Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given that the chief executives of many major Australian companies and the CEOs of representative organisations based here in Australia are complaining that they are unable to gain appointments to meet with the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and ministers, can the Prime Minister explain why Mr Ian Tang, a businessman who lives in China, has been able to meet, apparently at will, with the Prime Minister—

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, they are complaining to us that they cannot get in.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Groom will ignore the interjections and the ministers will cease interjecting.

Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will repeat the latter part of the question. Can the Prime Minister explain why Mr Ian Tang, a businessman who lives in China, has been able to meet, apparently at will, with the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and other cabinet ministers since the election?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government takes seriously its relationship with the Australian business community. The core of the question from the member is the extent to which this government has been having extensive contact with the Australian business community. I would say, if I looked along the ranks of the front bench, the number of senior Australian business leaders who have been to see us about all manner of matters since the election only three months ago is huge. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations has engaged in extensive consultations with the business community on the transition bill on industrial relations—which I think the opposition supported yesterday, but I am still a bit unclear about the precise outcome of the vote. The Treasurer is in active consultation with the business community, both with the financial community and elsewhere. And so it goes on, through the minister for finance, the industry minister, the minister for agriculture and other ministers including the minister for resources, the minister for trade and the minister for infrastructure. The minister for infrastructure has been meeting with members of the business community right across the country, who have been scratching their heads as to why those opposite could possibly have conceived of opposing a body such as Infrastructure Australia. Our contact and engagement with the Australian business community is fundamental business for the government. We have been actively engaged in that consultation since the election. I have to say that one of the common refrains that we have received is, ‘After 12 years in office, we never got the sort of access we have to this government to the previous government.’ The simple reason for that is the opposition were completely preoccupied in seeking to attend to matters not relevant to the economy, matters not relevant to Australia’s long-term economic wellbeing—just themselves.