Glenn Campbell. Many of these grants were disproportionally awarded to marginal seats, with limited oversight and even less accountability. Former trade minister Liberal MP Andrew Robb accepted an $880,000-a-year salary with Chinese billionaire Ye Chengs Landbridge Group immediately after quitting parliament. and back in 2016, when former trade minister Andrew Robb was enjoying his $880,000 a year consulting contract with Landbridge, . Mr Ye frames much of his business activity, including the acquisition of the Port of Darwin lease, in terms of advancing Beijing's ambitious global trade and infrastructure project "One Belt, One Road". RT @TwoEyeHead: Govt to spend $3.8billion beefing up far Northern military assets. 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. Andrew Robb says said "Canberra had every right to reassess the port lease in light of changing strategic circumstances. 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. Australias foreign investment review processes have been tightened. 'A seriously dumb idea': Why did the NT lease Darwin's port to China? 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. Thank you for your very kind wishes! 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. Ye Cheng, of Landbridge, and then trade minister Andrew Robb in 2015. But its immediate commercial risks are relatively contained. Then there is the role of Andrew Robb. At the time the new owner, billionaire Ye Cheng, claimed the Darwin port deal was our involvement in One Belt, One Road. Landbridge Australia, a subsidiary of Shandong Landbridge, won the 99-year lease with its bid of A$506 million in November 2015. He added that former minister Andrew Robb also took on a lucrative consulting job with . Three months later, Mr Robb was on Landbridge's payroll.Credit: Landbridge. We recognise that their sovereignty has never been ceded. 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. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation US, Inc. An Australian Border Force Cape-class patrol boat docked at the Darwin port. A Chinese company that owns a 99-year lease on Darwin port has warned that its treatment at the hands of the Australian government risks scaring away investors from other countries. Dr Garrick said Australia needed to get over its fear and be aware of Chinese strategies, suggesting it was necessary to engage in a public debate about China's wielding of power and influence in Australia. It's been built and rebuilt in the near-century since. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. 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. The upcoming federal election would be the time to have it, he added, but questions from the ABC to Prime Minister Scott Morrison's office about the Darwin Port and Chinese influence went unanswered. President Xi subsequently established an integration committee to oversee civilian and military investment in technology. 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". Read more: Mr Robb recently resigned his position with Landbridge, saying they did not have much work for him to do. "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. A Darwinian survival story: Barnaby's northern port is more of a crazy Dont pay so you can read it. Foreign investment: Joyce says Robb has questions to answer on It makes Darwin an interesting case study a point of contest between the strategies of the US and China. Billionaire Ye Cheng is the owner of Landbridge, which controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015. Mr Robb also took a shot at former deputy PM Barnaby Joyce for his role in the deteriorating relationship with China. 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. [3] Robb was still federal director when internal Liberal party negative polling was leaked to Kerry O'Brien on Lateline in May 1994 who embarrassed John Hewson with it and lead to Hewson's calling a leadership spill where he lost the leadership to Alexander Downer. Mr Ye's interest in the winery is via his brother, Gang Ye. 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. A companydocument revealed that Mr Robbs consulting contract was so vague and ill-defined he would be paid even if he did nothing. Yes, in breaking through we have got a little bloodied, but our efforts were not in vain, and they must not be in vain. Brandis tries to appease Andrew Robb over foreign interests crackdown Additionally, he conducted 85 investment roundtables with 28 countries. In 2003, Robb was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to politics, agriculture and the community.[6]. "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. He served as Minister for Trade and Investment (20132016) in the Abbott and Turnbull governments, and also briefly as Minister for Vocational and Further Education in the Howard government in 2007. Landbridge confirmed Mr Robbs departure. Many of you have written to us over the past week wanting to know what can be done about it, more than three years after the deal was signed that saw one of Australia's most strategic assets leased away for a one-time payment. [23], As of 2020, Robb serves as a director on the board of Mind Medicine Australia,[24] a not-for-profit organisation which promotes the introduction of psychedelic treatments for mental illnesses. Liberal Andrew Robb takes $880k China job as soon as he finishes in [26] Robb disclosed that, since adolescence, he had suffered depression for several hours each day in the morning. Glenn Campbell. Copyright 2023 Private Media Pty Ltd. Publishers of Crikey. 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'.