Senator Sam Dastyari has resigned from the ALP frontbench.
- Listen to Dastyari’s resignation statement (3m):
The resignation comes a day after an embarrassing press conference over Dastyari’s solicitation of a payment of an electorate office bill from Top Education Institute, a Chinese-connected company and ALP donor.
Dastyari was Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate.
He called a press conference for 5.50pm in Sydney, just in time for the evening television news bulletins, and took no questions. He said: “I made all the necessary disclosures and what I did was within the rules, but it was wrong. I fell short of the duty I owe to the people I am so proud to represent.”
Dastyari said he had reflected on his press conference yesterday and concluded it “wasn’t enough”.
Dastyari said he would stay in the Senate and hoped to serve the ALP again in the future. “The Labor Party owes me nothing and I owe the Labor Party everything.”
He said it was not fair that his personal issues were distracting the ALP from the issues it was concerned with. He said he offered his resignation to Bill Shorten and it was accepted.
A few minutes after his press conference, Dastyari tweeted:
The Labor Party owes me nothing and I owe the Labor Party everything. Bill Shorten and the team don’t deserve this distraction.
— Sam Dastyari (@samdastyari) September 7, 2016
Statement from Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
After discussions with Senator Dastyari today, I have accepted his resignation.
Sam made a mistake and now he’s paying a heavy price.
It’s the measure of the man that he can stand up, admit he got it wrong and accept the consequences.
Sam is a young bloke with a bright future ahead of him. He has a lot more to offer Labor and Australia.
I’m confident he will continue to make a strong contribution to my team and continue standing up for the things that matter to all Australians – good jobs, good schools, and protecting Medicare.
