Misplaced Pages

The HonourableAndrew RobbAO
Official portrait, 2014
Minister for Trade and Investment
In office 18 September 2013 – 18 February 2016
Prime Minister	Tony Abbott Malcolm Turnbull
Preceded by	Richard Marles
Succeeded by	Steven Ciobo
Minister for Vocational and Further Education
In office 23 January 2007 – 3 December 2007
Prime Minister	John Howard
Preceded by	Gary Hardgrave
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Member of the Australian Parliament for Goldstein
In office 9 October 2004 – 9 May 2016
Preceded by	David Kemp
Succeeded by	Tim Wilson
Personal details
Born	Andrew John Robb (1951-08-20) 20 August 1951 (age 73) Epping, Victoria, Australia
Political party	Liberal Party of Australia
Spouse	Maureen Mullane
Children	3
Alma mater	La Trobe University
Profession	Economist, politician
Website	andrewrobb.com.au

Andrew John Robb AO (born 20 August 1951) is an Australian former politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 2004 to 2016, representing the Liberal Party. He served as Minister for Trade and Investment (2013–2016) in the Abbott and Turnbull governments, and also briefly as Minister for Vocational and Further Education in the Howard government in 2007. Before entering parliament, he was the federal director of the Liberal Party and oversaw the party's return to government at the 1996 federal election.

While he was Minister for Trade and Investment, Robb approved Chinese company Shandong Landbridge Group to lease Port Darwin for 99 years. As soon as he left politics, Robb was hired by Shandong Landbridge on a $880,000 per year salary. In 2019, Robb left the position, shortly before a new foreign-interference law took effect.

Background

This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Andrew Robb" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Robb, one of nine children, was born to Frank and Marie Robb, on a dairy farm in Epping which lies 18 kilometres (11 mi) north of Melbourne. He was educated at Dookie Agricultural College, Parade College and La Trobe University, and has qualifications in economics and agricultural science. He was an agricultural economist with the Victorian Department of Agriculture and a tutor in economics at La Trobe University before being an economist for the National Farmers' Federation, and later executive director of both the National Farmers' Federation and the Cattle Council of Australia.

Liberal Party federal director

Robb became deputy director of the Liberal Party before being appointed chief of staff to Andrew Peacock, then Leader of the Opposition, in 1989. In 1990, after Andrew Peacock's resignation after his election defeat, Robb was appointed federal director of the Liberal Party.

In this capacity Robb worked with the next Leader of the Liberal Party, John Hewson, in the unsuccessful 1993 federal election campaign. Robb claimed in 1991 that Peter Reith and Hewson were spooked into releasing their policies too early. Robb was still federal director when internal Liberal party negative polling was leaked to Kerry O'Brien on Lateline in May 1994 who embarrassed John Hewson with it and lead to Hewson's calling a leadership spill where he lost the leadership to Alexander Downer. Robb and Hewson were not on good terms following this. Robb was still Federal Director and campaign manager in 1996 when John Howard after he replaced Downer as leader in 1995, won the 1996 federal election campaign, which defeated the Keating government and brought the Liberals to power after 13 years in Opposition. Howard had to be talked out of dumping Andrew in 1995 from his position as Federal director.

Professional career

Robb resigned in 1997 (he was replaced by Lynton Crosby) and became a business consultant based in Sydney. He was Honorary Finance Director for the NSW Division of the Liberal Party and a member of the NSW State Executive. In that time Robb also sat on the boards of numerous Australian companies including Australia's largest consulting engineering company, Sinclair Knight Merz. Robb was also a board member of community organisations including the Garvan Medical Research Foundation and the 'Big Brothers Big Sisters' organisation. In 2003, Robb was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for service to politics, agriculture and the community.

Parliamentary career

Howard government

In 2004, he was comfortably elected to the safe Liberal seat of Goldstein in Melbourne and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs on 27 January 2006. His time in this portfolio was marked by introducing a Citizenship discussion paper which encouraged public debate about whether Australia required a formal citizenship test. Robb argued that a formal citizenship test would be a clear incentive for aspiring citizens to have basic English language skills and understanding of their community. Robb also focused on dealing with settlement issues for refugees and the challenges of multi-faith relations in Australia.

