Steven Ciobo has defended his predecessor as trade minister, Andrew Robb, for leading a delegation to Beijing last week to spruik China’s “One Belt One Road” policy.
Ciobo said the meeting was a “private delegation”, although note takers from Austrade, the Australian government’s trade promotion agency, did attend.
Two months ago Robb was appointed a high-level economic consultant at the Landbridge Group, the Chinese company that won a 99-year lease over the port of Darwin last year.
Under the One Belt One Road policy and the complementary Maritime Silk Road initiative, China aims to increase links to economies in Eurasia and Australasia through infrastructure investment and trade.
Ciobo said it was a good outcome for former ministers including Robb and Labor’s Craig Emerson to work “together to promote Australia’s national interest, to see what extra business they can drive to Australian companies … by taking advantage of opportunities in Asia, including China”.
Landbridge’s chairman, Ye Cheng, has previously said the company’s investment in the Northern Territory port helped serve Chinese interests as it provides access to the Indian Ocean, the South Pacific, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Robb’s appointment raises questions about whether his Landbridge role will contravene the statement of ministerial standards, which states ministers should not lobby the government for 18 months after their retirement. Robb retired at the July election.
Ciobo told Sky News on Tuesday the delegation consisted of Australian and Chinese businesses and “wasn’t for one second an official government delegation at all”.
“This was an initiative of the Australia China Business Council, that has membership from the Liberal side, from the Labor side, and they went in a private capacity.”
He said the fact Austrade note takers had attended was unremarkable because they attend “all range of meetings between business and government authorities in China”.
According to a report in the Australian Financial Review the meeting also included Victorian government officials and representatives from Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, the Business Council of Australia, BHP Billiton and several big Australian banks and law firms.
Ciobo said the private delegation discussed One Belt One Road at the meeting because it involves a “multibillion spend” on infrastructure in Asia, and Australian businesses are “very good at infrastructure”.
“Why wouldn’t Australian businesses be there?”
The minister said he had met the Chinese vice-commerce minister in Norway last week who made it clear that the Chinese government knew Robb was coming and was no longer an Australian government official.
On Monday the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, revealed that the former trade minister had not discussed his new role at Landbridge with him before being appointed on 2 September.
At the time the Northern Territory port was sold Turnbull shrugged off concerns expressed by the US about the sale, saying it was “no secret” China had been looking to invest in Australian infrastructure.
The secretary of the defence department, Dennis Richardson, later admitted it had been a mistake not to inform the US of the sale earlier.
Ciobo said the defence department and the foreign investment review board had signed off on the sale and Australia retained the right to access critical infrastructure.
In addition to banning lobbying, the rules also state that former ministers should not take personal advantage of confidential information to which they had access in their ministerial role.
Labor’s assistant treasurer, Andrew Leigh, and the Greens’ democracy spokeswoman, Lee Rhiannon, have called on Turnbull to explain how the government will ensure Robb doesn’t use such information in his new role.
Julie Bishop has rejected the idea Robb might use confidential information or lobby inappropriately in his new post.
“There’s a ministerial code of conduct, Andrew Robb has said he’s aware of [it] and will abide by it,” the foreign minister told ABC Radio on Monday.
“That provides constraints and restrictions on what cabinet ministers can do in their post-political life, but we shouldn’t get into a situation where a former trade minister is not allowed to take up post-parliamentary careers.”
