The Defence Department was only officially informed about whom under-siege minister Stuart Robert met in Beijing after his return to Australia, a Senate committee has been told.
Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson on Wednesday told an estimates hearing that his department was aware Mr Robert was in China because it was involved in organising a subsequent trip to Singapore, where the MP was to represent the defence minister at a meeting.
Mr Robert, who at the time was assistant minister for defence, is under pressure to explain whether he breached ministerial standards by helping a friend and Liberal Party donor sign a mining deal in China in August 2014.
"We were aware that the minister was in Beijing simply because he was designated to represent the defence minister at a meeting in Singapore immediately after Beijing," Mr Richardson said.
Asked if the minister indicated whether the visit to China was a private trip, Mr Richardson said: "I'm not aware that we were advised that he was travelling to China privately."
But Mr Richardson revealed that Mr Robert waited until he returned to Australia to inform the department about who he met in Beijing.
"Following his return to Australia, Minister Robert asked his office to advise the department who he had met in China," he told senators.
Mr Robert met with Chinese Vice-Minister for Land and Resources Wang Min in Beijing.
Mr Richardson said the Australian defence attache in China did not assist Mr Robert's departure from Beijing.
On his arrival in Singapore, Mr Robert was met by the Australian defence attache there, as well as a Singapore government official.
Mr Robert told the parliament on Tuesday he had undertaken the trip "in a personal capacity", but would not say what he wrote on his passenger card or visa application.
Labor senator Stephen Conroy also questioned whether or not the department had been able to confirm if Mr Robert's official phone was secure in the sense that it had not been "in any way hacked, infected or anything else on his visit to China".
Mr Richardson said he did not know whether or not Mr Robert took his official phone to China.
Asked if he would take his own official phone if he was to visit China, Mr Richardson said: "Not in this job."
Share
