While he was Minister for Trade and Investment, Robb approved Chinese company Shandong Landbridge Group to lease Port Darwin for 99 years.

Robb became deputy director of the Liberal Party before being appointed chief of staff to Andrew Peacock, then Leader of the Opposition, in 1989.

[6] In 2004, he was comfortably elected to the safe Liberal seat of Goldstein in Melbourne and was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs on 27 January 2006.

Robb argued that a formal citizenship test would be a clear incentive for aspiring citizens to have basic English language skills and understanding of their community.

Following a front-bench re-shuffle in March 2010, Robb was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction, a post previously held by Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce, and chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee.

[9] He was re-elected at the 2010 election and was appointed Shadow Minister for Finance, Deregulation and Debt Reduction and retained his position as chairman of the Coalition Policy Development Committee.

[12] Robb is also the co-publisher of The Party Room alongside Senator Mitch Fifield,[citation needed] a journal designed to promote new policy discussion within the Federal Coalition.

He is the Chairman of Asialink and CNSDose, and a strategic advisor to Beef Innovations Australia, as well as a range of national and international businesses.

Robb attributed his departure to an atmosphere increasingly critical of the Chinese government;[22] it was also noted that had he remained in the position he would have had to register as a foreign agent, due to changes in legislation enacted in 2019.

[23] As of 2020, Robb serves as a director on the board of Mind Medicine Australia,[24] a not-for-profit organisation which promotes the introduction of psychedelic treatments for mental illnesses.