Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has gone into hiding after being summonsed on charges of treason.
Lest readers get too excited, though, it must be pointed out that the premier has simply quietly ducked out for a Christmas break, and that the charges are a 90-buck private prosecution filed in a bumpkin rural court by a serial anti-government litigant. Don’t expect Andrews to face the noose any time soon.
The charge was successfully filed with the Myrtleford Magistrates’ Court and Mr Andrews – or at least his legal representative – is listed to face the court on Friday at 9.30am.
The revelations of the court hearing are likely to have at the very least annoyed the holidaying premier, whose spin doctors were contacted for comment by various media organisations on Tuesday.
The charges filed by anti-lockdown campaigner Jim Rech were rejected by several Victorian courts before being accepted at a regional court in Myrtleford, a sleepy country town in the Victorian Alps. Rech has also tried the same gambit against several other politicians. Under the law in Victoria, ordinary citizens can pay $85.70 and file a criminal charge in court.
The case against Mr Andrews faces significant challenges, with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions likely to take control of the matter before it gets off the ground.
Under the law, the CDPP has the power to overtake and discontinue private prosecutions should it find it has no reasonable prospect of a conviction being secured on the available evidence or was ‘not in the public interest’.
In July, a private prosecution against the Chief Magistrate of Victoria Lisa Hannan was dealt with in Victoria under similar laws.
But, the Myrtleford sideshow aside, the Victorian premier still has to deal with a number of rather more ominous legal matters. Andrews is currently subject to two separate corruption investigations, as well a WorkSafe investigation over Victoria’s disastrous hotel quarantine scheme.
‘I think the more interesting cases will be Ken Phillips and WorkSafe/HQ proceedings and then the SlugGate (ICook foods) court proceedings against (Professor Brett) Sutton and the health department,’ a source said.
The matters refer to WorkSafe’s investigation into Mr Andrews’ disastrous hotel quarantine facilities, which contributed to the deaths of more than 800 Victorians, and the health department’s closure of a catering company after a slug was planted by dodgy council staff.
Daily Mail
In the latter, a commercial catering company which was the only competitor to a government-funded food supplier. ICook Foods was closed down following an investigation by the City of Dandenong and the Victorian government’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), during which it is alleged that an official planted a slug in the company’s kitchens. A leaked police briefing note said that “It became evident to me that a level of corruption, misuse of office and a malicious prosecution were involved in this matter”.
There’s no need to bother trying to charge “Dictator Dan” on vexatious treason charges: give his corrupt government enough rope and they’re doing a fine job of hanging themselves.
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