Family of COVID victims say Daniel Andrews’ award nomination is ‘offensive’

Grieving relatives who lost their loved-ones to COVID say it’s a cruel insult that Dan Andrews would even be considered for a leadership award.

A Melbourne woman who lost her father during Victoria’s deadly second wave says it is laughable and insulting that Daniel Andrews has been nominated for a political ­leadership award.

There has been widespread outrage after the Premier, who presided over the hotel quarantine debacle that claimed 801 lives and saw Melbourne locked down for more than 100 days, was ­short-listed this week for the ­McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership.

The award is given to someone who “successfully tackled vital issues of public policy, overcome adversity and achieved real change for the public good”.

Mr Andrews, who has locked down the state again after another hotel quarantine failure, was nominated ahead of all other state premiers, despite the fact they’ve kept their states relatively COVID-free.

Mr Andrews was nominated for his “firm, decisive and courageous leadership” and his “brave approach which led to some less-popular decisions”.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has been nominated for an award.

Effie Fotiadis’ father ­Dimitrios died on July 25 after he became infected at St Basil’s Home for the Aged.

“Why would he get an award for that? It’s offensive,” Ms Fotiadis said.

“He shouldn’t be getting it — seriously, what’s going on?”

She said lingering doubts over the effectiveness of the state’s contact tracing system should also count against Mr Andrews.

“It’s bullshit. He’s not a very good leader,” Ms Fotiadis said.

Sebastian Agnello, whose mother, Carmela Agnello, 92, died from coronavirus, said he couldn’t believe Mr Andrews had been nominated.

“I almost drove off the road when I heard it on the radio. He shouldn’t be given any award,” he said. “The people on the frontline, the first-­responders are deserving of an award, not Andrews.”

He said those people were worthy, “not the person who caused the second wave”.

Mr Andrews said the award should go to people who stacked shelves in supermarkets during the pandemic, “or any of the other heroes out there that have done an amazing job”.

Opposition leader in the upper house David Davis said he would give Mr Andrews a “different award”.

Sebastian Agnello holding picture of mum Carmela Agnello. Picture: David Caird

Effie Fotiadis with a picture of her dad Dimitrios Fotiadis who was a St Basils victim. Picture: Tony Gough

“Eight-hundred-and-one Victorians died because of his failures and his inaction and his blunders,” Mr Davis said.

“That is the award he should carry. That is the award he should have pinned to his chest.”

The Australian’s Chris Kenny is on the panel that will select the winner.

“I respect the confidentiality of the process, I’ll have my say in Thursday’s meeting but everything I’ll say in the meeting will reflect my public comments (about Mr Andrews),” Kenny said. He previously described the Premier as “obsessed” with trying to eliminate the virus, and said he wasn’t up to the job.

Other leaders nominated for the prize include Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Health Minister Greg Hunt and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

Award ambassador Amanda Vanstone said Australians put forward “politicians whom they believe lead with their values”, although some nominations create a “polarised public response”.

Former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said Mr Andrews had “a lot of bricks thrown at him”. “For once he’s getting a bunch of flowers thrown at him,” he said.

An Essential Research report issued on Tuesday found 49 per cent of Victorians surveyed thought Mr Andrews had performed better than the Prime Minister during the crisis, although support for Mr Morrison was the highest in Victoria than anywhere else in the country, at 34 per cent.