The crossbench senator Nick Xenophon has labelled the ministerial code of conduct meaningless after revelations that the former trade minister Andrew Robb took up a highly paid consultancy as he left office at the 2016 election.

Xenophon will ask the prime minister’s office to toughen up the ministerial code of conduct to expand the banned conduct from lobbying and meeting government officials to cover employment terms.

The code of conduct says for 18 months, former ministers should not lobby, advocate or have meetings with members of the government or the public service on any matter on which they have dealt with in the previous 18 months.

“The ministerial code is virtually meaningless,” Xenophon told Guardian Australia. “It not only fails pub test – you wouldn’t even be allowed entry to pub to fail the pub test.

“We need to look at employment directly related to former ministers, including transparency such as a requirement that any income received direct or directly should be disclosed over five years.”

Robb’s role has come under scrutiny after Four Corners revealed he accepted a job with the Chinese-owned Landbridge the day before the 2 July election – worth $880,000 a year plus expenses.

He stepped down as trade minister in February 2016. As a retiring MP, Robb’s remuneration and allowances stopped when the election was called on 9 May.

Landbridge won the 99-year lease for the Darwin port for $506m from the Northern Territory government in 2015. The decision caused consternation among some on the government benches as it did not require approval from the foreign investment review board.

Xenophon said he was making no allegations that Robb acted unethically but said the code, which sits under the prime minister’s responsibility, had to change.

“I am not suggesting Andrew Robb has behaved unethically – he has has acted completely within rules – but right now the rules need to be changed because they not only broken, they are laughable,” Xenophon said.

“What’s to stop an ex-minister directing a new employer as to exactly who to contract, how to contact and what pressure points exist in a government.

“They know what to raise to get a deal done and any weaknesses of a government’s approach, anything that can be exploited because of his or her knowledge.”



The special minister of state, Scott Ryan, has defended the code, saying it struck the right balance and he said Robb had not lobbied government as far as he knew. Robb is overseas and not commenting.

But the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said it was fair and reasonable for people to ask questions about Robb’s circumstances.

Robb is not the first former minister from either side of politics to go into well-paid jobs with large companies.

The former Labor resources minister Martin Ferguson became chairman of the advisory committee for the peak oil and gas industry association, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, six months after leaving politics.

The former resources minister Ian Macfarlane went to work for the Queensland Resources Council in a job he said was not lobbying, six months after Tony Abbott urged the mining industry to demonstrate their gratitude for scrapping the mining tax.