Backroom Baz: Dan Andrews and Brett Sutton’s relationship hits a snag

Rumours have been rife about a frosty relationship between Andrews and Sutton, now the pair have publicly disagreed on another issue.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Brett Sutton can’t see eye to eye … on snags. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett

With coronavirus all but gone — for now — we won’t see much more of Premier Daniel Andrews standing by his trusty sidekick, chief health officer Brett Sutton.

Rumours have been rife about a frosty relationship between the pair dating back months, with the united team at press conferences a front for a much more distant relationship behind the scenes.

Any rumoured disunity spilt out into public this week when Sutton directly contradicted his boss over — of all things — the sacred Bunnings Sausage. The Premier wants his onions on top of the sausage. For Sutton, they definitely go underneath. But of course our top health officer would say that.

The Bunnings Sausage sparked furious national debate in 2018 when health and safety concerns prompted the hardware giant to ask that sausages served outside its stores had the onions placed on the bottom, instead of on top. This was to prevent them falling out and creating a slipping hazard.

Dan with his trusty sidekick Brett Sutton

ALLAN’S COFFEES KEY TO FUTURE

Now that we’re allowed out again, Baz’s spies have been keeping a close eye on the cafes and diners around Spring Street.

And they’ve been interested to note the regular appearance of Jacinta Allan around the traps.

There’s no doubt Allan is one of the hardest working ministers and MPs going around — responsible for getting a lot of things done, namely Victoria’s major transport infrastructure.

But she’s not sipping coffee with hard-hatted construction workers.

Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan has been catching up to colleagues over a cuppa

No, instead it seems she’s been having coffee with a lot of colleagues around the place.

Could it be signalling the start of a charm offensive as would befit a future contender for the Labor throne? According to some, that’s exactly what it is.

DAN’S BIG DECADE

SPEAKING of the Labor throne, Premier Daniel Andrews notches up 10 years as Victorian Labor leader this week, just a day before clocking six years as premier.

The milestone will make him the third longest serving Victorian Labor Leader, behind John Cain Sr (1937-1957) and Clyde Holding (1967-1977). Still, that’s likely not the record Andrews is really keen to break.

If he stays in the top job until the 2022 election he’ll become the longest serving Labor premier, taking the prize from Steve Bracks. But amid wild speculation about his future, that remains a big if.

NEW REFORM GIG FOR LAWYER

YOU win some, you lose some.

Melbourne lawyer Kathleen Foley hit the news some weeks back after appearing on a Four Corners expose into the seedy underbelly of federal politics.

Days after the program went to air, in which she described federal Attorney-General Christian Porter as “deeply sexist”, Foley lost her bid for re-election to the Victorian Bar’s governing council.

Barrister Kathleen Foley

This week she scored a new gig after being appointed to the Victorian Law Reform Commission. The government recently asked the Commission to review and report on the state’s laws relating to rape, sexual assault and associated adult and child sexual offences.

After more than a decade at the bar, it sounds like Foley is perfect for the gig.

SIR HUMPHREY’S NOT AMUSED

Sir Humphrey Appleby (Britain’s greatest, if fictional, civil servant) quipped that “ministers should never know more than they need to know”.

However it seems Down Under that we do it upside down.

Premier Daniel Andrews met federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese this week in Melbourne — yet no staff from either leader’s office were able to confirm it was happening. One staffer went so far as to say it wasn’t.

Actors Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby

Very strange indeed. Surely the left hand needs to know what the right hand is doing.

Sir Humphrey (beautifully portrayed on TV screens by Nigel Hawthorrne) would not be impressed.

BAZ SAYS OOPS

BAZ has said it before, and he’ll say it again — sometimes he makes mistakes.

Last week he dubbed Labor MP Harriet Shing Victoria’s first openly gay pollie. Of course that should have been Victoria’s first openly gay “female” pollie.

Former Liberal MP Andrew Olexander will forever retain the title as the state’s first openly gay MP. It shouldn’t have slipped Baz’s mind as it’s not as though Olexander flew under the radar. His seven years as an upper house MP were marked by scandal, including a drink driving conviction and controversy over living allowances. Then there was the news he hired his partner as his taxpayer-funded assistant.

When he was ultimately expelled by the party, he claimed he was a victim of homophobia.

GOT ANY POLITICAL SCUTTLEBUTT FOR BAZ?

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Originally published as Backroom Baz: Dan Andrews and Brett Sutton’s relationship hits a snag