Daniel Andrews must not win award for bungling the pandemic

Short-listing a premier who bungled his way through the pandemic for a leadership award is offensive to those who have suffered.

Daniel Andrews should not be awarded the title of political leader of the year for his “successful response to the pandemic”.

This week he was short-listed for the McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership awarded to those who have “successfully tackled vital issues of public policy, overcome adversity and achieved real change for the public good”.

This adversity Andrews is being lauded for overcoming was created by his own mismanagement of hotel quarantine – bungling that continues to this day.

Hotel quarantine residents being evacuated from the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport after a cluster emerged. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling

Surely none of the judges lived through Victoria’s 100 plus days of lockdown, or suffered the personal anguish of seeing a beloved elderly relative pass away scared and alone.

The nomination is a gross insult to the families of the 801 Victorians who lost their lives due to Andrews’ lethal political ineptitude.

And to the kids who missed 14 weeks of schooling last year during Victoria’s second wave, which sent many into spirals of depression and anxiety.

And to those who were unable to see and care for vulnerable loved ones for months on end.

Andrews was commended by the nomination panel for his “firm, decisive and courageous leadership” and for his “brave approach which led to some less popular decisions”.

How can months of lockdown which crippled our economy and the loss of 801 lives be dismissed as “less popular?”

An abandoned CBD as Victoria endured its third lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

Andrews was also commended for basing his key decisions on expert health advice. Isn’t that a starting point for any current political leader, not something worthy of distinction?

The nomination notes that Andrews “was criticised for the devastating failings of Victoria’s hotel quarantine system” but acknowledges him for “swiftly calling an inquiry into the system, and for committing to act on its recommendations.”

To suggest that Andrews should be awarded for calling an inquiry is ludicrous. It’s what politicians do every day to get out of a tight spot and make them look like they’re doing something when they’re not.

Let’s hope this is merely an April Fool’s joke they are planning to announce on April 1.

The inquiry was the real laugh. The collective amnesia of Andrews, his ministers and public servants who couldn’t remember all the mistakes they made merely adds to the insult of this nomination.

How can Andrews seriously be considered for this award over other political leaders such as WA’s Mark McGowan, SA’s Steven Marshall and Queensland’s Annastacia Palaszczuk, who have kept their states relatively COVID free?

What’s next? Will the McKinnon judges could give the Wuhan Health Board an award for transparency over their openness on the origins of COVID?’