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Labor leader Bill Shorten has been forced to back Labor senator Sam Dastyari following fresh revelations about his links to and lobbying for an influential Chinese donor to the Australian Labor Party. Mr Shorten faced a barrage of questions about Senator Dastyari on Tuesday after a joint Fairfax Media/Four Corners investigation raised new questions about Senator Dastyari and his office lobbying the Department of Immigration on behalf of Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo, who had applied for Australian citizenship. Senator Dastyari's appearance at a joint press conference with Mr Huang on June 17, 2016, at which he contradicted ALP policy on the South-China Sea dispute - a day after Mr Huang withdrew a promised $400,000 donation because of comments on the issue from Labor defence spokesman Stephen Conroy - has also come under fresh scrutiny. There is no suggestion Senator Dastyari knew directly of the threat to the $400,000 donation, but his appearance at that press conference was instrumental in forcing him to quit the Labor front bench last September, as was the fact that he had asked a donor to pay a legal bill for him. He was quickly returned to a junior front bench role this year. The revelations, along with the fact that former Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb quit parliament and immediately commenced an $880,000-a-year consultancy role with billionaire Chinese businessman Ye Cheng, have raised fresh questions about Chinese influence in Australia's political system. The investigation also revealed ASIO briefed Labor and Coalition officials about the risks of accepting donations from Mr Huang and billionaire property developer Chau Chak Wing because they could be a conduit for Chinese Communist Party influence in Australia. Mr Shorten on Tuesday said the NSW senator had paid the price last year for his "indiscretion" and called on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to match Labor and support a ban on foreign donations and said Parliament's joint standing committee on intelligence and security should look at introducing a version of the United States' foreign agents recognition laws. But after persistent questioning from an ABC reporter in Brisbane, Mr Shorten's attempts to deflect questions about Senator Dastyari failed and he snapped. "Listen mate, if you want to hear the answers, you can ask as many questions," he said. "But we've gone over this ground, what about Senator Dastyari, does he have your support?" the journalist responded. "You've asked six questions, I'm answering them. You're raising serious issues, I'm going to treat that question as seriously as you think it should be taken," Mr Shorten shot back. The Opposition Leader said he was willing to lead by example and stop the donors highlighted in the investigation from giving to his party. "The ball is now in the Liberal Party's court as of the last five minutes. We are happy to do it, we will do it, but you've got to ask, what is fair? We will not take donations from these people and I think that's the right course of action. But why would the Liberal Party keep taking the money from these people?" "You had a Trade Minster, a trade envoy, [Mr Robb] who signed an $880,000 contract with one of these companies, even the day before he had left Parliament. This is red-hot and this sort of conduct, where you move seamlessly from a senior position in government to working for some of the people who you are actually making policy for the day before, I don't think that is appropriate. "In terms of Senator Dastyari, he has been penalised for his indiscretion in the past, but I know that he will vote to ban foreign donations, and I want to see Mr Turnbull show the same leadership we are showing." For his part, Senator Dastyari has played down his assistance to Mr Huang and pointed out his office had considered more than 200 requests for help on citizenship matters for people from all over the world. Earlier, Mr Turnbull said Senator Dastyari clearly had questions to answer about his links to donors and pointed out he had committed to banning foreign donations earlier this year. "That work is ongoing and legislation will be prepared to do that. "In early May, I asked the Attorney-General to review our espionage laws, to review our laws relating to the activities of foreign governments in Australia and he is going to present a report on that as to what changes we may need to make," he said. "I've always stated, and I said it in my speech in Singapore [on the weekend] in fact, that just as modern China was based on an assertion of national sovereignty, so China should always respect the sovereignty of other nations including, of course, our own." Independent senator Cory Bernardi has called for a royal commission into the revelations of Chinese influence, while Greens leader Richard Di Natale has repeated his call for a federal anti-corruption body. Follow us on Facebook