Andrew Bolt: Premier’s police ties a concern

The Andrews government is oppressive and its relationship with police command makes that worse.

​ONE of the many sinister things about Premier Daniel Andrews’ grip on Victoria is a police force that seems compliant to his will.

Victorians saw that at its worst with the brutal policing of Andrews’ harsh lockdowns, with police even firing rubber bullets at unionists protesting peacefully.

This unhealthy relationship is underlined by scandals that have rocked Andrews’ first week of campaigning before the November 26 election.

Take the latest: The Independent Broadbased Anti-corruption Commission reportedly assessing a whistleblower’s claim that detectives were stopped from properly investigating Labor’s theft of $388,000 to pay Labor campaigners in the 2018 election.

Police staged dawn raids to arrest 17 former Labor staff who had been employed to work on government business as MPs’ staffers, but worked instead on Labor’s campaign.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

But senior police then stopped detectives from arresting up to 16 Labor MPs who’d allegedly been part of this rip-off. The detectives were allegedly told that would be overkill, and the MPs would refuse to talk. They had to liaise with those MPs through a senior officer.

No MP was charged. Labor just repaid the money.

Then there’s the other blast from the past that’s hit Andrews – a car accident 10 years ago that he now refuses to discuss.

Five years ago Andrews told journalists his wife was driving when a 15-year-old cyclist, Ryan Meuleman, hit their car side on – “absolutely T-boned” it.

But the Herald Sun this week published previously suppressed pictures showing a huge depression in the car’s windscreen and dent in its front right panel.

The damage doesn’t disprove the “T-boning”, but also looks consistent with the car hitting the bike, as Meuleman insists.

A whistleblower claims detectives were stopped from properly investigating Labor’s theft of $388,000.

Either way, the controversy again highlights the police’s dealings with the Labor leader.

Police didn’t breathalyse Andrews’ wife.

They didn’t stop Andrews driving the car from the scene before forensic investigation.

They didn’t take a statement from the victim.

Very odd.

For me, this relationship between the Labor leader and police looked most malignant in their joint vilification of the conservative Cardinal George Pell.

Police charged Pell with 26 charges of paedophilia against nine “victims” – charges so implausible, even impossible, that not one has been upheld, although the innocent Pell spent 404 days in jail before the High Court freed him.

Yet Andrews in defiance still tweeted to “every single victim”, insisting: “I believe you.”

This Andrews government is oppressive.

Its relationship with police command makes that worse.

Originally published as Andrew Bolt: Premier’s police ties a concern