Jacinta Allan declines to directly name James Packer when addressing billionaire’s attack on Dan Andrews
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has channelled one of her predecessor’s key communication strategies when quizzed about James Packer branding Daniel Andrews “human filth”.
Jacinta Allan has refused to directly name James Packer when questioned about the Aussie billionaire’s extraordinary attack on former Premier Daniel Andrews.
While rebuking the scathing claims made by Mr Packer about her predecessor, Ms Allan simply referred to “that individual” and noted she “disagrees strongly” with Mr Packer’s character assessment.
“I’m just not going to comment other than to say I most strongly disagree with that individual’s characterisation of the former Premier,” Ms Allan said on Monday.
“I’m going to leave my comments at that because I’m much more focused on building for the future, keeping the community safe and investing in frontline services.”
The move by Ms Allan to not directly name Mr Packer takes a leaf out of Mr Andrews’ political playbook.
Mr Andrews had a history of not naming critics when commenting on them, famously referring to “that person” when Rebel Labor MP Kaushaliya Vaghela claimed in 2022 she had been pushed to the edge of a nervous breakdown by bullying inside her own party.
He also struggled to remember Bec Judd’s name when the high-profile Melbourne fashion figure and successful fashion entrepreneur in 2022 blasted the Labor government for surging home invasions in Melbourne’s southeast suburbs.
Ms Allan’s comments come after Mr Packer unleashed on Mr Andrews in a tell-all podcast interview, where he labelled the former Victorian premier “human filth” and said he was his “least favourite person”.
Mr Packer also said Mr Andrews had “ruined Victoria”.
“What he’s done to the balance sheet of Victoria is impossible to fix … I couldn’t speak more lowly of Daniel Andrews. I think he’s human filth … I hope he sues me”,” Mr Packer said on Joe Aston’s Rampart Talks podcast.
“Daniel Andrews is about my least favourite person in the world. I think Daniel Andrews not only ruined Victoria, he almost ruined my life,” he said.
Mr Packer took aim at the former premier for changing the casino’s tax arrangements while Crown Resorts was actively negotiating an $8.9bn acquisition by global private equity firm Blackstone in 2022.
