End of Daniel Andrews: Lockdown hero to some, but zero to many others
The ring of steel, the doughnut days and Daniel Andrews’ North Face jacket – the Premier leaves a mixed legacy on his Covid response.
Victorians’ reflections on Dan Andrews’ leadership during the Covid years will be nostalgic for some and triggering for others – the ubiquitous North Face jacket at daily press briefings in the “purple room of doom”, the “ring of steel”, “doughnut days” and “Covid-zero”.
On his resignation after nine years as Victorian Premier, they will continue to be divided between the “I stand with Dan” proponents and those who resented the politically imposed restrictions of liberty for longer than anywhere in the Western world.
In the middle there will be many who recall readily turning to the Premier for safety and information as the pandemic swept across the world toward Australia.
But by their sixth lockdown in the winter and spring of 2021, many Melburnians were questioning the impact on the economy and society’s broader wellbeing.
Mr Andrews’ determination during 2020 and again in the second half of 2021 to reach “Covid-zero” will likely stand as the most contentious and divisive political decisions of his premiership.
Former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten said Mr Andrews had stepped up to make hard decisions to ensure the state’s hospital system could cope in a one-in-100-year pandemic.
“He was a tough leader in tough times,” Mr Shorten said.
And despite the heavy restrictions imposed across Victoria, and Melbourne in particular, Mr Andrews never lost his popularity with voters, winning the November 2022 election with an increased majority.
Those six Melbourne lockdowns across 2020 and 2021 spanned 262 days in total.
The first began in March 2020 and lasted 43 days. Then in winter that year, the longest continuous Covid-19 lockdown in the Western world occurred between July 9 and October 27, 111 days in all.
The last ended on October 21, 2021 after 77 days of lockdown, but even then it wasn’t the end of restrictions, with continuing limits on travel outside the city, the size of events and the opening of retail outlets.
During those two years, Mr Andrews unapologetically went hard and early, looking to curb infection rates, including the shutting of schools and non-essential retail and being unable to leave home without valid reasons. The travel restrictions, including a “ring of steel” between Melbourne and the regions led to situations that felt at times cruel for families unable to see loved ones.
The Premier would use daily media conferences, live-streamed on TV, to defend the decisions on the basis he was relying on the advice of his health team. At one stage he appeared on more than 100 consecutive days, not leaving until all questions had been posed.
At times he found himself under pressure, including for the botched hotel quarantine program in 2020. The lax arrangements were blamed for Covid finding its way into the state.
At an inquiry into the matter, Mr Andrews said his health minister Jenny Mikakos was accountable for the program, leading to her resignation.
In early July 2020, the state government announced the lockdown of nine public housing towers, home to 3000 residents, who could not leave under any circumstances for five days. This was later found by the Victorian Ombudsman to be a breach of human rights laws, though Mr Andrews remained unapologetic about the decision. Nevertheless, Mr Andrews’ hardline “Covid zero” approach did see Victoria free of the virus in late 2020, recording 61 consecutive “doughnut days”.
It was the 2021 lockdowns that really tested the patience of the city, with parents seeing their children facing up to a second year of school disruptions and many businesses struggling to push through more restrictions.
Still pushing for elimination of the virus as Melbourne’s sixth and last lockdown began in August 2021, the Premier announced a range of measures that rankled families. Playgrounds and skate parks were shut and basketball hoops removed from local parks.
By September, as the state government announced vaccination was required for many workplaces, including retail and construction, thousands of construction workers took to the streets for almost a week of protests, joined by others concerned about the impact of lockdowns.
Finally in October, with the Delta variant posting daily record Covid cases in Victoria and vaccination rates hitting 70 per cent double-dosed, the lockdown was lifted, though many restrictions on gatherings and travel continued.
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