Christopher Pyne got into trouble today for being unable to say what laws Labor Senator Sam Dastyari had broken in his spectacularly dumb receipt of donations from a Chinese-linked company, but insisting there was something untoward about it all. More problematically, Pyne was unwilling to commit to any sort of ban on foreign donations.
In case you’re wondering why the Liberals don’t much like the idea of banning foreigners from donating, these are the donations it has received over the years from Michael Ashcroft, Tory grandee and UK tax exile. Ashcroft makes even those big Chinese donors, whose contributions come with a couple of zeroes more than most local donors, look piffling.
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