Andrew and Maureen Robb are rumoured to be looking to move closer to the beach but only once they have sold their Cremorne Point home. Robb has been doing quite well out of his China contacts,
so it is hard to understand why he would have a problem repaying a million dollar loan.
The SMH reported this morning:
The SMH reported this morning:
Former Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb is running a health and wellness business partly funded by convicted drug trafficker Shane Charter, the biochemist at the centre of the Essendon and Cronulla football doping scandals.
A money-lending company linked to Mr Charter has provided a $1 million loan to Global Brands Australia, which the company used to underwrite the purchase of the weight-loss supplement program Celebrity Slim.
Mr Robb joined GBA as a director and non-executive chairman in April 2019 ahead of mooted plans to publicly list the company on the Australian Stock Exchange. He is also a shareholder.
The former minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments came on board to boost the start-up's credentials and for his extensive local and international political connections, particularly in China.
A money-lending company linked to Mr Charter has provided a $1 million loan to Global Brands Australia, which the company used to underwrite the purchase of the weight-loss supplement program Celebrity Slim.
Mr Robb joined GBA as a director and non-executive chairman in April 2019 ahead of mooted plans to publicly list the company on the Australian Stock Exchange. He is also a shareholder.
The former minister in the Abbott and Turnbull governments came on board to boost the start-up's credentials and for his extensive local and international political connections, particularly in China.
The above raises questions about Robb's financial standing, especially when he was still a minister, and presumably earning only a minister's pay. To assume that the Chinese government had no intelligence on his financial problems would be naive.
There are now even more question marks over ChAFTA. Both men responsible, Andrew Robb and Peter Varghese must be interrogated about their management of the ChAFTA negotiations.
TO BE READ WITH
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
That ordinary Australian university student politics can harm trade with China demonstrates why Peter Varghese & Andrew Robb's China FTA is a bad deal: Varghese must be removed as UQ Chancellor, must not be allowed to trash Australian university traditions in order to defend his legacy
by Ganesh Sahathevan
Australian national interest better served by the removal of
Peter Varghese as UQ Chancellor
In praise of his work the then Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Peter N Varghese AO declared in 2015:
"ChAFTA is a remarkably good deal for Australia and the best deal that China has done with any partner to date.ChAFTA will make a real difference to the livelihoods of Australian farmers and producers".
The claim that the China-Australia Free Trade deal (ChAFTA) is "the best" that China has done with any country is interesting. Given the position that Australia finds itself in today where it would seem that nothing can be decided in the national interest
Varghese worked on that deal with his minister, the then Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb. That Robb agreed to Chinese workers effectively taking the place of local workers on Australian construction sites, in order to get the deal done, says much of Robb's incompetence. That he then went on to work for the PLA linked Landbridge says much about his loyalties.
That ordinary student politics at UQ can be seen to harm UQ's business relationship with China provides further evidence that the ChAFTA was a bad deal to begin with. That Varghese finds himself in a position where he has to deal with the consequences of his work is poetic. He must not however be allowed to use his position to defend his legacy, and in the process ruin the tradition we have in Australian universities of open and vigorous debate, no matter how unruly or offensive it may seem.
Varghese must go,and Pavlou be provded all the backing he needs to ensure that the perpetrators of the so-called "disciplinary action" against him are removed from the tertiary education system.
END
TO BE READ WITH
Australian national interest better served by the removal of
Peter Varghese as UQ Chancellor
In praise of his work the then Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Peter N Varghese AO declared in 2015:
"ChAFTA is a remarkably good deal for Australia and the best deal that China has done with any partner to date.ChAFTA will make a real difference to the livelihoods of Australian farmers and producers".
The claim that the China-Australia Free Trade deal (ChAFTA) is "the best" that China has done with any country is interesting. Given the position that Australia finds itself in today where it would seem that nothing can be decided in the national interest
Varghese worked on that deal with his minister, the then Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb. That Robb agreed to Chinese workers effectively taking the place of local workers on Australian construction sites, in order to get the deal done, says much of Robb's incompetence. That he then went on to work for the PLA linked Landbridge says much about his loyalties.
That ordinary student politics at UQ can be seen to harm UQ's business relationship with China provides further evidence that the ChAFTA was a bad deal to begin with. That Varghese finds himself in a position where he has to deal with the consequences of his work is poetic. He must not however be allowed to use his position to defend his legacy, and in the process ruin the tradition we have in Australian universities of open and vigorous debate, no matter how unruly or offensive it may seem.
Varghese must go,and Pavlou be provded all the backing he needs to ensure that the perpetrators of the so-called "disciplinary action" against him are removed from the tertiary education system.
END
TO BE READ WITH
Peter Varghese has been wrong about Iran, jihadis in SEA, and now China: Australia's national interest better served by the activism of UQ student Drew Pavlou, not UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese. Australians should seek Varghese's removal as UQ Chancellor
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