raised concerns over the vetting of potential donors and whether he should have been aware of the issues surrounding the Lee family.
The Labor leader was pressed on Insiders if he knew of Mr Lee’s father’s issues and whether “red flags” had been raised.
“He wasn’t there … I attend a lot of meetings, functions, with lots of people and talking about people’s relatives, even removed from that,” Mr Albanese said.
“We declare all of our donations in accordance with the rules. We’re transparent about it. I do attend a lot of events and, you know, that is part of the process that occurs. Engaging with people.”
Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic told News24 on Monday morning, however, the Prime Minister “does not go to just any dinner, and he does not go to just any dinner in a private home of an individual”.
“And I think if he’s trying to pretend that there’s nothing to see here, all of us can see through that,” she said.
“There is clearly something going on here. The Prime Minister has to answer these questions.
“This isn’t just any individual. This is a $40 million waterside mansion, to my understanding, with someone that’s had a $270 million issue with the ATO in relation to their taxes.
“There are significant problems here for the Prime Minister.”
2GB radio host Ben Fordham also weighed into the debate on Monday, wondering how the PM’s team could have missed the controversy surround the Lee family.
“Who’s doing the advancing here?” he asked.
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