China-Australia relations ‘will not be helped’ by foreign influence register
- Former Australian trade minister Andrew Robb is the latest of several former political leaders to walk away from consultancy roles with Chinese companies
- They are getting out ahead of a March 1 deadline to sign up to new disclosure laws
Australia’s new foreign influence register – which comes into force on March 1 – will have a negative effect on its relations with China, analysts have said, after a former Australian trade minister walked away from his Chinese consultancy role a week before the deadline.
The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday that Andrew Robb – architect of the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement – had left his consultancy position with the Shandong-based Landbridge Group, citing a growing toxicity between the Chinese and Australian governments.
“I had been commissioned by Landbridge for well over a year to prepare a comprehensive report on ways that Australia’s world-class health industry could assist with a major improvement of China’s public health system,” Robb said in a written response to questions from the newspaper.
“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.”
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Landbridge won the bidding to operate the Port of Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory in 2015 on a 99-year lease worth A$506 million (US$360 million).
