Australians were shocked this week to see former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews standing shoulder to shoulder with dictators and despots at a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military parade in Tiananmen Square. This was no harmless cultural event. It was a show of force designed to intimidate the West, to remind the world that Beijing is armed and ambitious, and that those who cosy up to the regime can expect favour.
Among those present were Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian. And there, smiling alongside them, was Andrews – the man who once signed Victoria up to Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative in defiance of Australia’s national interest.
The CCP’s military parades are not benign pageantry. They are calculated theatre, designed to project power and normalise China’s claim to global dominance. Hypersonic missiles, stealth fighters and naval “anti-access” systems were all on display. These weapons are not built for self-defence; they are built to threaten Taiwan, the South China Sea, and any nation that dares to resist Beijing’s unlawful expansionism.
As former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned, the CCP is not content with being a regional power – it seeks global domination. For Andrews to lend legitimacy to such a display was reckless and wrong. His presence helped Xi Jinping convey exactly the message he wanted: that China’s rise is inevitable and endorsed by international figures, even from the West.
This is not just about symbolism. Reports show Andrews has extensive private business interests in China, interests that stand to benefit from his ongoing “friendship” with Beijing. His new venture, Wedgetail Partners, is marketed on the back of his connections with the Chinese regime. Access and influence add up to dollars for Andrews, but the price for Australia is the erosion of our sovereignty and the undermining of our alliances.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was right to confirm that no representative of the Australian Government would have attended the parade. Yet the fact that one of Labor’s most prominent former leaders and a close personal friend of the PM was there, clasping Xi’s hand and sitting among despots, speaks volumes about the moral blindness that pervades our politics.
Family First says clearly: Australia must stand firm against authoritarianism. We must support freedom, not tyranny. Daniel Andrews may wish to be an “old friend” of the CCP, but Australians must never forget that its guns are pointed at us.