‘Borderline racism': Embattled Bennelong Liberal candidate cries foul
For the Liberals to have a hope on Saturday, they need to reclaim Bennelong, John Howard's old stomping ground now held by Labor on a wafer-thin margin.
So it is far from ideal for the blue team that the party's candidate, Scott Yung, has spent much of the election campaign trying to outrun the dreaded 'embattled' tag.
Several reports in this masthead have outlined Yung's questionable campaign finance issues during his 2019 state election run, and his ties to a Chinese Communist Party-linked casino high roller. He also copped heat for handing out Easter eggs to primary school students while campaigning, an election sweetener gone awry.
Yung has been relatively evasive when confronted with questions from this masthead, even fleeing his own campaign launch at Ryde-Eastwood RSL. But he found a softer landing across the mic from his former boss Mark Bouris, founder of mortgage lender Yellow Brick Road, who is carving out a niche as Australia's Aldi-brand Joe Rogan thanks to his lengthy podcast interviews with various politicians.
The hour-long discussion on the business bro's Straight Talk podcast delves into the far reaches of the rich Yung lore, including the story of how a teenage Scott approached Bouris and asked for a job, eventually getting his foot in the door after former Yellow Brick Road director turned Liberal frontbencher David Coleman pulled a few strings to help his ace doorknocker. They're not the party of opportunity for nothing!
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An hour in, Bouris finally, sorta, got into some of the reports that have rocked Yung's campaign.
'I just want to clarify for the sake of this conversation: you're not a communist are you?' he asked.
'Mark, seriously, I find it an absolute joke, and you know I used to get offended by it … I think it's borderline racism,' Yung said. 'Just because I've got an Asian face, my parents have come from China and Hong Kong, they call me a communist.'
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