Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

He is in office at the time in a party which have received $155,000 in donations from the company which they are objecting about. But the member for Goldstein says the government—referring to himself—knows nothing about this company. This letter says that in fact the government was actively intervening on behalf of this company in relation to a specific project in Beijing, the company having directly donated to the party to which the then Deputy Prime Minister belongs. But let us just leave the National Party alone for a bit. Let us move on to the Liberal Party. Remember that the member for Goldstein said, ‘We know nothing about this company.’ The National Party say they know nothing about this company, so what about the good old Liberals? Here we have another interesting letter which is along these lines to the Executive Director, Beijing Australia Technology Ltd:

Thank you for your letter of 13 June. The government is a strong supporter of the ICT industry and has introduced a number of initiatives to encourage development of the ICT industry.

It goes on to say:

Companies such as Beijing AustChina Technology Ltd greatly facilitate this task—

that being the company they are complaining about—

by representing Australian companies trying to gain access to the enormous Chinese market and by promoting Australian ICT products and services. This benefits not only individual firms but also the Australian economy. I look forward to Beijing AustChina Technology Ltd achieving great success in its endeavours and would encourage you to continue your close working relationship with the government.

It is signed: ‘Richard Alston, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.’ So there we have a couple of interesting pieces of correspondence, which, Mr Speaker, I am happy to table.

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