Rita Panahi: Premier Daniel Andrews clings to discredited story about offer of ADF troops
“Jerry, just remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it”. The lies spread during Victoria’s disastrous COVID-19 response smacks of a government and bureaucracy that is arrogant and unaccountable, and a Premier like Seinfeld’s George Costanza, writes Rita Panahi.
Rita Panahi
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Premier Daniel Andrews found his inner George Costanza this week as he clung to his discredited story that Australian Defence Force personnel were never offered to oversee Victoria’s hotel quarantine program.
“Jerry, just remember, it’s not a lie if you believe it,” Costanza opined on Seinfeld.
It’s a philosophy the premier has apparently embraced. Most other politicians faced with the full weight of the evidence uncovered at the hotel quarantine inquiry, not to mention a March press release from the Premier’s own office, would have apologised for ‘misspeaking’ but not Andrews.
No, the premier was in full Iraqi Information Minister-mode as he denied that he misled a parliamentary committee hearing when he said: “It is fundamentally incorrect to assert that there was hundreds of ADF staff on offer and somehow someone said no.”
This claim has been contradicted by written communication including an April 8 email from the prime minister’s office to the premier’s office with the subject:
“Assistance re hotel stay security” that advised ADF personnel were available “to assist Victoria if you wanted to reconsider your operating model.”
The inquiry has also heard that the Commonwealth repeatedly offered ADF help to Victoria between late March and early April.
When the poop well and truly hit the blades in July, Scott Morrison wrote to the premier three times in the space of a week to again offer ADF assistance.
The Premier himself confirmed the offer of ADF personnel in a March 27 press release, a day before mandatory hotel quarantine became policy.
On the same day at a press conference he expressed gratitude for the assistance offered.
“I’m very grateful to the Prime Minister for him agreeing to let this be a true partnership between Victoria Police, our health officials, as well as the Australian Defence Force. I think that will work very well.”
Alas, it did not. It certainly worked beautifully around the country but Victorian authorities, led by the premier, thought they knew better.
Instead of using highly trained police or ADF members they, at considerable cost, hired glorified nightclub bouncers to oversee returned travellers who at that time represented the majority of COVID-19 infections in Australia.
Never forget that the Victorian government from the start of this pandemic imposed the toughest restrictions on the masses while neglecting critical areas that would stop the spread; hotel quarantine and contact tracing.
But back to the lies, obfuscations and spin.
This week the premier boldly maintained that his claims last month that ADF assistance was not offered was true: “All I can say is the statements I’ve made are accurate.”
Clearly he doesn’t stand by his March statement which contradicts his August statement.
When journalist Rachel Baxendale asked the premier how his August statement could be accurate given the contents of the email exchange, Andrews’ response was worthy of Sir Humphrey Appleby: “That’s entirely a matter that relates to a whole lot of detail, both within the email and beyond, that it’s just not appropriate for me to get into.”
What now? Is that some Orwellian newspeak like “staying apart keeps us together’’ or an out-take from Yes, Minister?
Of course it’s not the first time Andrews has been caught in an awkward untruth during the coronavirus catastrophe.
The premier claimed in August that about a third of Victorians were flouting self-isolation rules. It was a particularly clever diversion as it turned Victorians against each other and distracted from who was really responsible for the disaster unfolding in the state. A few weeks later police figures showed it wasn’t 27 per cent violating the rules but closer to 1 per cent.
Then there’s the scaremongering around younger Victorians dying from a virus where the median age of death is over 80. There are Victorian public health ads about the dangers of COVID-19 for young people despite abundant evidence that those without pre-existing conditions are typically asymptomatic or only have mild symptoms.
Last month Andrews announced that “the youngest person that has died of this virus” was a man in his 20s. But last week health officials said the man died from another cause, possibly a drug overdose.
I’m not suggesting Andrews wilfully lied but surely it would’ve been prudent to wait for confirmation given the unusual circumstances.
And then there are the clear-cut falsehoods around the curfew and the spin around contact tracing.
It is farcical for the premier to claim that he is not sure who made the decision to impose a draconian curfew on millions of Victorians.
The litany of lies that we have seen during Victoria’s disastrous COVID-19 response speak of a government and bureaucracy that is arrogant, unaccountable and dangerous to the wellbeing of Victorians.
IN SHORT
How disgusting but typical for the Dan cult to target a single mother struggling to keep her business afloat. Mornington Peninsula cafe owner Michelle Loielo is suing the Victorian government over stage four restrictions and for that her business has been targeted with bad reviews and one-star ratings.
Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist