Media Barred From Australian Premier’s Address to Chinese Dinner

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to media at the Parliament of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, on May 18, 2023. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

Victorian state leader Daniel Andrews will not release speech notes from an address he delivered to Chinese dignitaries at Melbourne’s Park Hyatt on June 6.

The Labor premier’s decision comes after a reporter from the Herald Sun newspaper was barred from entering the Post-Pandemic China-Australia Economic Cooperation Forum, where Andrews spoke for 30 minutes.

There is now pressure on the Victorian premier to release a transcript of his speech—standard practice for political leaders.

“I didn’t use notes. I spoke off the cuff,” he told reporters on June 7.

“It’s often my practice, to the enduring frustration of my staff, I didn’t necessarily refer to them.”

Andrews said he would have allowed media to attend but said the organisers were against it.

“Is there even a need to ask me whether I support the media having access to me,” he said. “I’ve done more press conferences than most, perhaps more than anyone.”

“If you have a challenge or a problem or issues in relation to the event, then the event organisers would be the logical place to go.”

Andrews notably fronted the media for 120 consecutive days during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chinese event was also attended by Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp and former federal trade minister Andrew Robb.

Capp spoke about Melbourne City Council’s partnerships with Chinese cities Tianjin, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, and Chengdu—according to the Herald Sun —and also spoke about Chinese migrants settling in Melbourne during the gold rush.

Chinese Intelligence Connected to Event

The event was co-hosted by the Melbourne branch of the China Chamber of Commerce and the China Institute for Innovation and Development Strategy, which Victorian federal Senator James Paterson said was a front for Beijing’s intelligence operations.

“It’s a think tank in China ... sounds pretty innocuous, and anodyne even,” he told Sky News Australia on June 6.

“In fact, that’s which [security expert] Alex Joske’s demonstrated in his book, Spies and Lies, has intimate connections to the Ministry of State Security, China’s principal foreign intelligence collection agency, the equivalent of China’s CIA,” he said.

“Why is a group or an intelligence agency sponsoring a business forum in Melbourne? And why is Daniel Andrews speaking at it and locking out the media?”

Concerns Over Premier’s China Activities

Andrews has earlier been criticised for not inviting the media to follow him during a surprise four-day visit to China in April.

The premier was the first Australian leader to visit China since the pandemic and since bilateral ties took a nosedive following calls from former Prime Minister Scott Morrison for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

“There are a number of questions that certainly need to be asked, firstly, to understand what is the benefit of this trip to Victoria and to Victorians,” said Deputy Opposition Leader David Southwick.

“What will Daniel Andrews be doing when he’s over there, and why has he been so secretive about this particular trip?” he said.

Michael Shoebridge, director of Strategic Analysis Australia, said there was a risk that Andrews was nothing more than a pawn to the Chinese Communist Party leadership.

“There is still a high risk that Beijing sees Andrews as a useful and uncritical pro-China voice in Australia’s domestic debate that they can use to drive wedges in the country’s national approach to China,” he previously told The Epoch Times.

“How Premier Andrews and the federal government manage this risk will be shown by Andrews’ openness about his visit, and by Canberra not simply boasting the idea of a return of large numbers of Chinese tourists and students.”