Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came under fire yesterday for accepting free overseas trips while in opposition from a Chinese businessman with links to Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho (何鴻燊).
Rudd said there was nothing untoward in allowing businessman Ian Tang's company, Beijing AustChina Technology, to pay for the trips, and rejected suggestions it left him vulnerable to influence peddling.
He said opposition politicians in Australia received no taxpayer funding for overseas trips and it was accepted practice for them to take trips financed by private entities.
"It's just a reality," Rudd told public radio after acknowledging he accepted the travel before coming to power but declared it in official records.
"If you are trying to do these jobs from opposition then you are relying upon private sponsorships, whether it's by companies with interests in the resources sector, the commercial sector, the financial services community or wherever, to make sure that that travel is possible. The key thing is transparency and declaration," he said.
16 trips
Tang's Beijing AustChina paid for 16 trips for Rudd, Treasurer Wayne Swan, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and two backbenchers between 2005 and last November's election, when Rudd's center-left Labor Party won office.
Rudd, a fluent Mandarin speaker, also flew to China at Tang's expense in 2006 to give a speech at the launch of a multi-billion dollar Beijing development in which Tang and Ho were partners.
Rudd denied accepting the trips indebted him to Tang, who also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to both the Labor Party and its conservative rival, the Nationals.
judgement
The opposition said Rudd's acceptance of the free travel raised questions about his judgement and left the public wondering what Tang expected to gain by cultivating the man who would become prime minister.
"Was that meant to open doors for when they got into government? Was it meant to curry favor?" opposition politician Don Randall said.
Rudd said he would be willing to consider funding some overseas travel for opposition politicians from the public purse to prevent them being reliant on donations from private companies.
"I'm all for having these things looked at into the future," he said.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS