Labor MPs urged to cross floor in Andrews no-confidence vote
Victorian Labor MPs are being urged to cross the floor when the opposition moves a vote of no confidence in Premier Daniel Andrews.
The Liberals and Nationals will go on the offensive as state parliament resumes on Tuesday, and move the no-confidence motion against Mr Andrews over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
āToday Labor MPs have to make a very simple decision, a very simple choice,ā said opposition leader Michael OāBrien.
āAre they going to vote to protect Daniel Andrewsā job, or are they going to vote to protect Victoriansā jobs?
āYou canāt do both.ā
OāBrien said it was āquite clearā that privately many Labor MPs were critical of the government.
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But Environment Minister Lily DāAmbrosio said it was āabsolutely falseā that Labor MPs are critical of Andrews.
āWe know that without the leadership of the premier we would not have seen the second wave of this coronavirus hit the very low points that it is hitting right now,ā she said.
āHis leadership is a strong one, itās one that has seen us through a terrible period.ā
Greens leader Samantha Ratnam labelled the motion a stunt, accusing the opposition of āTrump-style politicsā.
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Fellow Greens MP Ellen Sandell also said she would not support the opposition.
āCertainly, the government has made many mistakes during the pandemic,ā Sandell said.
āBut we think Victorians right now actually want us to work together to get us through this pandemic, out the other side, and then we can ask all those questions.ā
Crossbench MP Fiona Patten, who will not vote on the motion because she is in the upper house, also was critical.
āIf we are going to get through this we are going to have to instil trust and weāre seeing that being depleted through conspiracy theorists but also votes of no confidence that have no chance of getting up,ā Patten said.
Chris Eccles, Victoriaās most senior bureaucrat, quit on Monday after phone records revealed he spoke to the head of police as the stateās hotel quarantine program was hastily set up on March 27. He had previously said he did not.
Eccles is the second key public official to quit in the wake of an independent inquiry into the botched program, with former health minister Jenny Mikakos resigning last month.
Flaws in the hotel quarantine system are believed to be responsible for the stateās second wave of COVID-19.
āFrankly, this is the government that has presided over the worst failure of public administration in this countryās history,ā OāBrien said.
The Opposition only has one chance to move a motion of no confidence in the premier each parliamentary term.
-AAP
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