Shannon Deery: Hospital tribute a jarring move by ‘progressive’ Dan

Stripping an Indigenous name from a hospital seems counterintuitive to everything the socially-progressive Andrews government has advocated for.

It took less than 24 hours for Daniel Andrews to make Matthew Guy’s latest election health commitment redundant.

After Guy promised $400m to upgrade Maroondah Hospital in Melbourne’s east on Saturday, the Premier announced on Sunday he’d spend $1bn to rebuild it.

And as an added bonus, he’d rename it in honour of Queen Elizabeth II.

After a 70-year reign it’s fitting that Victoria formally honours the late Queen in some lasting way.

Our great state is named after Queen Victoria after all, and her 63-year reign has now been well and truly eclipsed by her great-great Granddaughter.

But stripping an Indigenous name from an Eastern suburbs hospital and slapping her name on it instead seems a strange way to do it.

Tone deaf, perhaps.

It seems a needlessly backward step for such a socially progressive government, especially when it comes to Indigenous issues.

Daniel Andrews announced a $1bn rebuild of Maroondah Hospital and plans to rename it in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. Picture: Nicki Connolly

It also seems counterintuitive to everything this government has advocated for.

The Andrews Government has a long track record of working to heal relations with Indigenous peoples.

The government was the first to in the country to pass treaty legislation.

Victoria has established a redress scheme for children of the Stolen Generation. We also have a First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.

And there’s been a formal apology for the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their families.

The Premier is on the record as supporting teaching Victorian students about the “trauma” of colonisation.

The Andrews Government has a long track record of working to heal relations with Indigenous peoples.

“Frankly, as a nation and as a community we need to acknowledge the past and we need to, with a sense of optimism and confidence, but also truth, define our future together,” he said recently.

Those comments jar with the idea of renaming Maroondah Hospital.

Surely there are plenty of other hospitals that could be renamed.

One can only wonder who came up with the idea.

According to the 2016 Census, of more than 110,000 people in Maroondah less than 600 are Indigenous.

Maybe the government thought no one would notice.

An online petition against renaming, that has attracted thousands of signatures, suggests otherwise.

So was this an honest blunder, or a sign the government is more worried about the upcoming election than it’s letting on and will do anything needed to score a couple of votes.

Shannon Deery is state politics editor