Mr Robb has also been spruiking Rymill Coonawarra, a South Australian winery in which Mr Ye has a financial interest. Fairfax Media and Four Corners are not suggesting that Mr Robb has breached his obligations as an ex-minister. The former trade minister Andrew Robb did not talk to Malcolm Turnbull before taking on his role as an economic consultant with the Chinese company that operates the Darwin port. It invites reflection on the wisdom, three years ago, of the Northern Territory government deciding to lease the Port of Darwin (now known as Darwin Port) to a Chinese company for 99 years and of the federal government going along with it. At the time, Mr Robb had already been working for Mr Ye for eight weeks, and had earned $146,000, including GST but minus expenses. This was discounted by some commentators as hyperbole, an attempt to curry favour with the Chinese government. Former trade minister Andrew Robb AO has told delegates at Red Meat that Asia and, in particular China, is where Australia must focus for future red meat export opportunities. Read more: This involves potential future actions by China as tensions flare up in the South China Sea and how Australia is positioned to respond as an American ally which had already been reprimanded by former United States president Barack Obama, who said he would have liked a heads up on the deal before it happened. Kishor is a federal politics reporter for Crikey, based in the Canberra press gallery. Become a subscriber to get full access to the website, as well as our premium newsletters. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. The Chinese company that upset the defence establishment by buying the Port of Darwin is looking for oil and gas acquisitions in Northern Australia to boost trade through the commercial port. Mr Brumby announced in February he was quitting the Australian board of Huawei, the Chinese telco accused by security agencies of posing a security risk to western communications infrastructure. Mr Robb has confirmed that he has left Landbridge for the time being because, "at this stage, Landbridge has no other projects relevant for me to assist". Follow our live coverage. Former trade minister Andrew Robb, who . [27], The following week, Robb said in an interview with 3AW's Neil Mitchell that he had found "doing things increasingly more difficult, I could be taking on more responsibilities especially in a public sense and decided to confront it a few weeks ago. And just last week, Landbridge (a private company, despite links to the Chinese Government) started official construction on a new $200 million luxury hotel on the Darwin waterfront. Then trade minister Andrew Robb is congratulated after he concluded the second reading debate on the China - Australia Free Trade Agreement in 2015.Credit: Andrew Meares. [15], In October 2016, it was announced that Robb had joined the Landbridge Group,[16][17] a Chinese company which had been granted a 99-year lease on Port Darwin in 2015, as a "high-level economic consultant". Glenn Campbell. Mr Robb recently resigned his position with Landbridge, saying they did not have much work for him to do. The port's acquisition sparked a major controversy after then US president Barack Obama complained he hadn't been forewarned. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review. Opportunities exist across website, brand awareness, podcasts, social media content, and video campaigns. Ms McKenzie was chief of staff to Andrew Robb when he was the Liberal government's trade, investment and tourism minister. Back then it was criticised over national security implications, and drew a rebuke from former US president Barack Obama. "We're the victim here, it's about time Andrew Robb and other Chinese apologists stop victim-blaming.". Australias number one patriot, the former trade minister that negotiated the China FTA and the leasing of Darwin Port to Chinese interests before going to work for the new owner shortly afterwards, has declared its fine to seize it back: Meh. David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. Despite pleas by non-political heads of our spy organisations, the government is today insisting on carrying on like they give a fuck about our national security. Robb was also a board member of community organisations including the Garvan Medical Research Foundation and the 'Big Brothers Big Sisters' organisation. Andrew Robb quits China-linked firm before foreign interference law kicks in. What set off the "latest scandal" was the breaking news former trade minister Andrew Robb would be an "economic consultant" to Landbridge - lessee of the Port. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. / -12.4708; 130.8483. [14], Robb is a board member of the Kidman cattle enterprise and the Network Ten television station. "I was in the National Security Committee, and I've gotta say I didn't learn much more than I was reading in the papers for three years," he said. Ye Cheng, of Landbridge, and then trade minister Andrew Robb in 2015. The federal government is considering scrapping a 99-year lease of Darwins port to a Chinese company, the latest point of tension in an increasingly chilly relationship between Canberra and Beijing. In this capacity Robb worked with the next Leader of the Liberal Party, John Hewson, in the unsuccessful 1993 federal election campaign. Redirecting funding to pet hobbies; offering jobs to the boys without a proper tender process; secretly bankrolling candidates in elections; taking up private sector jobs in apparent breach of parliaments code of ethics, the list goes on. