

More from Labor senator Sam Dastyari in the Senate just a few moments ago:



As I told Four Corners months ago, after the events of last year, I spoke to him to tell him that I did not think it was appropriate that we have future contact.



I thought it was a matter of common courtesy to say this face to face with Mr Huang. Neither my office or I have spoken to Mr Huang since. This information has been publicly available since June.



In June 2016 I held a press conference that was targeted as Australian Chinese media and the Chinese Australian community.



Mr Huang was included in the press conference as the presence of a prominent Chinese community leader would help attract better media coverage from Chinese language media and their target audience.



This is standard media practice for Australian political parties from across the spectrum, when seeking to engage with multicultural communities.



I do not have the full details of what was said at the press conference. However, I understand footage has been disseminated to media outlets...



...At the press conference I made comments that were in breach of Labor Party policy on issues relating to the South China Sea. While I do not have a copy of the transcript of the press conference, I understand a copy of those comments has been disseminated to media outlets.



I have never denied the contradicting Labor policy was a significant mistake, and I resign from the Labor Party frontbench over it last year.