Any parent is familiar with the sort of surly apology-not-apology of which kids are masters. “Sor-reee!” Most of us grow out of that sort of blatant insincerity.
Those who don’t, often become politicians.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has apologised for what he has described as “absolutely disgraceful behaviour” by Labor MPs detailed in a report by the state’s anti-corruption watchdog.
ABC Australia
“Sor-reee!”
Dictator Dan could at least try and act like he means it, instead of, in the next breath, pivoting to blaming everyone but himself — as he always does.
Daniel Andrews has rejected claims he failed to prevent branch stacking within the Victorian Labor Party.
“I cannot accept this contention that what was going on in those offices was known to people and no action was taken,” he said.
“As soon as we became aware of this unprecedented, shameful, disgraceful behaviour, we took action. I took action, and that is a matter of record” […]
“These people knew they were doing the wrong thing and they went to extraordinary lengths to keep it secret.”
I din’ do nuffin’, I din’ know nuffin’, I was just looking after it for a friend!
As one of his former MPs, Adem Somyurek, says, branch-stacking was only a fraction of scandals like the Red Shirts. The bigger issue was the Labor party illegally using taxpayer money to run its election campaigns and then blatantly refusing to answer police summons.
Victoria’s opposition Treasury spokesman David Davis says an IBAC investigation into branch stacking in the Victorian Labor Party shows Daniel Andrews’ government is “rotten to the core” […]
“A fish rots from the head and in this case Daniel Andrews is the head of the Labor Party in Victoria,” he said.
Andrews is a notorious control freak and micro-manager, with a personal staff three times the size of even the Prime Minister’s. Yet, somehow, we’re expected to believe that he din’t know nuffin’ about the corruption that’s been in the news for years?
He’s not the only one frantically covering his arse. The fallout from Victoria is reaching all the way to the federal party. Former Labor leader and current minister Bill Shorten, and PM Anthony Albanase, are also trying unconvincingly to portray themselves as anti-corruption warriors, stamping out the supposedly few bad apples in the Victorian branch.
Federal Liberal Senator Jane Hume has called for Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ resignation following reports of corruption within the Victorian Labor Party.
Findings from Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission have detailed widespread branch stacking across the party.
“In a responsible government the leader takes responsibility for the poor behaviour of his team,” Senator Hume told Sky News.
In the Victorian government, the leader only takes responsibility for shifting blame on to whichever helpless minion he can most conveniently roll.
We know he’s bullshitting us, and he knows we know…
Mr Andrews admitted in secret evidence to IBAC that he was aware of widespread branch stacking within the Labor Party “across the board”, the investigation revealed.
The Premier also admitted in his secret testimony that he was aware of the scheme to use electorate staffers in the 2014 election campaign – known as the red shirts rort – which the Victorian Ombudsman later found resulted in the misuse of $388,000 in taxpayer funds.
The Australian
But this is Victoria, the Stockholm Syndrome State. The zombified voters, lining up for their tenth booster shot, obediently cheer a muffled “IStandWithDan” through their three layers of masks.