In 2007, Robb was elevated to the Ministry and took on the role as Minister for Vocational and Further Education. Following the Liberal Party's defeat at the 2007 federal election, Robb put himself forward as a candidate for Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party. In a ballot of Liberal caucus members, Julie Bishop prevailed with 44 votes, ahead of Robb who won 25 votes and Christopher Pyne with 18 votes. The then leader of the Liberal Party, former Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson, announced that Robb would be Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs in the new Coalition Shadow Cabinet.

Following a front-bench re-shuffle in March 2010, Robb was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction, a post previously held by Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, and chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee. He was re-elected at the 2010 election and was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction and retained his position as chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee.

Robb is a republican; he is against abortion except where the health and state of the mother are in serious threat.

Robb is also the co-publisher of The Party Room alongside Senator Mitch Fifield, a journal designed to promote new policy discussion within the Federal Coalition.

Abbott and Turnbull governments

Following the election of the Abbott government in 2013, Robb was appointed Minister for Trade and Investment. He had carriage of final negotiations for the Australia–Korea Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA), Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, China–Australia Free Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership which have concluded by the federal government.

Robb announced his retirement from politics on 10 February 2016. He was succeeded by Steven Ciobo as Minister of Trade and Investment on 18 February 2016.

Career after politics

Robb is a board member of the Kidman cattle enterprise and the Network Ten television station. He is the Chairman of Asialink and CNSDose, and a strategic advisor to Beef Innovations Australia, as well as a range of national and international businesses.

In October 2016, it was announced that Robb had joined the Landbridge Group, a Chinese company which had been granted a 99-year lease on Port Darwin in October 2015, as a "high-level economic consultant". It was reported that Robb had accepted the $73,000 per month position before leaving Parliament. Landbridge Group is chaired by Ye Cheng, a billionaire with links to the Chinese Communist Party. Robb's employment with Landbridge Group ended in 2018. Robb attributed his departure to an atmosphere increasingly critical of the Chinese government; it was also noted that had he remained in the position he would have had to register as a foreign agent, due to changes in legislation enacted in 2019.

Robb is part owner of The Boathouse Group, which operates a number of Sydney restaurants and other venues. Another Robb entity is facing (in mid 2019) a wind-up motion from the Commissioner of Taxation over unpaid taxes.

As of 2020, Robb serves as a director on the board of Mind Medicine Australia, a not-for-profit organisation which promotes the introduction of psychedelic treatments for mental illnesses.

Personal life

During 2009 Laurie Oakes's column in The Australian, Robb disclosed that he was stepping down from the opposition front bench for three months to address a form of depression brought on by diurnal variation, which is typically experienced as positive mood variation (mood being worse upon waking and better in the evening). Robb disclosed that, since adolescence, he had suffered depression for several hours each day in the morning.

The following week, Robb said in an interview with 3AW's Neil Mitchell that he had found "doing things increasingly more difficult, I could be taking on more responsibilities especially in a public sense and decided to confront it a few weeks ago. Rang Jeff Kennett and within three days he had me in front one of the best professionals in the state and this guy said you know you've had a problem for fifty years, you've had it for fifty years but he said it was fixable, which was fantastic."

