Ahead of the 2018 Victorian state election, Premier Daniel Andrews claimed that the state's share of Chinese investment in Australia had more than tripled in the past four years. This is a fair call. Victoria's share of total Chinese investment in Australia has increased since 2014. However, as the figures relied on by Mr Andrews demonstrate, investments can be "lumpy", with significant fluctuations in different jurisdictions year-to-year. The figures themselves have limitations requiring interpretation. For example, in 2017, Victoria's share of total Chinese investment increased to 36 per cent, from 25 per cent in 2016. This increase was entirely underpinned by a single $3.4 billion deal in which Chinese coal company YanCoal acquired Rio Tinto subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries. Because Rio Tinto is headquartered in Melbourne, the investment was attributed to Victoria, even though the coal assets acquired are in NSW. For the sake of analysis, attributing this single, large acquisition to NSW rather than Victoria tells a different story, indicating Victoria's share of the total increased little between 2008 and 2017. Moreover, expressing the figures as a share of the national total, as Mr Andrews has done, tells us little about the dollar value of Chinese investment flowing to Victoria. Rather, it provides an indication of Victoria's performance relative to other states.
Verdict: Fair Call