Peta Credlin: Dan Andrews’ government worse than Berejiklian’s mistake
The fact that Gladys Berejiklian is probably in at least as much danger from a mistake in her private life as Dan Andrews is from an epic failure of government says something about political culpability in this country, writes Peta Credlin.
Opinion
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Two premiers are fighting for their political lives this weekend, but only one of them has run an incompetent government; indeed, worse than that, a systemically bad and compromised government on every level.
Despite being by far the best of the current crop of state leaders, NSW’s Gladys Berejiklian is in deep trouble because of guilt by association.
By contrast, Victoria’s Daniel Andrews has created such a cult of cover-up that unless the Coate Inquiry lifts its game, he may yet survive the worst governmental failure in Australian history.
Of course, heads of government should choose their friends with care.
It’s certainly deeply unethical and against the rules to use public office for private gain.
At least by the time she had to force him to resign, Premier Berejiklian must have known that Daryl Maguire was under suspicion and ended her relationship with him.
Not to do so was a grave error of judgment, but should a personal failing end the career of a fine premier, especially as there’s no suggestion that she tried to help Maguire in any of his attempts to sell access?
She could choose to “do an O’Farrell” of course and resign as matter of honour anyway, but should she?
After all, it’s only Liberals who seem to be held to this standard of responsibility; where was this standard in the Obeid years, that sorry time in NSW Labor’s history that former premiers Kristina Keneally, Nathan Rees and others never want mentioned, or the days of Sam Dastyari?
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By contrast, if accountability to the Caucus is to mean anything, Daniel Andrews’ parliamentary colleagues should be telling him it’s time to go.
It’s not just his ludicrous attempts to assert that no one in his government actually made the decision to use private security in these quarantine hotels, rather than the ADF or police as in every other state, but it’s the payment of millions to companies without due process, and the direct medical link between these failures and Victoria’s second wave of COVID-19.
I mean, what unapproved, unvetted security firm gets a $30 million contract in under six hours flat?
And how can Premier Andrews get away with claiming he never knew that ADF help was available, even though on the day the PM offered it, March 27, Andrews issued a media release on saying: “It has also been agreed that the Australian Defence Force will be engaged to support the implementation of these arrangements.”
Only as we know, 816 dead Victorians later, Daniel Andrews never made good his promise.
In NSW, Gladys Berejiklian last week at least fronted an ICAC hearing that put her under real pressure, unlike in Victoria, where everyone has parroted their own version of “I can’t recall” and “I don’t remember”.
In NSW, phone taps were aired; in Victoria, they didn’t even pursue basic phone records until they were shamed and, even then, what’s being provided is not much more than what’s available on your phone bill. It is not the full phone record information: incoming and outgoing calls, deleted texts, or encrypted messages; all of that material can only come via a warrant under federal law and the Coate Inquiry, as it has been set up, is powerless.
This is an important point. But by pursuing this issue at all, the point was made, the obfuscations rang hollow and, last Monday, it resulted in the resignation of Chris Eccles, the head of the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Mr Eccles should now be recalled and questioned again over his earlier evidence. So too should others.
As a matter of course, any inquiry worth the name should have already recalled the Premier and the former health minister — as soon as Jenny Mikakos resigned, declaring that she “strongly disagreed” with Andrews’ sworn testimony and then later, in a further statement that warned his evidence “should be treated with caution”.
Also concerning is Justice Coate not yet recalling Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner, Andrew Crisp, after he told a parliamentary inquiry in August that he regularly briefed his minister, Lisa Neville, around the time that Victoria went it alone on private security (as he is required under law) yet recanted that evidence after it differed from what Neville said under oath to Coate in September.
What about the decision by the head of the Jobs Department Simon Phemister to give a security company with a shady past a $30 million contract for three months work in under six hours flat? Made worse of course because this security company wasn’t even on the government’s own list of preferred providers, there was no tender process and the Minister, Martin Pakula, says he knew nothing about the company or the contract, until “July or August” in his sworn evidence to Coate.
And don’t even get me started on Daniel Andrew’s chief of staff — that she’s never been called and never given a statement says everything.
A “creeping assumption” they say, to use private security over police and ADF? Give me a break! It’s like an episode of Fawlty Towers; except this Christmas, over 800 Victorian families will have an empty chair at the table.
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Late on Friday, there was a brief announcement that the Coate Inquiry will hold an extraordinary sitting this Tuesday at 2pm. Whether it might be a sign that they’re finally getting serious about finding out the truth is yet to be seen. I will only start to believe it if witnesses are recalled and there are tougher questions put to political operators who bat it away like Bradman.
For those reading this outside of Victoria, this isn’t the usual story of internal political party intrigue. The state is on its knees, businesses in ruin, and 25 per cent of the nation’s economic grunt gone; therefore, it affects us all as Victoria will cost every taxpayer in this country dearly.
In personal terms, Melbourne has had 14 weeks of the most severe lockdowns in the world and the toll is real, with mental health visits up 30 per cent over the last four weeks alone, the highest ever number of boys under 18 committing suicide, as released by the Coroner recently and, never ever forget, the families who have lost someone they love, and the dead who died alone.
The fact that today, Gladys Berejiklian is probably in at least as much danger from a mistake in her private life as Dan Andrews is from an epic failure of government says something about political culpability.
I’m tempted to say that governments of the right are held to a different standard than those of the left, but it’s actually, much more than that.
To the electorate, personal errors are more easily understood than what’s really going on in Victoria, given how far and wide the Andrews disease has infected Labor, the public service and other key institutions in that state.
It would be a travesty if Australia were to lose its best premier and keep its worst.
Originally published as Peta Credlin: Dan Andrews’ government worse than Berejiklian’s mistake