ALP slams Daniel Andrews’ ‘secret’ China deal

Labor MPs have expressed alarm at Daniel Andrews’ move to sign up to a secret Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has ramped up his criticism of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ secret infrastructure deal with China and says the state leader should be more focused on law and order.

The Prime Minister rebuked the nation’s second-most populous state for joining Beijing’s global infrastructure program without consulting the federal government as senior Labor MPs expressed alarm at Mr Andrews’ move to sign up to a secret Belt and Road Initiative agreement with China.

Amid growing concerns over the strategic implications of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy initiative, a number of federal Labor MPs told The Australian they were astonished the Andrews government had decided to break ranks with federal Labor to back the controversial initiative.

“This must be stopped. Everyone knows that Andrews has messed up law and order in Victoria. He can’t now be allowed to mess up national security as well,” a senior Labor MP said.

Another warned it could help Beijing expand its influence in the state and take strategic stakes in key infrastructure projects.

“In the Pacific we know there are going to be concerns about some of the (BRI) loans and what China might take if the country can’t repay its loans,” the MP said.

“It is easy for Daniel to do ­because at the end of the day he can afford to be selfish about this because he is not going to have to look after the national interest.”

A third Labor figure said it was disappointing the Andrews government had decided to ignore federal party policy, given China’s human rights violations, disregard for the global rules-based order and predatory lending practices in developing countries.

The Labor figures spoke to The Australian on the condition of anonymity, fearing they could damage the Andrews government’s prospects at the November 24 state election.

The Prime Minister criticised Victoria for signing the MOU without raising the issue with the federal government. He said ­matters of inter­national relations were ­the ­responsibility of the ­federal government. “I would have hoped that the Victorian government would have taken a more co-operative ­approach to that process,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison said Mr Andrews should release his memorandum of understanding with China to Victorian voters, who go to the polls on November 24

He also said foreign policy was a federal issue and Mr Andrews should focus on policing and crime. The Victorian Liberals have been running hard on law and order in the lead-up to the state election.

“Foreign policy is the domain of the federal government. I should give him a few tips on how to run his police force down there because if you’re living in Victoria, he hasn’t been doing a pretty crash hot job on that,” Mr Morrison said.

“If want to start going over each other’s lines and giving advice about how we should run each other’s shows, we don’t we have a police force in Victoria like the one we have in NSW.”

Mr Morrison’s criticisms of Mr Andrews’ China deal are a break with Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Trade Minister Simon Birmingham. Both ministers welcomed the BRI deal earlier this week.

Senator Payne will head to Beijing today for meetings with senior officials. It is the first time a foreign minister has visited the Chinese capital in two and a half years.

The Victorian Premier announced late last month that Victoria had signed a BRI memo­randum of understanding with China’s ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye, saying the deal would deliver jobs and investment. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg demanded Mr Andrews release details of the “secret” deal.

“Victorians are entitled to ask, what does (Daniel Andrews) have to hide?” the Treasurer said.

Former Labor defence minister Stephen Conroy — who remains influential in the Victorian Right — last night told Sky News he was “surprised” by the deal and it should not be kept secret.

“China is playing Australia on a break at the moment,” he said. “It likes to punish, likes to reward, it likes to play favourites. And it is playing people off each other.”

Mr Conroy said the MOU ­allowed for Victorian companies to bid for work when China undertakes infrastructure projects in the region. The Morrison government and federal Labor have both ruled out signing up to the BRI, declaring potential investments under the initiative should be examined on a case-by-case basic with a high degree of caution.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, who are both visiting China this week, earlier welcomed the Victorian decision, amid a thaw in relations between Beijing and Canberra.

Labor’s acting foreign affairs spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, said he understood the Victorian MOU was a “consultation mechanism”.

Mr Dreyfus said federal Labor would examine each BRI project on its merits and noted the program could help address an infrastructure shortfall in the region.

“But to maximise the benefit and ensure the sustainability of these investments, projects should be transparent, conform to environmental and social safeguards, and not place unsustainable debt burdens on regional countries, and not burden countries with unsustainable debt,” Mr Dreyfus said.

A senior Victorian government source claimed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was informed of the state’s negotiations.

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie, the chair of the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and ­security, said Victoria was ­“secretly trading away Australian sovereignty”. Victorian MP Tim Wilson said Mr Andrews did not consider the national interest “in doing this secret deal with China”.

“They must be chortling in Beijing that even after the end of the Cold War there are still useful ­idiots like Dan Andrews in countries like ours,” Mr Wilson said.

Clive Hamilton, whose book ­Silent Invasion details Beijing’s sophisticated campaign to extend its influence in Australia, said the Andrews government’s decision was “wilful naivety” that “represents a break in solidarity in resisting the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in Australia”.

Rory Medcalf, head of ANU’s National Security College, said Victoria had delivered a propaganda victory to China, signalling Australian states would “bit-by-bit succumb to the charms of the BRI”. “It’s pretty unhealthy for a state government to be formulating a secret international agreement on a controversial initiative at odds with their own party’s position, and without consulting the commonwealth,” Professor Medcalf said.

He added that, if investments under the agreement were commercially viable, “why on earth wouldn’t they be transparent?”

With Richard Ferguson