Friday marked Jacinta Allan’s one-year anniversary as Victorian premier – but it was her predecessor, Daniel Andrews, whose name appeared in the headline on the front page of News Corp’s Melbourne tabloid.
This time, the Herald Sun’s focus was on a bronze statue of the former premier which the state government confirmed would be erected in his honour outside 1 Treasury Place to mark 3,000 days in office.
“Dan statue a reminder many of us don’t need”, read the headline of the subsequent report on page four, while an opinion piece published online asked readers: “Who’ll be the first to deface it?” Other media outlets – including talkback radio – quickly followed up the story, and within hours the Daily Mail reported that a petition with hundreds of signatures had been created calling for the statue plan to be cancelled.
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Despite being one of several pandemic-era leaders to resign in the past year, such as Annastacia Palaszczuk and Dominic Perrottet, none has remained as consistently in the headlines as Andrews.
There have been paparazzo pics of a “scruffy Dan” at Melbourne airport, speculation about where he plans to play golf and breathless coverage after he was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia, as part of the King’s Birthday Honours. (It is worth noting former Western Australian premier Mark McGowan was given the award the same day, following a long line of retired politicians to receive the honour.)
Last week, a 2013 crash in which the Andrews’ family car collided with a young cyclist, injuring the then teenager, made headlines again. It prompted a rare, post-politics statement from Andrews and his wife, Catherine, hitting out at “appalling conspiracy theories”.
Former Labor campaigner and Socially Democratic podcast host Stephen Donnelly, who was the first to interview Andrews after his resignation, says sections of the media are missing the former leader.
“News Corp spent over a decade trying to make people believe Daniel Andrews wasn’t wildly electorally popular. They never succeeded – and to this day, they continue to use him to drive traffic to their websites,” Donnelly says.
“I think they miss him.”
Despite the criticism of Andrews, particularly during the Covid lockdowns in Melbourne, he made great tabloid fodder. Many would also argue there are plenty of legitimate reasons to criticise him.
He was not afraid to speak his mind about other politicians, weigh in on federal politics, tackle heavy issues such as his Catholic faith and actively debate with journalists.
He was also popular at the polls, which in turn led to the 3,000-day milestone and the resulting eligibility for a statue in his likeness, reached in February last year.
The milestone itself was also dreamed up by one of his harshest critics, Jeff Kennett, on the cusp of the 1999 Victorian election. Kennett was expected to win that election and join four premiers in receiving the honour – Albert Dunstan, Henry Bolte, Rupert Hamer and John Cain Jr – but lost to Steve Bracks.
Anthony Albanese on Friday laughed off questions about whether he supported the plans to honour Andrews with a statue, referring reporters to Kennett.
“Well that’s a question for Jeff Kennett really,” the prime minister told reporters in Melbourne. “I was not a part of Jeff Kennett’s decision [to introduce] the statues.”
Victoria’s sport minister, Steve Dimopoulos, gave a similar response.
“Jeff Kennett made the rules. The beauty about this whole system is [that] it’s based on democracy,” he said.
“Victorians decide who gets elected and for how long they stay elected, and they obviously decided Jeff Kennett should not have the honour of achieving 3,000 days.”
Dimopoulos was quick to segue to Allan’s one-year milestone, describing the new leader as “a premier for families and the future” and listing off her achievements so far.
Despite all Allan’s work in the past 12 months to differentiate herself from Andrews – to turn down the temperature of debate and to build bridges with conservative media – his presence continues to loom large. Even without his statue overlooking her office.
