PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce have called for Bill Shorten to show leadership by offering a better explanation of events or sack Senator Dastyari.

“What sort of ticker does this man have? What sort of ticker does this person have who is desirous of being the Prime Minister of Australia,” Baranaby said.

“This is the smallest of tests prepared to what he will have later on.

“People will rightly say: ‘Well, what would you do?’

“Well, we’ve seen it. With (Stuart) Roberts, he got a watch, he no longer has a job. With Mal Brough, he no longer has a job.

“Arthur Sinodinous was asked to stand aside.

“Either stand aside or sack him.”

Mr Turnbull also said Mr Shorten must decide “whether he is going to continue standing up for Sam Dastyari’s cash for comment.”

“Back home, Bill Shorten is standing up for Sam Dastyari’s right to take cash from a company, associated with a foreign government, and then express a view on foreign policy that undermines the Australian Government’s foreign policy, which has been supported by Mr Shorten himself,” he said during a visit to China.

media_camera Christopher Pyne has called for Labor Senator Sam Dastyari to be sacked.

Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester said Senator Dastyari had become the “problem child” of the Labor party

“Bill Shorten was very ruthless when it came to disposing of two prime ministers,” he told Sky News.

“I’m not sure why he is hanging on to Sam Dastyari so tightly.”

Mr Chester also hinted he might be open to some political donations reform, saying full disclosure closer to real-time disclosure” would be beneficial.

“I have some concerns about the way ... disclosures on donations are not made until many months afterwards,” he said.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne says Mr Shorten must sack Senator Sam Dastyari or risk being seen as “weak” by China.

But he claims donations from international sources made during election campaigns are “absolutely fine”.

Mr Shorten is today expected to ramp up his push for donations reform, including banning foreign donations.

However, Mr Pyne said Mr Shorten must first fire Senator Dastyari from his frontbench.

“What’s happened is the seduction of Sam Dastyari has obviously been going on for some time and it’s a very serious matter for Mr Shorten,” he told the ABC.

“Chinese business interests paid a $40,000 legal bill for Sam Dastyari, a $1600 travel bill, provided him with two bottles of Grange wine.

“And after all these blandishments Senator Sam Dastyari was prepared to say the South China Sea was China’s business and Australia should remain neutral, a position which is at odd with Labor’s policy, with the national interest and with our international interests.

“And Mr Shorten needs to sack Sam Dastyari from his frontbench otherwise the message is that … Bill Shorten is weak on China and prepared to allowed his frontbenchers to be compromised by Chinese interests with associations with the Chinese Government.”

Mr Pyne said Senator Dastyari, who had reportedly disclosed the controversial gifts and donated the wine, had broken parliamentary rules.

But when pushed to explain which rule was broken, Mr Pyne could say only that had he’d broken an “ethical rule”.

Mr Shorten said he told Senator Dastyari “he shouldn’t have done it and he said he won’t do it again.”

“I have spoken Mr Dastyari,” he said.

“He should’ve paid this himself. I have certainly explained my unhappiness with what he has done.

“He has made clear to me that he has learned his lesson.”

He said Mr Pyne was “hyperventilating”.

“Mr Pyne is very keen to talk about anything but his management of the government numbers in the House last week,” he said.

Weighing into the debate Treasurer Scott Morrison said there was a difference between accepting a donation and taking money to pay off his debt.

“He may as well have just deposited it directly into his (bank account),” he told 2GB.

Mr Morrison said it was a test for Mr Shorten.

media_camera Treasurer Scott Morrison thinks Bill Shorten to sack Sam Dastyari. Picture: Supplied.

“We had a premier who stood down from being premier in this state over a bottle of Grange,” he said.

“I understand that Bill Shorten has counselled Sam Dastyari in the same way that Kevin Rudd used to say he used to counsel ministers and all of this sort of thing.

“The question for Bill Shorten is did Sam tell him about the bottles of Grange as well?”

Mr Morrison said Mr Shorten had not done enough to discipline Senator Dastyari, saying his response was to “have a cup of tea”.

“I mean, at the end of the day, this is really about Mr Shorten’s judgment,” he told the media.

“Shanghai Sam, we all know. We’ve seen him get involved in all sorts of stuff over the years.

“He’s a colourful character. Paying off debts in the Labor Party for the former member for Dobell Craig Thomson and all of those sorts of things as I understand.

“I mean he’s been a busy boy in the New South Wales Labor Party through not one of their greatest periods. But whatever this amounts to is really a question for Mr Shorten.”

media_camera Minister for Defence Industry and Leader of the House Christopher Pyne in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas.

Mr Pyne also dodged questions in his ABC interview about whether Australia needed political donations reform, saying only that the believed foreign donations made to political parties during the course of an election were “absolutely fine”.

Mr Shorten has accused the Coalition of joining forces with the Greens to block Labor’s proposed donation reforms.

The proposed reforms include banning foreign donations, reducing the disclosure threshold from $13,000 to $1,000 and prohibiting “donation splitting”.

“This is despite numerous Liberal Party donations scandals — including the Free Enterprise Foundation and a former Victorian Liberal Party Director being jailed for donation fraud,” Mr Shorten said.

“When faced with these scandals, the best Mr Turnbull can do is blame everyone else.

“It’s beyond time that Mr Turnbull joined with me in repairing a broken system.

“When Mr Turnbull meets business leaders overseas, he has the opportunity to make it clear donations from foreign interests should not be given to Australian political parties.”

Mr Pyne, the Leader of the House, was one of several ministers embarrassed last week when Labor won three consecutive votes in the House of Representatives because some MPs has left early.

He would not be drawn on the issue during an interview with ABC radio this morning, claiming the media cycle had moved on.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who is in China for the G20 summit, was reportedly urged by Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday to adopt a fair and transparent approach to foreign investment.

Originally published as PM slams Shorten over ‘Shanghai Sam’