‘I attend lots of dinners’: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese quiz over Point Piper dinner
Anthony Albanese has been grilled about attending a private dinner at a $40 million mansion that was the subject of Australian Taxation Office fraud allegations.
According to the Australian Financial Review, the Prime Minister attended a dinner at the $40 million Point Piper mansion hosted by Felix Lee, the son of the Chinese billionaire accused of tax evasion.
The event cost $10,000 per person, the outlet reported.
Speaking to the ABC’s Insider program on Sunday, Mr Albanese declined to confirm whether he had attended the intimate event at the billionaire’s mansion.
“Have you been to Felix Lee’s house in Point Piper?” host David Speers asked.
“Look, I attend a lot of dinners,” Mr. Albanese replied.
Asked again about the dinner, Mr Albanese said he had “attended many events in many places, including last night”.
Mr. Speers continued to probe Mr. Albanese about this assignment.
“Why don’t you want to answer that?” he asked.
“Yes, it is,” said Mr. Albanese.
“You just said it happened. Yeah, no problem. I attend a lot of dinners in a lot of places and I’m not talking about private dinners. I also held a show here in Adelaide this week.”
Other high-profile attendees at the intimate dinner reportedly included former Prime Minister Daniel Andrews, Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn and former ASIC chief James Shipton.
The event was hosted by Felix Lee. Felix Lee’s father, Phillip Dong Fang Lee, was accused of deceiving the ATO about his assets and transferring funds from China to Australian bank accounts.
When asked about the allegation against Mr Lee’s father, Mr Albanese denied any knowledge of the accusations.
“Yes, I am not aware of these issues,” he said.
He said Labor had been “transparent” about donations received.
“We declare all our donations in accordance with the rules. We are transparent in this regard,” he said.
“I attend a lot of events and it is part of the process of interacting with people.”
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Emergency Management Minister Kirsty McBain defended Mr Albanese and said politicians from all parties “frequently attend fundraising events” but did not take instructions from those hosting the events.
“We do this to deal with a range of policy issues. But we don’t take direction from the people we eat with,” he said.
“It is important to understand their perspectives on a wide range of issues.”
