A Chinese billionaire seeking Australian citizenship has reportedly paid tens of thousands of dollars to secure a private meeting with Peter Dutton, who was immigration minister at the time.
A joint ABC Four Corners, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age investigation exposed the meeting which was arranged by former Liberal minister turned lobbyist, Santo Santoro, at a Sydney restaurant in 2016.
Mr Dutton has confirmed the lunch but has denied providing assistance to Huang Xiangmo, who was last year banned from re-entering Australia on ASIO advice he posed a threat of foreign interference because of his links to the Chinese Communist Party.
The one-on-one meeting followed Mr Dutton's approval of a request to have a private citizenship ceremony for Mr Huang's wife and daughter inside former Labor Senator Sam Dastyari's office in January 2015.
The private event allowed the two to gain their citizenship faster than others who have to wait for a public ceremony.
Mr Dastyari, who was forced to resign from Parliament in 2017 after the extent of his dealings with the influential Chinese businessman were revealed, said he wrote to the immigration minister asking for the expedited citizenship for Mr Huang's family.
"I thought there was a snowfake's chance in hell that this was going to get approved and the pace and speed of which it got approved at the time surprised me, and in hindsight concerns me," Mr Dastyari told the ABC.
Mr Santoro said his services were limited to providing an introduction and denied Mr Huang's citizenship was discussed at the Dutton meeting.
Australia's spy chief Duncan Lewis told estimates on Monday the threat posed by foreign interference remains at an "unprecedented level".
