Daniel Andrews looked set to become Australia’s Jacinda Ardern but then Victoria's COVID-19 numbers exploded, giving his state instant pariah status. |ANALYSIS
This fits with the framing of many of the government’s policies from its earliest time in office: that they are primarily about the creation of jobs. The government’s climate change and renewables policies, for example, have been framed as job creation schemes ahead of saving the planet and the environment.
The political pain could well return when Jennifer Coate, the former judge appointed to inquire into the quarantine breakdown, produces her findings. Perhaps more than ever before during his time as Premier, Andrews has had to at least slow down his relentless push forward to offer an apology to Victorians for the quarantine cock-up and its consequences.
He has acknowledged his responsibility and apologised for the situation. He told the ABC: "I’m the leader of the state, I’m the leader of the government and I’m ultimately responsible for what goes on in this pandemic response and in all things." Asked exactly what went wrong, however, he defers to the Coate inquiry, claiming that he cannot sit in judgment of himself.
The pandemic will be with us for a long time, vaccine or not. The government’s messaging, marrying the "staying apart keeps us together" ad campaign with the state’s political leader admonishing Victorians if they step out of line is unlikely to produce the changes in behaviour that we will need to embrace if we are going to reopen yet again after this lockdown.
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