WHEN Sam Dastyari burst on to the political stage, many saw him as a fun jokester.
He was the pollie who delighted in baiting Pauline Hanson over halal snack packs and made riding the “Bill bus†look like a road trip you’d actually want to take. But there’s more to the NSW senator than his weakness for a breadless kebab.
At just 33 years old, Mr Dastyari was a powerbroker in the Labor Party and influential enough that Labor leader Bill Shorten was standing by him despite increasing calls for his removal over Chinese “cash for comment†allegations.
He will continue to serve as a NSW senator.
This week Mr Shorten played down Mr Dastyari’s position, describing him as a “junior senator†who deserves a second chance.
But this “junior senator†is not as lightweight he seems.
MR HOLLYWOOD
Many first noticed Sam Dastyari via his stoushes with newly elected senator Pauline Hanson and as a highly visible presence on Mr Shorten’s “Bill Bus†during the election campaign.
With a knack for drawing the media spotlight, and coming across as a friendly jokester on the campaign bus, Mr Dastyari even planted a cringe-worthy kiss on a huge image of Mr Shorten’s face plastered on the bus.
He also became somewhat of a halal poster child after he asked Pauline Hanson to join him for a post-election night meal, which she memorably refused.
Mr Dastyari created more waves with Ms Hanson on Q&A when she appeared to be stumped over whether he was Muslim. Rather than conceding on the show that he was a non-practising Muslim, Mr Dastyari sidestepped the question, a politically smart move that avoided diluting the debate.
Instead Mr Dastyari focused on his immigrant background and arriving in Australia at the age of four with his parents who fled Iran in the 1980s.
His love of the media limelight was even noted by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce recently when he was asked about the payments made by a Chinese company on Mr Dastyari’s behalf.
“Well, Sam Dastyari is Canberra’s version of Hollywood all in one package,†he told reporters.
“He likes getting in front of the media and now I bet you today he’s a hard man to find.â€
A FACELESS MAN
But before Mr Dastyari became Mr Hollywood, he was described in 2013 as the “ultimate faceless man†in the Labor Party by then opposition leader Tony Abbott.
While not many Australians may have noticed, Mr Dastyari ha been working behind the scenes at Labor for many years.
Rising up through the ranks via his union connections, Sam Dastyari followed the well-worn path of other members of the “political class†and has never had a career outside of politics.
The former president of Young Labor seems to have fixed his path from a young age, joining the party at just 16 years old.
As a teenager he managed to gain control of a local branch in Baulkham Hills in northwest Sydney by recruiting his school friends, an impressive feat that marked him as a “numbers man†from an early age.
His working life began with a job at lobbyist firm Hakwer Britton before he became the general secretary of NSW Labor in March 2010. The role was one of the most powerful in the party and gave him influence over the fate of ambitious MPs, including deciding the fate of prime ministers.
According to the book Downfall: How the Labor Party Ripped Itself Apart, when NSW Labor was facing a bloodbath result in the 2011 election, Mr Dastyari worked with former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally in 2011 to decide which MPs to help save.
Mr Dastyari was also in regular contact with one of the most powerful men in Labor at the time, who was at the centre of one of the biggest scandals rocking the state: NSW Labor’s most infamous powerbroker, Eddie Obeid.
Later, Julia Gillard relied on Mr Dastyari to keep disgraced former MP Craig Thomson from going bankrupt so that Labor, which held power by just one seat, could continue to govern.
But it was his involvement in the leadership coups of both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard that pushed Mr Dastyari into the limelight.
To the disapproval of Labor colleagues, Mr Dastyari even agreed to be filmed fielding phone calls, for a dramatic re-enactment of the coups as part the ABC’s Killing Season.
In the past Mr Dastyari has criticised the way factions wielded power and how Labor candidates were chosen by “five guys sitting around a table at a Chinese restaurantâ€.
“He understands the toxicity of overusing the power of the secretaryship,†Kevin Rudd’s former communications director Lachlan Harris told The Monthly in 2013.
As a supporter of Kevin Rudd, Mr Dastyari joined the Senate in 2013 and helped the former PM regain his leadership. He also supported Mr Rudd’s changes to how Labor decided its leaders, that softened the power of factions in the party.
But not everyone has been convinced of Mr Dastyari’s sincerity.
“He presents himself as a naive young guy trying to change the world,†a Labor figure told The Monthly. “That’s his schtick. ‘I’m a simple boy, a refugee from Iran, trying to make my way in a complicated world.’ He does the naive outsider stumbling into the world of Realpolitik – a kind of Mr Smith (Goes to Washington) act. But Sam is every inch with the old school.â€
THE SHORTEN CONNECTION
While Bill Shorten has often been taunted for being a “faceless manâ€, Mr Dastyari’s status as a powerbroker was less well known.
Both Mr Shorten, who was the former national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union, and Mr Dastyari are members of the Labor Party’s powerful right faction, which led both leadership challenges.
Both men rose to prominence and parliamentary power through their work with the unions.
When Mr Shorten decided to run for the leadership in 2013, Mr Dastyari acted as his campaign manager.
And when there were leadership rumblings ahead of the election, Mr Dastyari was linked to the talk but eventually swung behind Mr Shorten, ensuring he stayed in power.