There is an old saying in politics that you should never have an inquiry into something you don’t already know the answer to. At a press conference (where else would it have been?) in July this year, Premier Daniel Andrews forgot this ancient wisdom.
With COVID-19 infection rates beginning to rise and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton admitting Victoria's second wave had been caused by a failure of the hotel quarantine program, the Premier declared that an inquiry to be headed by retired judge Jennifer Coate would investigate all aspects of this apparent policy failure.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
It was a rare moment of candour in state politics.
However, when the inquiry finally got under way amid the state’s stage four lockdown, those charged with the responsibility of keeping Victoria safe could not remember, when giving evidence, vital facts about how the quarantine policy ended up using the private security providers who appeared to have been responsible for quarantine failure.
Even those who have sympathy for Andrews could see this was an unsatisfactory account of a program whose failure resulted in the closure of the state. In the inquiry’s last session, and presumably to staunch the incredulity at what had been said to that point, the Premier laid the blame at the feet of his health minister, Jenny Mikakos, and her department.
Mikakos had no option other than to resign. The Westminster convention of ministerial responsibility that requires such a resignation in the event of demonstrated maladministration appeared to have been observed.
However, it was not a gracious departure. An angry Mikakos stated the obvious: that it beggars belief that a domineering Andrews and his entourage of centralised bureaucrats and staffers exercising emergency powers knew nothing of the security guard decision.
The pressure to get to the truth has at last resulted in a demand for telephone records to be given to the inquiry. Chris Eccles, the secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet, would appear to be of the view that these records will not substantiate his verbal testimony, and so he has resigned.
As if the social and economic situation of a locked-down Victoria is not bad enough, it now appears the state’s government, on whom so many people have pinned their hopes, has failed and is falling apart before our eyes.
The edifice of the Andrews state apparatus is starting to crack – first a minister, then a very senior bureaucrat and all of this even before the inquiry’s final report has appeared. If the Mikakos and Eccles resignations are a precedent, others such as Police Minister Lisa Neville and Jobs Minister Martin Pakula may also have to go.
If they all fall on their swords, the locked state of Victoria, with its uncertain economic future, will be ruled by a duumvirate comprising the Premier and his Chief Health Officer. Unless the governing party does something about this, they will run the place until the next election in November 2022.
Dr Nick Economou is a senior lecturer in the School of Political and Social Inquiry at Monash University.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMijQFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L3BvbGl0aWNzL3ZpY3RvcmlhL2FuZHJld3MtZm9yZ2V0cy1hbmNpZW50LXdpc2RvbS1hcy1oaXMtZ292ZXJubWVudC1mYWxscy1hcGFydC1iZWZvcmUtb3VyLWV5ZXMtMjAyMDEwMTItcDU2NGV6Lmh0bWzSAY0BaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAudGhlYWdlLmNvbS5hdS9wb2xpdGljcy92aWN0b3JpYS9hbmRyZXdzLWZvcmdldHMtYW5jaWVudC13aXNkb20tYXMtaGlzLWdvdmVybm1lbnQtZmFsbHMtYXBhcnQtYmVmb3JlLW91ci1leWVzLTIwMjAxMDEyLXA1NjRlei5odG1s?oc=5
2020-10-12 08:50:00Z
52781114737357
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Andrews forgets ancient wisdom as his government falls apart before our eyes - The Age"
Post a Comment