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Victorian Premier under fire over handling of pandemic

Author
Newstalk ZB / news.com.au,
Publish Date
Fri, 18 Sep 2020, 12:16PM
Photo / Supplied
Photo / Supplied

Victorian Premier under fire over handling of pandemic

Author
Newstalk ZB / news.com.au,
Publish Date
Fri, 18 Sep 2020, 12:16PM

The Victorian Opposition has launched a bid to kick Premier Daniel Andrews out of office over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien will introduce a motion of no confidence in Mr Andrews in parliament on Thursday.

The motion will be tabled on Thursday with the vote to be put to Lower House MPs next month.

Mr O’Brien said the Premier had lost the support of Victorians.

“Every Labor MP will have to decide whether they will vote to protect the jobs of their communities or the job of the Premier,” he said.

“A no-confidence motion is not a decision made lightly, but increasingly frustrated Victorians are telling us loud and clear that Andrews must go.”

As Labor holds a comfortable majority in the Legislative Assembly, the motion is almost certain to be voted down.

But if it passed, and the house did not pass a motion of confidence in the Premier within eight days, the parliament would be dissolved.

The Opposition only gets one opportunity to move a motion of no confidence in the Premier each parliamentary term, and if it fails they will have to wait until after the 2022 state election to move another.

The Opposition said it was the first step in dissolving the parliament and allowing Victorians to vote the Andrews Labor Government out of office early.

Mr O’Brien cited the Government’s botched handling of the pandemic, including hotel quarantine, refusing Australian Defence Force support, contact tracing failures and imposing what it claims is a potentially illegal curfew.

“Victoria deserves the chance for a fresh start,” he said.

“With Andrews’ road map to nowhere, millions of Victorians know their jobs are on the line if this Government keeps us locked down.”

Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh claimed the Premier had made too many mistakes to continue.

“Andrews’ failures are the very reason Victoria is in the second wave through his botched hotel quarantine and delays in contact tracing, and Victorians are left with no confidence in him or his Labor government,” he said.

When asked about the motion on Thursday morning, Mr Andrews dismissed it as a political stunt.

“Cheap politics is no vaccine against this virus, and that is all I will say about him and that,” he said.

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