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Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt has claimed Premier Daniel Andrews has been ‘wounded, probably fatally’ – despite winning a third term in office on Saturday night.
In an opinion piece for the Sunday Herald-Sun – after Mr Andrews was projected to have won a parliamentary majority of at least 50 lower house seats – Bolt said voters will not look at the Labor leader the same way again.
While congratulating Andrews on his victory, Bolt argued that the re-elected leader has been widely depicted as a ‘shifty bully’ and had made election promises that he ‘cannot deliver’.
‘There’s no way voters will look at him with the same naive trust they had for nearly eight years,’ Bolt said.
Political commentator Andrew Bolt (above) said Dan Andrews has been ‘wounded, probably fatally’ after making election promises he ‘can’t deliver’
‘They will be more sceptical after this election put Andrews’ honesty and integrity loudly on the line, with his government facing four corruption investigations.’
The commentator argued that Mr Andrews’ proposed $125billion suburban rail loop and renewable energy-focused State Electricity Commission will both likely fail, especially with his upper house looking to be ‘more fractured and mutinous than ever’.
Bolt argued Andrews had ‘lost his Teflon’ in recent years and noted that there had been a swing against the Labor government.
He argued that the Premier ‘knows time is running out for a dignified exit that lets him retire as a winner into a well-paid job.’
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In his victory speech, Andrews told supporters the Victorian election was a resounding vote for strong, stable majority Labor government.
‘Reforming giant and Labor icon Paul Keating once said to me, ‘son, leadership is not about doing what is popular, leadership is about doing what is right,” he said at a party in his Melbourne electorate of Mulgrave.
Dan Andrews (pictured after winning the election) will become Victoria’s longest serving premier in April
‘Essentially, he was telling me that leadership is about doing what matters and that’s exactly what the people of this great state have endorsed today.’
Mr Andrews’ election win means he will become Victoria’s longest serving ALP premier in April and a bronze statue will likely be erected of him outside Parliament.
Major networks called the race in favour of Mr Andrews shortly after 8pm.
The result drew cheers from Labor supporters gathered at the party’s election night celebrations in the premier’s seat of Mulgrave in Melbourne’s southeast.
It comes despite harsh criticism against Mr Andrews for his hardline policies that forced Melbourne to suffer through the longest lockdown in the world.
Mr Andrews’ vaccine mandates infuriated some workers but were accepted by most of the population – and his government campaigned on promises of free kindergarten and renewable energy.
