Dan Andrews leaves office as a titan of Victorian politics - who drove conservatives to distraction
Daniel Andrews, who has announced he will step down after nearly nine years as premier, leaves office as a titan of Victorian politics.
- Daniel Andrews, who has announced he will step down after nearly nine years as premier, leaves office as a titan of Victorian politics.
- An activist premier, a gifted political communicator and a hard man of politics, he has been an enormously consequential leader and one of national significance.
- He is the fourth-longest serving premier in Victorian history, and the longest-serving Labor premier.
The hard man rises
- The first that it’s his natural style – Andrews is a classic strong leader, command and control is his modus operandi.
- Victoria’s infrastructure was run down and no longer fit for purpose, unable to cope with its booming population.
- Andrews understood that in Victoria, perhaps more than anywhere else in Australia, there was leeway to pursue a progressive social agenda.
- Read more:
'A political force of nature': despite scandals and a polarising style, can 'Dan' do it again in Victoria?
A democratic deficit
- On law and order, for example, his instincts were conservative.
- For example, on his watch discriminatory bail laws contributed to Indigenous Australians being incarcerated in disproportionate numbers.
- He has also chafed at being accountable, leading to a democratic deficit on his watch.
#IstandwithDan v #DictatorDan
- His daily press conferences during the darkest days of the crisis were eagerly watched across the nation.
- With the harshest and longest lockdowns in the country, social media gave the impression of a deeply polarised state: those who said #IstandwithDan and those who were enraged by #DictatorDan.
- Read more:
Strong political leaders are electoral gold – but the trick is in them knowing when to stand down
The Dan vacuum
- In more recent times his forcefulness had morphed into something darker.
- His going in that sense is a healthy thing: it will disturb the power relations that have centred on him.
- He will leave an enormous vacuum, both in the party he has led for 13 years and the government he’s led for nine.
- Whoever becomes premier will have to tackle some significant economic challenges, including ballooning infrastructure spending, and the fallout from massive COVID spending.