Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party are now in crisis mode, trying to cover up the $1 million bribe paid by Chinese businessman Felix Lee for dinner with Albanese and others.
The real story is who organised the $1 million dinner, which was almost certainly former treasurer Joe Hockey, who is Chairman of the company paying the bribe and who leaked the dinner and bribe to the media to damage Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party.
This article is a follow-up to my previous article published on Thursday (23/7/26) titled “PM Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party bribery machine in action,” which starts off:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s and the Labor Party’s bribery methods, or at least 2 of them, have been exposed in the last 24 hours in separate stories, with Albanese having a dinner for a $1 million bribe.
You do not donate $1 million for a dinner unless you are guaranteed of getting something, so it was not a donation, it was a bribe. (Click here to read the full article) (Click here to watch a video podcast of the article)
Anthony Albanese and his 30-year relationship with Joe Hockey
When you look at the decades-long relationship between Anthony Albanese and Joe Hockey, it is very powerful circumstantial evidence that it was Joe Hockey who organised the dinner with Albanese and the $1 million bribe.
Anthony Albanese and Joe Hockey both entered politics on the 2nd of March 1996, with Hockey retiring in 2015.
In 1998 Albanese and Hockey traveled to Palestine together, and in 1999 they co-founded the Parliamentary Friends of Palestine group. Hockey discusses Albanese and the Palestine trip in the below video when Hockey gave a talk at the National Press Club of Australia on the 26th of May, 2026.
As a side note, it’s ironic that Joe Hockey has a Palestinian background, but he is now cashing in on AUKUS with his Bondi Partners business, and he supports the US, which has supplied most of the bombs that have destroyed Palestine and killed at least 75,000 people.
Over the years Anthony Albanese and Joe Hockey have debated on numerous TV and radio shows, such as Channel 7’s Sunrise and ABC Radio.
When Joe Hockey retired from parliament in 2015, Anthony Albanese gave a valedictory speech for Joe Hockey, which you would think he would have only done for a close friend given they were on opposite sides of politics. (Click here to read the speech)
On the 20th of March 2023, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Joe Hockey, who has set up his business Bondi Partners to cash in on AUKUS, in his office, and Albanese posted a picture of the meeting on Twitter (now “X”). (Click here to see on “X” and click here to see in my previous article)
Albanese posting the picture would have been deliberate to send a message to all public servants that Joe Hockey is a person to deal with on AUKUS because he is mates with the Prime Minister.
Given the close relationship between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Joe Hockey, who would have each other’s mobile phone numbers on speed dial, it was clearly Hockey who contacted Anthony Albanese and organised the dinner and $1 million bribe.
3 key dates
On the 15th of January 2026, it was first reported by Canberra’s “Capital Brief” that Joe Hockey was appointed Chairman of the private company “Lee Family Office,” which is run by 25-year-old Felix Lee, the son of billionaire Phillip Dong Fang Lee, helping him invest the $1.66 billion family fortune.
On the 17th of June 2026, as per the below picture, Joe Hockey met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the State of Origin in Melbourne on the 17th of June 2026. (Click here to see the original picture)
On Monday night, the 20th of July 2026, the $1 million dinner took place, which someone leaked to the Australian Financial Review (AFR).
The AFR reported on Tuesday (21/7/26): “Anthony Albanese’s prime ministerial limo rolled through the gates of Mandalay, one of Point Piper’s most expensive and well-known residences.
He was there to attend an intimate dinner organised by Felix Lee, the son of a Chinese developer. Attendees included Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn, former Victorian premier Dan Andrews, ex-ASIC chairman James Shipton and David Murray, the onetime chairman of the Future Fund.
Lee had promised to donate about $1 million to the Labor Party, according to a source familiar with the premise of the event. It secured the prime minister’s attendance at the Point Piper mansion, which, in turn, attracted the other senior businessmen to join. Another source said there were around eight people at the harbourside dinner. (Click here to read more)
The leak and Labor’s crisis management attempt
Since Monday night, 20th of July, 2026, when someone leaked the details of the dinner and how much was donated (bribed), the Labor Party has leaked information down playing down the implications of the dinner and how much as been donated.
But the lies are flying thick and fast, so I’ll try and analyse some of the lies.
I published my article and video on the $1 million bribe on Thursday (23/7/26), and other media were running with the story as well, but Anthony Albanese and Labor stayed silent.
Then on Friday morning (5am – 24/7/26) the SMH published an article which said in part:
Albanese has refused to confirm how much was donated, saying any contribution to the Labor Party would be appropriately disclosed as required.
A senior government source, unable to speak publicly, said the amount would be “drastically less” than $1 million.
The source said they also did not believe the prime minister’s office was aware of the Tax Office’s allegations against Phillip Lee. A spokesman for Albanese said: “We don’t comment on private dinners.”
