The foreign affairs department has no regrets about Australia's delays in signing up to a China-led infrastructure bank.
The revelation comes as Australia again ties itself in knots over whether to join Beijing's new Silk Road plan.
The Abbott government dragged its feet over the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank before eventually rushing to join in March 2015 before a final deadline.
Department secretary Frances Adamson insists the government made the right call on the bank decision.
"My own view, bearing in mind I was Ambassador in Beijing at the time, was that the government's action to stay out at the beginning in order to influence the governance arrangements and to join when it did was the correct course of action," Ms Adamson told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday.
"Needless to say it was consistent with the advice that I gave from Beijing."
She disagreed with Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong, who said the government had been "late" to the table.
Ms Adamson said there were no negative consequences over the timing of Australia joining up.
Senator Wong has argued the delay in signing up to the bank was "timorous and self-defeating".
Federal Labor is concerned the Turnbull government may be making the same mistake with China's trillion dollar trans-national project building bonanza, called One Belt One Road.
China asked Australia in February to sign a memorandum of understanding that would link up its grand scheme with the government's push to develop northern Australia.
Australia chose not to sign the deal during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's official visit in March, but New Zealand did join up when he travelled across the Tasman.
Share
