Coronavirus: China influencer Jean Dong’s firm up for $50,000 in Victorian funding

Influencer Jean Dong’s company is a registered provider in a Victorian scheme under which it could receiv­e lucrative payments.

Jean Dong. Picture: YouTube

Self-proclaimed influencer Jean Dong’s company is a registered provider in a Victorian government scheme under which it could receiv­e lucrative payments.

The Australian can reveal the 32-year-old’s Australia China Belt and Road Initiative is a registered service provider for Victoria’s Asian Gateway Voucher program.

This authorises ACBRI to receive one-off payments of up to $50,000 from the state government in return for providing local businesses with support in accessing the Asian market.

In a media release posted on Ms Dong’s now deleted LinkedIn page, ACBRI said the company’s registration reflected the “increasing formal recognition at the local and global level as an exceptional service provider with outstanding expertise and competencies in bilatera­l and multilateral trade and investment facilitation.”

Despite ACBRI being registered under the voucher program for more than two years, a spokesman for Victoria’s Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions said the company had yet to assist any businesses.

“Since the Asia Gateway Voucher program’s inception in early 2018, ACBRI has not assisted any businesses through the program, nor has it received any funds through the program,” he said.

ACBRI is one of 55 registered service providers under the Asia Gateway Voucher program.

The Australian has previously revealed that ACBRI was awarded two taxpayer-funded contracts in 2017-18 and 2019-20, totalling $36,850, to advise on China’s global­ commercial play.

The company has been heavily ­involved in promoting China’s Belt and Road Initiative to the ­Victorian government and business­ community, and in 2017 posted online that in May that year it had been “appointed as a consultant unit by the Premier of ­Victoria”.

ACBRI is not registered under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme and a spokesman for Ms Dong stressed the company was 100 per cent Australian-owned and funded.

“ACBRI is 100 per cent funded by Australia and Australians, and its objectives are to seek business opportunities for Australian companies­,” he said.

“There is no requirement for Australian organisations like this to be on a foreign influence register and, in case of any doubt, ACBRI sought and has received legal advice to that effect.”

Premier Daniel Andrew­s broke ranks with the federal government in Oct­ober 2018 when Victoria became­ the only Australian jurisdiction to sign an MOU with ­Beijing on the controversial BRI on trade and investment­, a scheme seen by Canberra as a vehicle for Chinese expansion.

CORRECTION: A report in The Australian on Thursday referenced six companies established by ACBRI’s Jean Dong. She established two of the companies, Spark Corporation Group and Winworld Australia. The other companies are not associated with Ms Dong.