The Andrews Government’s decision to go “behind the Commonwealth’s back” and sign an infrastructure deal with China will be viewed “dimly” by the public, Liberal backbencher Tim Wilson says.
Victoria has gone it alone on signing up for China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure scheme, a decision which has been panned by the federal Coalition. Premier Daniel Andrews said the memorandum of understanding, signed in 2018, was about promoting job growth in the state. But Liberal MP Tim Wilson told Sky News “if this was about jobs … the deal should have gone through the proper process with the Commonwealth”.
“Well if it was all about jobs then he would have had no problem going through each step with the Commonwealth government,” he said. “The Commonwealth has responsibility for relationships with other countries and when you come to a state government going behind effectively the Commonwealth’s back to go and do deals with … the Chinese communist party, the public takes a pretty dim view.
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