‘Dan doesn’t care: The real Andrews stands up on Beijing red carpet
It was a brief peek inside the post-political mind of Daniel Andrews offered six months ago. There nothing to suggest the ex-premier is sitting in a Beijing hotel today racked by sudden self-doubt over his red-carpet appearance with Xi Jinping and the world’s nastiest dictators.
Andrews did release a statement on Thursday explaining his attendance thus: “And just so there’s no confusion – I have condemned Putin and his illegal war in Ukraine from day one. That’s why he banned me from Russia last year.
“Further, my support for Israel and Australia’s Jewish community has been outspoken and unwavering, and I unequivocally condemn Iran for its attacks on Australia, Israel and elsewhere in the world.”
But those who know him well, and those who have observed him closely for years, reckon he’s sitting in that Beijing hotel doing exactly what we expect him to be doing; not giving a f..k.
So while former NSW Labor premier and foreign minister Bob Carr ran a mile from Xi’s red carpet and told anyone who’d listen that he was there for the WWII commemoration – not the military parade – Dan made a deliberate decision to attend, to shake the supreme communist leader’s hand and pose for family photos with the most despised leaders on the planet.
You almost have to feel sorry for the “I stand with Dan” crowd.
For them, the images that bounced around the world must be particularly troubling. They stood by their hero during the pandemic and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, taking the fight to anyone via social media who blamed the Andrews government’s Covid-19 stuff ups for almost destroying the joint.
Do they still “stand with Dan”? If so, does that mean they’re also standing with Xi, Vlad and Kim? Dictators who lock up millions of minorities, execute their enemies, invade innocent democracies and are bringing the world closer to global conflict.
Andrews sold himself as the champion of minorities, a conviction leader who marched with the LGBTQI community, who invited a drag queen into parliament to read stories to children at the height of a culture war over this very thing.
He started treaty negotiations with the Indigenous community.
The list of his progressive reforms is lengthy, and the progressive state of Victoria lapped them up, electing him in 2014, 2018 and 2022.
Surely, he believed in all these causes? It can’t have just been about the politics, can it?
Was Progressive Dan real?
Victorians got their answer on Wednesday – all the way from Beijing.
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A Dan loyalist – one who genuinely likes him – summed up the former premier this way: “Mate, he doesn’t give a f..k what you guys think, what any journo thinks. He doesn’t give a f..k what anyone thinks. He’s out there making millions and having a great life.”