'Flagrantly reckless': Victoria signed China infrastructure deal without consulting DFAT
- Alleged Corrupt Politician Full Name: Daniel Andrews
- Politician Position Held at time of Alleged Corruption: Victorian Premier
- Details of Corrupt Practise engaged in (briefly): National Security
- Date of Corrupt Act: 2019-10-01
- Political Party at time of Act: Labour
- Type of Corruption: National Security
- Details
- Category: Corrupt Politicians
- Created: Tuesday, 26 May 2020 11:10
- Written by Anthony Galloway - Sydney Morning Herald
Victoria did not consult the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before signing a controversial infrastructure deal with the Chinese government last year, leaving senior officials concerned it could undermine Australia's push to counter Beijing's growing influence in the region.
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald can reveal Australia's chief foreign policy makers were blindsided by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' announcement that he had signed the "framework agreement" tying the state to China's Belt and Road Initiative on October 23.
Premier Daniel Andrews signed the agreement with China in October last year without showing DFAT.
Senior sources within the Australian government have also confirmed DFAT had warned the Victorian government that it was Australia's policy not to sign on to the BRI in the months leading up to the agreement being inked.
While Victoria briefly consulted DFAT on an earlier memorandum of understanding with Beijing in 2018, and made some changes based on its advice, the Andrews government decided not to show the draft version of the more substantial framework agreement to the Commonwealth a year later before signing it.
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A DFAT spokesman said the federal government was not consulted ahead of Victoria's 2019 deal with China. "Victoria advised the department of the framework agreement on the day it was signed and announced," the spokesman said.
The agreement formally tied Victoria to the BRI, Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy agenda to bankroll infrastructure around the world, which often directly benefits Chinese firms. China has been criticised by some governments including the United States for engaging in "debt-trap diplomacy" under the scheme, whereby developing countries are loaded with unsustainable debts with the intention of extracting economic or political concessions.
There are now widespread concerns within the federal government over the prospect of Victorian firms teaming up with Chinese companies on deals in the Pacific, which could push island nations further into debt to pay for uneconomic infrastructure projects. Australia has launched its Pacific "step up" partly in response to Beijing's growing influence in the region.
Under the deal, Chinese firms will be encouraged to set up shop in Victoria and be given help to bid for projects, while Victorian companies would be looked upon favourably when bidding for contracts in third party countries under the BRI.
Executive director at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings said there was a serious risk of Victorian companies directly contributing to Beijing's debt diplomacy in the Pacific under the agreement.
Mr Jennings said the Andrews government's actions "have been flagrantly reckless and undermines a bipartisan Australian foreign policy position".
"Daniel Andrews seems determined to ignore federal leadership in this area, which is mandated by the constitution. In not seeking federal advice he is choosing to be fully ignorant of Australian national security concerns," Mr Jennings said.
There have been escalating tensions in the trade war between China and Australia over calls for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus.
"Ultimately BRI is a political strategy designed to further the aims and interests of the Chinese Communist Party.
"One CCP aim is to increase the dependency of developing states on China. This objective runs counter to Australian interests and counter to the interests of developing countries. Australian companies should avoid being drawn into a CCP strategy."
John Blaxland, professor of international security and intelligence studies at the Australian National University, said the Victorian government's decision not to show the draft agreement to DFAT was "quite extraordinary and almost adversarial".
"Victoria has a right to operate the way it wants to within limits, but it's just not constructive to take this approach," he said.
Asked whether it consulted DFAT on the wording of the framework agreement, a spokeswoman for the Victorian government said it routinely engaged with the federal department, "as do each of our 22 international offices".
"When it comes to China, we have enjoyed a close working relationship with the Australian embassy in Beijing and DFAT," the spokeswoman said.
Some federal and state Labor MPs were on Tuesday disappointed with the party's former Victorian deputy campaign director, Kosmos Samaras, for suggesting the BRI agreement helped the Andrews government win the 2018 state election.
In comments reported in The Age on Tuesday, Mr Samaras said the politics of the agreement helped swing votes in three Coalition-held seats with a high number of Chinese-Australians.
One Labor MP told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald it was a "bad look to be bragging about ignoring national security advice to win a few votes".
Asked about Mr Samaras' comments, Labor's federal deputy leader Richard Marles on Tuesday said: "I'll let Victoria speak for themselves."
He added: "But let me make this clear: a future Labor government would not be signing a Belt and Road agreement with China.
"When we engage in diplomacy and foreign policy, particularly when we're talking about a relationship as complex as that which we have with China, it's really important that it's done on its own terms, that it's not a function of domestic politics."
Source : https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/flagrantly-reckless-victoria-signed-china-infrastructure-deal-without-consulting-dfat-20200526-p54wfn.html
