Dan Andrews forced to defend Chinese Victory Day attendance, claims he is no friend of Putin

Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has broken his silence to defend his attendance at a Chinese military parade alongside Russian, North Korean and Iranian leaders.

It comes after mounting scrutiny which left Anthony Albanese and successor Jacinta Allan to face a barrage of questions as to why they hadn’t condemned his controversial visit.

“I was invited to Beijing for the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II,” he said in a statement on Thursday.

“I’ve said for years that a constructive relationship with China, our largest trading partner, is in Australia’s national interest and hundreds of thousands of Australian jobs depend on it. That hasn’t changed.

“And just so there’s no confusion, I have condemned Putin and his illegal war in Ukraine from day one. That’s why he banned me from Russia last year.”

Mr Albanese had dodged questions and played down Mr Andrews appearance, where he was photographed a few rows back from North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Opposition leader Sussan Ley opened Thursday’s Question Time to accuse the PM of “not having the spine” to condemn “his former flatmate” for “posing in photos with the Iranian President”.

It comes less than a week after Iran’s Ambassador to Australia was booted out of the country after it was found Iran orchestrated anti-Semitic attacks on Australian soil.

The Prime Minister’s response circled around directly answering questions on Mr Andrews’ visit, instead initially responding to label the Coalition as “delulu”.

He declared the government undertook “decisive action” after the Iran interference was proved and said Australia stands for democracy, human rights and liberty.

“I haven’t, and never will, meet Vladimir Putin. I haven’t and never will meet the leader of North Korea as well, and we will give every support to people fighting for democracy right around the world. That’s my government’s approach,” he said.

Coalition then pressed PM and his Attorney General Michelle Rowland why Mr Andrews hadn’t registered on Australia’s foreign influence transparency scheme register.

A person or entity engaged with a foreign government related entity or individual is required to register. Failure to register is an offence and penalties apply.

Among people listed as requested to register are “former Cabinet ministers and recent senior Commonwealth public officials”.

Other former politicians are registered on the list including former Prime Minister’s Tony Abbott, Kevin Rudd, and Malcolm Turnbull as well as ex-ministers Brendan Nelson, Christopher Pyne, and Alexander Downer.

Former NSW Premier Bob Carr had also initially planned to attend but appeared to get cold feet and pull out last minute after previously defending his China trip in the Sydney Morning Herald.

On Wednesday evening, he told ABC’s 7.30 that he didn’t attend the event and personally would have avoided photos with the dictators.

Mr Andrews had also been filmed in a conga line of leaders who walked down a red carpet to shake Chinese President Xi Jinping’s hand at the Tiananmen Square event

Mr Andrews hadn’t been the only former politician leader to attend the commemoration event — to mark 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War II — with New Zealand former leaders Helen Clark and John Key also there.

“Dan Andrews can speak for himself. He can defend himself. I certainly would have avoided them (the photos),” Mr Carr had said.

“I came here because the ambassador promised to deliver meetings with Chinese think tanks where I could talk about the problems.”

Ex-Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had described her fellow former COVID premier as a bridge too far, while former Labor leader Bill Shorten was among many to decline to weigh in.

While she didn’t front cameras on Thursday, Ms Allan in a statement backed his visit, saying: “It is good for Victoria that Daniel Andrews is held in such high regard by the people of China”.

It comes as Ms Allan is expected to lead a delegation to China at the end of this month and also release Victoria’s China Strategy.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas stopped short of a full rebuke but questioned Mr Andrews’ judgement.

“Look, Mr Andrews is a private citizen now he can speak for his own judgement. I wouldn’t have thought it was good judgement to be in the company of some of those people,” he told Sky News.

“I don’t always agree with all of my colleagues on all sides of politics. There’s often points of difference. And clearly this is a pretty stark one.”

Nationals MP Michael McCormack went as far to label it “treason” and Opposition home affairs spokesperson Andrew Hastie called it a “parade for dictators”.

In Question Time on Wednesday, the PM had argued that lower-level Australian diplomats were attendance.

Since leaving office, Mr Andrews has maintained his China connections. He has also engaged as a consultant with Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest mining company Fortescue, and established corporate entities Wedgetail Partners and Glencairn Street Pty Ltd.