Patricia Karvelas slammed by Dan Andrews supporters for Insiders ‘accountability’ comments

ABC host Patricia Karvelas has reacted to online backlash from Daniel Andrews supporters after comments she made on Insiders went viral.

ABC presenter Patricia Karvelas has reacted to online backlash from Daniel Andrews supporters after she suggested the former Victorian Premier had “cut out accountability” by refusing to speak to certain journalists.

A brief clip of comments by the Q+A host during a panel discussion on Sunday’s Insiders has gone viral on social media, sparking a furious reaction from Andrews diehards.

Karvelas said in the clip that Mr Andrews “cut out that sort of accountability stuff with people like [former ABC Radio Melbourne host] Virginia Trioli and [3AW radio host] Neil Mitchell” with his morning radio blackout.

She added it was “troubling” to journalists that he communicated directly with voters via social media, often “cutting out the media”.

The #insiders panel spreads the lie that Daniel Andrews cut out the media.

Dan fronted up for 120 days straight and answered every question. Neil Mitchell was too lazy to get off his arse and turn up.#ThanksDan#ThankYouDan#journalism#SocialMedia#auspolpic.twitter.com/qrnh5PrKZd

— Mark (@mark_melbin) September 30, 2023

One user on X who shared the clip wrote, “Dan Andrews stood in front of media every f**king day. Anyone with a press pass could ask him as many questions as they wanted. He never left until they ran out of questions. But, [Australian] media squeal — he never came on our radio shows, which means he avoided the media.”

Another user said, “The Insiders panel spreads the lie that Daniel Andrews cut out the media. Dan fronted up for 120 days straight and answered every question. Neil Mitchell was too lazy to get off his arse and turn up.”

One person claimed that “like many in the media” Karvelas was “behaving like a jilted lover”, while another woman said Mr Andrews “did not need to be accountable to Karvelas” and accused her of “[undermining] public health measures to save lives”.

Q+A host Patricia Karvelas on Insiders. Picture: ABC

Former Labor MP Laurie Ferguson wrote, “Karvelas was worried that Andrews cut out the media and spoke directly to the people. What is Australia coming to?”

Writing on X on Monday, Karvelas said, “I can’t respond to every tweet but I urge you not to rely on small short sections extracted of me speaking on Insiders but to watch the entire episode on iView. You are getting a deliberately skewed version of anything I’ve said if you rely on 10-second clips.”

In her full comments on the program, Karvelas said Mr Andrews “leaves a mixed legacy”.

“He’s an election-winning machine and one of the most skilled communicators I’ve seen with an ability for a cut-through message that resonated with people,” she said.

“He understood his state. He was bagged across the country but he understood Victoria like no one I’ve seen. He won that last election because of terrible opposition, but also because people on balance gave him credit for the work he’d done through the pandemic even though … it was pretty divisive some of it, and not everyone loved what he did during the pandemic. But on balance Victorians gave him credit for fronting up every single day and kind of being really a towering figure during that time.”

But Karvelas noted Mr Andrews “leaves the state with enormous amounts of debt”, which ratings agency Moody’s predicts will reach a whopping $226 billion by 2026-27.

“For that debt you get a pretty big infrastructure build, though, and I think there is a sort of grudging respect for the fact that a growing state that will surpass Sydney, and we are proud of that as Melburnians, does need strong infrastructure,” she said.

“A lot of migrants, a lot of people coming into Victoria, we need that.”

Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews at Parliament House. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The Australian Financial Review political editor Phillip Coorey argued voters in Victoria would care about the record debt “when they start whacking taxes on schools and beach houses”.

“And that’s the sort of start of it, and it’s going to go for generations down there because this has to be paid off,” he said.

“Victoria’s debt is cumulatively greater than the rest of the eastern states combined, it’s massive. It’s a huge problem, it’s the worst part of Dan Andrews’ legacy by a mile.”

Insiders host David Speers agreed and pointed out there were also other policy failures and controversies, including the “red shirts” scandal and the Commonwealth Games cancellation.

“Absolutely, there was a lot,” Karvelas said.

“And also the centralisation of power around him, he cut out that sort of accountability stuff with people like Virginia Trioli and Neil Mitchell, and answering questions. He communicated, though — and it’s troubling to us as journalists who want to ask the questions, and I’m in that category — but he communicated with voters by cutting out the media often.”

But she added that Mr Andrews achieved a lot “on the progressive side” and was “considered a conviction politician”.

Drag queen story time at Parliament House for IDAHOBIT Day. Picture: David Caird

“He was a really progressive Premier on trans rights, LGBTIQ rights, euthanasia, women’s right to choose, women’s health, on those sort of issues I think we’ve never seen such a progressive premier for generations, and that kind of matched the mood of the state,” she said.

Mr Andrews, 51, flanked by his wife and children, held a snap press conference at Parliament House last Tuesday to announce his resignation, telling voters that “when it’s time, it’s time”.

The 48th Premier of Victoria described the job as the “honour and privilege of my life” but revealed the decision to quit came after realising the job had started to “consume” him after nine years.

“It is not an easy job being Premier of our state … that is just a fact,” he said.

“It requires 100 per cent from you and your family. That, of course, is time-limited and now is the time to step away. The only way that I know how to do this job is to have it consume me, to have it define me. To a certain extent, every waking moment is about the work and that takes a toll.”

Mr Andrews conceded backflipping on his previous promise to serve out a full term.

“Yeah, it was true then and I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “This is my decision but it’s not about me, it’s about making sure that we have someone to work hard every single day to deal with the challenges that we face.”

Mr Andrews officially handed in his resignation on Wednesday, with his deputy Jacinta Allan anointed his heir after a heated Labor caucus meeting that day.

Ms Allan is the second woman to lead Victoria after Joan Kirner’s premiership in the early 1990s.