References

1. "Liberal Andrew Robb takes $880k China job as soon as he finishes in parliament". Australian Financial Review. 5 June 2017.
2. ^ "Andrew Robb quits China-linked form before foreign interference law kicks in". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 February 2019.
3. Wright, Jessica (11 November 2012). "With memories of '93, the opposition readies the troops never to lose an unlosable election again". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
4. Onselen, Peter Van; Errington, Wayne (2008). John Winston Howard: The Definitive Biography. Melbourne Univ. ISBN 9780522855227.
5. "A tale of two seats – The Poll Bludger".
6. "ROBB: Andrew: Officer of the Order of Australia". It's an Honour. Commonwealth of Australia. 2003. Archived from the original on 25 July 2020.
7. "In support of formal citizenship test". Andrew Robb. 25 October 2006. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
8. "Nelson's victory puts Turnbull on deck". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 November 2007. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
9. Archived 18 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
10. Archived 17 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
11. Donovan, David (18 August 2010). "Liberals quietly go monarchist under Abbott". Crikey. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
12. "MPs clarify abortion views". The Age. 9 November 2004. Archived from the original on 4 November 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
13. The Hon Andrew Robb AO, MP Archived 5 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine; Parliament of Australia; online 30 November 2014
14. "Tony Abbott's cabinet and outer ministry". The Sydney Morning Herald. Australian Associated Press. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
15. Robb, Andrew. "Biography". Archived from the original on 28 February 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
16. "Andrew Robb's secret China contract: money for nothing". 6 December 2017. Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
17. "Andrew Robb unleashes over being targeted in foreign probe". 5 December 2017.
18. "Robb joins Chinese company with control of Darwin Port". ABC News. 30 October 2016. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
19. Chan, Gabrielle (6 June 2017). "Coalition defends Andrew Robb after revelation he started job while an MP". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 June 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.
20. ^ "ASIO warned politicians about taking cash from Huang Xiangmo, Chau Chak Wing". Australian Financial Review. 15 June 2017. Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
21. "China's 'invisible billionaire' – the Port of Darwin's new owner". Australian Financial Review. 22 November 2015. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
22. Borrello, Eliza (12 March 2019). "Robb says work on a project in China was 'put in the bin' over toxic relations". ABC News. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
23. White, Andrew (2 August 2019). "Investors keep The Boathouse Group afloat". The Australian.
24. "Board- Mind Medicine Australia". Mind Medicine Australia. Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
25. Nguyen, Kevin; Cockburn, Paige (14 April 2020). "Coronavirus pandemic could trigger a spike in mental illness – this organisation thinks psychedelic drugs will help". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
26. "Home". beyondblue. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
27. ^ "Interview with Neil Mitchell, 3AW 693am: Andrew Robb MP - Federal Member for Goldstein". Andrew Robb. 21 September 2009. Archived from the original on 19 June 2015. Retrieved 20 September 2015.

External links

• Andrew Robb writes for PublicAffairsAsia
• Official Site
• Andrew Robb profile on TheyVoteForYou.Org.Au

v t e (Rudd 2←)   Abbott ministry   (→ Turnbull 1)
Prime Minister: Tony Abbott
Cabinet	Eric Abetz Kevin Andrews Bruce Billson Julie Bishop George Brandis Mathias Cormann Peter Dutton Joe Hockey Greg Hunt Barnaby Joyce Sussan Ley Ian Macfarlane Scott Morrison Christopher Pyne Andrew Robb Nigel Scullion Warren Truss Malcolm Turnbull
Outer Ministry	Simon Birmingham Jamie Briggs Michaelia Cash Mitch Fifield Josh Frydenberg Luke Hartsuyker Michael Keenan Fiona Nash Marise Payne Stuart Robert Michael Ronaldson
Parliamentary Secretaries	Karen Andrews Bob Baldwin Darren Chester Steven Ciobo Richard Colbeck Concetta Fierravanti-Wells Paul Fletcher Michael McCormack Kelly O'Dwyer Christian Porter Scott Ryan Alan Tudge
Dismissed/resigned	David Johnston Arthur Sinodinos Brett Mason

v t e (Abbott ←)   First Turnbull ministry   (→ Turnbull 2)
Prime Minister: Malcolm Turnbull
Cabinet	Simon Birmingham Julie Bishop George Brandis Michaelia Cash Darren Chester Steven Ciobo Mathias Cormann Peter Dutton Mitch Fifield Josh Frydenberg Greg Hunt Barnaby Joyce Sussan Ley Scott Morrison Fiona Nash Kelly O'Dwyer Marise Payne Christian Porter Christopher Pyne Arthur Sinodinos Nigel Scullion
Outer Ministry	Matt Canavan Richard Colbeck Concetta Fierravanti-Wells Paul Fletcher Michael Keenan Scott Ryan Dan Tehan Alan Tudge
Assistant Ministers	Karen Andrews Alex Hawke Peter Hendy Craig Laundy Michael McCormack James McGrath Keith Pitt Jane Prentice Anne Ruston Angus Taylor Ken Wyatt
Dismissed/resigned/lost seat	Jamie Briggs Mal Brough Luke Hartsuyker Andrew Robb Stuart Robert Wyatt Roy Warren Truss

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Abbott government
• Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Goldstein
• Officers of the Order of Australia
• Australian republicans
• People educated at Parade College
• Members of the Cabinet of Australia
• Turnbull government
• 21st-century Australian politicians
• People from Epping, Victoria
• Politicians from Melbourne
• La Trobe University alumni