March 31, 2025
Monday 31 March 2025
Gemma Crotty
Sky News
Shadow home affairs minister James Paterson has demanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explain new “serious” allegations the government accepted thousands of dollars from a senior member of a Chinese group declared an agent of foreign influence.
The Australian reported on Sunday Sydney restaurateur James Chan was among those who paid $2000 to attend a fundraising dinner with Mr Albanese this month.
Despite reportedly denying any link to the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, cached pages from its now-defunct website obtained by the masthead show Mr Chan listed as its vice-president as long ago as September 2016 and as recently as November last year.
Attorney General Mark Dreyfus has declared the ACPPRC a foreign government-related entity under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme Act.
Speaking to Sky News host James Morrow, Mr Paterson explained the ACPPRC is linked to the United Front Work Department – the “principal overseas outreach arm of the Chinese Communist Party” which seeks to “spread the Communist Party's message”.
He said the Prime Minister would have “all sort of serious questions” to answer about the matter on Monday.
“He has to explain, if it is indeed the case that he and the Labor Party have accepted a donation from someone who has linked to an organisation that's affiliated with the United Front Work Department,” Mr Paterson said.
“Xi Jinping has described United Front Work Department as China's magic weapon, and the Australia Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China is one of those key united front bodies that operates in Australia.
Mr Paterson said the Attorney General's department had to “forcibly” register the organisation under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme after the group itself failed to, under the law. “That means it acts on behalf of the Chinese government in Australia – so if an office bearer of a United Front Work Department organisation paid money to attend a fundraiser with the Prime Minister. That is a very serious story, which the Prime Minister must explain.”
The Australian also uncovered a photo of Mr Chan sitting with Huang Xiangmo, a former ACPPRC president who Australia barred from entering the country due to concerns about alleged political interference.
“It has been publicly reported that Huang Xiangmo’s visa to Australia was cancelled on national security grounds, and he has not been able to re-enter Australia,” Mr Paterson said.
Mr Paterson said this demonstrates the nature of the ACPPRC and associations of people affiliated with the group.
“Now, people might have got away with making mistakes like this five or even 10 years ago, in a more innocent or naive time, but we have learnt a lot since then,” he said.
Mr Paterson called for the implementation of “much better processes” to vet donors attending the same events as the Prime Minister.
“This is not just some random interaction in the street, if it is indeed true – this is someone who paid money to sit with the Prime Minister at a small, intimate fundraising gathering, allegedly," he said.
“And so I think the Prime Minister really does need to front up and explain how this happened, if it did indeed happen.”