Liberal defector Martin Hamilton-Smith has defended last week’s 250-strong Government-led trade mission to China, attacking his former colleagues for “playing politics” with the venture.

Around 160 business representatives paid their own way on the trip, joining around 90 from state and local government. The Opposition was not invited.

But Trade Minister Hamilton-Smith bemoaned the Liberals’ approach to the issue, telling parliament yesterday: “Trade and investment initiatives…should be bipartisan, because that is about jobs, jobs, jobs, particularly for farmers”.

“If you are bipartisan, we will involve you in everything,” he called across the chamber.

However, he didn’t altogether rise above politics himself, dubbing his former colleague David Ridgway “Sir Lunchalot…who seems to have interrupted his long lunch to criticise the Government yet again for being involved in overseas trips”.

In an opinion piece published by News Corp last week, Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said international trade missions to Asia had Liberal support, but suggested there would be a greater benefit in re-opening permanent trade offices.

However, Hamilton-Smith dismissed the suggestion as over-expensive and ineffective.

“Setting up expensive overseas offices that drain money out of our trade and export initiatives into setting up people and offices and infrastructure all around the world (will) effectively do nothing,” he said.

“But that is what the Leader of the Opposition wants to reinstitute. He has now committed the Opposition to it; it is one of their policies. It will cost millions, probably tens of millions, and all of it will go away from initiatives that actually create jobs, jobs, jobs.”

Hamilton-Smith said the Labor Government was “actually doing what the Opposition is not doing, or cannot do, and that is setting about a program of actions to make sure that farmers, food producers, winemakers, aquaculture industry operators, manufacturers and service industry providers are all given the opportunity to export their goods and services overseas”.

“One of the first steps I have taken as Minister for Investment and Trade is to organise a calendar of regular outbound and inbound missions to China,” he said.

“We would be delighted to have the Opposition come on a trip if they would show some bipartisanship, some good-spirit…and not use it as an opportunity to score political points, and I fear that is exactly what they will do.”

Hamilton-Smith has evidently had a change of heart about his bipartisan approach to international trade; as his then-party’s spokesman in 2010, he railed against former Premier Mike Rann’s visits to Italy – where he now lives as Australia’s ambassador – calling for “full disclosure” into funding for the Premier’s “pet projects”.