Daniel Andrews ‘exploded’ and delivered ‘expletive-laden rant’ in caucus, say Labor sources

Daniel Andrews ‘exploded’ in Wednesday’s caucus meeting to determine his successor, and delivered a furious ‘rant’, ­according to multiple senior Victorian Labor sources.

Daniel Andrews departs the Labor caucus meeting on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

Daniel Andrews “exploded” in Wednesday’s caucus meeting to determine his successor, and delivered an expletive-laden “rant” that was “second to none”, ­according to multiple senior Victorian Labor sources.

Powerbrokers from the Left and the Right have spoken of the former premier’s role in attempting to engineer a transition to an all Socialist Left leadership team of Jacinta Allan and Tim Pallas as having been a “classic Daniel man­oeuvre” that backfired.

They also say the eventual compromise that delivered Ms Allan the premiership and Right-aligned Ben Carroll the role as her deputy was struck at Mr ­Andrews’s urging.

Ben Carroll and Daniel Andrews. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

A day on from the messy factional fight that saw the man who is now Ms Allan’s deputy – Mr Carroll – challenge her for the premiership, powerbrokers from across the party were blaming Mr Andrews for the turn of events.

“The plan Daniel had hatched with Jacinta was to give the Right as little notice as possible and to give her critical support by installing Tim (Pallas) as her deputy,” said a senior Labor source. “It was a classic Daniel manoeuvre, complete with a classic botching of the detail around party rules.”

When Mr Carroll and fellow Right minister Anthony Carbines challenged for the leadership and deputy leadership on Wednesday, Mr Andrews and Ms Allan’s Socialist Left only belatedly ­realised Labor Party rules would require them to hold a ballot of members to determine the outcome, leaving Victoria without a premier for more than a month.

After receiving loud and lengthy applause when he entered the state partyroom for the last time as premier on Wednesday, Mr Andrews launched into a “tirade” against the Right, and particularly Mr Carroll and Mr Carbines, according to multiple senior Labor sources.

“Daniel exploded in caucus. His rant was second to none. It was f..king this, f..king that,” said one. “He basically said to them: ‘You all have the right to aspire to be promoted. You don’t have the right to bring divisions into this room.’ ”

Multiple sources also said it was Mr Andrews whose urging prompted the compromise that saw Ms Allan and Mr Carroll unanimously endorsed as leader and deputy.

“He told them: ‘You guys, sort this out. There’s a fricking deal to be made here. Do it now’,” a Labor powerbroker reported. “The last thing he did was what he should have done at the very beginning.”

Asked to respond to the claims regarding his behaviour in the caucus meeting, Mr Andrews said of Ms Allan: “The 49th Premier was elected unopposed by the caucus, and she has my full support.”

Sources from both Left and the Right of the party said members of the Left had displayed “appalling” behaviour in the meeting.

“They were being quite belligerent towards the Right, essentially saying ‘We’ve got the numbers, piss off’, said a senior Labor figure.

“Of course the Right’s going to turn around and behave like they did. When you basically provide people with nothing to aspire to or hope for, they have nothing to lose.

“It also demonstrated that the minute Daniel stood up and said, ‘I’m going’, his power evaporated.”

Another powerbroker said: “The Left’s behaviour was quite appalling. Their whole demeanour, arrogance, bullying caucus members, making threats. At one point every member of the Right caucus got threatened.

“I don’t know how much worse their behaviour could have been. It was aggressive. It was bullying – yelling at everyone, carrying on.

“What yesterday demonstrated is if you want to try a smash-and-grab approach, if you want to try to bully people, then naturally people will fight.”

On her first full day as Premier on Thursday, Ms Allan visited a level crossing removal in the outer southeastern Melbourne suburb of Pakenham, indicating she would make decisions at the weekend regarding roles in her first cabinet, which is likely to be sworn in on Monday ahead of parliament on Tuesday.

With the exception of Eltham MP Vicki Ward, who was on Wednesday endorsed by caucus to fill the vacancy left by Mr Andrews in cabinet, membership of the ministry will not change, but Ms Allan is expected to reshuffle positions, including reassigning her current role as Transport Infrastructure Minister.

Ahead of the cabinet reshuffle, factional allies and rivals of Ms Allan said there was a strong desire within the party for the positions to be determined in what one termed “more collaborative rather than punitive manner” than occurred under Mr Andrews.

“What needs to happen is that we go back to a pre-2018 model of leaders from both sides coming together and working out who gets what. More recently, it’s been Daniel alone with a whiteboard and names,” said one factional player.

Victorian Deputy Premier Ben Carroll. Picture: Getty Images

Another said: “There’s a view now that the party’s going back to where it was under (Steve) Bracks in terms of being more collaborative, where yes there’s a leader and they have a say and they’re central to the parliamentary success of the party, but there’s an expectation that there’s a cabinet government and ministers are given a little bit more autonomy.”

Sources from within Ms Allan’s faction said Wednesday’s factional revolt, which at one point threatened her succession, was a direct message that caucus members would not allow her to behave like Mr Andrews.

“What we want is more democracy and more consultation and she can’t ride over party processes,” one Left factional figure said.

A separate Labor member of the Left warned the Premier against adopting Mr Andrews’ hard line in managing caucus. “We are not going to be bulldozed,” the source said.

Amid the ongoing factional volatility after Wednesday’s revolt, there is deepening uncertainty about the future of the Treasurer after his bid to become deputy leader failed.

While Ms Allan has publicly backed Mr Pallas to stay on and attempt to repair the budget, some figures close to the veteran expect him to retire from politics. “Pallas is intent on fixing up the state’s finances. He’s aware a lot more needs to be done and he’s committed to achieving that,” one source said.

Another said there was a view Mr Pallas would follow Mr Andrews out the door.