Peta Credlin gave the OK for Stuart Robert’s flight from China

Taxpayers paid for flying Stuart Robert to Australia from his private China trip, despite him claiming he had paid himself.

Taxpayers covered the cost of flying Stuart Robert back to Australia from his private trip to China, contradicting the Queensland MP’s claim he paid for the visit himself.

As pressure intensifies on Mr Robert for using personal leave to help his friend and Liberal Party donor Paul Marks sign a mining deal in China, Defence Department secretary Dennis Richardson revealed the minister had his homeward flight from Beijing to Singapore signed off by former prime minister Tony Abbott’s chief of staff, Peta Credlin.

A report into whether Mr Robert has breached the ministerial code of conduct by using his ministerial office for private purposes is expected as early as today, with Malcolm Turnbull saying he is “dealing with” the allegation of misconduct appropriately.

Amid the prospect of Mr Robert being dumped from the frontbench ahead of a major reshuffle, it was revealed he had sought ­approval from the Prime Minister’s Office to travel from Beijing — where he also met a Chinese vice-minister in a “private” ­capacity — to Singapore to attend a joint ministerial committee meeting on August 21- 23.

Taxpayers have been billed $10,268.04 in airfares for the meeting, but the Department of Fin­ance has refused to provide a breakdown of the travel claim.

In a Senate estimates hearing, Mr Richardson revealed that Mr Robert’s chief of staff had written to Ms Credlin seeking approval for the travel to Singapore on August 13, 2014.

“It was a letter, one seeking ­approval for the minister to travel from Beijing to Singapore, to attend the Singapore-Australia joint ministerial committee meeting, which was held in Singapore on 21-22 August (2014),” he said.

Mr Richardson also revealed that the department had been told of Mr Robert’s meeting with a Chinese vice-minister after he returned to Australia.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had no forewarning of the visit, and was not involved in making any arrangements for Mr Robert to meet with a Chinese vice-president along with a delegation from Mr Marks’s company, Nimrod Resources.

Defence Minister Marise Payne agreed at the hearing to a request from Labor to pass on to Mr Turnbull the question of whether Mr Robert took his Defence Department-issued mobile phone to China.

Opposition defence spokesman Stephen Conroy suggested that the phones of foreign officials in China might be hacked or otherwise interfered with.

Mr Robert, who is now Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Human Services Minister, refused to answer questions about the trip yesterday, but maintained he had not acted inappropriately.

He received support from Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sino­dinos, who told Sky News that the minister’s trip had been deemed ­“appropriate”.

Mr Turnbull said once his departmental secretary, Martin Parkinson, had completed his investi­gation into the minister’s trip, he would determine whether Mr Robert could remain on the frontbench.