Labor bad boy Sam Dastyari is out of exile - and he's writing a book to boot.
The NSW senator, forced to quit the frontbench in September after revelations he outsourced a travel bill to a Chinese donor, is set to take up the reins next year as deputy opposition whip in the Senate, replacing Catryna Bilyk.
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Dastyari: 'Sorry, sorry, sorry...'
During a long press interview in which Sam Dastyari apologised for allowing a Chinese linked company to pay a bill for him, he managed to sound a little repetitive.
Fairfax Media can also exclusively reveal Senator Dastyari is finalising a book deal with Melbourne University Press, and will tell the story of his rapid, rabid rise through Labor politics and his very public, spectacular fall from grace.
"It's a truism that everyone goes through hard times in politics [but] it was probably the first real hard time I had," the 33-year-old says. "I wouldn't be human if that didn't change me ... it has definitely taught me the importance of slowing down."
!["It was probably the first real hard time I had": Sam Dastyari opens up about his fall from grace.](/web/20161204192013im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/b/3/8/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gt2fcj.png/1480835163089.jpg)
Those long, dull weeks in the wilderness saw Dastyari's manic mind turn to writing: he briefly considered a long essay on the return of One Nation and its supporters. The book he has settled on is part-memoir, part treatise on politics and partly a reflection on his lonely (if rather brief) time in the sin bin. He figures he is close to halfway through and says the writing process has been "a cathartic experience".
"I think it's a form of introspection," says Dastyari, who has been reading books by David Foster Wallace and Jonathan Franzen. "I would love to learn to write but to write in a way that's worth reading. I guess I will have to wait to see if I can pass that test."
To that end, he promises an unorthodox political book - probably a good thing given the dismal sales figures of that category. Some of his early musings include his neighbours' reaction to the cameras descending on his Drummoyne home during his week of shame, while another story will detail the Dastyari family legend about a trove of gold buried under their Iranian village.
Publisher Louise Adler says the working title is Snack Packs, Villages and Senate Inquiries, and she hopes it will hit shelves midway through next year. "It turns out that Sam is really a superb writer," she says. "He's pumping it out, he's writing a thousand words a day which is fabulous."
Whether Dastyari's leap into literature will rehabilitate him in the eyes of his detractors and the public is far from certain, but after three months he has already clawed his way back into a promotion. He confirmed he will seek the position of deputy opposition whip in the Senate made vacant by Senator Bilyk, who will instead chair an inquiry into cancer research.
"Shanghai Sam" quit as Labor's spokesman on consumer affairs in September after it was revealed he allowed a Chinese donor to pay off his $1600 travel bill, sparking yet another row over political donations. He acknowledged the decision was "wrong" despite being within the parliamentary rules.
At the time, Labor leader Bill Shorten said Dastyari had made a "mistake" but still had "a bright future" and hinted that he would return.