Coronavirus: Dictator Dan Andrews is a political animal

Illustration: Johannes Leak

When the Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, calls Josh Frydenberg, the Treasurer of Australia, “just a Liberal”, you have to wonder if the accusation that “all he does is play politics every day” isn’t a case of the pot calling the kettle black — that the toweringly serious Andrews is, in fact, being deeply projective.

We all know the Premier wants to soar like a steeple in the highest moral stratosphere, but when he throws such accusations at a Treasurer of the centre-right, who has provided billions of dollars to the maintaining of livelihoods in the most blatantly Keynesian and non-marketeering fashion, he does look oddly as if he might be guilty of political self-interest himself.

After all, Andrews is under the most intense scrutiny at the moment because of the quarantine crisis, which led to more than 800 deaths under his watch because of the decision — the reckless and bewildering decision — to appoint untrained and ignorant security guards.

He has also appointed an inquiry to look into these matters and the upshot has been the political downfall of the health minister, Jenny Mikakos, the resignation of the eminent head of the Premier’s Department, Chris Eccles, and evidence that the Chief Health Officer, Brett Sutton, had received emails that indicate he had been given information he told the inquiry he was ignorant of. There is also the question of what the Premier’s chief of staff, Lissie Ratcliff, knew in that gaping six minutes before police commissioner Graham Ashton indicated security people would be used.

It’s difficult not to think an alert Martian might wonder if everyone was taking a fall for Dictator Dan. And it’s also true Andrews has said all along the ultimate responsibility is his. But you somehow get the strongest sense that the man who has imposed a lockdown of staggering length and severity on the second-largest state believes he alone should have dominion to put things right during this time of plague. Not that anyone could deny the fact his recent rigorous efforts to slash the rate of infections and deaths have appeared to work and the new wave of infections overtaking Europe at the moment indicates there are worse spectres than autocratic leaders.

You do constantly get the sense from Andrews that only he can get Melbourne out of the quandary it found itself in with the COVID crisis, even if he was the person ultimately responsible for it. And there’s no denying he comes across as a leader — and, yes, a more than political leader –– of very considerable gravity and moral authority.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg during Question Time.

People in Victoria (and especially Melburnians) are sick to death of their 100-day lockdown, which has placed them under virtual house arrest and afflicted them in a thousand ways –– missing loved ones, curtailed weddings and funerals, the absence of all the small, sustaining distractions of everyday life that stop you going round the twist. Not to mention the devastation of hospitality, of retail, of the economy in general.

Yet no one, or not many, doubts the sincerity of the Premier and the sheer dogged seriousness with which he battles the virus and tells the people of Victoria, over and over, with blinding conviction, that they must stay firm, they must stay true; if they accept the sacrifice, they will conquer.

It’s a tremendous performance and it’s clearly fuelled by a breathtaking self-belief. Andrews is, for heaven’s sake, the man who will not let people congregate in their homes to watch the AFL grand final. He prevents them from going to a church or synagogue or mosque in any numbers. He imposes staggering $5000 fines on those who disobey his edicts.

Premier Daniel Andrews giving his daily COVID-19 press conference this week. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Penny Stephens

And he can do this because the skills he has –– whatever else they are –– are exceptional political skills. It’s hard to deny that many people who are oppressed by the repressiveness of his policies (and they would include Coalition voters) think, with some reason, that only Dan can pull us through this mess.

He might have got us into it but, by God, he’s going to get us out of it, this born leader equipped with the stature of a wartime leader.

At the same time, Andrews must know the response of the Morrison government to the crisis of the COVID virus –– and Josh Frydenberg’s role in it –– was not the response of a narrow Coalition government, it was the response of a government in touch with the deepest traditions of Australian egalitarianism. To do no harm, save every possible life, whatever the cost. It was a more radical policy economically than anything since World War II.

And we have all known there was another side to this story, that the cost of closing everything down had great risks for economic security, for the futures of the young, for the stability and sanity of everybody.

That’s what Frydenberg has been speaking on behalf of recently and Andrews would be well advised to treat it with some respect. It does have, he should remember, the considered and considerable backing of the business community.

It will be interesting to see what history makes of these two. If he did nothing else, Frydenberg will be remembered as a Treasurer who transcended ideology when he had to. And Andrews? Well, people of supreme ambition make great mistakes. Adolf Hitler should never have gone into Russia. And Winston Churchill was always in danger of losing the war only he could win.

Peter Craven is a Melbourne-based cultural critic.