Liberal candidate Scott Yung and party officials have declined to answer detailed questions about whether his use of Chinese celebrities and a public relations firm in the 2019 state election complied with official guidelines, as the Liberal party confirms an audit of campaign disclosures.
A private dinner at a “luxurious venue” in Sydney to raise campaign funds for Yung, featuring the former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott, has also been cancelled without explanation.
While campaigning for the state seat of Kogarah in 2019, Yung secured endorsements from two famous Chinese actors who described him as “a young talent”. Guardian Australia has confirmed these actors separately charge thousands of dollars for similar endorsements.
Yung has also confirmed that the public relations agency Covert provided his campaign with free work, which included the production of favourable Chinese-language social media ads during the 2019 state election. The ads referenced his links for former Liberal prime minister, John Howard.
In general, New South Wales rules require all electoral expenditure, including money spent on marketing and advertising during campaigns, to be publicly disclosed. Yung has previously said there was no need to disclose the unpaid work and endorsements as they were voluntarily provided without charge.
But general advice issued by the NSW Electoral Commission states candidates do need to disclose voluntary work provided to them in certain circumstances. Yung has not answered questions about whether these circumstances apply to him.
“Political donations need to be disclosed by the party agent in the case of donations to a party or their endorsed candidates for a state election,” an electoral commission spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said campaigns can accept contributions – “such as the waiver of a fee for advertising” – provided the value of work is less than $3,800 for a candidate.
“Voluntary labour might be a political donation – and need to be disclosed – where the person providing the labour ordinarily provides similar services for remuneration.”
“A person will not be a volunteer if they ordinarily charge for the services they provided for free to a campaign,” the spokesperson said.
On Wednesday morning, Guardian Australia asked Yung whether he was still confident there was still nothing to declare in response to the additional advice provided by the electoral commission. He and his campaign team did not respond.
A NSW Liberal spokesperson said the party “is continually assessing its compliance obligations in relation to disclosures”.
The federal Coalition’s campaign also declined to comment on the details provided by the state electoral commission.
Shortly after the 2019 state election, in a YouTube video with a marketing expert, Yung confirmed his campaign team had “got celebrities in China to give us endorsements”.
One 14-second video recorded by the Chinese-British actor and film director Zhang Tielin said: “Wishing the talented young Chinese Mr Rong Sicheng [Scott Yung] has great success ahead and a boundless future! All the best! I’m Zhang Tielin from Beijing, China.”
Beijing-based media company Star Wind Culture Media collaborates with Zhang to provide personalised videos including endorsements. Its website states this fee can be up to $15,000. It’s not known how much Zhang would have charged in 2019.
The actor Hu Jun recorded a similar endorsement video for Yung. Guangzhou-based media company Xingdian Entertainment Partners, which partners with Hu to produce personalised endorsement videos, has confirmed Hu also charges people for tailored videos.
The public relations agency Covert’s website states it “produced articles that were written in Chinese and distributed across WeChat media outlets as a way to build awareness for what Scott Yung stood for in the community” during the state election.
On Wednesday, Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told the ABC that it was “very important that politicians apply themselves very carefully to all the electoral laws”.
“I imagine that the Liberal party and Yung have complied with the laws,” Bragg told the ABC.
Almost one-third of residents in Bennelong have Chinese ancestry. The Labor member, Jerome Laxale, holds the seat with a margin of just 0.1%.
The Coalition campaign and Yung did not respond to questions about why the 24 April fundraiser with Abbott had been cancelled. Abbot was also contacted for comment.
