Jeff Kennett: The moment Premier Daniel Andrews finally lost the plot
The Premier’s attack on the federal government, the hand that had so handsomely fed Victoria over those months, was a sign he’d finally collapsed under the weight of the economic and social disaster he was personally responsible for, writes Jeff Kennett.
Opinion
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While many who read this column will disagree with my politics, and the actions my government had to take in the ’90s to rebuild the state of Victoria, I am and remain a proud member of the Liberal Party.
Not that I agree with everything the Liberals do, but philosophically I am in step with the core beliefs of the party as I am, and have been for years, economically conservative, but socially liberal.
It is a combination that drives the best reforms and maximises the best opportunity for citizens. Build a strong economy through private enterprise and scholarship, while ensuring the vulnerable are treated with dignity and respect. Hence, I supported Paul Keating’s economic floating of the dollar, and Julia Gillard’s socially progressive introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
Good politics is not blind. Nor does it require the exercise of double standards.
On Monday, when an increasingly tired, emotional and irrational Daniel Andrews attacked federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg with the dismissive line of “just being a Liberal”, you knew the Premier had finally lost the plot.
Given the restrictions introduced by the Premier over the last few months when trying to eliminate the coronavirus, that he should start attacking the federal government, the hand that had so handsomely fed Victoria over those months and kept it on life support, you knew the Premier had finally collapsed under the weight of the economic and social disaster he, by his own admission, was personally responsible for.
Had it not been for the federal JobKeeper and JobSeeker payments at a higher rate than the unemployment rate, the damage that Premier Andrews has overseen on Victoria and its citizens would have been substantially greater.
The federal government has committed many billions of dollars to Victoria over the last few months to keep our economy churning. Of course, Josh Frydenberg is concerned at the economic impact of Premier Andrews’s restrictions; they are costing the federal economy billions of dollars.
Mr Andrews simply does not appreciate the substantial support he is receiving from the federal government.
Premier Andrews’s legacy will be one of abject failure — more than 800 deaths, businesses lost, unemployment unnecessarily high, and a population decline to the order of hundreds of thousands. I fear many of the latter will be our young. Those we depend in the future to earn, to create wealth, to pay taxes and to look after an ever-increasing ageing population.
All that the Treasurer asked was that we more vigorously open our economy. And Premier Andrews snarls at him!
The Premier has his ring of steel dividing metro and rural Victoria. He selects some commercial activities to open but drives others out of existence.
Now of course, he seeks to deny Victorians who want to enjoy the Grand Final and any celebration that might follow. Football is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is keenly followed by the majority of Victorians.
The Premier could have used this event to start the rebuilding of public confidence after what has been a terrible year, a lost year for many. But no, our killjoy Premier is alive and well. No doubt he will turn our police force into something like the Gestapo on the weekend when they arrive on your doorstep or patrol Swan Street if Richmond wins.
What sort of state have we become? Sadly, the laughing stock of Australia. If we are not careful we will again become the rust bucket of Australia, as we were under Labor in the 1980s.
Then there is the next to useless quarantine inquiry that fails to forensically establish the truth. For instance the secretary of the jobs department, Simon Phemister, signs a contract for over $30m with Unified Security who did not apply for the work, had only 89 employees, were led by an individual who had gone broke twice owing millions, and he did this without ministerial authority or direction. Give me a break.
In NSW, the Opposition is pursuing Premier Gladys Berejiklian over a personal and private relationship she had with an individual who is the subject of an ICAC investigation.
Ms Berejiklian is not accused charged of any offence by ICAC. But her private life has been made public in the most demeaning manner. She is doing her job with distinction in the bear pit of Australian politics. That should have nothing to do with her personal life.
Apart from a few in politics and some in the media, I guarantee the women of Australia and most men will be backing Gladys Berejiklian. I do to the hilt. In this case, not because she is a Liberal, but because she has done a good job as Premier.
Ms Berejiklian has not cost 800 plus lives, nor the closure of hundreds of small businesses in her state. What a difference between Victoria’s Premier and that of NSW. Both are entitled to their private lives, but one has governed with distinction, the other disastrously.
Again, I ask: What has this country become when one Premier is pursued for gross failure, and another for a private relationship?
Finally, on an unrelated matter. Crown, as our largest single site employer, is too important to Victoria to be put at risk.
The board has shown that it is totally ill-equipped and unsuited for the responsibilities any board is required to oversee and discharge. It should be a condition of a review of its licence to continue to operate that all board members should be dismissed and replaced by properly qualified individuals who are charged with good governance, the welfare of their employees and shareholders alike.
Let the company be dealt with for any past errors, but a line in the sand needs to be drawn.
Have a good day.
MORE OPINION:
COMENSOLI: WHY VICTORIA’S PEOPLE OF FAITH DESERVE HOPE
O’BRIEN: DAN’S FALSE FREEDOMS MADE VICTORIANS LOSE FAITH
Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria