Victorian Liberal candidate 'counselled' as volunteer program questioned

Victorian Liberal candidate Jacky Sun 'counselled' after questions raised over volunteer intern program In short: The Victorian Liberal Party says it has counselled one of its candidates for the upcoming state election after questions were raised about a volunteer intern program. Posters for the program, printed in English and Chinese, were distributed at an event for Mandarin-speaking university students, and offered participants the chance to meet politicians and earn a reference letter, but no political party or candidate was identified. A Liberal spokesperson did not respond directly to questions about whether the posters were being used to recruit students for a campaign, but said it was "not Liberal Party material". The Victorian Liberal Party says it has counselled a candidate for a key seat in Melbourne's south-east after questions were raised over his links to a program recruiting international students volunteers for an unidentified political campaign. A Liberal spokesperson confirmed 37-year-old finance professional Jacky Sun — the party's candidate for the seat of Glen Waverley in the upcoming state election — had been "counselled in relation to the matter", but did not say why. The statement followed questions from the ABC about Mr Sun's relationship to a volunteering opportunity marketed to international students at an event on the weekend. Organisers confirmed the presence of a group of people at the "Freshers Welcome Event", held in North Melbourne on Saturday, who were recruiting for a "volunteer internship program". Images of posters spruiking the "opportunity" show it advertised the chance to meet politicians and earn a reference letter in exchange for tasks like door knocking, letter-dropping and attending campaign fundraising events. No political party or candidate was identified on the program's poster and flyers, which were published in English and Chinese. The Labor Party holds the seat of Glen Waverley on a margin of 3.3 per cent. Student told of opportunity to volunteer for 'the opposition' Chinese international student Grace attended the function on Saturday, which was advertised as a semester-start event for Mandarin-speaking students from RMIT, Monash and Melbourne universities. Grace, who requested her surname not be published for privacy reasons, told ABC she asked the recruiters who the volunteering was for. "I asked, what kind of volunteering and for what organisation?" she said. She said she initially got the impression that it was for the government. "They said this is basically working for the community because the government want to know information about the crime rates in the local area and how satisfied people are with the government's policies," she said. Grace said she clarified if it was volunteering for the "Labor government". She said the recruiter seemed surprised she knew to ask that question, asking her, "how do you know that?" and then told her it was for "the opposition". Chinese flyer promises reference letter from 'senior' MP or minister Grace had attended the event with her Australian boyfriend Aiden, a 24-year-old business graduate. The couple noticed the underside of an A-frame sign for the volunteer event was a candidate poster for Mr Sun, the Liberal candidate for the state electorate of Glen Waverley. "[The image] matched the one that he's got on social media promoting his candidacy," Aiden said. Aiden said it made him think the volunteering was linked to the upcoming state election, but if that was the case, it was not clearly advertised or labelled. The flyers said the internship would take place between August and November 2026, which aligns with Victoria's state election period. While printed material in both languages promised reference letters, the Mandarin version went further and said the letter would be from "a minister or senior member of parliament". Aiden said he felt the recruiters were targeting international students who may be lured in by the promise of a reference letter or new skills, without realising what they may be signing up for. "For me, it kind of seemed like … [the recruiters] were at an event where they weren't expecting many people who understand there's an election going on or what the policies and parties that are options within the election in Victoria are,"he said. Grace said she returned to ask more questions and was told the volunteering would take place in Glen Waverley and applicants needed to be able to speak Mandarin. "They were saying it's an opportunity to meet local friends." The sign-up link on the materials is no longer active and the ABC's attempts to reach the contact listed, which on the English poster was an email for 'Daisy Song Consulting' went unanswered. Mr Sun is married to scientist Danzi Song, who goes by the anglicised name Daisy Song on her LinkedIn. Ms Song did not respond to questions and the ABC has been unable to independently verify if she is the owner of the 'Daisy Song Consulting' email address. Liberals deny posters are 'party material' The ABC shared images of the posters with the Victorian Liberals and asked if they were being used to recruit volunteers for candidate Jacky Sun's campaign in Glen Waverley, or for the broader Liberal campaign. A spokesperson did not respond directly to those questions but said that Mr Sun was not present at the student event on the weekend. "This is not Liberal Party material," the spokesperson said. "The candidate has been counselled in relation to this matter." The party also did not respond to a question about whether Mr Sun's wife, Ms Song, was present at the event on the weekend. In Victoria, there are requirements for printed "electoral material" to be authorised with the name, political party and address of the person who created it. The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) would not confirm if it had received any complaints about this case, but a spokesperson said political participants were permitted to recruit volunteers for political campaigns. Australian Democracy Network senior campaigner Christian Slattery said it would be a matter for the VEC to determine if this material was in breach of electoral laws. "In a healthy democracy, people should know the source of political campaigns before they are asked to take part in them,"he said. Mr Slattery said authorisation statements help the public understand the source of information so they can make informed choices. Event organisers investigate volunteer group identity The ABC asked the Freshers Welcome event organiser, JR Academy, which describes itself as an AI-focused internet education technology company, if it knew who the group was that was recruiting volunteers. A JR Academy spokesperson said they had limited information as the group, which identified itself as "BestWay Community Network", was not registered as an official exhibitor. "They attended the venue in connection with volunteer recruitment, and there was no mention in our communications with them of any political party affiliation," a spokesperson said. While none of the English materials seen by the ABC named this group, the Chinese version of the flyer did and described BestWay Community Network as "a community platform dedicated to promoting civic engagement, youth development, and public leadership". The ABC could not find records of any company or charity operating in Australia under this name. JR Academy said it had launched an investigation to better understand who the volunteer recruiters were. Mr Sun and the Victorian Liberal party did not respond to ABC's questions about why Mr Sun was counselled or the relationship between Mr Sun and BestWay Community Network. Additional reporting and translations by Kai Feng. [Image text:] Station Pattornsab Wesey Coge Backburn Roadd JACKYSUN LIBERAL FOR GLEN WAVERLEY BOSIDENE