As video after video of over-zealous policing and story after story of isolation-induced despair and fury emerge from Victoria, it’s becoming more and more undeniable that premier Daniel Andrews has become an elected dictator.
Curfews, citizens confined to home 23 hours a day and monstered by brutally fanatical police during their daily state-sanctioned hour of outdoor exercise, most businesses forcibly shuttered, daily propaganda broadcasts by the Dear Leader…no wonder refugees from the formerly communist eastern Europe are feeling shudders of déjà vu.
But all dictators have their weaknesses – most especially keeping their loyal subordinates in line. Mao unleashed the calamity of the Cultural Revolution to secure his absolute rule. Thankfully, Andrews has only (?) resorted to extending lockdowns and curfew for as long as he could get away with.
Even so, the once-loyal deputies are starting to sharpen their knives and eye their boss’s back for likely target sites.
At the end of last week an almost unthinkable event took place – a number of Victorian ALP government members counted the numbers to mount a challenge to the disastrous leadership of premier Daniel Andrews.
They got close but in the end the numbers were not there and now everyone is complete denial.
Which is in keeping with the Australian left’s modus operandi. The Greens, the most secretive party in parliament, suppressed even the slightest whisper of a neo-Stalinist challenge against former leader Bob Brown. They kept it a complete secret until after their founder had retired.
Two forces drove the numbers canvass. The horror of the ALP’s political polls (confirmed by the Liberals) shows a 20 per cent swing against the Andrews government. If the Victorian swing extends to the local council election next month – as seems likely – then a generation of ALP up and comers will be wiped out. And secondly, a large number of well meaning human beings, who are also ALP Victorian politicians, know they have to tell their children and grandchildren that, unlike politicians in any other state, via their bad policies and woeful administration they caused or contributed to the death of hundreds of people.
But will they ‘fess up? It seems far more likely that they’ll just lie through their teeth as they have for months and swear, hand on heart, that they and Chairman Dan did a really good job under tough circumstances, and anyway, it was the stupid public who screwed it all up.
Still, Andrews should be very, very worried that his minions even dared contemplate moving against their “Dear Leader”.
Andrews is a political dictator who comes across as a strong leader. But, sadly, he is not a chief executive who weighs up the view of many groups before making a decision. Like all dictators Andrews relies more on his gut instincts than advice from others. Business people who attend the Andrews advice committees say he rarely listens. In the latest Victorian aid package the payroll tax deferral will scare the banks. Prior to COVID-19, the best example of Andrews disregard for commercial outcomes was in the infamous gas bans where somehow gas that did not require fracking got mixed up with the fracking bans. The fact that the bans on Victoria’s immense non fracked gas reserves sent gas prices and energy costs through the roof just didn’t register.
Andrews’s dictatorial style culminated in the shocking incompetence of Victoria’s hotel quarantine scheme. Despite his steadfast refusal to accept responsibility, Andrews has to know that the stain of truth will out eventually. But even his rumoured resignation by year’s end may not be quick enough if the mood in Victoria keeps deteriorating as it has.
Andrews has belatedly – without admitting it openly – begun to adopt what worked in other states. But even that brings its problems. Dictatorship carries its own inertia. Having declared themselves the sole source of truth, dictators risk a disastrous loss of face if they are unavoidably forced to change direction.
That’s why it is likely that in due course the numbers will be counted again.
If you enjoyed this BFD article please consider sharing it with your friends.
