VICTORIAN Premier Daniel Andrews’ resignation this week heralded the end of an inglorious era for the Labor government.
Mr Andrews will be remembered as a ruthless, divisive and/or repressive politician.
Mallee residents and indeed all regional Victorians, unnecessarily felt the brunt of his brutal lockdowns during COVID.
Melbourne was locked down for a world record 262 days during the pandemic, while regional Victoria was also put on restrictions for much of that time without any active cases anywhere near us – and with the state’s highest vaccination rates.
Borders were slammed shut, playgrounds were closed, schools were shut down, residents were kept under curfew in what felt like a police state.
Sons, daughters and other loved ones missed their parents’ final moments and funerals.
And yet, Victoria still had the highest COVID-19 mortality rate in Australia – and the hotel quarantine bungled on Andrews’ watch was responsible for 768 deaths and the infection of more than 18,000 others.
While Andrews’ memory failed when asked questions in corruption inquiries, he will be remembered for driving Victoria off a fiscal cliff.
Victoria has debt approaching $200 billion by 2026, a broken, centralist health system that continues to see regional people suffer, and roads crumbling right across the Mallee.
Is Andrews resigning now because the truth is catching up with him? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised Andrews for being a man of conviction, and certainly did him a favour by excluding the states and territories from his widely criticised new COVID-19 inquiry.
Premier Andrews may have lasted long enough to get a bronze bust beside Sir Henry Bolte in Melbourne, but regional Victorians will remember how the Andrews government busted our road, child care, health and other systems because we were too far from the Melbourne CBD for his government to give a rip about us.
