Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has questioned the national loyalty of Labor senator Sam Dastyari, following relevations he warned Chinese donor Huang Xiangmo his phone might be tapped.
Dastyari has said he did not reveal security information to Huang when he warned Huang that Huang's phone was being tapped by Australian and US spy agencies but detail of that warning came from transcripts of taped conversations reportedly leaked to media.
Fairfax reported on Wednesday that Dastyari gave the warning to Huang at a face-to-face meeting at Huang's Mosman mansion in Sydney in October 2016, weeks after Dastyari resigned from Labor's shadow ministry.
Dastyari resigned last year after reports emerged that he got a company with links to the Chinese government to pay a personal $1,670 office bill last year, then reportedly spoke out in favour of China’s position on the South China Sea, against Labor's official policy position.
Recorded audio of the press conference emerged on Wednesday, showing the senator going to lengths to speak against Labor policy at the time.
Dastyari also received a $40,000 donation from Huang's company to pay a legal bill in 2013.
Dastyari later returned as deputy opposition whip in the Senate.
According to Fairfax, Dastyari told Huang he blamed the US government for the scandal, and that Huang had his phone tapped, and the pair should take their conversation outside and away from their phones.
ASIO briefs opposition leader Bill Shorten about national security issues, but in a statement on Wednesday, Dastyari denied that he had been briefed by ASIO.
"I have never been briefed by any security agency, or received any classified information about any matter, ever," he said.
"I've never passed on any protected security information — I’ve never been in possession of any. And as I’ve said publicly before, I would always act in accordance with any security advice I was given."
Dastyari said that he told Four Corners in June that the meeting last year was the last he had had with Huang.
"I reject any assertion that I did anything other than put to Mr Huang gossip being spread by journalists."
Turnbull said in a press conference on Wednesday that Dastyari should be questioning his future in the parliament.
"Why is he giving counter-surveillance advice to this man, Huang Xiangmo? Why is he trying to alert Mr Huang Xiangmo that perhaps Australian Security agencies may have an interest in him," Turnbull said.
"What did he tell him and how can he allow him to remain on the front bench? Whose side is Sam Dastyari on? Not Australia's it seems. Sam Dastyari should not be on the front bench of the Labor Party and he should really be considering his current position in the Senate."
In a statement, Shorten said that Labor would not accept donations from Huang, and said he did not discuss his own security briefings with Dastyari.
He said Dastyari had "never made a secret" that the meeting with Huang took place, and no classified information was passed on.
"I have made it clear to senator Dastyari that that this is not the first time his judgement has been called into question, but I certainly expect it to be the last," he said.
Attorney-general George Brandis said at a press conference on Wednesday he would raise the matter in the Senate today, but declined to confirm whether Huang was the subject of an ASIO investigation.
BuzzFeed News sought further comment from Brandis on whether the government was investigating a leak of ASIO intelligence to the media.