Daniel Andrews should have the guts to face tough questions

Daniel Andrews media ban on his toughest critics does him no favours but does he have the guts to overturn it?

Newly back at work and before the start of lockdown five, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews started this week doing a lap of honour by dropping into the studios of 3AW for a friendly chat.

It would have been more interesting to watch the body language in the corridors if the Premier had run into morning host Neil Mitchell.

Andrews has boycotted the highest rating serious talkback program in Australia for the past four years. His passively aggressive in person front-up this week would have driven Mitchell mad.

The veteran broadcaster has been the victim of political boycotts before – famously by senior Labor figures like Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.

Daniel Andrews refuses to appear on Neil Mitchell. Picture: David Geraghty

However most recently our former Premiers of Victoria were part of Neil’s influential people roster.

The immediate and past CEO’s of the AFL, various Lord Mayor’s and Police Commissioners and Premiers all the way back to Jeff Kennett, Steve Bracks, John Brumby and Ted Baillieu were all regulars.

Neil likes to sell his program as being full of Victoria’s decision makers and even hosts an annual end of year lunch attended by – at one time or another – most of Victoria’s movers and shakers and even Prime Ministers.

The idea is a simple one – get the big names into the studio and the TV news services hungry for pictures and quotes on the story of the day will have no choice but to turn up. Your radio logo bobs up on TV and the job’s done.

The process suits the politicians as much as it does the radio station presenter because they can do the one interview of the day answer the questions they wish to and the rest of the media will be happy with the content.

It does come however with some in-built dangers that are not always easy to handle. Go too hard and too aggressive too many times and you put the cosy arrangement at risk.

Andrews prefers his inquisitors to be friendly. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Ian Currie

I’m not privy to what caused the blow-up back in 2017 that brought on the Andrews ban on Mitchell other than Neil’s own theory that it revolves around tough questions and the suggestion the Premier’s wife Catherine is not a Mitchell fan.

It could be that reason or that the most left-leaning Premier in living memory in Victoria and the studio of a so-called radio talkback shock-jock isn’t a natural place to be.

Andrews has a massive media unit of his own – paid for by you and me – to massage his messages plus a huge following on Facebook. It might be as simple as he doesn’t need Mitchell or his radio station but that would be a serious mistake.

Dodging Neil and offering himself up to various lightweight FM radio presenters – as talented or pleasant as they might be – paints the Premier as shifty and unwilling to answer the hard questions.

The 3AW audience is the biggest in Melbourne and despite left leaning media critics and ABC types suggesting they are all old and Liberal – they’d be wrong.

During the long Covid lockdown of last year AW’s ratings reached massive levels as people searched for reliable and immediate updates on numbers and exposure sites.

Much of that audience are supporters of the Andrews Government if not the Premier himself – and as taxpayers deserve to hear him held to account by critics.

This sort of weak-kneed dodgy attitude of Andrews would never happen in Sydney where tough media appearances by Premiers are a right of passage.

A former Labor Premier from that state – Bob Carr – felt that his day hadn’t started without an all-in blue with Alan Jones. Carr a former journalist himself prided himself on his ability to go toe-to-toe with Jones and public policy was often the winner.

Political commentator Peta Credlin went to the daily Covid press conference to ask Andrews some tough questions. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Ego stroking was part of the Carr tactic and it worked because there was grudging respect from Jones back the other way.

Engaging spirited debate and policy criticism should be part of any healthy democracy.

Interestingly as Sydney struggles with its own deadly stubborn Covid mess the media grilling that Premier Gladys Berejiklian is subjected to just didn’t happen with Andrews in Melbourne last year.

Only Sky News presenter Peta Credlin really put Andrews to the sword over his hotel quarantine failures. She was slammed for being rude and Andrews was I’m sure happy when she stopped turning up.

On Thursday the media heckling of Berejiklian became so bad she remarked that being yelled at wasn’t very pleasant – it didn’t stop but she wore it.

The media in Sydney has turned on the golden girl of Covid management very quickly but having a thick skin up there is part of the game.

If we needed any proof Premier Andrews prefers his inquisitors to be friendly – to be mates even – we need look no further than his choice initially of his post back accident return to work.

Retired ABC morning presenter Jon Faine was first choice and I guess there were no surprises there given what a soft ride Faine gave the Andrews Government when he was still on the ABC.

What Daniel Andrews and his minders fail to understand is presenting their boss to the ABC and other friendly interviewers is talking to the converted and it’s not changing one vote.

If any evidence of this is needed just think back over how many times former PM John Howard offered himself up to be skewered by Kerry O’Brien on the 730 Report.

Tough questions with solid answers and great entertainment – something Mr Andrews might now reconsider after his big lay-off.

I’ll watch with interest to see if he has the guts to do it.

Going on during lockdown five would be a great start.

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Originally published as Daniel Andrews should have the guts to face tough questions