‘Lost the plot’: Victoria’s second wave coronavirus victims’ families slam Daniel Andrews’ celebrations
Premier Daniel Andrews has been blasted for sharing “smart arse” celebratory end of lockdown tweets featuring doughnuts and whiskey by Victorians who lost loved ones to coronavirus.
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Families of Victorians killed by coronavirus have hit out at Daniel Andrews, saying the Premier has “lost the plot” after his celebratory social media posts to mark the end of lockdown and a zero-case day.
Mr Andrews this week posted pictures of a doughnut to salute the first zero-case day since June — before hotel quarantine failures triggered the virus’s second wave which has now killed 800 people.
He also toasted the end of Melbourne’s harsh 111-day lockdown by posting a picture on social media of two glasses of whisky.
Sebastian Agnello, who lost his mother, Carmela Agnello, 92, said the Premier was “totally responsible” for the second wave.
“Zero cases right? I don’t think they’ve got anything to congratulate themselves about,” Mr Agnello said.
“There’s still 800 Victorians who have died because of COVID — and it’s because of him, and this second wave getting out of hand. He’s totally responsible for this.”
Mr Agnello called for those in charge to take responsibility for the disaster, adding that the state’s second wave had been destructive to people’s livelihoods.
“If all the major people in charge turn around and say, ‘I can’t remember or can’t recall’; they are trying to hide something,” he said.
Mr Agnello said he and his sister, Dora Di Lorenzo, were “fuming” about the Premier’s boastful posts.
“If he is patting himself on the back with the doughnuts; that is a person who has lost the plot in the sense of what he’s actually caused and the deaths that came from it,” he said. “We are at zero cases because of us being locked up, which has also crippled the state’s economy. It’s not come about by their government or good policies. What did they expect was going to happen?”
The state’s death toll hit 819 on Wednesday — 800 of which came during the second wave.
Two new cases of COVID-19 were recorded after two consecutive days of no infections.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton also posted a photo of doughnuts on the zero-case day, even adding the emoji to his Twitter handle.
Mr Agnello’s wife, Suzanne, said 800 families were grieving. “And how many of those has he (Mr Andrews) contacted?”
Melbourne businessman Frank Micallef lost his parents, Charlie Micallef, 87, and Carmen Micallef, 92, to the virus. “I wasn’t particularly impressed,” he said of the Premier’s posts. “An analogy is a guy who is celebrating and looking for praise and eventually solving a problem he started — light the fire and then put it out so you’re a hero. I think it’s inappropriate and the guy should be begging for forgiveness from the people of Victoria for the mess they’ve made.”
Mr Micallef said the tweets were “offensive on a number of fronts”. “Of course it’s good we got it down, but we should never have had it happen in the first place,” he said.
He said the Premier needed to show some humility “and be begging for forgiveness, not making light hearted jokes”. “Stop being a smart arse and think about the impact on Victoria.”
Carbone Lawyers managing partner Tony Carbone, who is leading a class action against the government, said he had fielded calls from several families of people who died at Epping Gardens and St Basil’s who were “absolutely furious at the insensitivity of the government”.
Quizzed on Wednesday about former health minister Jenny Mikakos’ culpability over the hotel quarantine program, Mr Andrews said he was “not interested in making reflections on things that can’t be altered or changed”.
“With the greatest of respect to those families who are grieving, today is the day where we can be optimistic and positive,” he said.
The focus should be on the reopening of the state “not what we can’t change”
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