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Andrew Robb takes role with Chinese company that operates Darwin port Read more Brandis on Wednesday tried to assuage Robb, saying his former colleague needn't be concerned about the crackdown. There are certain things that have been thousands of years in the making with regard to China, such as saving face.. In 2015, a 99-year lease was granted to the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group, a transaction that has since ignited significant . Chinese President Xi Jinping and then prime minister Tony Abbott witness the signing of the declaration of intent on the Australia/China Free Trade Agreement at Parliament House in Canberra. The scheme was largely prompted due to concerns about undeclared Chinese government efforts to influence Australian institutions, but applies to any lobbyist or consultant working for a company or think tank controlled by a foreignnation and involved in influencing the political process. "In short, we just don't know what might happen over the next 30 years, let alone the next 96, and the port has already been handed away," Mr James said. more. Landbridge confirmed Mr Robbs departure. Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, former prime minister Tony Abbott and then trade minister Andrew Robb at the signing of the China-Australia free trade agreement in June 2015. A Landbridge Group company statement obtained by the ABC said Mr Robb was appointed to the role by chairman Ye Cheng at an "auspicious" ceremony two months ago. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacifics leading geo-politics and economics portal. quietly ceased his controversial consultancy with Landbridge. There are endless opportunities in Northern Australia; the trick is to have government truly engaged as a partner in attracting the critical investment dollars. In December 2017, then Attorney-General George Brandis suggested that Mr Robb would have to sign up to the new register. "In our situation, there was an upfront payment for 99 years and then the strategy unfolds," he said. Not much, according to defence experts and academics, but there's a few outstanding issues of interest with the whole saga. Darwin was a different place back in 1923, a young city almost 20 years away from being bombed by Japan and more than 50 years away from the devastation of Cyclone Tracy. For all not investors not just Chinese. He writes news and analysis with a focus on foreign policy, legal affairs and government transparency. He added that former minister Andrew Robb also took on a lucrative consulting job with . Crikey is an independent Australian source for news, investigations, analysis and opinion focusing on politics, media, economics, health, international affairs, the climate, business, society and culture. Robb is also the co-publisher of The Party Room alongside Senator Mitch Fifield,[citation needed] a journal designed to promote new policy discussion within the Federal Coalition. This story is part two in our look at the port as part of Curious Darwin, our story series where you ask us the questions, vote for your favourite, and we investigate. The Landbridge group had been granted a 99-year lease on Port Darwin in 2015 during Robb's time as trade minister. Mr Robb was reported to have pocketed more than $2 million plus expenses in his time. It may have been pushed by . We recognise that their sovereignty has never been ceded. Landbridge signed . That is obvious. Former trade minister Andrew Robb becomes a "high-level economic consultant" with the Chinese company that now operates Darwin Port, a $506 million deal that sparked concerns at the highest levels . In a November 2016 interview with the ABC, Mr Robb said that "most of what he [Mr Ye] wants me for is because of my knowledge of other countries and other governments. He is also a member of the national Chinese People's Consultative Committee, an advisory body that President Xi Jinping has directed to "uphold the CPC [Chinese Communist Party] leadership without wavering". "Australia-China political relations had "turned to custard" and . Everybody in the NT remembers the last time Darwin was caught in the middle of a conflict between the Americans and a rising Asian empire. Mr Robb resigned as trade minister in February, before leaving Parliament at this year's election. By Leith van Onselen. The mayor of Mount Gambier, Andrew Lee, took a 10 per cent stake in the winery when it was acquired by the Ye family in October 2016 for an undisclosed amount, estimated to be more than $20 million. The delegation was lobbied by Rizhao Communist Party deputy secretary Liu Xingtai to support the trade park as part of a "Two Countries, Two Parks" proposal. Andrew Robb, federal minister for trade and investment said . In that time Robb also sat on the boards of numerous Australian companies including Australia's largest consulting engineering company, Sinclair Knight Merz. While the leasing of Port of Darwin to Chinese firm Landbridge by the Northern Territory government in 2015 raised national security fears at the time, . Copyright 20102023, The Conversation US, Inc. An Australian Border Force Cape-class patrol boat docked at the Darwin port. The statement also said deputy secretary Liu had met Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NT Chief Minister Adam Giles on April 14, 2016, and "proposed the co-operative model of Two Countries, Two Parks". The most drastic would involve the government forcing Landbridge, owned by . Robb was still Federal Director and campaign manager in 1996 when John Howard after he replaced Downer as leader in 1995, won the 1996 federal election campaign, which defeated the Keating government and brought the Liberals to power after 13 years in Opposition. Mr Ye is the owner of Landbridge, which controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015. Thats open. It is a far cry from the debt-trap colonialism China stands accused of using to gain leverage over other foreign governments, such as Sri Lanka and Nepal. In the months before the last election, the Government spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Australian taxpayers money on grants for sports, community safety, rural development programs and more. Read more: