CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten MP has today had to clarify that the mandarin tattoo running down his neck has nothing to do with the Labor parties newly revealed links to the Chinese Government.
“It was a mid-life crisis brain snap” said Shorten.
“Not the political donations stuff, the tattoo”
“I believe it says Golden Boy, in Mandarin, I had it inscribed down my back during the second Rudd ministry… When things started looking good for me”
After being spotted taking a swim at St Kilda beach yesterday, Shorten’s Mandarin tattoo raised immediate questions about the minister’s ties to the Chinese Government, particularly after the news that Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo paid $55,000 to have lunch with Bill Shorten in October 2015.
The revelation comes as Mr Shorten faces pressure to expel senator Sam Dastyari from the Labor Party over his links to Mr Huang, who intelligence agencies warn is closely linked to the Chinese Government.
Mr Huang attended the function organised by a Labor fundraising arm with Mr Shorten in Sydney on October 5, in the midst of a heated political debate about Labor’s opposition to the China-Australia trade deal.
Mr Shorten says the tattoo has nothing to do with party policy, or Senator Dastyari, but is more about his love of oriental culture ‘in general’ – and a need to express himself after turning 40.
“It’s just a massive coincidence that all this stuff has been revealed at the same time”
“I literally had no idea about Dasher, or that a controversial Chinese billionaire with ties to the Chinese Government had attended a low key lunch in Sydney with me a couple months back”
