OPINION
And another one down, another one gone, another one bites the dust… another of the Class of Covid has dropped out. This time, it’s none other than Head Boy himself, Dictator Dan Andrews, soon-to-be-former Victorian premier.
Daniel Andrews will step down as Victorian premier after nine years in power, announcing he will resign as premier and member for Mulgrave at 5pm on Tuesday
The Age
And there was much rejoicing.
So, that’s Boris Johnson and Jacinda Ardern, Mark McGowan, Peter Gutwein, Scott Morrison, and now Dictator Dan himself. All that leaves is Pluckachook in Queensland — and even she’s only hanging on by the slenderest of threads.
When an incumbent politician suddenly quits, citing “spending time with the family”, you know they’re talking through their arse. So, naturally:
“Recently in talking to my kids and Cath, thoughts of what life will be like after this job have started to creep in and I’ve always known that the moment that happens it’s time to go and to give this privilege, this amazing responsibility, to someone else.
“It’s not an easy job, being premier of our state. That’s not a complaint, it’s just a fact.
“It requires 100 per cent from you and your family. That of course is time limited and now is the time to step away.”
ABC Australia
What they really mean is that they’ve been warned they’re about to be unceremoniously stabbed in the back by their colleagues, or there’s some really bad news in the pipeline.
Almost as if on cue:
More than 1500 firefighters have taken to the streets of Melbourne amid a “potentially catastrophic” fire season to lambast the Andrews state Labor government after more than two years of wage talks broke down.
The Victorian banch of the United Firefighters Union (UFU), along with members of the CFMEU, took their concerns over pay and working conditions to the CBD streets on Tuesday morning, marching to state parliament and the Fair Work Commission.
UFU national secretary Peter Marshall has accused state Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes and Fire Rescue Victoria Commissioner Gavin Freeman of throwing hard work with negotiations “into the flames”.
The UFU was one of the key Labor power factions that helped get Andrews elected in the first place. In return for a dodgy deal that royally screwed over the volunteer Country Fire Authority, handing it over to the union-run city-based brigades, the union boot boys shamelessly campaigned for Andrews at the 2014 election.
Like all protection rackets, the Bovver boys weren’t no charity or nuffink.
The union said that the state government had “ripped up” its enterprise agreement after 76 meetings and 16 appearances before the Fair Work Commission.
The Herald Sun reported last month that the state’s firefighters had been offered a 12 per cent pay increase over four years as well as thousands in cash bonuses under a deal approved by the government. But the offer fell short of the 25 per cent increase over three years the union was calling for.
The Australian
So, Teflon Dan, who set a new, dire standard for corruption, and bankrupted his state, has lost the backing of his staunchest union head-kickers?
No wonder he’s so keen to spend time with the family.
Just so long as he keeps an eye out for kids on bicycles and low steps.