Stuart Robert to pay back $1600 for gold mine trip
AAP
Former federal minister Stuart Robert will pay back more than $1600 which he spent on trip to a north Queensland gold mine he had a financial stake in.
The embattled MP travelled to the Mt Carlton mine near Townsville in 2013, when he was the then-Opposition’s spokesman for defence and science technology.
Mr Robert maintained the trip was “official business” and wrote to the Finance Department saying he was representing the Opposition at an event being held at the mine.
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He said he wanted to take the opportunity to discuss portfolio issues with then-Queensland premier Campbell Newman, who was also attending the event.
“I travelled to the event primarily to discuss with the then-premier … the possibility of expanding Queensland’s recently announced defence industries’ envoy [to] promote the benefits of my home state,” the letter read.
Mr Robert conceded he held a “very minor” stake in the company running the mine – Evolution Mining.
He said he would repay the money he claimed on the trip to “ensure there can be no conflict”.
He said he would also accept any penalty the Finance Department might apply.
It is another blow to the former minister, who stepped down from the frontbench last week over a private trip he made to China in 2014.
Mr Robert attended a signing ceremony for a mining deal between Nimrod Resources and a Chinese business on the visit. The chairman of Nimrod Resources, Paul Marks, is a generous Liberal donor.
An internal investigation also revealed Mr Robert had shares in a trust linked to the mining company.
The inquiry said while Mr Robert did not appear to have received any financial benefit, he had acted inconsistently with the Statement of Ministerial Standards.
Labor has been hammering the Government over Mr Robert’s conduct and has asked the Australian Federal Police to investigate his actions, citing a section of the criminal code dealing with the “abuse of public office”.
–ABC
