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Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has sensationally demanded his successor Scott Morrison deal with "very troubling" allegations about Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's links to Communist Party-aligned billionaire Huang Xiangmo and Liberal lobbyists. The intervention followed an investigation by the ABC's Four Corners, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that revealed Mr Huang paid tens of thousands of dollars to secure a one-on-one meeting with Mr Dutton amid a back-room campaign for Australian citizenship. Mr Huang failed in his attempt for citizenship after ASIO objected to his links to the Chinese Communist Party - however his family was given special treatment when Mr Dutton empowered former Labor senator Sam Dastyari to conduct a private citizenship ceremony for them in 2015. The lobbyist - former Liberal minister Santo Santoro - also arranged a lunch between Mr Huang and Mr Dutton in the private dining room of a Sydney restaurant in 2016. In a stunning ultimatum to his former ministerial colleagues, Mr Turnbull said Mr Dutton had "a lot to explain" about the controversy but ultimately the buck stopped with Mr Morrison. "Scott Morrison is the Prime Minister and you can't wave this off and say it's all part of gossip in the bubble," he told reporters on Tuesday. "This is the national security of Australia. "Remember the furore that rose about [Mr] Dastyari. All the same issues have arisen again. "This has to be addressed with the highest level of security priority and urgency by the Prime Minister. The buck stops with him. I know what it's like to be Prime Minister. Ultimately, you're responsible. So Scott Morrison has to deal with this Peter Dutton issue." Mr Turnbull described the allegations against Mr Dutton as "very, very concerning and very troubling". He pointed out his government had created new laws against foreign influence and warned: "Access is not available to be hawked around in the way that it's alleged it was." "Peter Dutton has got a lot to explain about this," Mr Turnbull said. "He's supposed to be the minister responsible for the domestic security of Australia. He's supposed to be the minister responsible for ensuring our politics is not influenced by foreign actors. "It does raise a lot of questions and Peter Dutton is the only one who can answer them." Mr Dutton said "the suggestion that somehow I've provided anything to this individual is just a nonsense". Earlier, Mr Morrison and Mr Dutton responded to the revelations by reiterating that Mr Huang had not been granted citizenship and was prevented from returning to Australia. Mr Dutton said Mr Dastyari had vouched for Mr Huang's family when requesting the private citizenship ceremony and it would have been unusual for him as immigration minister to refuse that request. "If Mr Dastyari has not been above board or misrepresented the reason for the citizenship ceremony, then I think that is something that he and frankly [Labor leader Bill] Shorten need to explain," Mr Dutton said on Tuesday. Mr Turnbull holds Mr Dutton primarily responsible for deposing him as Liberal leader and prime minister in August, after Mr Dutton launched a leadership challenge that brought Mr Turnbull down but failed to install himself in the top job. The former prime minister has previously described the coup against him as an "insurgency" and "a form of madness". - SMH/The Age.

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