Robb, one of nine children, was born to Frank and Marie Robb, on a dairy farm in Epping which lies 18 kilometres (11mi) north of Melbourne. "He's now saying that any criticisms of improper Chinese behaviour attempting to influence our political system is our fault. 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 . Do Darwin residents really drink more than other Australians? Landbridge head Ye Cheng, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and then trade envoy Andrew Robb in Beijing in April 2016. 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. Australia was the first Western country to break through the metaphorical Great Wall of China in terms of free trade, creating a trading environment no Western G20 economy has ever enjoyed. He described the situation as "reviewable," suggesting he may beginworking for the company again in future. In February 2016, Andrew Robb quit his role as Australia's trade minister having just finalised the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement. He is the Chairman of Asialink and CNSDose, and a strategic advisor to Beef Innovations Australia, as well as a range of national and international businesses. Please login to engage in the commentary. by Elizabeth Minter | Jul 20, 2020 | Deceptive Conduct, Liberal Party, QED. The Defence Department and ASIO have vetted and cleared Landbridge's acquisition of the port. Former Australian trade minister Andrew Robb walked straight out of Parliament last year and into an $880,000-a-year job with a billionaire closely aligned to the Chinese Communist Party and its key trade policy. Of course it's not our fault. 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. A companydocument revealed that Mr Robbs consulting contract was so vague and ill-defined he would be paid even if he did nothing. 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. Darwins port is under Chinese control, while thousands of US marines are based in the city, as part of the US Pacific pivot seen by many as an effort to contain Chinas influence in the region. Robb was on the payroll of Landbridge before he resigned as an MP. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2016, representing the Liberal Party. 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. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. The port's acquisition sparked a major controversy after then US president Barack Obama complained he hadn't been forewarned. Landbridge confirmed Mr Robbs departure. If the deal falls over, the government will need to seek new equity partners. 2:30pm, Apr 27 . To connect a sign in method the email must match the one on your Crikey account. 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 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. What about Andrew Robb? The Landbridge Group was awarded a 99-year lease over the Port of Darwin last year in a $506 million deal with the Northern Territory Government that sparked concerns at the highest levels of the Australian Defence Force. It ended with the city being decimated 77 short years ago. This is what you need to know, Canberra grassland earless dragon headed for extinction as ACT government updates list of threatened species, Buses, ferries proposed as Hobart stadium transport fix, Live: MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo remembered for 'wicked sense of humour'. Andrew Robb says said Canberra had every right to reassess the port lease in light of changing strategic circumstances. 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. If Landbridge was to default, it would lose its money. Two years after clinching a historic free trade deal with Beijing, former trade minister Andrew Robb has become a "high-level economic consultant" with the Chinese company that now operates Darwin Port. "It's probably too late to do anything. Contact us on: support@crikey.com.au or call the hotline: +61 (03) 8623 9900. has employed former trade minister Andrew Robb as a consultant, paying . 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". Andrew Robb, federal minister for trade and investment said . 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. Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James agreed. Cash Because it's for sale! "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. For all not investors not just Chinese. They have been reactive, readily accepting the lure of pearls cast on our shores without considering longer-term currents. and back in 2016, when former trade minister Andrew Robb was enjoying his $880,000 a year consulting contract with Landbridge, . The ABC reported it had obtained and translated a . The deal to lease parts of the port followed successive federal governments refusing to fund necessary upgrading of the ports infrastructure to meet growing demand. Chinas strategy is very long-term. Absolute confidentiality is assured. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Ninety-six years is a long time by any standard. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Back then it was criticised over national security implications, and drew a rebuke from former US president Barack Obama. He added that former minister Andrew Robb also took on a lucrative consulting job with . To cancel the lease, you'd have to pay an enormous amount of compensation to the lease holder," he said. Andrew Robb today completely rejected the assertions and innuendo made in a piece of gutter journalism in the Sunday Age newspaper. The Turnbull Government has declined to say when it became aware of the appointment. That potential is a long way off. In 2003, Robb was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to politics, agriculture and the community.[6]. He was an agricultural economist with the Victorian Department of Agriculture and a tutor in economics at La Trobe University before being an economist for the National Farmers' Federation, and later executive director of both the National Farmers' Federation and the Cattle Council of Australia. 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. Why don't more Australians know about the bombing of Darwin? Here's what they think of a Voice to Parliament, Soccer spectator accused of punching out teeth of referee in 'outrageous attack' refused bail, How Australia was left with only one deployable submarine, The late 2015 deal with Landbridge shocked the country and led to the most-asked question in the Curious series history, about why the NT decided to lease the port to a foreign company and how they got away with it, You can submit your questions on any topic at all, or vote on our next investigation, former United States president Barack Obama, who said he would have liked a heads up on the deal before it happened, Landbridge (a private company, despite links to the Chinese Government) started official construction on a new $200 million luxury hotel on the Darwin waterfront, Former federal trade minister Andrew Robb took an annual $880,000 job with Landbridge, about a "toxic" relationship between Australia and China that he blamed on former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and Australia's intelligence agencies, 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. He added that former minister Andrew Robb also took on a lucrative consulting job with Landbridge after he . The new register is designed to ensure that, if a person is advocating on behalf of a foreign power, it is declared. . "There's a pattern it's like a blueprint. Secondly, it's not 'we' this is in of those 'gotcha' questions should be asking PM Morrison. Andrew Robb quits China-linked firm before foreign interference law kicks in. Mr Ye plans to build a second trade park in Darwin. Thank you for your very kind wishes! According to Morrison "Andrew Rodd is a person of the highest integrity. Hearing senior Treasury staff describe the Northern Territory's budget as being in "dire straits" is the bureaucratic equivalent to saying, "we're stuffed". Nobody in the emerging liberal trading bloc is going to be upset by it. Robb only left his position at Landbridge in 2019, shortly before a new foreign-interference law took effect. Liberal Andrew Robb took $880k China job as soon as he left Parliament. Opportunities exist across website, brand awareness, podcasts, social media content, and video campaigns. Rang Jeff Kennett and within three days he had me in front one of the best professionals in the state and this guy said you know you've had a problem for fifty years, you've had it for fifty years but he said it was fixable, which was fantastic."[27]. 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". 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. But it will not share any profit that Landbridge may eventually make. In 2007, Robb was elevated to the Ministry and took on the role as Minister for Vocational and Further Education. Andrew John Robb AO (born 20 August 1951) is an Australian former politician. David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. The Crikey comment section is members-only content. 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. Mr Ye's interest in the winery is via his brother, Gang Ye. [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. Mr Ye is the owner of Landbridge, which controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015. [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. He was succeeded by Steven Ciobo as Minister of Trade and Investment on 18 February 2016. But its immediate commercial risks are relatively contained. Mr Robb is currently Chairman of The Robb Group (wealth management, corporate and investment advisory company), the AgriFood Data Exchange, CDMA and CLARA Energy; a Board Member of the Kidman cattle enterprise, Mind Medicine Australia, and strategic advisor to Seafarms Ltd as well as a range of national and international businesses. Shandong Landbridge has substantial and varied interests including port logistics and petrochemicals. "We've got an authoritarian government in a foreign country attempting to influence the Australian political debate, not just by improper means but in an improper fashion. As the federal trade minister, Mr Robb did publicly support the Darwin Port deal, calling it a "powerful sign" of a commercial partnership between China and Australia through a free trade agreement he had helped establish. Chinese influence compromises the integrity of our politics, Soft power goes hard: China's economic interest in the Pacific comes with strings attached, The risks of a new Cold War between the US and China are real: here's why. and I said, 'well, I'd love to but I've been a minister in a cabinet, in a related area, I can't do any work for you in Australia and I can't do it for 18 months'," he said. Mr Robb had announced months earlier he would not recontest his seat of Goldstein. "We had our deputy prime minister last year stand up in front of a Channel 9 TV camera and say, 'I want all Australians to know that ISIS is not our security threat, China is our security threat'; this is irresponsible," Mr Robb said. According to an official Chinese government statement, the park is designed to capitalise on the China Australia Free Trade Agreement as well as Mr Ye's purchase of the Darwin port. A Critical Infrastructure Centre has been created to give extra national security advice. There are certain things that have been thousands of years in the making with regard to China, such as saving face.. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability. Thats open. In some cases the tone hasnt taken account of the sensitivities on the Chinese side, said Robb. In a ballot of Liberal caucus members, Julie Bishop prevailed with 44 votes, ahead of Robb who won 25 votes and Christopher Pyne with 18 votes. Darwin is now on the front line in managing tensions between Australias most important strategic ally and partner and its major trading partner. "Just before Landbridge had an opportunity to formally present my report to Chinese authorities, they were advised not to bother because the relationship between the Australian and Chinese governments 'had become so toxic' that the report would be binned.". Why did the NT lease Darwin Port to China? We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Andrew Robb Pty LtdC/- Ellerston Capital Level 4, 75-77 Flinders LaneMelbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia.Tel: +61 2 9021 7743, Andrew Robb Pty LtdC/- Ellerston CapitalLevel 11, 179 Elizabeth StreetSydney, NSW, 2000, Australia.Tel:+61 2 9021 7743, All other questions, please use the form on the right, Andrew Robb Pty Ltd C/- Ellerston Capital, Level 11, 179 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia.Ph: +61 2 9021 7743, READ MORE ABOUT BLACK DOG DAZE, CLICK HERE, Australian ASEAN Business ForumOpening Speech, Australia and China: There is always a way forward, Live cattle exports: Farmers fear betrayal, and a future of uncertainty, MEDIA RELEASE: Robb Rejects The Age Gutter Journalism, ASIAN MARKETS THE FUTURE POWERHOUSE: ROBB, Helping Australian companies to trade or invest into countries in the Asia Pacific region, Helping companies from the Asia Pacific region to trade or invest into Australia. Landbridge Australia, a subsidiary of Shandong Landbridge, won the 99-year lease with its bid of A$506 million in November 2015. 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 Cheng's company, Landbridge Group, was embroiled in controversy when it was awarded a 99-year lease over the port of Darwin. Andrew Robb Pty Ltd provide strategic advice in solving problems and capturing opportunities, particularly in regards to: Until his recent retirement from politics, Andrew Robb was Australias Minister for Trade, Investment and Tourism. Ministerial business that just happens to coincide with a grand final or a concert; electorate business that must be conducted in prime tourist locations, or at the same time as party fundraisers. Mr Robb resigned as trade minister in February, before leaving Parliament at this year's election. Then US president Barack Obama expressed concern about the lack of consultation. John Garrick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Dont pay so you can read it. This comes despite the fact they sold one of our most strategically positioned ports to a Chinese company with close links to the Chinese Communist Party in 2015. 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. Andrew Robb, Martin Ferguson, Peter Reith and Stephen Conroy are among the former ministers who swiftly took jobs as lobbyists Thu 27 Jun 2019 14.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 27 Jun 2019 21.35 EDT Mr Katter's opposition to the Port of Darwin sale - quietly ceased his controversial consultancy with Landbridge. 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. Dr Garrick said the luxury hotel project was a further extension of the interests of the group, "an entrenchment of their strategic positions", given its location on the waterfront, right next to Parliament House and Government House. You have entered an incorrect email address! The Landbridge group had been granted a 99-year lease on Port Darwin in 2015 during Robbs time as trade minister. There has been some tweaking of rules about political parties accepting foreign donations. Port Darwin is the port in Darwin, Northern Territory, in northern Australia. [20][21] Robb's employment with Landbridge Group ended in 2018, which Robb attributed to an atmosphere increasingly critical of the Chinese government. In this role Mr Robb negotiated Free Trade Agreements with South Korea, Japan and China, as well as the 12 country Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement and the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Singapore. You get the drift of what behaviour this category captures. 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 By Leith van Onselen. 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. From left, now Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Landbridge chief Ye Cheng and then trade minister Andrew Robb at a northern development conference in 2015. Credit: Glenn Campbell. His time in this portfolio was marked by introducing a Citizenship discussion paper which encouraged public debate about whether Australia required a formal citizenship test. 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. 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. Until his recent retirement from politics, Andrew Robb was Australia's Minister for Trade, Investment and Tourism. 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.". [13] He had carriage of final negotiations for the AustraliaKorea Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA), JapanAustralia Economic Partnership Agreement, ChinaAustralia Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership which have concluded by the federal government. The bid for the port was examined and approved by the Foreign Investments Review Board, the Defence Department and ASIO. [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". Many Curious Darwin readers asked how Mr Robb was . At the time the new owner, billionaire Ye Cheng, claimed the Darwin port deal was our involvement in One Belt, One Road. Landbridge signed . "I encourage you to explore the Australia Park in China where partnerships and collaboration between these two great nations will flourish for years to come," the statement in Mr Robb's name said. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/can-darwin-port-99-year-lease-china-be-reversed-andrew-robb-role/10912478, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article. In Australia it gave influential Liberal Party figure and former trade minister Andrew Robb an $880,000 job just months after he retired from parliament. "It's a position from which they can exercise further soft power and ingratiate themselves and show how they're contributing to the local community; many people will be celebrating that from the local council right up the line," Dr Garrick said. Following a front-bench re-shuffle in March 2010, Robb was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction, a post previously held by Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, and chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee.