Mass exodus of Daniel Andrews’ senior Labor MPs this election

A significant number of Daniel Andrews’ senior MPs are quitting, with the Premier also facing the threat of the “it’s time” factor.

Whether Daniel Andrews wins or loses the Victorian election there will be a mass exodus of senior Labor MPs come Saturday.

In the six months before the election, five of Mr Andrews' cabinet ministers, with a combined 87 years of time in Parliament between them, announced they would not recontest their seats.

Employment and Small Business Minister Jaala Pulford was the latest to join the growing list when she announced less than a month before the election she would be quitting politics after 16 years.

Just months earlier in June, James Merlino, Martin Foley, Lisa Neville and Martin Pakula announced their plans to retire at the election. Their time in Parliament varies between 15 and 20 years each.

They also vacated their portfolios at the time, meaning Mr Andrews effectively lost a deputy premier and ministers responsible for health, police, and industry, tourism and sport.

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James Merlino, who was Dan Andrews’ deputy for 10.5 years is retiring from politics this election. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

In November last year, former attorney-general Jill Hennessy and Planning and Housing Minister Richard Wynne also announced they would not recontest their seats at the next state election. Mr Wynne was first elected in 1999.

All outgoing ministers released statements expressing their support for the Premier, but it has been suggested the same factor that influenced the MPs to quit (their long time in government) may also threaten Mr Andrews’ success this election.

Paul Strangio, a politics professor at Monash University, said in June the Andrews government had an “indisputably” high ministerial turnover.

However, he said the “rush to the door” was unremarkable given the Andrews administration is already the second longest serving Labor government in Victorian history and “longevity brings wear and tear”.

“The resignations of this quintet – deputy premier James Merlino, Lisa Neville, Martin Foley, Martin Pakula, and Richard Wynne – is the equivalent of the loss of one quarter of the cabinet,” he wrote for academic website The Conversation.

“Another seven ministers have either voluntarily resigned from cabinet or been pushed out during the course of this term of government.”

That list includes former health minister Jenny Mikakos, who resigned amid backlash for the state’s botched hotel quarantine program, and former local government minister Adem Somyurek, who was sacked amid Labor’s branch-stacking scandal.

Then health minister Jenny Mikakos suddenly quit after Mr Andrews said she was accountable for the state’s botched hotel quarantine program. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Prof Strangio said it could be argued the turnover in cabinet was a good thing because it brought an opportunity for rejuvenation.

“Rejuvenation depends, of course, on whether there are still existing reserves of talent on the backbench of Andrews’ ageing government to cover the departures,” he wrote.

He said out of all the things threatening Labor’s re-election, an “it’s time” factor will “probably be the most dangerous”.

“That is electorate fatigue with a government that will be asking for more than a decade in office. Unquestionably, Andrews will be the focal point of that problem for Labor,” he wrote.