Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would ask the minister some questions about the Prime Minister's Statement of Ministerial Standards. It has been reported that the former Minister for Trade and Investment, Mr Andrew Robb, is now working for Landbridge, a Chinese corporation that invests in Australia. Mr Robb commenced employment with Landbridge on 1 July 2016, before he had been replaced as the member for Goldstein at the 2016 federal election. Mr Robb's employment with Landbridge is a part-time position which pays a pretty significant amount, actually—in fact, it is a whopping $880,000 a year. Can the minister please advise the Chamber of whether the Prime Minister has bothered to obtain any advice at all from either the secretary of his department or Mr Robb himself about whether Mr Robb may be in breach of the postministerial employment obligations in the Statement of Ministerial Standards? Of course, I refer in particular to clause 2.24 of the ministerial standards, which states:

Ministers are required to undertake that, for an eighteen month period after ceasing to be a Minister, they will not lobby, advocate or have business meetings with members of the government, parliament, public service or defence force on any matters on which they have had official dealings as Minister in their last eighteen months in office. Ministers are also required to undertake that, on leaving office, they will 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.

That is clause 2.24 of the Prime Minister's Statement of Ministerial Standards. Noting that Landbridge is a foreign company, Minister, which apparently has trade and investment interests in Australia, what steps has the Prime Minister taken to satisfy himself that Mr Robb is complying with this specific provision of the ministerial standards? What steps are being taken to ensure that he is not in breach of any undertakings that he was required to give under the Prime Minister's Statement of Prime Ministerial Standards?

I refer also to clause 2.25 of the ministerial standards, which states:

Ministers shall ensure that their personal conduct is consistent with the dignity, reputation and integrity of the Parliament.

I ask the minister: noting that Mr Robb started his $880,000-a-year part-time job on 1 July 2016—and I suspect the minister might have a better prospect of answering the questions if he listens to them—before he was replaced in the House as the member for Goldstein at the federal election, is the Prime Minister satisfied that Mr Robb's conduct is consistent with clause 2.25 of the ministerial standards? I also ask that the minister advise the House of how Mr Robb's conduct could possibly be consistent with the dignity, reputation and integrity of parliament when he does not even wait until he is replaced as the member for Goldstein before he accepts his $880,000-a-year part-time job with Landbridge. Isn't this an insult to this parliament and an insult to the people of Goldstein? Will the minister now admit that Mr Robb has done the wrong thing and call on him to apologise?

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