FORMER trade minister Andrew Robb has become a "high-level economic consultant" with Landbridge, the Chinese company that operates Darwin Port . [8] The then leader of the Liberal Party, former Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, announced that Robb would be Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs in the new Coalition Shadow Cabinet. Port in a storm: the Darwin lease made sense only a few years ago. In late 2018, the ForeignInfluence Transparency Scheme became active with the launch of a public register for people who seek to influence the Australian political process on behalf of foreign interests. Former ministers are banned from lobbying the Australian Government for 18 months, meaning Mr Robb would have to wait another year before he can advocate for the Landbridge Group on trade matters. That was the day before the 2016 federal election, that Mr Robb had stated months earlier he would not be contesting. Landbridge head Ye Cheng, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and then trade envoy Andrew Robb in Beijing in April 2016. Just as they have many other of Australias pushbacks against China. As part of the "confidential" consultancy deal, Mr Robb, the architect of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, began consulting to Ye Cheng the day before the July 2 federal election last year. A companydocument revealed that Mr Robbs consulting contract was so vague and ill-defined he would be paid even if he did nothing. This suggests Chinese authorities regard Darwin as having strategic significance. He was succeeded by Steven Ciobo as Minister of Trade and Investment on 18 February 2016. Mr Robb continues to advocate for Australia to back the policy although has previously insisted this is unconnected to his Landbridge consultancy. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. If the deal falls over, the government will need to seek new equity partners. Nobody in the emerging liberal trading bloc is going to be upset by it. "That model of developing other sites around the waterfront is part of the model that has been used in Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Djibouti and other places," he said. Now, in a climate where national security concerns dominate the China relationship, the deal seems like a strange throwback to a simpler time a time when ministers like Andrew Robb and Josh Frydenberg could pose for photos with CCP-aligned Chinese billionaires, and when the relationship with our biggest trading partner was dominated by economic optimism. [19][20] Landbridge Group is chaired by Ye Cheng, a billionaire with links to the Chinese Communist Party. Charles Darwin University academic John Garrick has been researching China's international strategic actions, and said the Commonwealth Government doesn't really have a leg to stand on if they want to take the lease of the port back now. Infrastucture Australia advised privatisation. Were working to restore it. Balancing between powerful friends with competing interests may not prove easy. The was not without its controversy - even before Australia-China relations soured, as Andrew Robb, a former minister for trade, took an $880,000 consultancy position with the Chinese group immediately following his exit from politics in 2016. "Rather than being xenophobic about this, we need to be alive to the commercial deals that are being done and what might come later," Dr Garrick said. He added that former minister Andrew Robb also took on a lucrative consulting job with Landbridge after he . The Port of Darwin's 99-year lease with Chinese company Landbridge has attracted criticism since 2015. The full text of this article is available to MacroBusiness subscribers, Cancel at any time through our billing provider, Stripe. The Crikey comment section is members-only content. "We love yuz all!" Robb was on the payroll of Landbridge before he resigned as an MP. Foreign and strategic policy has effectively been left to the local level. In some cases the tone hasnt taken account of the sensitivities on the Chinese side, said Robb. Mr Robbs consultancy with the leaseholder of the Darwin Port, Landbridge, was trumpeted by the Chinese-government aligned company in 2016, but became intensely controversial when an investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and Four Corners revealed his fee, and that he had joined the company straight after quitting parliament. [7] Robb also focused on dealing with settlement issues for refugees and the challenges of multi-faith relations in Australia. Chinese-owned company Landbridge has a 99-year lease over the Darwin Port. News State NT News Andrew Robb joins Chinese company with control of Darwin Port 3:40am, Oct 31, 2016 Updated: 3:48am, Oct 31 Andrew Robb joins Chinese company with control of Darwin Port Mr Robb, the architect of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, began consulting to Ye Cheng the day before the July 2 federal election in 2016, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. Mr Carr recently announced he was stepping down as director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, which was founded by controversial billionaire political donor Huang Xiangmo. According to Morrison "Andrew Rodd is a person of the highest integrity. How did the port sale propel the sleepy territory into a geopolitical brawl? Local government officials love signing such deals. "It is the responsibility of all former ministers to adhere to the Statement of Ministerial Standards and not take personal advantage of information to which they have had access as a minister where that information is not generally available to the public," Senator Ryan said in a statement. Robb and Hewson fell out over these events. As with other Chinese port acquisitions, such as in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Greece and Djibouti, Landbridge is interested in acquiring and developing not only Darwins port facilities but nearby waterfront property. "Working for Landbridge Group was a wonderful and pleasing thing, and that he wanted to jointly write a wonderful new chapter together with Landbridge," the statement added. But the Darwin port deal differs in significant ways to other port acquisitions. In a sign of panicked desperation, the federal government is today continuing with the whole nobody but us can keep us safe national security agenda. Mr Robb's consultancy with the leaseholder of the Darwin Port, Landbridge, was trumpeted by the Chinese-government aligned company in 2016, but became intensely controversial when an . Its estimated that Mr Robb pocketed more than $2 million plus expenses from Landbridge. The operator of Darwin Port is struggling to pay down debt and is reliant on a letter of support from its Chinese owner. However, ASIO boss Mike Burgess and former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson have both come out to say that there is no foreign interference within the Australian Labor Party, and sensationalist comments from the likes of Dutton and Morrison do more damage than actual foreign interference in our democracy. He's got a global strategy for his company and he wants me to help him outside of Australia more than he wants me to help him inside Australia.". Former trade and investment minister Andrew Robb has taken up an advisory position with the Chinese company behind the controversial 99-year lease of the Darwin port, raising concerns about . Mr Ye publicly announced on September 2 last year that Mr Robb had been appointed as a "high-level economic consultant". Mr Robb is one of several senior former Australian politicians who have been hired by or who hold roles funded by businesses or businessmen closely aligned to the Chinese Communist Party. Then trade minister Andrew Robb is congratulated after he concluded the second reading debate on the China - Australia Free Trade Agreement in 2015. controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015. The risks of a new Cold War between the US and China are real: here's why. While the centre of US-Chinese tensions is the South China Sea where China has militarised reefs in disputed waters Darwin is important because it is the southern flank of US operations in the Pacific. The Chinese owner of the Port of Darwin is using the port as security to seek a $500 million loan from the Chinese government's trade bank. Robb became deputy director of the Liberal Party before being appointed chief of staff to Andrew Peacock, then Leader of the Opposition, in 1989. Copyright 2023 Private Media Pty Ltd. Publishers of Crikey. [9] He was re-elected at the 2010 election and was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction and retained his position as chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee. It's been built and rebuilt in the near-century since. Police investigating gangland shooting allegedly uncover separate murder plot, Pioneering Australian musician and The Dingoes frontman Broderick Smith dies aged 75, 'I don't buy that one bit': Next AFL CEO denies claims of a boys' club after promotion from general counsel, How Heather Mitchell survived a 'testosterone, cocaine and alcohol-fuelled' workplace, Hundreds of 'completely underfunded' Coalition-era infrastructure projects on the chopping block, The public will be asked to pledge allegiance to King Charles III. Robb then left politics and took up a lucrative consultancy gig with Landbridge less than 12 months later, making who knows how much from helping actual jeopardise our national security. I remember when liberals sold off the Port of Darwin to China just so minister Andrew Robb, who authorised the sell off, could get a post politics grift. Citing legal advice, Mr Lee refused to say if he had paid any money for this stake. He added that defences raised by NT Government politicians and public servants about being able to take the port back in the case of rising tensions didn't address the strategic risk now, or the consequences of that later. Mr Robb joins former foreignminister Bob Carr and former Victorian premier John Brumby in leaving lucrative roles with companies or, in Mr Carrs case, a think tank, founded by businessmen with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese President Xi Jinping and then prime minister Tony Abbott witness the signing of the declaration of intent on the Australia/China Free Trade Agreement at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Kym Smith, Mr Robb did not answer specific questions about his dealings with Landbridge, but said in a statement: "I can confirm that I fully understand my responsibilities as a former member of cabinet, and I can also confirm that I have, at all times, acted in accordance with those responsibilities.". Billionaire Ye Cheng is the owner of Landbridge, which controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015. In early 2019, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Robb had quietly ceased his controversial consultancy with Landbridge as the deadline loomed for lobbyists for overseas state interests to sign up to Australias new foreigninfluence register. Additionally, he conducted 85 investment roundtables with 28 countries. "He's now saying that any criticisms of improper Chinese behaviour attempting to influence our political system is our fault. The company statement, translated for the ABC, also quotes board chairman Ye Cheng as saying that in order for Landbridge to achieve its global goals "it will be necessary to draw on experts such as Mr Andrew Robb who have global vision and global influence". document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); With access to over 4 million readers per month, and often more, we provide opportunities to add value to different brands across the country who are interested.

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