A GROVELLING Sam Dastyari has pleaded for Australia to forgive him for asking a private company to pay a personal debt.

But the influential NSW senator has failed to answer two key questions.

Mr Dastyari, known as Dasher in political circles, fronted the media on Tuesday afternoon to explain why Chinese donor Top Education paid off a $1670 bill he owed to the Department of Finance and how the Chinese backed Yuhu Group settled $44,000 of his legal bills.

The senator earlier denied that he was involved in a “cash for comment” deal with the Chinese donors.

“I asked Top Ed to make the payments. I should have paid it myself,” he told reporters.

“I made a mistake, I was in the wrong, I apologise, I’m sorry and I want to apologise more broadly to the Australian public.”

Mr Dastyari said he had been “counselled very strongly by the Labor leadership,” but when asked if he had been asked to resign, he simply replied, “did not offer, haven’t been asked.”

However, the senator left questions unanswered. On why accepted the payments at all Mr Dastyari refused to be drawn only saying he was “not here to justify or make excuses,” and the affair had been “a learning experience.”

Last June, Sydney-based Chinese media quoted him saying, “The South China Sea is China’s own affair. On this issue, Australia should remain neutral and respect China’s decision.”

The position is at odds with the Government and Labor. Pushed on whether his financial relationships had affected his view on Sino-Australian issues he replied he supported Labor’s position on China’s maritime incursions into waters claimed by other countries. “If there’s an instance where I have misspoken that is wrong.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Labor leader Bill Shorten had done his best to paint Mr Dastyari not as one of the party’s top powerbrokers, but rather as just a “young man” in need of a break.

The NSW senator, who is widely credited to have so much influence he quelled a mutiny by Anthony Albanese in the wake of Labor’s federal election loss, is under increasing pressure to explain his relationship with a number of Chinese donors.

But on Tuesday, Mr Shorten sought to play down Mr Dastyari’s influence by stressing just how young he was. Although, at 33, he’s significantly older than 26-year-old former Liberal MP Wyatt Roy, who was at one point an assistant minister.

Seeking to play down the donations scandal surrounding Mr Dastyari, the Labor leader said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was “engaging in petty attacks against junior senators from NSW”.

Junior Senator from New South Wales pic.twitter.com/L8oCmhTlTJ — Stephen Murray (@smurray38) September 6, 2016

Mr Shorten continued to reduce Mr Dastyari’s stature: “There’s no hiding the fact that he’s a bright young bloke and that he’s made his mark in Canberra and I think he can make a big contribution in the Senate and to this country.”

The Opposition Leader fended off calls to dump the senator. But, never fear, he has put the young, junior pollie in the naughty corner.

“I’ve spoken to him severely and I’ve made it crystal clear that this is not the behaviour I expect in the future from him,” Mr Shorten said.

“He’s made his mistake, he knows it and I am prepared to give him a second chance.”

Instead, Mr Shorten lashed out at the Prime Minister. Mr Turnbull’s attacks were “hypocritical and pathetic” and he was “ducking the real issue” of reforming the laws on donations to political parties making it harder for donors to remain anonymous. He also said foreign donations should be banned altogether.

Meanwhile, the storm over Mr Dastyari’s $1600 travel top-up from a Chinese businessman has produced a $500,000 tit-for-tat allegation against Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

And it has opened up the wider debate over whether Australian political parties should accept donations from overseas sources.

Liberal Cory Bernardi today joined Labor calls for a ban, telling ABC radio, “It’s wrong for substantial amounts of money from foreign entities in non-democratic governments to flow into [the] Australian body-politic.”

The furore grew after Mr Turnbull used his G20 summit visit to China to attack Mr Dastyari and point out the Labor frontbencher’s backing for Beijing’s stance in the South China Sea.

This backing clashed with official Labor policy, and Mr Dastyari has privately — but not publicly — said he had been misquoted in Chinese media reports.

The prime ministerial assault sparked a savage backlash from Labor, with shadow special minister for state Stephen Conroy today claiming Ms Bishop had breached standards set by Mr Turnbull.

He said the Foreign Minister had accepted an iPad, airfares and accommodation from a Chinese-owned company, and her West Australian division of the Liberal Party had been given more than $500,000 from donors with links to the Chinese Government.

All had been officially declared, as had Mr Dastyari’s $1670 from a Chinese billionaire to cover travel costs after his allowance as a senator ran out. There is no evidence the Senator or the minister did anything illegal.

“By Mr Turnbull’s own supposed standards, Australians have to wonder if his Foreign Minister has been compromised by foreign donations,” Mr Conroy said in a statement.

“Ms Bishop isn’t some junior senator — she is the Foreign Minister of the country and deputy leader of the Liberal Party.

“It’s time Mr Turnbull put up or shut up — either he supports Labor’s call for a ban on foreign donations or he proves that he is totally beholden to the chequebooks of the Liberal Party’s foreign-backed donors.”

Senior government figures have dismissed the attack on Ms Bishop, saying the issue of a ban on foreign donations was a distraction from Mr Dastyari’s affairs.

“Until (Opposition Leader Bill) Shorten shows that he is a leader and will put the national interest ahead of protecting Senator Dastyari, on whose factional support by the way he relies inside the Labor Party, then we are not going to be having any conversation other than that,” Attorney-General George Brandis said.

However, support for a ban is growing with the Greens also calling for law changes.

Last October, Mr Dastyari officially declared he had received help from the Top Education Institute, a company with links to China, in regard to “support for settlement of electorate staff travel budget overspend”.

In November 2014, he declared the Yuhu Group, a subsidiary of a state-linked operation based in China, had provided “support for settlement of outstanding legal matter”. This was later said to have been worth $40,000.

Meanwhile, the Coalition has pointed out that Mr Dastyari is keeping a conspicuously low profile for a politician who usually loves being in front of the cameras.

Queensland LNP senator James McGrath shot out six tweets this morning, speculating about where he might be.

Sam is still missing. My top 5 on where is Sam? #5 camouflaged on a lazy susan between Peking duck & Mongolian Beef #auspol 1/5 — James McGrath (@JamesMcGrathLNP) September 6, 2016

Sam is still missing. #4 Sam's done a Harold Holt and is on a Chinese submarine. #auspol 2/5 — James McGrath (@JamesMcGrathLNP) September 6, 2016

Sam is still missing. #3 Sam's lurking in his APH office with the lights off diving under his desk everytime the phone rings. #auspol 3/5 — James McGrath (@JamesMcGrathLNP) September 6, 2016

Sam is still missing. #2 Sam is hiding in my Office. (I wouldn't put it past him) #auspol 4/5 — James McGrath (@JamesMcGrathLNP) September 6, 2016