That apparent failure of due diligence comes despite the wider issue of political donations from wealthy donors looming large for over a decade, including via a 2019 corruption inquiry that revealed Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo had delivered $100,000 cash in an Aldi plastic bag to the NSW Labor Party (Click here to read the full article)
On Friday at 2.39pm, I posted on social media website “X”:
“Labor’s damage control has already started over the bribe scandal. Labor says it was “drastically less” than $1 million. Well how much then? $990,000? Why don’t they say how much?” (Click here to see on “X”)
By Friday night (7.20pm – 24/7/26), someone in the Labor Party was singing like a canary, revealing all about the dinner and denying the bribe (donation) was $1 million. The SMH reported in part:
Felix Ming Ze Lee, 25, is expected to donate about $10,000 a head to the Labor Party for a dinner hosted in his family’s Point Piper mansion that included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, CBA chief executive Matt Comyn, former Victorian premier Dan Andrews and Lowes Menswear heir Joshua Penn.
At $10,000 a head, and nine guests around the table, the evening is expected to translate to less than $100,000 for the night to ALP fundraising. No funds have yet been paid, according to a source close to the event.
Albanese declined to comment for this story. “We do not comment on private dinners,” said a spokesperson from his office. “Donations are a matter for the Labor Party. Everything is declared, as is appropriate.”
And then the article says Felix organised the dinner:
A source close to Felix said the young businessman had met the prime minister at a restaurant a few months ago with his staffer in tow, and had told him at the time he would like to host a dinner in his honour.
But later the article contradicts itself and says:
Two sources close to Felix said the storm surrounding the dinner was unfair on the scion because Labor-connected figures proactively pitched the event to Felix, rather than pushing for the political get-together himself. (Click here to read the article)
Whoever was feeding the SMH details about the dinner was feeding them lies that make no sense, which raises many questions, such as:
- Why $10,000 per head donation?
- Why has no one from Anthony Albanese’s office or the Labor Party gone the record saying exactly how much will be donated (bribed) if they are now claiming it’s not $1 million?
- Why in effect say Felix Lee organised the dinner and later say, “Labor-connected figures proactively pitched the event to Felix.”
- Was Joe Hockey the “Labor-connected figure” given his close relationship with Albanese?
- Was Joe Hockey at the dinner?
- Is ASIO investigating given the $1 million bribe from a Chinese businessman could be foreign interference?
- Whether it is $1 million or $10,000 per head, it is still a lot of money. What did Anthony Albanese promise Felix Lee for his money?
So, did Felix Lee leak about the dinner and $1 million price tag to get the amount down, or did Joe Hockey leak to help the Liberal Party?
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party demand other political parties and politicians be transparent about donations from millionaires and billionaires, but when it comes to themselves, they believe they are above transparency and accountability.
I’ll keep following up on this story.
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Categories: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Politics teaches us the lesson that it pays to be crooked. Look at Joe Hockey, devoid of any useful talent, rewarded with the best job in politics, and still harming us, but doing very nicely, himself. Australia needs to get some standards. And fast.
Australian politics within the major parties seems to be attracting the worst of the worst. That there seem to be so many untraceable inducements to be made in politics by those with unethical inclinations should be a major concern for the electorate. Trump is showing the world how to bend the rules to get super rich and others will follow. How do we get rid of these nefarious players before an election? No wonder so many Australians feel as though they’ve been short-changed when we keep hearing of all these supposedly corrupt financial shenanigans. Albanese is mocking ALL of us. Its a though he’s running a political cult that only Husic has the courage to speak out against. A man of incredible integrity who to me should be our next PM.
Husic is a grifter too.
Israel doesn’t matter anymore, Trump isn’t going to war for them and the Palestinian issue will be sorted out once the larger Iran/Hezbollah problem is solved.
U.N. SecGen is saying Golan Heights is Syria, if any of that was an issue for the Trump admin, Rubio would be making a statement.
Well done for pursuing this murky side of Australian politics, KCA, & exposing Labor’s/msm hypocrisy of attacking Pauline Hanson over her relationship with Gina Reinhardt. Dan Andrews presence is also worrying, given his well known ties with the CCP & role in the demise of the Victorian State. btw, I thought Hockey had Armenian ancestry not Palestinian?
Hockey talks about his Palestinian background in the above video.
Makes me wonder how Albonese with his radical left upbringing has bent over to the right, leading a gov that has slid rightwards on a slippery slope. Power and Money are the only reason I can see. This will not end well, until Labor get someone with vision and Balls to get things done. Rather than manage and shuffle the paperwork.
Albanese is on his last legs, not because he’s swung Right, but because he’s despised for what he is. Hawke ran into the same problem.
Now all the money has been squeezed out of NetZero, the new grift is the AI data centre rollout.
Neither Albo, Tanya nor Bowen can sell that, so they’ll switch to Marles, call an election, lose 20 seats to win another ten and they’ll be good for another 2 terms.
Where is the NAAC why are they not looking at this surely we are entitled to see this at work at all times not just what suits them
Seems to me that representatives of government and journalism are both playing everyone for fools.