Former premier Daniel Andrews launches post-politics career

Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has kicked off his new career after a near-decade reign and is set to lean on some friends from overseas.

Daniel Andrews will use ties from China and the US as part of his new businesses.

Daniel Andrews has teamed up with his former adviser on China in a new business that aims to lure foreign investment to Victoria.

Mr Andrews has registered two companies in his first foray into the private sector since resigning as premier in September, called Glencairn Street Pty Ltd and Wedgetail Partners Pty Ltd.

While he is the sole director of both companies, financial documents show Wedgetail has a second shareholder as Zheng Wei, which is the name of Mr Andrews’s multicultural adviser while premier.

Mr Zheng, who is known as Marty Mei, accompanied the premier during frequent visits to China and was integral to the government’s policy on China, having once described his role as “providing true information about the Chinese community to the Premier”.

Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ next career move has been revealed (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Marty Mei Source: Marty Mei/SBS

He was a senior adviser to Mr Andrews when the then-premier signed Victoria up to China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative, which is a trillion-dollar infrastructure program aimed at expanding the Communist country’s influence around the globe. That deal was later torn up by the former Morrison Government.

The most recent trip Mr Andrews made to China as premier last year was shrouded in secrecy and included just two advisers, including Mr Zheng, and cost $82,000.

He said at the time that difficulty getting visas was one reason journalists were not invited, and his official report says “my travel aligns with government priorities to promote Victoria’s interests and capabilities with the state’s largest trading partner”.

Since retiring in September after almost nine years as premier, Mr Andrews has travelled to the US and held meetings with business figures in New York — including the owners of Crown Casin, Blackstone.

Mr Andrews and Mr Zheng did not respond to the Herald Sun.

Mr Zheng, who is known to colleagues as Marty Mei, is understood to have taken a redundancy from the premier’s private office in December, as a part of the premier’s private office (PPO) transition from Mr Andrews to current premier Jacinta Allan.

There are no rules against former MPs establishing businesses after a parliamentary career, unless they were a minister who is now a lobbyist and working in former portfolio areas.

One former Labor minister said this system may not apply to a premier anyway despite his overarching control of all portfolio areas, and that rules governing ex-MPs were a “farce”.

When he retired as premier last year, Mr Andrews indicated he would avoid jobs in the public sector after dedicating most of his life to politics.

Originally published as Former premier Daniel Andrews launches post-politics career