Andrews ran the show out of his own office and department. The deal was kept a closely guarded affair, with Andrews and then-secretary of Department of Premier and Cabinet, Chris Eccles, intimately involved in the process. The jobs department, along with the then-trade minister Philip Dalidakis, were sidelined.

With fanfare, the Victorian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese government on October 8, 2018, and a later “framework” agreement on October 23, 2019. While DFAT was consulted on the first agreement, it never saw the second deal until it was announced in the media. The deals signed Victoria onto China’s $1.5 trillion global infrastructure initiative, allowing for Chinese investment in Victoria and for Victorian companies to participate in Chinese government projects overseas under the Belt and Road Initiative banner. Neither deal was ever approved by Andrews’ cabinet.

This week, all that work came crashing down. The federal government announced on Wednesday night it had cancelled the two Victorian deals made under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy, on the grounds that they contradicted Australia’s national interest.

Andrews ran the show out of his own office and department. The deal was kept a closely guarded affair, with Andrews and then-secretary of Department of Premier and Cabinet, Chris Eccles, intimately involved in the process. The jobs department, along with the then-trade minister Philip Dalidakis, were sidelined.

With fanfare, the Victorian government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese government on October 8, 2018, and a later “framework” agreement on October 23, 2019. While DFAT was consulted on the first agreement, it never saw the second deal until it was announced in the media. The deals signed Victoria onto China’s $1.5 trillion global infrastructure initiative, allowing for Chinese investment in Victoria and for Victorian companies to participate in Chinese government projects overseas under the Belt and Road Initiative banner. Neither deal was ever approved by Andrews’ cabinet.

This week, all that work came crashing down. The federal government announced on Wednesday night it had cancelled the two Victorian deals made under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy, on the grounds that they contradicted Australia’s national interest.