Mr China: Who would hire Andrews now?

Australia’s signatory to its free trade agreement with China, former trade minister Andrew Robb, says former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews’ “deeply selfish” decision to attend a Chinese military parade blurred what should be a clear line between our economic and political relationships with the rising global power.

As the dust settles on a series of tumultuous events in Beijing, where Chinese President Xi Jinping showed off his nation’s military hardware to the world and the former premier joined Xi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in a “family” photograph, Robb said Andrews’ presence sent a problematic message.

“I thought it was deeply selfish and inappropriate,” said Robb, who has extensive dealings with China through his business interests.

“There are two relationships with China. One is our commercial relationship, the other is a political relationship.

“The commercial relationship is as strong as we have with any country. The political relationship is focused on the relative security of the two countries. I don’t think we should be mixing the two.

“There are people in charge of the political relationship, and they have been elected by the people. We don’t elect businesspeople.”

Since quitting parliament two years ago, Andrews has established a consultancy that helps Australian companies access China and Chinese entrepreneurs invest in Australia. He has previously travelled to China as a representative of Fortescue boss Andrew Forrest and is also on the payroll of Anthony Pratt.

He was invited to China’s World War II commemorations due to his previous dealings with Beijing as Victorian premier, when he supported Xi’s Belt and Road initiative, but attended the parade and its associated formalities as a private citizen who does business in China.

Several commentators, including China experts, predicted that Andrews would cash in on his red carpet picture with Xi in his future consultancy work. “Those photographs are gold,” one experienced China watcher said.

Warwick Smith, a parliamentarian-turned company director dubbed “Mr China” for his previous roles as chairman of the Australia-China Council and founding chair of the National Foundation for Australia-Chinese Relations, wasn’t convinced.

He said that while some prospective Chinese investors might be impressed by Andrews’ access to Xi, state-owned enterprises and non-government businesses that invest on a global scale would be wary of the outcry in Australia provoked by Andrews’ attendance.

“They know that in some markets they will need help and guidance, but entrepreneurial Chinese like discretion, they don’t want a big splash,” Smith told this masthead. “If they want to do more things in Australia, it doesn’t help with regulatory issues to make your presence felt through a noisy middle man.

“The test for Daniel is who now would hire him in Australia to do a serious issue in China? He would know, and serious investors going into China would know, you still need community support and social licence from within Australia.”

Smith and Robb both served as federal Liberal MPs.

An irony is that until last week’s parade, Andrews’ business activities in China were discreet. Although he had appeared publicly at the Boao Forum for Asia alongside Forrest and at other major Chinese business gatherings, his Chinese client list and the projects he is backing are largely unknown.

Andrews’ business partner, his former Chinese community liaison and China policy adviser Marty Mei, is highly discreet and shuns media attention. This week, long-time associates of Andrews said they knew little of the former premier’s business dealings other than it involved frequent travel to China.

All that changed when a Getty Images photograph was published showing Andrews framed with Xi, Putin, Kim, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian and leaders from the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.

Former New Zealand prime ministers John Key and Helen Clark also attended the parade. Former NSW premier Bob Carr travelled to Beijing for the World War II commemorations but skipped the parade.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a former housemate of Andrews, distanced himself from his fellow Labor leader, saying it would have been inappropriate for himself to go to the parade or for a representative of his government to pose in the photograph. “It certainly is not something that I would have even thought of doing and no one in my government would have thought of doing.”

Victorian Deputy Premier Ben Carroll rebuked the judgment of his former boss. “Most Victorians will be asking: Is it worth it for self-interested business purposes to be having a photo standing behind Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin?”

Australia China Business Council president David Olsson, while not commenting on Andrews’ attendance at the parade or business interests, said the greatest demand for consultants with political connections tended to be from Chinese investors trying to access Australian markets.

“There are wealthy Chinese, Chinese companies and possibly Chinese [state-owned enterprises] which all have a desire to invest and do business in Australia,” he said. “A lot of them are frustrated that it is harder than they would like and seek the advice of people to try to speed along the process.

“Those consultants and facilitators largely fall into that camp of typically having cross-border experience with China, access to government and can at least give the impression they know what is going on at a policy level, and good, broad business experience, which is invaluable for any company.

“As you move up the value chain to more significant investors, they do tend to seek more sophisticated advice, and they will be very cognisant of issues around social licence and regulatory trends.”

Andrews has issued only a brief statement since the parade imbroglio, saying it was in Australia’s national interest to have a constructive relationship and reiterating his previous condemnation of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Andrews travelled to China four times during his decade-long stint as Victorian premier. In 2023, he was the first state leader to visit China after the pandemic.

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