Former Premier Dan Andrews reveals all on his political term and life after politics

Former premier Dan Andrews has blasted Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdogs, accusing them of being money and power hungry, and stressing they were not elected as he was, and “not equal to, let alone superior to,” an elected government.

Former premier Dan Andrews has blasted Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdogs, accusing them of being money and power hungry, and stressing they were not elected as he was, and “not equal to, let alone superior to,” an elected government.

In response to questions by ex Labor campaigner Stephen Donnelly on a Socially Democratic podcast — about critical reports alleging he had politicised the public service — Mr Andrews said “there’s not an accountability officer that doesn’t want more money, more power”.

“Is it such a bolt from the blue that people who are involved in politics, might also be involved in public policy, might know and understand and be committed to serving others?” he said.

“That the notion that someone who’s got political beliefs or used to work for a politician at some point in time, means that they’re forever prohibited from working for all of us? Does that make any sense? People are entitled to have different views about that. But to attribute bad motives, just blindly? And to be all ‘of course, if you’ve got any connections with one side or other of politics, you couldn’t possibly do a good job’, it just doesn’t make any sense. I don’t know why people see the world in those terms.

“But look, there’s not an accountability officer that doesn’t want more money, more power. That’s fine. That’s their job. The fact of the matter is though, that all of those agencies have bigger budgets today than they’ve ever had, more powers than they’ve ever had.

“They have opinions and views, and they’re more than more than entitled to those. But see, what they’re not entitled to … (and that’s) to pretend that anyone voted for them. Not entitled to pretend that they’ve somehow got a mandate that is equal to, let alone superior, to the duly elected government.”

Mr Andrews also responded to claims he has sought membership at Portsea Golf Club, but was not wanted in its ranks.

Asked if he had sought membership to the exclusive Mornington Peninsula club, he at first gave a definitive “no”.

However, he then added “we’ll wait and see what happens”.

“I don’t have any difficulty finding places to play golf, here and in other parts of the world,” Mr Andrews said. “It’s quite ridiculous.”

He then said “one of the most vocal opponents of that possible, theoretical membership”, would not have to play golf with him and at the most may see him “sitting at the bar”.

“I mean what are you talking about? What are you talking about?” Mr Andrews said, adding he could also be seen at Melbourne restaurants from time to time.

“Well yeah, you might see me at a restaurant anywhere in Melbourne, like what are you talking about?” Mr Andrews said.

Dan Andrews says he has no difficulty finding places to play golf. Picture: Yuri Kouzman

Over the course of the long and wide-ranging podcast interview on Friday, Mr Andrews mentioned a number of times he was playing a lot of golf, after stepping down from the state’s top job in late September.

He said he now had “nothing to do”, and was relaxing, “doing stuff around the house”, playing golf and spending time with family and friends.

Mr Andrews also said he had “bought a couple of cars” for the first time in many years, after losing his driver of 17 years.

He had not “said yes to anything yet” in regards to job offers.

Mr Andrews revealed all on his time as Premier and his life after politics in the interview, saying in Victoria the “haters hate”, he never cared about the “vitriol“ and “after-dark bullshit” he copped, and he’d been a “big person” brave enough to make the tough calls the state needed.

He said he had faced “some nasty stuff, some ugly stuff, but that’s just life”, and had not been concerned about being called a dictator.

“Dictator and all this sort of stuff, that’s all fine if that makes people feel better by describing me in those terms — good luck (to them). You know in Victoria, the haters hate and the rest vote Labor. And that’s fine by me,” Mr Andrews said.

“They can call me whatever they want, but what really matters is not that nonsense, that noise, that vitriol, that after-dark bullshit. That’s the worst of American politics imported into our house. What really matters and what makes up for all the nonsense is when you sit with families … and you listen, and you say, ‘right, that’s the plan. We’re gonna get on and do it’. And then you do (it) and you can see the difference. You absolutely can see the difference.”

Daniel Andrews says he was not concerned about being called a dictator. Picture Luis Enrique Ascui

He said he been kept “grounded” as Premier by the fact he lived in his electorate and received constant feedback, and by his family, which didn’t pull punches.

And Mr Andrews said he’d rather be remembered for being forceful, making tough, necessary decisions and “getting shit done” than for achieving little during his term.

“The adoration and love of everybody, that’s not the job,” he said.

Possibly the hardest time of his premiership was the second last press conference of a long Covid lockdown, when Victorians thought he was going to announce “it was the end”, but it wasn’t the end, because test results had not been processed, he said.

Mr Andrews said he knew that delay created “a sense of despondency” among Victorians.

“It was a brutally difficult time and you know, the decisions you were making were having profound consequences for people,” he said.

“If you weren’t a big enough person to know that with leadership comes an incredible responsibility to do what’s right and what’s evidence based … if you had been weak enough to suspend that, as opposed to what we did, which was to suspend politics, I don’t know where we would have finished up … it was bad enough, let alone if you tried to be popular throughout it.”

Dan Andrews says you can’t shape how people describe you. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

“People will describe you as they see fit. You can’t change it, you can’t shape that. All you can do is just be focused on the facts and the facts are we got a lot of stuff done. We made a lot of difficult decisions. We weren’t about being popular,” he said.

“I’d much rather have people divided about me than have no opinion because quite frankly, you occupied the office and you would just have this blank space that offended no one and got precisely nothing done. I don’t think that would be serving your oath.”

Mr Andrews admitted it was proving “a big adjustment” to “suddenly have a lot of free time” on his hands after resigning from the state’s top job.

He planned move into an office at Treasury Place — an old store room, with a leaking roof — in early 2024, where he would work a couple of days a week, he said.

Andrews with his wife, Catherine at the recent 2023 NGV Gala. Picture: David Caird

In the wide ranging interview, Mr Andrews also revealed he had not had an exact date in mind to announce his resignation but “was starting to think about things” in the period before he quit.

He said most people would not have expected him to resign in AFL Grand Final Week, and the announcement was made while his daughter was overseas, which she had found upsetting.

He added he had not been pressured to leave the top job, and in fact had been guided by the adage: “Go when they are asking you to stay.”

“You know when it’s time, it’s time and you say OK … (and) do something that very, very few people in politics get to do, go at a time of your own choosing,” he said.

On Saturday Opposition leader John Pesutto questioned Mr Andrews’ claim that he “got shit done” in government.

Mr Pesutto said in his nine years in office, not one major project had been completed, arguing individual level crossing removals shouldn’t be considered part of the major infrastructure build.

“Daniel Andrews’ real legacy for Victorians is the highest debt in the country, the highest taxes in the country, (and) the most corrupt government in the country,” he said.

“That’s Daniel Andrews’ real legacy.”

Responding to the former Premier’s quip that “in Victoria, the haters hate and the rest vote Labor”, Mr Pesutto said that was a “disappointing reflection”.

“Daniel Andrews faces criticism because of the way he governed Victoria badly,” he said.

“It’s not personal and it certainly shouldn’t be personal.

“People vent their frustrations at Daniel Andrews and now the Allan Labor government because they’re not getting what they deserve.

“That’s why the criticism is coming towards him and now Jacinta Allan and her government.”

Mr Pesutto said he didn’t believe Victorians should resort to personal sledges like calling Mr Andrews a “dictator”.