Jeff Kennett: One-dimensional Dan hiding behind Sutton

The Andrews government continues to hid behind the advice of Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton so they can reduce any blame for managing the pandemic.

Last week I said state government ministers were tired and lacked the ability and capacity to provide the leadership necessary to rebuild Victoria’s economy in the three or four vital sectors that have been pulverised and that employ so many people.

Small businesses are collectively the largest employers in the country, and they, in the main, have paid the highest price for the Victorian government’s gross mismanagement of the pandemic.

The government has allowed itself to become one-dimensional.

There are two ingredients that have contributed to that situation.

First, there’s a controlling leader in Premier Daniel Andrews for whom it has always been his way or the highway.

Second, the way the government, having so badly handled the hotel quarantine fiasco a year ago, has hid behind the advice of Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton so they could reduce the potential of any further blame for managing the pandemic.

The reality is that governments have a wide remit. It has responsibility for law and order, education, health, infrastructure, industry and business.

Since its quarantine debacle and hiding behind “medical advice” so many aspects of community have been left behind, their plight ignored. The damage is real and in many cases permanent.

Premier Daniel Andrews.

For other groups such as schoolchildren, the damage to their academic and social development we will only be able to assess in the coming years. But when you talk to parents, the dislocation is real.

I will not go through again all the affected industry groups.

Suffice to say one of the defining expressions of a community’s confidence in their government is not opinion polls, but what they are doing with their feet.

Sadly, and increasingly, they are moving out of Melbourne to regional Victoria and in many cases out of Victoria. Conversely, people are not coming to Victoria.

Why is this so?

Simply, it’s because they have lost confidence in their government and its leader. They are worried about what the government will do next – another lockdown, a ring of steel, limited movements and closed schools.

Many young people, particularly single, casual workers started leaving the state to go north in pursuit of work when the first lockdown occurred. They needed work just to enjoy the basics of life. You cannot blame them.

One of the results of their moving is that many businesses in the entertainment and hospitality industry are now short of staff.

Will those who moved north return? Some no doubt will, but most have built new lives.

This will add to Victoria’s ageing population and leave the state with fewer young people to work, to earn, and to pay taxes.

The second group are families who have left or are leaving. These fit into two categories – younger families and more mature couples.

They are leaving because they fear what comes next, and want certainty. They are sick of being told what to do and being locked down.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

A third group is people who simply want to get out of Melbourne. Our regional cities are extraordinarily good value. They have the necessities of life such as schools and hospitals. They also have wonderful architecture, galleries and sports facilities.

Our surf coasts offer slightly different attractions, but regional Victoria now clearly offers a different lifestyle to the CBD.

Added to the fact that technology means you no longer have to work in a city office. You can do your job, while enjoying a better lifestyle for your family.

There have been hardly any cases of Covid-19 in rural Victoria, and yet the regions have been caught up in recent restrictions. It’s another example of the one-dimensional form of government.

The Premier returns to work next week when the parliament that he has not addressed for eight months has risen.

I wish him good health, but assuming he is returning to work because he is in good health, what is he going to do? Will he change his autocratic leadership style to stop this exodus from Melbourne and Victoria? If so, how?

It will not be good enough just to continue to simply blame the Federal Government. The public does not like the blame game.

Governments were elected to govern and the population loss in Victoria is of the Andrews governments making.

I do not believe Andrews has the capacity to turn the ship around. Every time he appears anywhere will simply remind people of why they are moving. They fear what he will do next. They have had enough after 18 months of dislocation, pain and loss.

Governments must weigh up advice and act in the best interests of the totality of the state. When they become one-dimensional, they will obviously fail.

That is why people are voting with their feet.

Yes, as the restrictions are lifted the economy will rebound. But the damage has been done. The fear created. Our reputation as a state materially damaged.

It took 30 years until 1997 to have a net influx of people into Victoria. It could take as long for that to happen again.

Have a good day, but please stay. Your state is going to need you more than ever.

Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria