The corruption of Australia continues

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By Leith van Onselen

There is a long history of Australian politicians going into well-paid private sector jobs after politics – often in the very industries that they used to regulate.

But rarely has it been so blatantly spruiked as under this Coalition Government.

Back in May, Tony Abbott gave a speech to Parliament where he said:

“The member for Groom Ian MacFarlane was the resources minister who scrapped the mining tax … It was a magnificent achievement … and I hope that the sector will acknowledge and demonstrate their gratitude to him in his years of retirement from this place.”

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In saying so, Abbott basically admitted that the Coalition serves the business community first and foremost. And they expect to be rewarded handsomely for it.

Well, Mr Abbott got his wish with Ian MacFarlane recently taking up a plum job as new chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council, Queensland’s peak mining group.

Back in July, The AFR confirmed another example of politician-to-industry links, with former trade minister, Andrew Robb, joining investment bank Moelis & Company selling Australian assets to wealthy Chinese under rules that he developed while in Parliament. What The AFR article did not mention was that the rules were changed to be highly compatible with Moelis’ offerings.

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Now it has been revealed that Robb has also taken on a lobbying role for the Chinese company that controls the Port of Darwin. From The ABC:

Two years after clinching a historic free trade deal with Beijing, former trade minister Andrew Robb has become a “high-level economic consultant” with the Chinese company that now operates Darwin Port.

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.

The Landbridge Group was awarded a 99-year lease over the Port of Darwin last year in a $506 million deal with the Northern Territory Government that sparked concerns at the highest levels of the Australian Defence Force.

The Landbridge statement from September 2 said “the process of internationalisation of the Landbridge Group and the results achieved had greatly impressed him (Mr Robb)”.

“Working for Landbridge Group was a wonderful and pleasing thing, and that he wanted to jointly write a wonderful new chapter together with Landbridge,” the statement added.

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”.

As noted by Alan Austin recently:

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The rationale for generous pensions for MPs is that they can engage in public service – as Malcolm Fraser did chairing an overseas aid agency – and thus avoid the temptation of corporate payoffs…

So why are these politicians allowed to have their cake and eat it too? Did the Australian tax-payer train Andrew Robb and stick him on a fat pension so that he could cream it by selling its best assets to China?

The corruption of Australia continues…

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.