‘Hypocritical’ Liberals called on to release details of China deal

The federal opposition has ­accused the government of hypocrisy for refusing to release the text of a deal with Beijing.

Scott Morrison has called on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews to release details of an agreement he signed with China. Picture: AAP

The federal opposition has ­accused the government of hypocrisy for refusing to release the text of a deal with Beijing over infrastructure co-operation while demanding the Victorian government do the same with its agreement over China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Scott Morrison, Josh Frydenberg and Defence Minister Christopher Pyne have said Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews should release details of the memorandum of understanding between his state and China.

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

Mr Pyne echoed the sentiment, saying: “If he’s got nothing to hide with respect to the MoU, then he should be prepared to releas­e them.’’

Labor’s acting foreign affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said the government was not being consistent. “His own government has signed a memorandum of understanding with China on BRI projects in third countries that they are refusing to make public.

“Is Mr Frydenberg also accus­ing his own government of hiding information? Or was he just being a hypocrite?”

Last year former trade minister Steven Ciobo signed a deal with China over co-operation on building infrastructure in third countries, which reportedly includes those built under the BRI.

Earlier this week, the current Trade Minister, Simon Birmingham, said Australia already had an MoU that involved infrastructure co-operation with China. There are very few details available about the agreement.

Mr Andrews said there was nothing unusual about the government keeping the contents of an MOU with China confidential and pointed out that the federal government had not released the text of last year’s deal. “There was a similar agreement signed by the federal government last year, admittedly it was under Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, and the same protocol was applied there,” he said. The Premier appeared to suggest he was simply complying with protocol.

The federal government has previously declined to publicly release an MoU Australia signed with China on Antarctic co-operation. Asked whether it would now move to release all its MoUs with China, including last year’s on infrastructure co-operation, a government spokesman declined to directly answer.

“Australia routinely enters into non-binding instruments with other nations. Any decision to release such an instrument is made in consult­ation with the relevant partner on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

No other state or territory has signed an MoU with China over the BRI so far, but the West Australian government has not ruled out the prospect. “A formal offer has not been put directly to the state government and any MoU would need to be considered on its merit and be in the interests of Western Australian jobs and the WA local economy,” a spokeswoman for Premier Mark McGowan said.

Spokespeople for the Tas­man­ian, Northern Territory, South Australian and Queensland governments said the governments were not considering signing an MoU with China over the BRI.