Premier Daniel Andrews’ popular social media presence has set taxpayers back $800,000 since 2014

Premier Daniel Andrews has billed taxpayers almost $800,000 to fund his sophisticated social media presence since coming to power in 2014.

Premier Daniel Andrews has spent almost $800,000 on Facebook advertising to become the social media giant’s most popular Australian politician.

In just five years the Premier has billed taxpayers $770,000, or almost $3,000 a week, to get Facebook users to like him.

In that time he has amassed almost 1 million followers on the social media site, more than Scott Morrison, or any other premier.

Figures released to the parliament’s Accounts and Estimates Committee reveal $158,000 was spent between 2019-20, the lowest figure since 2016-17.

The figure does not include spending on other social media platforms for the Premier, or on other government Facebook pages.

Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media during a press conference in Melbourne Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

Richard Riordan, Shadow Assistant Minister for Scrutiny of Government and Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts and Estimates committee, slammed the spending.

“Daniel Andrews is using Victorian taxpayer dollars as his own credit card to buy likes on Facebook, at the same time he’s asking struggling Victorian businesses to repay grants,” he said.

“Andrews is boosting his Facebook posts to make him appear more popular.

“Andrews’ $770,000 big social media spend simply doesn’t pass the pub test when so many Victorians have lost their jobs.”

A government spokesperson confirmed the expense, saying it made up a small amount of the government’s public service advertising spend.