​"Specific donations are a matter for the relevant division of the Liberal Party."​ The spokesman said Mr Huang lived in Mr Abbott’s electorate and had met with him “on a couple of occasions”. Asked if Mr Abbott had suggested to Mr Huang the ​​specific electorate campaigns he should donate to, or encouraged him to distribute the money that way, the former prime minister's spokesman said: "No." Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video ​But sources familiar with the matter have told Fairfax Media that Mr Abbott's office directly contacted at least one local Liberal campaign team to discuss​ ​Mr Huang's offer of donations. Mr Huang has previously denied any impropriety or involvement in Chinese Communist Party activities.

After Fairfax Media quizzed several MPs on Wednesday about their receipt of donations from Mr Huang in June 2016, and the role of Mr Abbott’s electorate office in soliciting the funds, one of them, Andrew Hastie, revealed he had instructed the WA Liberal Party to return $10,000 after tracing the funds to a company controlled by Mr Huang, Chaoshan 1 Pty Ltd. Liberal MP Andrew Hastie and Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus during a Parliamentary Joint Committee of Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) hearing on the Review of the Home Affairs and Integrity Agencies Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, at Parliament House in Canberra. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Hastie is the chair of federal parliament’s national security committee, which is reviewing sweeping reforms proposed by Mr Turnbull to counter foreign interference, including via donations and groups involved in Chinese Communist Party lobbying. Since early 2016, Mr Huang’s request for Australian citizenship has been stalled by ASIO. Amid an uproar in late 2017 over Mr Huang’s relationship with now ex-senator Sam Dastyari, Mr Turnbull described Mr Huang in parliament as an “agent of a foreign country.” Mr Hastie’s decision to refund the donation creates a potential precedent for other MPs who have enjoyed Mr Huang’s campaign largesse.

“In considering his position as Chair of the PJCIS [committee], and having become aware of concerns relating to this donor, Mr Hastie deemed the donation to be inappropriate and instructed for it to be returned, which was subsequently done earlier this year,” Mr Hastie’s spokesman said in a statement. Even though Mr Turnbull has sought to prohibit foreign donations as part of proposed sweeping anti-foreign interference laws introduced in November, the Coalition still accepts overseas donations. The ALP last year banned donations from Mr Huang and a second donor, and in principle backs the proposed ban on overseas donations, although it believes the government’s legislation is badly flawed. The payment from Mr Huang's company went to Mr Hastie's Federal Electorate Conference (FEC), managed by the Liberal Party. It was one of several payments by Mr Huang's companies worth $140,000 to various Liberal campaigns ahead of the 2016 election. As well, the billionaire's companies donated $85,000 to Labor in the months before the election. The Hastie chaired Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which is reviewing the laws, is set to come under scrutiny amid another revelation that a former staffer for one committee member had links to Chinese Communist Party groups. A high profile submission to the committee in January by professor Clive Hamilton and researcher Alex Joske named Huang Kun as a person involved in the Chinese Communist Party United Front organisations, including groups tied to Huang Xiangmo (who is no relative). United front groups may operate as proxies for Beijing’s interference operations in Australia.

Clive Hamilton, who has written a book on Chinese Communist Party influence. Credit:Rohan Thomson The allegation about Huang Kun is sensitive because he was, until January, a staffer to Labor senator Jenny McAllister, who is a member of the parliamentary security and intelligence committee. He said he quit as a the senator’s staffer in January to pursue further study and his political career. Huang Kun, 27, was not interviewed by Mr Hamilton or Mr Joske prior to his naming in their PJCIS submission. He said that if he was, he would have relayed a more nuanced story about his links to CCP groups than that presented at the committee. Huang Kun’s story highlights how those seeking leadership roles in Australia’s disparate Chinese community can come into close contact with people deemed by the Chinese Communist Party to be community leaders. Fairfax Media has no evidence that Huang Kun knew he was involved in United Front groups. Huang Kun believes those operating CCP fronts or seeking to lobby for other nations should be outed.

“We should name them as foreign agents,” he said. “I support the foriegn interference laws. There should be a rule in place so people can say, you’re a (agent of influence) ... If a rule is in a place and I am guilty, you can charge me.” Councillor Huang Kun of Cumberland Council. Credit:James Brickwood Huang Kun said he risked a backlash online and from sections of the Chinese community in making his comments supporting the new laws. He is one of only a few local Chinese voices in a debate dominated by politicians, journalists, think tanks and officials with a toe in one of two camps: the China hawks, who believe the United Front is deeply involved in Australian politics, and others, who label such suspicions as scaremongering that threatens a vital economic and bilateral partnership. Huang Kun said there was a lack of accountability about who is doing CCP work in Australia and for what reason. He hopes increased accountability – the proposed laws require lobbyists and agents to disclose if they are working for a foreign power – may help Chinese Australians to shake the cloud of suspicion provoked by the debate and which has hovered over Huang Kun himself.

He cautioned that political networking and self-promotion by some Chinese Australians was being unjustly labelled as communisty party political lobbying, and that those proud of China’s achievements unfairly labelled as CCP cheerleaders. Huang Kun said he marvelled at China’s economic development while abhorring the CCP’s efforts to control information. He urged Australians to look at China “from both sides.” Huang Kun arrived in Australia when he was nine, hanging out with Aussie kids before gravitating in high school towards what he calls the ABCs – Australian Born Chinese. It wasn’t until university that he begun to associate with mainland Chinese and encountered, peripherally he says, the long arm of Beijing. When Kun created a Chinese student group at Macquarie University in 2013, he said he realised the most successful student groups where the Chinese embassy backed CSSAs. He rebadged his student group as a CSSA as a marketing exercise and, by virtue of his position as president, said he was invited onto the NSW CSSA executive, which meets at the Chinese embassy.

“The NSW CSSA invited us to co-operate with them as a partnership.” he said. He described his interaction with embassy officials as unremarkable. Huang Kun said his efforts to increase his networks in Sydney’s Chinese community led to his 12-month membership of its most influential umbrella group, the ACPPRC at the end of 2015. It is a CCP United Front organisation whose president, until recently, was Huang Xiangmo. "I’m not really sure of its status as a united front organisation. Before the accusations started, we just thought this is a good and active community organisation. I joined at a young age and I didn’t question it.” Asked about Mr Huang, Kun said he didn’t want to comment publicly on individuals. Mr Huang is an honourary president of another Chinese community group that Huang Kun is Vice President of, the Fuzhou Community Alliance, but he said Mr Huang’s role at the group was in name only and the group was not aligned with the CCP. He said he has disclosed to Senator McAllister his role as Vice President of this group.