Former Andrews COS slams Albanese government as ‘largely reactive’

Lissie Ratcliff, who ran Daniel Andrews’ office for seven years, says the ‘big miss’ of the voice referendum contributed to federal Labor going to the last election without a ‘big vision’.

Former Daniel Andrews chief of staff Lissie Ratcliff.

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The woman who ran Daniel Andrews’ office for seven years has given her first public interview, criticising the Albanese government for not having enough of an agenda in its first term but remaining conspicuously silent about the performance of the current Victorian Labor government.

In a wide-ranging and friendly chat on her close friend and former Victorian Labor assistant secretary Stephen Donnelly’s Socially Democratic podcast, Lissie Ratcliff revealed she did not think then opposition leader Andrews knew who she was when he hand-picked the then 25-year-old to become one of his advisers in the wake of Labor’s 2010 election loss.

Asked by Mr Donnelly about the “fragility of progressive governments”, the former Andrews chief of staff cited UK Labour as an example of a government “really struggling”, before dubbing the first-term Albanese government “largely reactive” and suggesting the voice referendum loss had exacerbated its timidity.

While giving credit to UK Labour for getting elected, Ms Ratcliff said the party had not sought a big mandate for the changes they wanted to make.

“They’ve got into government, and now they’re having to try and work out what that looks like and what they’re doing with it, and they’re having trouble both selling what they’re doing to the public, but they’re having trouble holding that narrative internally as well,” she said.

Ms Ratcliff told a podcast the voice referendum loss had exacerbated the Albanese government’s timidity.

Asked whether the Albanese government in the last term also had “a bit of lack of purpose”, Ms Ratcliff said: “I think they were a largely reactive government.”

“When we didn’t win in 2019 and Bill Shorten took a really big agenda to the election and didn’t get over the line, I think we probably, in my view, overcorrected a bit too much the other way on the small target,” she said.

“Just as with UK Labour, it worked, we won, and then … I think it got difficult, though, because, like, the voice was a big swing and it was a big miss. I don’t think the government took a lot of other big swings after that.”

Ms Ratcliff said federal Labor deserved credit for its election win in May “but I think an amazing campaign got them along part of the way”.

“An amazing negative attack on Peter Dutton as the opposition leader got them a long way as well, and I think when you’ve made your opposition basically unelectable, then people land back with you,” she said.

“Which is not to say that nothing that the government did was good. They did plenty of good things, but I don’t think they put out the big vision.”

Lissie Ratcliff and partner Harriet Shing, who is Housing Minister in the Allan government. Picture: Facebook

Despite speaking for almost 90 minutes, Mr Donnelly and Ms Ratcliff did not discuss the fortunes of the Allan government, amid a Newspoll a fortnight ago that showed 59 per cent of Victorians believed Labor did not deserve to be re-elected.

Ms Ratcliff began her career as a political staffer when she was hired as a social media adviser by then Brumby government minister Tim Holding in 2009, at the age of 24.

She had been in the role for a little over a year when Labor lost government and Andrews became opposition leader.

“I’d met Daniel Andrews a couple of times in passing. I didn’t think he knew what my name was,” she said, revealing that the first conversation the pair had was when Mr Andrews asked her to become an adviser, having been impressed with her work for Holding.

Ms Ratcliff rapidly rose through the ranks in Mr Andrews’ office, promoted to communications director in oppo­sition before becoming deputy chief of staff when Labor won office in 2014, and taking over as chief of staff less than two years later.

She is now a managing partner of advisory firm FMRS, alongside other former senior Andrews staffers, including her former deputy, Jessie McCrone, who is Mr Donnelly’s partner.

Ms Ratcliff declined a request for comment.