Andrew Robb (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Will the minister confirm that he was accompanied by a staff member on his five trips to China that were paid for by Beijing AustChina Technology? Given the minister outlined only three individual meetings from his 33 days overseas, will the minister advise the House of the circumstance in which the sponsorship arose, the minister’s understanding of the reasons for Beijing AustChina Technology providing this sponsorship, what meetings were held, who attended the meetings and the subject matters that were discussed?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would remind the honourable member of the answer I gave yesterday and of the further information that I put out in the papers this morning. I would also remind him, with respect to the information that he has raised today, that the reason that he has that information about the staff member is that it too was on the public register. It was put there at the time. A staff member did not accompany me on every trip, and the register shows which ones the staff member accompanied me on and when they did.