Victorian election: Daniel Andrews ready to release detail of China MOU

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is to release the details of his deal with China to support the Belt and Road Initiative.

Matthew Guy with John Howard in Melbourne yesterday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is set to release the details of his deal with China to support the controversial Belt and Road Initiative.

The Weekend Australian understands the Victorian government will release the memorandum of understanding it signed with Beijing within days, after pressure from Scott Morrison and Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy to make the deal public.

A Victorian government source said the document would be released “as soon as possible” to combat allegations the agreement had any strategic implications.

The Weekend Australian has been told the MOU is full of “motherhood statements” and does not actually offer any firm commitments to support Chinese regional infrastructure projects.

“There are no firm commitments to do anything other than look at opportunities or work together where possible,” a senior source told The Weekend Australian. “It is about intent.”

Mr Andrews had previously ­refused to release the agreement, arguing it was standard for MOUs between Australian and international governments to be kept confidential.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Yesterday, John Howard implored Mr Andrews to focus on ­issues affecting the daily lives of Victorians rather than chase deals with foreign governments, in a broadside against China’s BRI.

The former Liberal prime minister travelled to Melbourne yesterday to lend star power to Mr Guy’s state election campaign, with the pair visiting two shopping centres in Melbourne’s east to talk to constituents.

As the Premier toured Bendigo in regional Victoria, where he continued to face questioning on the MOU with China, Mr Howard hit out at secrecy over the deal.

“Why is it not out in the open?” he said. “Even Bill Shorten and Richard Marles seem to think there’s something off about a government that in a way is acting out of its station by trying to make a deal with another country … I think there’s growing concern about that sort of behaviour.”

Mr Howard appeared on the campaign trail the day after Malcolm Turnbull’s appearance on ABC’s Q&A program, but ­remained tight-lipped on the former prime minister.

While some Victorian Liberals have said they believe the federal leadership spill has cruelled the party’s chances in the coming state election, Mr Howard bucked the party line.

“I think people distinguish (between state and federal parties), they always have,” he said. “Now obviously the federal Liberal Party have been through ups and downs, but I think Scott Morrison has gotten off to an excellent start.

“But I’ve seen a long history of people voting differently in state and federal elections from the same part of the country, and this idea that people vote in unison ­irrespective of state and federal votes has been disproved time without number.”

Mr Howard admitted the Victorian Coalition faced a steep challenge trying to unseat a first-term Labor government.drws