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'. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Mr Robb resigned as trade minister in February, before leaving Parliament at this year's election. Charles Darwin University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU. he said. Before entering parliament, he was the federal director of the Liberal Party and oversaw the party's return to government at the 1996 federal election.
Blokes Who Sold Darwin Port To China Still Acting Like They Give A Fuck The Landbridge group had been granted a 99-year lease on Port Darwin in 2015 during Robbs time as trade minister. The lease, signed in 2015, is between the Northern Territory government and Landbridge Group, a Chinese company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Foreign and strategic policy has effectively been left to the local level. The details of the consultancy have never been disclosed by Mr Ye or Mr Robb. Fake news. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Mr Ye placed Mr Robb on his payroll 10 weeks later. [19][20] Landbridge Group is chaired by Ye Cheng, a billionaire with links to the Chinese Communist Party. By all accounts, he wasn't involved with Landbridge in late 2015 when the deal went through, and the federal cabinet was not aware of the deal until hours before then-chief minister Adam Giles announced it publicly in November 2015. Robb remained a member of . (Supplied: . Robb announced his retirement from politics on 10 February 2016. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Following the election of the Abbott government in 2013, Robb was appointed Minister for Trade and Investment. He added that former minister Andrew Robb also took on a lucrative consulting job with Landbridge after he . Glenn Campbell. Were working to restore it. I thought everyone had forgotten about that.. It's been built and rebuilt in the near-century since. 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. 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. Follow our live coverage. Military-civilian integration was among the goals China set in its 13th five-year plan for 2016-20. 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. Local government officials love signing such deals. Copyright 20102023, The Conversation US, Inc. An Australian Border Force Cape-class patrol boat docked at the Darwin port. He described the situation as "reviewable," suggesting he may beginworking for the company again in future. Landbridge Australia, a subsidiary of Shandong Landbridge, won the 99-year lease with its bid of A$506 million in November 2015. 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. 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.
Changes at the top for lobby group - MPNEWS News National Former PM Rudd urges review of lease of Darwin Port to China company. Australia's warm relationship with China has developed frostbite in the five short years since the deal was . Mr Robb has also been spruiking Rymill Coonawarra, a South Australian winery in which Mr Ye has a financial interest. 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. I've known him for a very long time. The Northern Territory government has signed a $506m agreement with a Chinese based group for a 99-year lease of the Darwin port, . 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. During that time, she worked on Australia's trade deals with China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, as well as the Trans Pacific Partnership and future free trade agreements with Europe and Indonesia. The port has operated in a number of locations, including Stokes Hill Wharf, Cullen Bay and East Arm Wharf. In December 2017, then Attorney-General George Brandis suggested that Mr Robb would have to sign up to the new register. 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. Port in a storm: the Darwin lease made sense only a few years ago. and back in 2016, when former trade minister Andrew Robb was enjoying his $880,000 a year consulting contract with Landbridge, . 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. 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. While the federal government now seeks to shore up its interests in the Pacific with cash for infrastructure, similar commitments to investing in local infrastructure are essential. 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. Yet risk exposure may take other forms. In 2004, he was comfortably elected to the safe Liberal seat of Goldstein in Melbourne and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs on 27 January 2006. Kishor is a federal politics reporter for Crikey, based in the Canberra press gallery. Andrew John Robb AO (born 20 August 1951) is an Australian former politician. [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. You can submit your questions on any topic at all, or vote on our next investigation. 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. 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. 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 .
The $506 million the Northern Territory Government was paid for a 99-year lease of the Darwin Port by Chinese company Landbridge is long gone, but Australians' feelings of unease remain. 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. Mr Robb had announced months earlier he would not recontest his seat of Goldstein. While he was Minister for Trade and Investment, Robb approved Chinese company Shandong Landbridge Group to lease Port Darwin for 99 years. 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. He was succeeded by Steven Ciobo as Minister of Trade and Investment on 18 February 2016. 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. 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. Port in a storm: the Darwin lease made sense only a few years ago. Mr Robb's job with Landbridge commenced on July 1, 2016, according to a Four Corners Fairfax Media 2017 joint investigation.
Why did we lease Darwin's port to a Chinese company? Become a subscriber to get full access to the website, as well as our premium newsletters. Mr Ye is the owner of Landbridge, which controversially acquired the 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin in 2015 . Why did the NT lease Darwin Port to China?
Chinese Darwin port owner plans energy expansion But the fear of angering China has weighed heavily on Australian-elected officials, with the greatest fear coming in the form of economic sanctions. Why don't more Australians know about the bombing of Darwin? Keep up with the latest ASX and business news, MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo dies at age of 46. 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. 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. If Landbridge was to default, it would lose its money. Enter your email address and Crikey will send a Verification Code. 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. At these challenging times, we need to work hard to reverse the souring of our political relationship. Any attempt by Landbridge to use the port as security to borrow money from a Chinese bank would trigger renegotiation of the lease. Darwin already has no less than six sister city arrangements, including with the Chinese city of Haikou.
Andrew Robb's secret China contract: money for nothing Please try again later. [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. There has been some tweaking of rules about political parties accepting foreign donations. 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. But the Darwin port deal differs in significant ways to other . 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. 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.
Brandis tries to appease Andrew Robb over foreign interests crackdown Crikey acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the many nations across Australia, and pay our respect to Elders past and present. Many Curious Darwin readers asked how Mr Robb was involved in the port deal. Andrew Robb says said Canberra had every right to reassess the port lease in light of changing strategic circumstances. 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. 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 . The Crikey comment section is members-only content. 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. By Leith van Onselen. A companydocument revealed that Mr Robbs consulting contract was so vague and ill-defined he would be paid even if he did nothing. 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. more. Contact us on: support@crikey.com.au or call the hotline: +61 (03) 8623 9900. Many Curious Darwin readers asked how Mr Robb was . Landbridge, a . 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. At the time the new owner, billionaire Ye Cheng, claimed the Darwin port deal was our involvement in One Belt, One Road. Secondly, it's not 'we' this is in of those 'gotcha' questions should be asking PM Morrison. In cases like Sri Lanka, China offered loans to build infrastructure. 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. 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. Democracy under siege from the rising forces of plutocracy. 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.