Matthew Guy criticises Daniel Andrews’ ‘disrespectful discourse’ in Bombers debate

Matthew Guy has blasted Daniel Andrews as “the most divisive premier we’ve ever had” in the wake of the Andrew Thorburn saga.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy says Victoria is in need of a Premier that doesn’t engage in “disrespectful discourse” and “bagging” people.

Speaking in the wake of Andrew Thorburn’s controversial resignation from the Essendon Football Club, Mr Guy again slammed Daniel Andrews for weighing into the debate.

“The role of Premier is about uniting our state, bringing us all together – whether you’re in the gay community, the Christian community, of Islamic faith, or no faith,” Mr Guy said.

“For eight years we’ve lived with the most divisive premier we’ve ever had in this state. A Premier, Daniel Andrews, who gets off on dividing people. It’s time for that politics of division to end.

Matthew Guy says the role of premier is about ‘uniting our state, bringing us all together’. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“If I was Premier of Victoria, my absolute job will be to bring our state together. To govern for everyone, not picking people and dividing Victorians and picking teams. I want to be a Premier for all of Victoria. I back all Victorians.”

Asked if minority groups, like those in the LGBTQI+ community, would still feel respected if harmful discourse isn’t called out by people in power, Mr Guy hit back: “What do you want me to do? Go and intervene on the pope? Go and intervene on every other person in society.

“People have different views, they should be having those views sensibly and respectfully,” he added.

“We are not a state with a homogeneous point of view on every topic.

“We deserve to have the person in charge, the Premier, who does not fuel division within our state.”

Dan hits back at Archbishop

Premier Daniel Andrews has hit back at criticism that his comments surrounding the Andrew Thorburn saga were “harmful” and “divisive”.

It comes after Victoria’s most senior Catholic slammed the Premier for making “harmful” comments and stirring division in the wake of Thorburn’s bombshell resignation from the Essendon football club.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne and Essendon supporter Peter Comensoli attacked the Victorian Premier on Wednesday for using words like “intolerant” and “bigotry” – warning that Victorian society was in “big trouble” if that was the reaction to people of faith.

But on Thursday, the Premier said he was “not here to be having a debate with faith leaders”.

“I will just say this. I’m a Catholic. I send my kids to Catholic schools. My faith is important to me and guides me every day,” Mr Andrews said.

“There’s a long long list of things that I’m guided in that work by my faith, my upbringing, and the values that are central to that.

“But it also guides me in my sense of what is right and what is wrong, and if I can just say, with utmost respect, calling out homophobia is not the problem. Homophobia is the problem. I’ve always spoken out against it. I always will.”

The Premier said the comments he made on Tuesday were “not new” and he would “leave it to others to make their judgments” on his views.

“Everyone should be treated equally. Everyone should be treated fairly and for me, that’s my Catholicism. That’s my faith,” Mr Andrews said.

Archbishop Peter Comensoli says Daniel Andrews’ comments contribute to an ‘unhelpful spirit of division’.

Mr Andrews had spoken out after the Herald Sun exclusively revealed that Mr Thorburn was chair of a church organisation with controversial views on homosexuality and abortion – which it likened to concentration camps.

But Archbishop Comensoli on Wednesday said: “The Premier’s own words about his beliefs and how they play out for the sake of others, have tended toward the harmful, because they have sought to uphold the good of one by undermining the good of another”.

Catholicism is the state’s largest religion, with more than 1.3 million Victorians – or 20 per cent – identifying as Catholic, according to the 2021 census.

“Such language pitches some members of the community against others and contributes to an unhelpful spirit of division.

“It leaves ordinary people of faith questioning if they can publicly hold their committed beliefs, or even to be able to exercise leadership and service in the community. If the Essendon situation, and some broader reactions to it, is a litmus test of the place and value of people of faith in Victorian society, then we are in big trouble.”

Anglican Archbishop Philip Freier said Mr Thorburn’s resignation would be “unacceptable” in government.

“I think what we have seen in this Essendon saga couldn’t happen in a government department, couldn’t happen in a local council, couldn’t happen in an organisation contracting the government,” he told 3AW.

“You couldn’t go through a fair, open and rigorous process and then having appointed someone, sort of a pull a gun and say sorry, you got to pick between this or that.

“That would be totally unacceptable.”

Archbishop Freier criticised Mr Andrews’ comments.

