Three other MPs who were also on the trip, Labor's Kate Doust and the Liberal party's Paul Miles and Jim Chown, used their travel entitlements to meet the majority of the costs for the trip, although Huawei did contribute, according to declarations made in parliament. In a report to parliament in 2015, Ms Saffitoti said she used her travel entitlements to pay for return flights to China, but that "internal flights and all accommodation was paid for by Huawei". "We visited Shenzhen and Shanghai where we got an insight into Huawei's operations", she wrote in the report. "In Shenzhen we toured Huawei's headquarters where the scale of operations was breathtaking. "Huawei has in the past concentrated its efforts on telecommunications infrastructure and we soon learnt that a lot of the telecommunications infrastructure in Australia was in fact from Huawei."

At the time, Ms Saffioti was the shadow minister for planning, finance and government accountability and Ms Ellery was shadow education minister. In a parliamentary declaration, Ms Ellery said Huawei had paid $3528.89 towards the trip, including $2267.92 in hotel accommodation. She declared $1506 used from her parliamentary travel entitlement for the trip. Ms Saffioti did not reveal to parliament how much Huawei paid towards the costs of her trip, but declared she had spent $887 from her parliamentary travel allowance on airfare to and from China. All the MPs made declarations Huawei had contributed more than $500 each towards their travel costs.

On Friday, Huawei announced it had won a $136 million tender to install and maintain a new digital radio and data system across Perth’s rail network, including the new Forrestfield Airport Link twin tunnels. The government spokeswoman said the selection of Huawei as the successful tenderer was made entirely by the Public Transport Authority and Ms Saffioti was not involved. "To suggest a trip made three years ago whilst in opposition influenced this entirely independent process is absurd," she said. WA Transport Minister Rita Saffioti. "We understand the ministers were given Huawei phones but that Minister Saffioti has never used it.

"Minister Ellery declared a phone (despite not being required to do so) but does not use a Huawei phone. "Both Sue Ellery and Rita Saffioti were completely transparent in disclosing the fact that Huawei covered some of the cost of the trip." Acting Opposition Leader Liza Harvey said the ministers should have declared a conflict of interest. "Two serving ministers in the McGowan Government received travel and hospitality from Huawei worth thousands of dollars," she said. "One of those ministers, Transport Minister Rita Saffioti, was the lead minister in the current negotiations that resulted in the granting of a $136 million dollar contract to Huawei.

"In addition to releasing the federal security agency advice the Premier claims endorses his government’s decision to engage Huawei, the Premier also needs to reassure the public that no ministers with a conflict of interest were part of that decision-making process." The revelations come after a debate in Federal Parliament over new laws to restrict the influence of foreign governments on Australia's democracy and economy, although Huawei has previously claimed it is owned entirely by its employees and not China's communist regime. In June, the chairman of the Federal Parliament's top foreign affairs committee called for Huawei to be banned from having a role in building Australia's next 5G telecommunications network, after Fairfax Media revealed concerns by Australian security services about the national security threat potentially posed by the company. A spokesman for the Premier said Mr McGowan had not met with Huawei since Labor won office in 2017. "He has not met with them since coming to government," the spokesman said.

“The Premier did not meet them in China." The state opposition had raised concerns about the national security implications of allowing the company to install and maintain communications systems in important transport infrastructure. But acting Transport Minister Bill Johnston said there were "no security concerns for this radio system replacement project". Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "It followed the usual tender process – that is, technical capability and value for taxpayers," he said.

"The state government has sought and received advice from relevant Commonwealth agencies and has incorporated that advice into the procurement process." The McGowan Government was criticised after it dismissed national security concerns over the Huawei deal. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the state government checked with Canberra before letting the tender. "They certainly consulted with the Department of Home Affairs and they did so, but the decision to award the contract is obviously one for the WA government," he told reporters in Tasmania on Monday. "But we don't go into the security dimensions in any more detail than that."

The local arm of the company had said previously that Australian customer data would never be handed over to Chinese spy agencies. Huawei Australia Chairman John Lord told the National Press Club last month the company obeys the law in the 170 countries in which it operates. He said while Chinese law requires companies to hand over information, it won't happen in Australia. The government spokeswoman said the ministers also met with Rio Tinto, the WA Trade Office, Austrade and the Shanghai Deputy Consul General as well as a visit to the Baosteel Port and Refinery during the 2015 trip. "As Sue Ellery and Rita Saffioti make clear in their reports this was a cross party delegation and the trip was a joint Australian Chinese Business Council/Huawei trip," she said.

“That is in complete contrast to Liberal MP Paul Miles, the then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Commerce, who did not disclose anywhere in his brief report that Huawei had invited him or whether the company covered any of the cost." Huawei's Australian corporate affairs director Jeremy Mitchell said the company "often invites Australian media, Australian business delegations and Australian MPs to our headquarters in China and our operations in Australia". "In this case we provided accommodation and temporary telephones with local SIM cards for an Australia China Business Council delegation that included West Australian MPs from both the Liberal Party and the Labor Party," he said. "At the time, the trip was fully disclosed to the WA Parliament by all MPs. "We do not apologise for endeavouring to build a better understanding of our company and the world-class technology we produce.

"We will continue to host and welcome people to our operations, in the same way as other businesses. Huawei is a global ICT leader and we welcome people taking the time to know us better and understand what we do. "We look forward to working with the WA Public Transport Authority to provide our world-class technology to the state’s rail network." – with Hamish Hastie