Predicting election outcomes is nearly always a surefire way to make a fool of yourself. Remember the absolute confidence of Clinton supporters in 2016? Or the hubris of Trump supporters four years later? So, allow me to make a fool of myself by tentatively suggesting that this weekend’s Victorian election will finally see the Downfall of Dictator Dan.
In fact, if the “vibe” — exit polling of pre-poll voters, combined with the premier’s increasingly desperate tone — bears any reflection on Saturday’s result, Andrews may well find himself not just out of government, but out of state parliament altogether.
Notwithstanding the likelihood of getting egg all over my face, if Andrews does lose, a putative Guy government should make sweeping reform of the Victorian police one of its first priorities.
One of the many sinister things about Premier Daniel Andrews’ grip on Victoria is a police force that seems compliant to his will.
Victorians saw that at its worst with the brutal policing of Andrews’ harsh lockdowns, with police even firing rubber bullets at unionists protesting peacefully.
Nothing in living memory has done more to undermine the confidence of the Victorian public in their police. Not coincidentally, though, public trust in police has steadily decreased from within just a few months of Andrews becoming premier. Today, public confidence sits at its lowest level since surveys began.
The steady slew of police scandals that have marked the Andrews tenure include a police shooting during a botched raid on an erotic fancy dress party, the Lawyer X scandal, fake breath test scandals, and much more. But the sight of heavily armoured police smashing and pepper-spraying little old ladies, cracking heads on footpaths, choke-holding women for not wearing masks, arresting a pregnant mother in her own home over a Facebook post, chasing people out of public parks, firing rubber bullets and riding armoured vehicles in the CBD… all added up to a perception of police as Gestapo-like enforcers.
Victoria police also drew fire for their pre-emptive pursuit of Cardinal George Pell. Police set up a “Get Pell Unit” (their own words) before any public complaint had been made against the cleric. Even then, the case was so weak that public prosecutors rejected the police brief three times. Ultimately, of course, the whole case was thrown out by a unanimous decision of Australia’s High Court.
Even then, Andrews openly defied the highest court in Australia, tweeting “I believe you” to the “victim”.
But, above all that, there’s the curious and disturbing relationship between the police, the Labor party, and the premier — which precedes even his election as premier.
Five years ago Andrews told journalists his wife was driving when a 15-year-old cyclist, Ryan Meuleman, hit their car side on – “absolutely T-boned” it.
But the Herald Sun this week published previously suppressed pictures showing a huge depression in the car’s windscreen and dent in its front right panel.
The damage doesn’t disprove the “T-boning”, but also looks consistent with the car hitting the bike, as Meuleman insists.
More notably, police didn’t breathalyse the car driver — Andrews’ wife — and didn’t stop Andrews from driving the car away from the scene before even the most basic forensic investigations, accepted Andrews’ wife’s maiden name on the report, and didn’t take a statement from the victim.
More and more revelations are raising disturbing questions about the relationship between the Labor government and police.
Take the latest: The Independent Broadbased Anti-corruption Commission reportedly assessing a whistleblower’s claim that detectives were stopped from properly investigating Labor’s theft of $388,000 to pay Labor campaigners in the 2018 election.
Police staged dawn raids to arrest 17 former Labor staff who had been employed to work on government business as MPs’ staffers, but worked instead on Labor’s campaign.
But senior police then stopped detectives from arresting up to 16 Labor MPs who’d allegedly been part of this rip-off. The detectives were allegedly told that would be overkill, and the MPs would refuse to talk. They had to liaise with those MPs through a senior officer.
No MP was charged. Labor just repaid the money.
Herald-Sun
Is it any wonder that Victorians’ trust in the police is plummeting to historic lows?