“I would have been happier for the Premier to lead the community to understand that Victoria does have … a bill of human rights and responsibilities,” he said.

“I would rather the Premier lead us from that point, to say as a society … it takes tolerance, it takes understanding but it takes some work.”

Daniel Andrews labelled the views of new Essendon chief executive Andrew Thorburn’s church as ‘absolutely appalling’. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Mr Andrews on Thursday refused to comment on whether he through the treatment of Mr Thorburn by the Essendon Football Club was acceptable.

“I’m not here to speak about any individual. I’ve not to this point, and I’m not going to now. I really don’t think that would be appropriate.”

Hours before Mr Thorburn resigned, Mr Andrews, also a Bombers supporter, said: “I don’t support those views, that kind of intolerance, that kind of hatred, bigotry. It is just wrong”.

“To dress that up as anything other than bigotry is just obviously false.”

The furore over the Essendon CEO’s resignation has exploded into a national debate about religious freedom.

In a new statement released on Wednedsay, Mr Thorburn said it was a troubling idea that someone’s faith or association with a church “could render a person immediately unsuited to holding a particular role”.

“That is a dangerous idea, one that will only reduce tolerance for others and diversity of thought and participation in our community and workplaces,” Mr Thorburn said.

“I believe that there are many Australians who fear the implications for their livelihoods, aspirations and participation in community life.”

He said he had received hundreds of messages of support since his bombshell resignation, just one day after he was appointed to the $850,000 job.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called on ­Essendon to reinstate Mr Thorburn as chief executive.

Mr Dutton also urged the Victorian Premier to condemn the treatment of Mr Thorburn, who resigned amid a backlash over his ties to the City on the Hill church movement.

Mr Dutton said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation and called on Mr Thorburn’s dismissal to be reversed.

“I think there has been a very egregious attack on an individual because of his ­religious beliefs,” Mr Dutton said on Wednesday.

“The views that have been expressed by a pastor at this church in relation to gay people, or to the issue of abortion – they’re an abomination and I condemn those points that have been made by that particular pastor.

“But the comments and the actions of Andrew Thorburn are completely distanced from that and the fact that an individual can be sacked from a position because of his religious belief doesn’t have any place in our country,” Mr Dutton said.

“I think it starts with the Premier of Victoria, I think it starts with the Prime Minister and many other business leaders who should condemn it, and the Essendon football club should reconsider the decision that they’ve made.”

Andrew Thorburn warned fellow Christians and other people of faith are fearful they will also be forced to step down from their employment due to their associations with religious organisations.

The Essendon furore spilt into the Victorian election campaign on Wednesday, with the Premier and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy locking horns over the controversial appointment – and resignation – of the club’s shortest-serving CEO.

Mr Guy branded the resignation “ridiculous” and criticised the Premier – who on Tuesday labelled the City on the Hill church’s views as “absolutely appalling” – for taking a public stance on the matter.

“What football clubs do is up to them. I fail to see why the Premier of the state needs to be an overlord, and, you know, start telling everyone else how they should run their organisations,” Mr Guy said. “I don’t think anyone at all would endorse any kind of hate speech … whether it’s in a religious organisation or anything else.

“But I do think football clubs can go and manage their own affairs without intervention from politicians telling them how to do their job.”

Mr Andrews hit back at the criticism, maintaining he would “always speak out against that kind of thinking”.

“Who the CEO of Essendon football club is a matter for the board of the Essendon football club. I was asked a question and I answered it,” Mr Andrews said.

“People can get all upset about the fact that someone resigned.

“I’m much more focused on the fact that people are harming themselves and, sometimes, taking their own lives because of bigotry and prejudice.”

The stoush between the leaders comes as employment lawyer Josh Bornstein warned that Mr Thorburn may have been unlawfully discriminated against in the workplace on the basis of his religion.

“Requiring an employee to choose between their job and their religious activity, political opinion, sexuality (and) pregnancy … can constitute unlawful discrimination,” he said.

Meanwhile Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Philip Freier said he regretted that Mr Thorburn’s brief tenure with Essendon was the “source of so much angst for so many people”. He added that in 2016, the Archbishop of Canterbury and other international Anglican leaders agreed on a statement that rejected homophobia and affirmed that “God’s love for every human being is the same, regardless of their sexuality, and that the church should never by its actions give any other impression”.

“I have seen nothing in Andrew Thorburn’s reported comments that contradict this position,” he said.