Is Victoria already a vassal state of China? Judging by the behaviour of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) that is how it looks. The MCEC is the largest convention centre in Australia. It is refusing to host a performance by Shen Yun, a troupe of artists that celebrate traditional Chinese culture which is organised by the Falun Dafa Association of Australia (FDAA). Why? MCEC refuses to say other than to cite unspecified ‘security’ concerns.

What possible security concerns could the convention centre have about Shen Yun? The performance is no more threatening than Disney on Ice. Why would it object to Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong? Most Australians are familiar with its adherents because they do tai chi-style exercises in parks or meditate under banners proclaiming Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance. Are these values really a threat to Australian society? Of course not.

The unsavoury truth is that the only entity that sees Falun Dafa as a threat is the Chinese Communist party (CCP). It launched a bloodthirsty campaign to eradicate Falun Dafa in 1999 when the spiritual movement grew to 100 million practitioners making it larger than the CCP. Hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of its Chinese followers have been detained in camps. The campaign includes arbitrary arrest, forced re-education, psychiatric abuse, forced labour, physical torture, death and organ-harvesting. The persecution has been documented by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and investigative journalists such as Ian Johnson, whose coverage earned him a Pulitzer Prize. The campaign is also waged abroad with CCP operatives spying on the Chinese diaspora, subjecting them to harassment and violence and pressuring foreign governments to discriminate against them.

Given the barbaric methods that the CCP uses against Falun Dafa, it is appalling that Australian officials would kowtow to the Chinese government on this matter. But that is what appears to be happening.

In years gone by, Shen Yun has performed in Melbourne’s Regent Theatre, Palais, and in 2016 in the state-owned Victorian Arts Centre. But this week, the Victorian branch of the FDAA announced that it is taking legal action against the MCEC in the Human Rights division of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). It claims that the convention centre is guilty of religious discrimination and is refusing to allow Shen Yun to perform because the Victorian government doesn’t want to offend the CCP.

The MCEC was built by the government of former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett and is known as ‘Jeff’s Shed’.

It is managed by a statutory authority, that is answerable to and funded by the Victorian state government. The chairman of its management trust is a former prominent Labor politician who served on the board of Chinese telco Huawei for eight years and was also president of the Australia China Business Council for several years. At the time he said he looked forward to staying engaged in Australia-China relations through various board roles including with an Australian university.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has made no secret of his ardent desire to curry favour with the CCP. His six-day visit to China at the end of March was the first by an Australian leader since the pandemic. The visit was shrouded in secrecy but since the state government faces enormous blowouts in its construction projects, many built by companies whose owners are based in China, there was speculation that Andrews hopes to renegotiate the contracts.

Andrews was criticised even by his usual cheer squad for refusing to take any journalists on the trip. He told the media that they weren’t required because he wouldn’t be making announcements about investments as if the only purpose of the media was to report his PR stunts. This visit, he told the press, was about ‘sending the clearest message that we value this partnership’ stating that although the relationship with China has always been important to him ‘arguably it’s more important than ever’.

As a result, the only Australian journalist in China at the time of Andrews’ visit was Chinese-born Victorian Cheng Lei who has been held in a Chinese prison since August 2020, charged with ‘illegally supplying state secrets overseas’. It is a year since her case was heard in a closed trial and she still hasn’t received a verdict. Andrews was unapologetic about refusing to raise her case with the Chinese government.

Victoria is not the only state where Falun Dafa has been unable to book a state-owned venue but in Queensland, QPAC didn’t make the mistake of allowing a booking and then cancelling it. It simply said that it was fully booked for several years. Labor Premier Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk plans to visit China later this year.

In Perth, Shen Yun received confirmation from the Perth Theatre Trust for a performance in March 2020 but was eventually told the request had been declined.

The Labor Minister for Arts said he didn’t get involved in the decision but documents released under freedom of information laws show that he sought advice from the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation’s China adviser before deciding against intervening in the matter. The taxpayer-owned State Theatre Centre in Perth went further, apologising to the Chinese government after it allowed a Taiwanese performing arts group to hire its facilities in 2020.

The only places in which Shen Yun is performing this year are NSW, South Australia and Canberra. All had Liberal governments in power, or a federal Liberal government in power in the case of Canberra, at the time the bookings were made.

Given that there are wall-to-wall Labor governments on the mainland, Australians who want to see Shen Yun perform should probably book seats for the remaining performances in Sydney and Canberra. They may not have the opportunity again for a while.