Victorian Premier’s China trip an exercise in distancing herself from Daniel Andrews
The Victorian Premier is under huge scrutiny over exactly what she’s doing in China in the wake of Dan Andrews’ disturbing class photo with dictators.
The spectre of Daniel Andrews will not leave Jacinta Allan alone.
The Victorian Premier is in China, holding out her hat for investment in a state crippled by debt thanks in large part to her predecessor’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Her five cities in five days tour is focussing on business with Beijing. She is saying all the right things — “In Victoria, we have not turned our backs to China — we have turned to face it,” she said in a speech this week.
But she can’t escape Mr Andrews who just two weeks before her carefully curated trip to China was pictured in Beijing in a disturbing class photo with dictators including Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin.
She also can’t escape rumours that the visit to Beijing is a bid to make up some of the $34 billion required to deliver the state’s most infamous infrastructure project — the severely-underfunded and unpopular Suburban Rail Loop.
That project is a legacy of the Andrews Government who described it as the state’s “biggest public transport project in history”.
The project’s big promise is to cut out the need for Victorians to travel from suburban centres through the city before connecting to other lines — a longstanding bugbear for commuters. But consecutive iterations of the Labor Government have failed to fund it.
Asked whether she was in China to secure Chinese funds to pay for the 90 kilometres of trackwork, 12 stations and an airport link, the Premier balked more than once.
“We’ll be having more announcements to make over the course of the week,” she told reporters when they asked the first time.
“We’ll be having more to say over the course of this week,” she said when asked again.
The problem — and the reason critics are worried about China being linked to the SRL — is again linked to Daniel Andrews.
Rewind to 2021 when Mr Andrews was still Premier.
He had two years earlier signed a deal with China under the Belt and Road initiative to fast-track major infrastructure projects. Chinese infrastructure companies would be granted access to Victoria under the deal.
Critics called the move debt-trap diplomacy and in a bombshell announcement the Federal Government scuppered the deals.
Then-Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the deals made at state level were “inconsistent with Australia’s foreign policy or adverse to our foreign relations”.
There were major concerns at a federal level that the deals were a national security risk because they weakened their ability to set terms for key international relationships.
The move blew up in the then-Premier’s face and led to a storm in Beijing where Chinese social media users let loose and Chinese business leaders called it a “stupid move”.
Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor this week demanded Ms Allan come clean about her intentions.
“When Labor sends Victoria broke with more debt than NSW, Queensland and Tasmania combined, she needs to go out with the begging bowl and look for money,” he told 3AW.
“I think it’s inappropriate that we see a repeat of the Belt and Road fiasco that we saw under Dan Andrews.”
Saxon Davidson from conservative thinktank the Institute of Public Affairs — which has links to the Liberal Party — said this: “We’ll be selling away our generations through debt to the Chinese Government if they were to invest in the Suburban Rail Loop.
“Plain and simple this is Belt and Road initiative progressed and revived by the Allan Government from the Daniel Andrews era.”
Ms Allan, for her part, is doing everything possible to deflect.
Asked about Mr Andrews’ meet and greet with leaders from China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, she said it is a “good” thing for Victoria.
“It is good for Victoria that Daniel Andrews is held in such high regard by the people of China,” she said in a statement.
“Victoria is an old friend of China and these connections are so valuable for our state.”
The ABC has this week labelled the SRL the “elephant in the room” in Ms Allan’s visit to China.
As The Age reported in May, Victoria’s debt will cost taxpayers $36 billion over the next four years.
That is the equivalent of the cost to deliver the entire first stage of the massive project.
It would be easier to swallow if the project was something Victorians wanted, but as a recent survey revealed, it is not.
A poll published in February revealed that just 16 per cent of voters supported the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure proposal.
The Chinese visit is not just about infrastructure. The Premier’s office is spinning the trip as the beginning of a “new golden era” that “renews Victoria’s friendship with China for the future”.
“Above all, it’s about education because nothing is more important to our economy,” she told Chinese business leaders this week while promising to boost international student numbers.
But there’s another reason for the visit and it has everything to do with who has joined her.
Alongside the Premier are five Labor MPs from Victorian seats with the largest Chinese Australian populations.
Paul Hamer from Box Hill, Matt Fregon from Ashwood, John Mullaly from Glen Waverley, Meng Heang Tak from Clarinda and Mat Hilakari from Point Cook have been posing for selfies while in China.
More than half a million Victorians have Chinese ancestry — and it’s a huge play ahead of the state election in 2026.
“We will generate new opportunities for Victoria’s unique and world-class offerings to reach the Chinese market, consolidate our strong reputation to attract talent and opportunity to Victoria, and continue to nurture those communities who already call Victoria home,” Ms Allan said.
We will find out soon whether that includes linking Beijing with the elephant in the room — the Suburban Rail Loop.
Originally published as Victorian Premier’s China trip an exercise in distancing herself from Daniel Andrews
