When he failed to secure medical supplies from China to help Australia fight against COVID-19, a businessman allegedly used the $37,000 he had fundraised to gain influence with a federal minister.
Among his alleged list of ideas to impart on the commonwealth government, Di Sanh Duong is accused of wanting Australia to revisit its trade with the United States in favour of China and to allow the Chinese to build a fast train.
The 68-year-old faced the first day of a jury trial in Melbourne on Thursday, after becoming the first person charged under Australia's foreign interference laws.
Duong is accused of preparing for or planning foreign interference by arranging for former federal education minister Alan Tudge to receive a $37,450 donation on behalf of Royal Melbourne Hospital in June 2020.
He has pleaded not guilty and denies all allegations about foreign interference.
Commonwealth prosecutor Patrick Doyle SC asked jurors to use their "human nature" to think about how influence works and how it could be manipulated.
"Before you start thinking of spy novels or James Bond films, this is not really about espionage," he told the County Court jury.
"It's about a much more subtle form of [foreign] interference, it's about influence."
Mr Doyle said the CCP would have seen Duong, a former Victorian Liberal Party candidate and Chinese community leader in Melbourne, as "an ideal target" to work as an agent for its United Front Work Department.
"A main goal of this system is to win over friends for the Chinese Communist Party, it involves generating sympathy for the party and its policies," he said.
He claimed Duong sent former Victorian Liberal MP Robert Clark "some policy ideas" about strengthening Australia's relationship with China, to give to his federal colleagues before the May 2019 election.
This included allowing China to build a high-speed train between Brisbane and Melbourne, and permitting Chinese people to develop underdeveloped land and sell the crops back to mainland China, Mr Doyle told jurors.
Another alleged policy was for Australia to revisit its primary trading relationship with the US to see "China as a partner rather than a threat".
Mr Doyle alleged there were parallels between these interactions and how he later involved Mr Tudge in a hospital donation.
He said Duong started raising money as president of Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, to export medical supplies, including gloves and masks, from China.
By April 30, 2020, he had collected $37,450 in donations, but was unable to secure a shipment of the goods, Mr Doyle said.
He alleged Duong told an associate he was building a relationship with Mr Tudge, who "will be the prime minister in the future" and would become a "supporter/patron for us", and contacted his office to discuss donating the money raised to the hospital.
Duong did not want to involve current opposition leader Peter Dutton as he was "too extreme", the jury was told.
Mr Tudge and Duong held a Zoom meeting and arranged a media opportunity, where the cheque would be handed over, he said.
"The idea was for Mr Duong and his organisation to be seen in a favourable light by Mr Tudge, so in the future he can approach him in the same way he approached Robert Clark," the prosecutor said.
The trial before Judge Richard Maidment continues on Friday, when Duong's lawyer will address the jury of 15.
