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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.
New details emerged about Monday night’s dinner following explosive allegations about his father Phillip Dong Fang Lee’s “sham” financial affairs and the Tax Office’s suspicions that the family patriarch secretly controlled business and financial interests in China despite earlier vowing to the Australian government that he had sold his Chinese business assets.
The event wasn’t an official fundraiser for Australian Labor Party coffers, but as the ALP faces questions about it, sources have come forward to say it was hosted and paid for by the younger Felix Lee, and included both friends and associates from his business network only after he had secured an RSVP from the prime minister.
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.
For all the wagyu eye fillet with potato puree that was on offer for the mains, or the salmon ceviche with finger lime for entree, sources say that, contrary to reports earlier this week that the evening came with a $1 million donation, there was no such cheque on offer.
Details have been kept tightly under wraps this week since The Australian Financial Review reported on the who’s who from the financial world in attendance, which also included former CBA bank boss David Murray, former ASIC chairman James Shipton and former HSBC chief Antony Shaw.
Rounding out the table were others from Felix’s network of friends and associates: Penn, who is also co-chair of the Sydney Children’s Hospital gold dinner, and Melbourne-based translator Professor Charles Qin. A staffer from the prime minister’s office took the seating to 10.
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.”
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.
Guests at the event on Monday said the invitation was for a 6.30pm start at the European-style villa, although Albanese was gone by 10pm, given he was flying to Adelaide the next morning for the 50th ALP National Conference.
“The PM was really pleasant, and he was very generous with his time,” said one of the guests. “We just talked about the state of the world, politics, the ALP conference, and Pauline [Hanson’s] name came up.”
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.
The sources also said that Phillip no longer lives in Australia, and his 92-year-old mother Zhangzhu Li had decided to punish him for his heavy gambling and losing more than $100 million at The Star casino by tasking Felix with the control of the family’s assets.
Felix, who employs former Coalition treasurer Joe Hockey to run his family investment office, has told associates that he is intent on cleaning up the family’s image. Educated at Cranbrook, Felix has an Australian accent and does not hold Chinese citizenship.
Questions remain about why Albanese’s office was seemingly unaware of the controversy surrounding Felix’s father, who made his money in a road-building and real estate business late last century. The murky source of the Lee family’s wealth would normally be expected to raise alarm, particularly given many large Chinese firms have links to the CCP.
Other sources pushed back on the idea that Lee should be the subject of any such concerns. They noted that there was no suggestion of money laundering and that an instinctive Sinophobia among Australians led to unwarranted questions about the wealth of any Chinese-Australian.
The role of Andrews has also been the source of intrigue. He famously signed up the China’s Belt and Road financing project, which China has used to bring smaller nations into its orbit, before the Morrison government stepped in to tear up the deal.
Andrews received widespread condemnation, including from Labor figures, last year when he appeared at a Chinese military parade alongside Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un. Despite the bipartisan censure, Andrews remains well-connected in segments of the business community as he builds a reputation as a door-opener for Chinese firms.
It was speculated that Andrews was key to organising the Lee event, especially after he was spotted at the Lee family’s Terrey Hills Golf and County Club. However, sources confirmed Andrews was invited after the prime minister’s attendance was locked in.
Labor figures dodged questions about the dinner at Labor’s national conference in Adelaide.
Trade Minister Don Farrell was challenged on ABC TV after delivering the party’s line that questions about donations should be directed at Labor’s headquarters. “The prime minister attended a fundraiser. How is … attending a fundraiser a matter for the party administration?” Farrell was asked.
“Look, you’d have to ask the party administration,” he said.
The flare-up over the Lee dinner comes during a week in which Labor’s donation-soliciting machine kicks into full gear. Ministers are using the party’s three-day conference to meet dozens of lobbyists behind closed doors as part of a multimillion-dollar “speed-dating” fundraising network.
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Lucy Macken is an investigative reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
Paul Sakkal is Chief Political Correspondent. He previously covered Victorian politics and won a Walkley award and the 2025 Press Gallery Journalist of the Year. Contact him securely on Signal @paulsakkal.14.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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