by PAUL COLLITS – THE new NSW Premier, Chris Minns, hasn’t, so far, embraced a bromance with his southern counterpart in the weird way his Liberal predecessor, Dominic Perrottet, did.
Chris Minns’ good buddy, the endlessly acerbic and coarse Sydney breakfast radio personality, Kyle Sandilands, has gone further. He has unleashed a spray directed at the fuhrer of Victoria, over a couple of recent Andrews’ decisions.
- Andrews has never remotely worried before about government debt. He never intended to host the Games.
- It was always an election ploy. He hates the royals. Didn’t want to be seen shaking hands with King Charles.
- Pass the sick bag. Nothing ever sticks to Teflon Dan.
The Games, and the proposed gas ban on new home builds, from 2024. Yes, next year.
According to news.com.au: “Kyle Sandilands smashes Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews for banning gas in new homes from 2024.
UNLEASHED
“Radio broadcaster Kyle Sandilands has unleashed on Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews as he moves to ban all new homes in the state from using gas.
“Sandilands branded the Victorian Premier ‘a flop’ and the policy ‘some bullsh*t’.”
“ ‘They will be banning Bic lighters next, we will be rubbing two sticks together to get a cigarette lit.”
“ ‘That government sucks ass. That wandering eyed flop down there can’t have the Commonwealth Games because he can’t budget, now he thinks ‘Oh, I’ll get the woke losers to vote for me by getting rid of gas’. You’re a flop!”
Well might we agree. Alas, NSW voters don’t get a say in the governance of Victoria. Not even radio personalities.
The emerging question about Andrews is, is it actually possible for him to go too far?
The recent Commonwealth Games reversal came as a bit of a shock to some. To others, it is merely par for the course.
Andrews promised regional Victorians the 2026 Games before the 2022 election, where regional seats were crucial to the outcome.
After the election, suddenly there were “budget blowouts”.
The normally Andrews worshipping The Age newspaper has taken up the messy issue: “Commonwealth Games authorities and sports agencies remain locked in negotiations with the Victorian government in an attempt to maximise taxpayer-funded compensation after the State’s decision to break its commitment to host the 2026 event.
“Premier Daniel Andrews and his spokespeople repeatedly refused to discuss the negotiations on Wednesday, including the size of any potential compensation deal.
PURSUING
“The premier also would not say who was responsible for rejecting Games authorities’ suggestion to move the event from the four regional hubs to a centralised event in Melbourne.
“A senior source with knowledge of the Commonwealth Games Federation’s commercial negotiations, but not authorised to speak publicly, told The Age the federation was pursuing ‘hundreds of millions’ in compensation.
“Commonwealth Games Australia has flagged possible action over the loss of its $26m contract and German-based sporting events agency SportFive is also expected to seek compensation.
“The Andrews government has been juggling worsening net debt, tipped to reach $171b by 2026-27, in part because of borrowings for over-budget major infrastructure projects.
Yes, there has been profligate spending on a scale never seen previously in an Australian sub-national jurisdiction. Yes, there are the gargantuan debts over suburban railways.
Then there was COVID… Victorian taxpayers will be paying for the legendary lockdowns for generations to come.
But… Let us revisit some ancient Andrews history. He has form.
CANCEL
The first thing that Daniel Andrews did upon attaining government in Victoria in 2014 was to cancel the East West Link project, a cross city tunnel commissioned by the previous government. Not building a road cost Victorians north of $1.1b.
That’s a lot of brass to hose up against the wall. For what? Ideology? Stubbornness? Not his idea, in other words, ego?
Fast forward to 2019.
According to the Australian Financial Review: “Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is refusing to accept $4b in funding from the Morrison government to build the East West Link, claiming he doesn’t care if it is not popular.
“Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Federal Infrastructure Minister Alan Tudge urged Mr Andrews to take the money and ‘green light’ the controversial project, which Scott Morrison has promised to fully fund.”
He really doesn’t want to build that road. And nothing has ever come of his obstinacy.
Why did Andrews cancel the Games? There are a number of theories. He just cannot afford it now. Maybe.
The problem with this theory is that he has never remotely worried before about government debt. He never intended to host the Games.
It was always an election ploy. He hates the royals. Didn’t want to be seen shaking hands with King Charles. He doesn’t give a rats. All are plausible. All of them might be true.
It is a telling reflection of the current State of Victorian politics that, after his Games decision, the Andrews Government’s popularity “plunged”.
WORRIED
It is now merely 53-47 per cent two Party preferred. Wow. Things are getting tight! If Andrews is worried, he isn’t showing it.
All the IBAC (Independent Broad-based Anticorruption Commission, Victoria’s ICAC) findings about corruption over the life of the Andrews Government generally come to nought.
Similarly, the infamous incident of the bicyclist crash in the night in 2013. The weird “fall” down two steps at the holiday home that caused poor Daniel a near death experience.
The Labor red shirts electoral scandal (a “mistake” according to the Victorian Ombudsman). The unexplained trips to China.
The Lawyer X affair and the non-prosecution of corrupt VicPol officers whose actions tainted hundreds of criminal cases.
The unprecedented, criminally negligent war on Cardinal Pell. Rubber bullets fired into the backs of innocent citizens during the COVID protests. Grannies’ heads smashed into the pavement.
The hotel quarantine scandal, where union mates were awarded contracts to provide “private security” during the shut-downs. Dan lied. People died.
REGIME
These cases are only scratching the surface of Australia’s most evil regime.
Pass the sick bag. Nothing ever sticks.
This is the way of totalitarian regimes. Of one-Party States. Making nothing stick, endlessly getting away with it, is what makes them so good at what they do.
Daniel Andrews has been enabled. By his praetorian guard in the media, the bureaucracy, the universities and the NGOs.
Those who joined the Daniel Andrews cheer squad over the years must also face Victoria’s Nuremberg Two, if it ever eventuates.
But, sadly, it will take a little more than a Kyle Sandilands diatribe to shift the needle in the Teflon-Dan State.PC
The Premier cannot retain power of government unless the party he leads has the number of seats required to form a government, as we all must realise. Add a left leaning media to spread propaganda and avoid exposing just about anything that would upset voters and absolute power corrupts absolutely.