Daniel Andrews’ QDOS polling: all talk, no action

The Andrews government wanted to know what locals thought of it, but worried asking would increase requests for action in wake of bushfires.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews in Fitzroy, Melbourne, on Thursday. Picture: Aaron Francis

Daniel Andrews’ department feared if QDOS surveyed bushfire-hit towns locals might expect ‘‘their needs will be acted on’’ when its political intelligence program was only designed to find out what communities thought of the government.

A ­series of previously confidential emails between the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the firm reveal that in the aftermath of the 2019-20 summer bushfires the government was focused on polling northeastern Victoria.

The emails – released to The Australian after a two-year Freedom of Information battle – ­between the DPC manager, whose name has been redacted, and QDOS research director Sue Loukomitis provide an insight into the government’s political intelligence operation.

An email marked ‘‘cabinet in confidence’’ sent by the DPC manager at 8.21am on February 26, 2020, requests Wangaratta – Mr Andrews’ hometown – be ­included in a large-scale ­community survey of metropolitan and regional Victoria scheduled for March.

‘‘I am proposing Wangaratta for the regional area. (redacted) happy to go with your recommendation however I am seeking your advice – particularly on whether we should screen out individuals that were impacted in a major way e.g. lost significant property or CFA volunteers (not sure what the mood is there)?

‘‘My concern over going into the more impacted areas is that we may be setting expectations with participants that their needs will be acted on or they will be ­responded to in some way ­following the groups – it may be seen as ­engagement rather than research.

‘‘Wangaratta residents are likely to have friends and family in the valley and there was a fire nearby so they will still have insight, hopefully without the trauma that many went through.’’

Ms Loukomitis responds in an email at 10.05am:

‘‘Yes, Wangaratta is fine.

‘‘You never know how any one group is going to respond but going to areas directly impacted by the fires at this early point to get their general feelings about the government when so many are still dealing with the aftermath may be misconstrued as consultation or, worse, be seen as lacking sensitivity.’’

Later that day, the DPC manager emails Ms Loukomitis to say they had ‘‘sign off’’ and Wangar­atta would be included in the QDOS survey.

Mr Andrews over his 12-year reign as Labor leader, both in ­opposition and government, has regularly drawn on his Wangar­atta upbringing, but the DPC-QDOS documents don’t reveal whether he played any role in having the city of almost 30,000 people included in the survey.

Summer bushfires saw emergency warnings in nearby areas and a relief centre established in Wangaratta as much of the north-east of Victoria battled bushfires that claimed five lives and ­destroyed hundreds of houses. The March 2020 QDOS final survey questions and the results were not included in almost 200 pages of the previously redacted emails and documents released to The Australian.

But documents do reveal the DPC wanted to survey Sydenham, Strathmore and Glenroy in the metropolitan poll and Narre Warren and Berwick in the city’s southeastern growth corridor.

Before Wangaratta was floated as the regional location, the DPC manager emailed Ms Loukomitis indicating there was high-level interest in finding out what areas hit by the bushfires thought of the government. ‘‘As discussed, we have sign off … with the regional location to be confirmed (looking north east closer to fire impacted towns),’’ the email states.

The emergence of the DPC-QDOS email exchange about Wangaratta follows a series of reports in The Australian this week, based on hundreds of emails and documents released under FoI, revealing that the government’s pandemic response including lockdown strategy was informed by second QDOS polling.