Daniel Andrews blasted over George Pell jibe

Daniel Andrews has been branded ‘an insult in search of a target’ for saying he cannot think of ‘anything more distressing’ for victims of church child sex abuse than granting George Pell a state ­funeral.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Ross

Daniel Andrews has been branded “an insult in search of a target” for saying he cannot think of “anything more distressing” for victims of church child sex abuse than granting George Pell a state ­funeral.

The criticism of the late cardinal by the Victorian Premier enraged friends of Cardinal Pell’s, with one saying he hoped Mr Andrews would never have been invited to any memorial.

Cardinal Pell, in a speech as recently as last August, compared Mr Andrews to Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s ­corrupt government in 1980s Queensland, and his supporters have long criticised the Victorian Labor leader’s response to the quashing of abuse convictions against the Catholic cleric.

Asked on Thursday whether a state funeral had been requested for the cardinal, who died in Rome on Tuesday aged 81, Mr Andrews quickly ruled out any taxpayer-funded event.

“No. And there won’t be a state memorial service. I couldn’t think of anything that would be more distressing for victim survivors than that,” Mr Andrews said.

“There’s been no request made, and these things are normally ­offered rather than asked for, and there will be no offer made,” Mr Andrews said.

Asked whether he would attend the funeral – to be held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, where Cardinal Pell is to be buried as a former archbishop – Mr Andrews said: “I don’t think so, no.”

NSW Premier and fellow Catholic Dominic Perrottet also ruled out taxpayer funding from his state for the funeral.

Close friend of Cardinal Pell, emeritus professor of law and former vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University Greg Craven, hit back at Mr Andrews.

“I think Daniel Andrews is an insult in search of a target,” he said. “So far as I know, no one wanted a state funeral, no one asked for a state funeral, and I for one would hope that he wouldn’t have been invited to a state funeral.”

Professor Craven took issue with the Premier’s refusal to engage with concerns surrounding the Victorian judiciary’s handling of the Pell case. “Premier Andrews is always telling us what he respects, but apparently it doesn’t ­include the rule of law,” he said.

Mr Perrottet confirmed Cardinal Pell would not be given a NSW state funeral. “No. There will be a memorial service, which will be held and that is arranged by the archdiocese and I just want to say to the cardinal’s family, our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time,” Mr Perrottet said.

In one of his last speeches to an Australian audience, Cardinal Pell likened his home state of Victoria under Mr Andrews to Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland.

In an address to Sydney-based Catholic liberal arts college Campion in August, an excerpt of which was published in The Australian, he bemoaned the rise of identity politics and cancel culture, but expressed optimism that liberal-democratic and conservative Christian values would ultimately prevail. “I don’t think Australian life is rotten at the core, but times are changing, and not always for the better,” Cardinal Pell told a large crowd at the college’s fundraising dinner. “The inevitable royal commission of the future into Victoria could find a situation parallel to that of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s Queensland in the 1970s-80s. Too many Australians were content with the over-reaction of bossy nanny states during the Covid crisis, when the churches were closed before the casino.”

Mr Andrews said he would “not dignify … with any response” comments from Peter Dutton, who on Wednesday joined former Liberal prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott in commenting on Cardinal Pell’s quashed conviction for child sex assault charges.

The Opposition Leader said: “On his passing, the fact he spent a year in prison for a conviction that the High Court of Australia unanimously quashed should provide some cause for reflection for the Victorian Labor government and its institutions that led this modern-day political persecution.”

Cardinal Pell spent 13 months in prison after being convicted on five counts relating to historic child sex abuse allegations after a County Court verdict that was upheld by two of three Victorian Court of Appeal judges before being dismissed 7-0 by the full bench of the High Court.

Asked whether there was a need to reflect on Victoria’s legal institutions, Mr Andrews said: “I think there’s absolutely no need for me to dignify (Mr Dutton’s) commentary by providing any further response, which is why I’m not.”