Daniel Andrews’ power grab is obscene in any language

The Premier believes he is the father of Victoria. He’s not. He’s the most self-obsessed authoritarian the state has ever had.

Daniel Andrews is simply an authoritarian who presides over an increasingly authoritarian government which wants to attain yet more draconian powers.

As much of Australia moves out of Covid-19 lockdowns and international border closures ease with respect to some states and territories, it is hoped that – among other things – language usage will return to pre-pandemic normality.

On Wednesday, Christopher Blanden QC, president of the Victorian Bar, received national attention for his critique of Daniel Andrews’ Labor government’s Public Health and Wellbeing (Pandemic Management) Bill which was introduced into the Victorian Legislative Assembly the previous day. Blanden said that the Stasi police in former East Germany “would have been more than happy with the range of powers if they were given it”.

Interviewed by Virginia Trioli on ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday, Blanden was asked if he considered the Stasi reference a “bit of hyperbole”. To which he responded, with complete frankness: “Well, of course it’s a bit of hyperbole but it has got everyone’s attention.”

Quite so. Blanden’s point was that the proposed new laws would give the Victorian Premier unprecedented powers over all Victorians. Sure there was hyperbole in the description – but he did get his message across. In any event, Blanden was correct in that the Stasi were not known for rejecting new powers of whatever kind.

When I lived in Victoria up until the mid-1980s, there was usually a group of vibrant civil liberty lawyers who supported individual liberty and railed against the power of government. Up until the election of the Labor government led by John Cain Jnr in April 1982, Victoria had been governed by the Liberal Party for most of the period after the end of World War II.

The evidence suggests that much of the Victorian legal community has gone relatively quiet on these matters following the end of Jeff Kennett’s Coalition government in September 1999. Since then, except for three years, Labor has been in office. And it has become increasingly authoritarian since Andrews became premier in 2014.

Tim Smith, the newly appointed opposition legal affairs spokesman under the new Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, has many political enemies outside the Liberal Party and a few within. But Smith can get a message through.

Speaking to Peter Stefanovic on Sky News on Tuesday, Smith described the proposed legislation as “rule by decree in perpetuity for Daniel Andrews”. He added: “The Premier is trying to get the parliament to give him decree powers – powers that are foreign to this country for an elected leader to be able to rule by decree and do whatever he likes and lock people down in 2022 on a whim, on a whim of his signature.”

Smith is correct. As is widely known, Melbourne has been the world’s most shutdown city with the harshest lockdown provisions in Australia. Yet, on Andrews’ watch, Victoria has experienced the greatest number of Covid-19 related deaths and currently has the highest number of Covid-19 infections.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos 22 SEPTEMBER 2021 : Police fire rubber bullets as protestors flee from the Shrine of Remembrance to protest anti-vaccination and lockdowns in Melbourne. Picture : NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

A political leader with a modicum of self-awareness might have reflected that the current easing of restrictions in Victoria was an opportunity for quietude and reflection. That’s not Andrews’ style. On October 22, he tweeted: “I’m trying not to sound like some kind of soppy dad here, but I am proud, bloody proud of this state. We have gone though such a hard time together, this pandemic has been exhausting in every sense of the word.”

It seems that the Premier believes he is the father of Victoria. He’s not. Only authoritarian leaders make such claims. Moreover, as Gideon Haigh wrote in The Weekend Australian last Saturday: “What’s Andrews got to be grateful for?” Haigh added: “We did as we were told, to avoid draconian fines for noncompliance.”

And that’s the point. Andrews came to the premiership via Labor’s Socialist Left faction. Yet those Victorians who have suffered most during the lockdowns were the poor and the disadvantaged – especially those with young children living in small apartments.

Victorians on Andrews’ salary can readily pay what to others are draconian fines – as the Premier did on two occasions for minor infringements of Victoria’s mask-wearing laws. But two $200 fines to a politician can be a massive penalty to a single mother with three children.

However, as Victoria moves out of lockdowns, Andrews wants higher fines. The proposed new legislation could lead to a Victorian citizen being fined up to $90,870 or facing up to a maximum of two years in jail for breaking health orders.

This follows the various lockdowns in which some members of the Victorian Police appear to have used excessive force with respect to a woman at home with her children and a man quietly talking to police – and more besides – under the guise of enforcing health regulations.

What’s surprising about this is that so many journalists – especially those at the ABC and The Age – have accepted Labor’s clampdown on even peaceful protests in a way that would not have been tolerated when Kennett was premier.

On Tuesday, Smith faced a hostile interview from Trioli – who appears to be a proud member of the “I stand with Dan” club. Towards the end of the interview, Trioli went into denial mode, declaring: “I don’t make arguments on this program, I ask questions.”

In fact, Trioli put it to Smith that by opposing Labor’s legislation, the Coalition could bring about a “loss of public faith” in the health system. She went on to suggest that the opposition should be supporting the bill since it “has exactly what it was you guys have been calling for, for so long”. There is no evidence that Smith has ever called for $90,000 fines for noncompliance with health orders.

When, and if, the heat of the pandemic debate scales down, it will be time to restore balance in language. Australia during the pandemic has not experienced a period of Mussolini-like fascism or Stalin-like communism and it is not run by one or more dictators. In totalitarian societies there is no right to free speech. Also, dictators don’t subject themselves to re-election.

Daniel Andrews is simply an authoritarian who presides over an increasingly authoritarian government which wants to attain yet more draconian powers.

He’s not like East Germany’s Erich Honecker. But Andrews is the most self-obsessed authoritarian leader that Victoria has ever had.

Gerard Henderson is executive director of the Sydney Institute. His Media Watch Dog blog can be found here.