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

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his previous statement regarding Mr Ian Tang of Beijing AustChina Technology that ‘I am not really across what he does’. Now that the Prime Minister is aware of Mr Tang’s sponsorship of 16 Labor Party trips, including his own world trip, can the Prime Minister now advise the House of his understanding of what Mr Tang does?

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

The company concerned obviously has dealt in the past with technology trade, as would be suggested by its title. I notice also, on the question of what the company does, what the shadow minister for foreign affairs himself said today. When asked, ‘What about this company?’ Mr Robb said:

That’s not the point. We, we, we don’t know about this company. We know nothing really about this company.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Hockey interjecting

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

And I have answered that part of the question. On the question of this particular company, it seems that the previous government knew a lot indeed about this company. I have here a letter from the Australian Embassy in Beijing to the mayor of Beijing which is along these lines—this is from 2007, I understand:

I am writing in regard to the Beijing Friendship Store redevelopment project located on Jianguomen. The project has significant investment by an Australian company, AustChina Investment and Development Pty Ltd.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. We know the Prime Minister’s office has asked Mr Tang for all correspondence with the previous government; that is fine. But what we are doing is asking this Prime Minister what he believes this company does.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for North Sydney will resume his seat.

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

This letter from the embassy to the mayor of Beijing continues:

I understand that the project may be experiencing some delays and the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) office of the Australian Embassy, Beijing, would appreciate any assistance that the office of the Mayor of the Beijing Municipal People’s Government is able to provide so that the project can move forward in line with project timelines.

It goes on:

The Australian government has maintained an ongoing interest in this high-profile project in the centre of Beijing. As you may be aware, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Mark Vaile MP, visited the project during his December 2006 visit to Beijing. The project—

and this goes to the question—

involves the provision of products, services and facilities supplied by both Australian and Chinese companies to what will be a landmark project of cooperation between Australian and Chinese businesses.

That is a letter from the Australian Embassy in Beijing seeking the cooperation of the municipality of Beijing in support of this particular company and invoking the Deputy Prime Minister as a keen supporter of the project, he himself having visited the project at that time. Of course, the honourable member said in his statement this morning that his government knew nothing of this particular company. I would suggest that letter suggests that his government in fact knew quite a lot about this company and what it was doing. The question was: what did the company do? I have referred to what the company did.

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mrs Mirabella interjecting

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Indi will withdraw that.

Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I withdraw that.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question was very specific. It asks the Prime Minister: what is his understanding of what Mr Tang does?

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member will resume his seat. The Leader of the House on the point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, that is the 48th point of order moved by the Manager of Opposition Business.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is not a point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are frivolous—and you asked that it be drawn to your attention at the time.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will decide if it is frivolous or not. The Prime Minister is answering the question.

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

So we had the then Deputy Prime Minister visit this project in support of the company concerned, the company about which the member for Goldstein is now objecting so vociferously. Remember of course that the then Deputy Prime Minister is from—which party?

Government Members:

The National Party!

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to 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.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are they tabled? Let’s table them.

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

I just said I was happy to table them, Joe. I am sure you and the member for Goldstein will find these pieces of correspondence particularly interesting. On top of all that, there are multiple additional letters from Austrade. I am happy to table this one as well from 2002, saying what a fine company this Beijing—

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order and it goes to relevance. The Prime Minister, reading out letters from the past, which he has dug out over the last 24 hours, is not answering the question of what he knew about this company.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Without wishing to enter into the debate around this question, I would think that if the Prime Minister is reading from documents—wherever they have come from—as the basis for his knowledge of the company that is an acceptable response to the question.

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

Thank you, Mr Speaker. The Liberal government’s paeans of praise for this company go on. We have one from 27 March 2006 to Mr Ian Tang himself, again from the Australian Embassy in Beijing, advising Mr Tang what a wonderful job that company was doing. I table that one as well. From all of these documents we see a clear pattern. Whether it be the National Party, which is the recipient of $155,000 worth of political donations and whose Deputy Prime Minister in government was in Beijing actively supporting the project of Mr Ian Tang, or whether it be the Liberal Party, through the communications minister, Senator Alston—given the technology focus of another part of this company’s operations. All along they have been actively supporting this company’s operation and, through Australia’s agencies in China—namely, the Australian Embassy and Austrade—they put on the documentary record not just the nature of this company’s activities but how much this government actively supported it. Therefore, I think we have a case of someone’s credibility—namely, the member for Goldstein—collapsing in a heap.

Let me go through what the member for Goldstein has said this week. On Tuesday of this week he said that my particular crime against humanity was that I had travelled to the Sudan in the company of a representative of this company. That was untrue. He went on to say that, while I was in Sudan, I was there representing the commercial interests of this company in the technology field. That was untrue; I was visiting western Darfur. Then today he had the audacity to go on the national media and say, ‘We don’t know about this company.’ Honourable Member for Goldstein, the government of which you were a part knew a flaming lot about this company. The National Party-Liberal Party got 155 grand on the kick. I would suggest that we have here a modest case of double standards. If there is a fundamental problem of supported commercial travel, let the member for Goldstein come to the dispatch box now and announce on behalf of the opposition that they do not wish to receive any supported travel of a commercial nature in the future.