Daniel Andrews should be apologising to Victorians not seeking gratitude

There’s nothing more sickening, paternalistic and dishonest than the “we did it, Victoria” rhetoric when it comes from Daniel Andrews.

Dan Andrews has done so many backflips in the past two weeks that he’s become delirious.

How else does one explain the premier casting himself as Victoria’s daddy in a series of cringe-worthy comments and social media posts?

After abandoning most of what he spouted for 16 months the premier took to Twitter on Friday and posted a patronising diatribe so vomit-inducing that one needed a Covid test after reading it.

“I’m trying not to sound like some kind of soppy dad here, but I am proud, bloody proud of this state,” posted premier Andrews.

“Be proud of everything we’ve done to get here, of all we’ve achieved.”

Pardon me? Does he think he’s our daddy? And, what precisely are we proud of? Being allowed to leave our homes after 9pm?

As my kids say - there's a big vibe today.

You can feel the optimism. You can sense the pride in what's been achieved.

And after everything it's taken to get here, we absolutely deserve to feel that way.

— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) October 21, 2021

Perhaps in his mind we’re well behaved children who’ve learnt our lesson after being sent to our rooms without dessert.

It’s a little rich for the leader whose disproportionate response caused so much unnecessary pain and loss to praise his long suffering captives.

Frankly, there’s nothing more sickening, paternalistic and dishonest than the “we did it, Victoria” rhetoric whether it comes from Andrews or his rusted on supporters.

The truth is we did nothing but endure a world record lockdown thanks to the ineptitude of a thoroughly hopeless government. We had no choice.

Daniel Andrews celebrating the end of lockdown on Friday with a group of young mums. Picture: Getty Images

As Gideon Haigh wrote so beautifully on the weekend “Andrews’ pivot from tedious admonition to old-fashioned political oiliness” is just the latest nauseating episode from Dear Leader.

“He’s so proud, so thankful, so grateful, so sickening,” wrote Haigh.

“Seriously, what’s he got to be grateful for? We did as we were told, to avoid draconian fines for noncompliance. You might as well thank us for obeying the law of gravity.”

As predicted in this column some weeks ago Sydney’s reopening intensified the pressure on Andrews significantly and the premier has reacted by walking away from his own roadmap a mere month after its release.

The man responsible for the most destructive Covid-19 response in the country with the highest death rate, the longest lockdown and the greatest societal and economic harm including record state debt has no cause to celebrate.

“Soppy dad” Dan should be apologising to Victorians, not seeking their gratitude.