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

I have to say, the Australian people just hate this stuff. Andrew Robb, the former Minister for Trade and Investment, on 1 July—before the election had even been held and before he had even been replaced as the member for Goldstein—took up a job of nearly 900 grand per year working for a Chinese company that invests in Australia, Landbridge. The Australian people hate it. For the Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation to stand up and refuse to answer the question, just because he is not really minded to defend the Prime Minister, is very disappointing for the Australian people when these sorts of questions are asked.

It is important to people to know that, if there is a prime ministerial statement of ministerial standards, it will actually be upheld by the Prime Minister. It is important to the Australian people to know that ministers will not be trying to get jobs with foreign corporations while they are still in the ministry. It is important for the Australian people to know that standards actually mean something, that ethics mean something, that undertakings that are given by ministers actually mean something and that prime ministers' statements of ministerial standards actually mean something. It is important to hold the Prime Minister to account for the upholding of the statement of ministerial standards.

As the member for Gellibrand, who is in the chamber said, though, the assistant minister's defence of the Prime Minister was Abbott-esque in its faintness, in its weakness. There was no defence of the Prime Minister. The assistant minister stood up and threw the Prime Minister under a bus. It was very disappointing. I think the Prime Minister will be very disappointed. I think that the people of Australia will be very disappointed that the assistant minister was not willing to deal with these very important issues.

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