Calls for Daniel Andrews to quit amid Victoria’s coronavirus second wave and Melbourne’s lockdown

Daniel Andrews blamed the “complacency” of Melburnians for the second wave of COVID-19. Many say it’s his fault – and he should quit.

In shutting down Australia’s second-largest city, home to almost five million people, Daniel Andrews blamed “complacency” among Melburnians for the resurgence of coronavirus.

But critics say the true blame rests with the Victorian Premier himself, and there are calls for his resignation amid claims the public have lost faith in his ability to lead.

An “unsustainable” spike in new cases of COVID-19 prompted the grave announcement on Tuesday that Melbourne will re-enter stage three lockdown for six weeks.

“I think a sense of complacency has crept into us as we let our frustrations get the better of us,” Mr Andrews said. “I think that each of us know someone who has not been following the rules as well as they should have.”

But the beginning of this second wave of infections has been linked to a catastrophic failure in Victoria’s mandatory hotel quarantine procedures, which his government was responsible for.

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Premier Daniel Andrews announced the six-week lockdown of Melbourne in a bid to get on top of a coronavirus second wave. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images

From March, Australians returning from overseas were placed in compulsory isolation for a 14-day period in accommodation facilities across Melbourne.

The Victorian Government contracted private security firms to manage hotel quarantine sites, in contrast to other states that used a mix of police and Defence Force personnel.

The results were devastating.

The government devised its approach in just 24 hours and awarded the security job without a tender process, saying there wasn’t time.

Guards were allegedly given a five-minute briefing before starting work, leading to claims of serious improper conduct.

Among the allegations to emerge are that security personnel had sex with some quarantined travellers, ignored basic hygiene rules, allowed those in isolation to mingle with others, and even let some people leave early.

Quarantined families were allegedly allowed to visit other guests to play card games, and some people left hotels to get fast food, it was alleged.

The debacle is now the subject of a judicial inquiry.

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Victoria’s hotel quarantine process proved to be a catastrophic failure. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

The Stamford Plaza hotel in Little Collins Street in Melbourne was the source of a quarantine outbreak. Picture: Jay Town

Liberal Opposition leader Michael O’Brien said yesterday the lockdown of Melbourne is the “catastrophic failure of Daniel Andrews’ failure on hotel quarantine”.

He also accused the Premier of being distracted with Labor Party political issues, referring to last month’s damning 60 Minutes exposé of branch-stacking in Victoria that saw three ministers dumped.

Mr Andrews was asked directly at a press conference today if he felt “community anger” towards his government undermined his credibility.

“I am accountable – there’s never been a doubt about that,” he said.

“I am accountable for what happens across our state. That’s what being the leader of the state is all about. At the same time, that job requires me to make not just the popular calls, but the really difficult, hard calls.”

If there was indeed a sense of community complacency about coronavirus social distancing, blame for that could also be shared by the Victorian Government.

That’s the view of Dr Margaret Heffernan OAM, an academic and behavioural researcher at RMIT University, who said the government’s conduct contributed to “message and compassion fatigue”.

“In Victoria … a lack of resilience among sectors of the population (was) compounded by contradictory messages from government – ‘constrain social behaviours, but it is OK to mass protest’ – and led to confusion and lack of trust in our mandated leaders,” Dr Heffernan said.

Black Lives Matter protests were held across Australia last month, including in Melbourne where social distancing measures remained stricter than in other capitals.

While Mr Andrews said at the time he would prefer the demonstration be postponed, he directed police not to fine attendees for breaching rules.

“I’m not going to the protest. I would suggest to other people they shouldn’t go to the protest either,” he said.

At that time, Victoria Police had issued almost 6000 infringement notices to others in the state found to be in violation of public health orders, four times higher than in NSW.

Black Lives Matter protest in Melbourne. Picture: Alex Coppel

“We can go back over Black Lives Matter,” Mr Andrews said today.

“It shouldn’t have happened. But unless you want Victoria Police to literally lock up and arrest 10,000 people … I think there’s a range of practical reasons why that just would not have worked.”

While the protest hasn’t been linked with an outbreak, with only a handful of positive cases relating to people who attended, hundreds of infections remain under investigation.

Daniel Andrews asked protests to be postponed but also revealed attendees wouldn’t be fined for breaching social distancing. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

There’s a clear sense of anger and dismay in Melbourne in the wake of yesterday’s announcement, with talkback radio flooded with upset calls.

Many seemed especially annoyed that they had been blamed for the return of COVID-19 cases by Mr Andrews.

“Well, I made a number of comments yesterday and I think that’s an accurate description of the way some people are behaving,” he said, adding: “That’s not every Victorian.”

When asked by a reporter, the Premier said he wasn’t considering resigning.

“What I’m not just considering, but delivering, is the response to this pandemic and seeing this through. That’s what’s most important and it’s what I’m going to get done.”

The Victorian Liberal Party is calling for ministers responsible for the state’s coronavirus response, particularly Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, to be sacked in the wake of the second wave.

Ms Mikakos raised eyebrows at the weekend when she attempted to imply Melbourne’s outbreak was somehow linked to the Ruby Princess debacle in NSW – from March.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews dismissed calls for him to resign. Picture: David Crosling

While he swatted away criticism from the Opposition, saying he wasn’t interested in “silly political games”, Mr Andrews offered an apology to Victorians for the pain that’s to come in the next several weeks.

“I apologise for the inconvenience, the great challenge that many, many Victorian families are going to have to experience,” he said.

“It’s not where we wanted to be. But we can’t go back. We can’t change those things that have got us to this point. We can only respond appropriately and that involves everyone following the rules because they are rules that are there for everyone.”