manly al
First Grader
Think that it would have been more on an individual basis or in some lobbyist capacity .Everyone understands he was there as a government representative just like the Abbott gov sent someone (a minister) previously?
Australian Gov had some junior diplomacy reps there , the Ambassador , conveniently visiting another part of China
But yeah , apparently 10 years ago ,the then Coalition govt had an actual minister attend a similar event
Raised some eyebrows when Dan Andrews attended a more select gathering but guess it would be up to him to state his reasons for that