Stuart Robert sacked from frontbench over China trip

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sacked Stuart Robert from his frontbench for breaching ministerial rules during a trip to China.

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sacked Stuart Robert from his frontbench for breaching ministerial rules during a trip to China.

In making the announcement on Friday, Mr Turnbull revealed Mr Robert had an indirect financial stake in the company he helped in Beijing.

The Human Services Minister has been under fire since Monday, when details of his secretive off-the-books August 2014 trip first emerged.

Then assistant minister of defence, Mr Robert oversaw a mining deal between Nimrod Resources - run by his close friend and major Liberal Party donor Paul Marks - and the Chinese government-owned company Minmetals.

Despite saying he was in China in a "personal capacity", Mr Robert also took Nimrod executives into a meeting with a Chinese government minister.

Read more at the Brisbane Times.