Andrews breaks silence: ‘The haters hate and the rest vote Labor’

“There was a very clear message to the public service — you are there to implement our agenda, because that’s what Victorians voted for,” Mr Andrews said.

He cited an example of a top bureaucrat who advised him not to scrap the East West Link — which ultimately cost the state $1 billion — despite the fact Labor won the 2014 election after promising to scrap the project.

“I had the most senior public servant, at the very first meeting, literally, we’d only just been sworn in, tell me: ‘Oh, no, you’re going to have to build the East West Link’,” Mr Andrews said.

“I said, ‘No, I’m not. I’ve just had millions of people vote to not do that and instead voted for our alternative plan. And that’s what I’ll be building, thank you very much.’

“Victorians’ voice should be heard (so) it’s the government’s agenda you deliver, not what an unelected, largely accountable public servant thinks you should do.”

Host Stephen Donnelly, a former Labor campaigner, asked Mr Andrews about former Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission boss Robert Redlich, who called on integrity agencies to be given greater powers to tackle “grey corruption”. Mr Redlich also said Victoria’s definition of “corruption” does not pass the pub test.

“There’s not an accountability officer who doesn’t want more money, more power. That’s fine, that’s their job,” Mr Andrews said.

“They have opinions and views, and they’re more than entitled to those. But … they’re not entitled to pretend that anyone voted for them.

“They’re not entitled to pretend that they’ve somehow got a mandate that is equal to, let alone superior to, the duly elected government.”

The former premier said that while in opposition he made sure his party was “brutal”, “ruthless”, and adopted the attitude of “we are to replace you”, rather than simply holding the then Coalition government to account. He rubbished claims he was a “control freak” who centralised too much power in the premier’s office, saying the alternative was an “orchestra without a conductor” that ran “adrift”.

Mr Andrews also addressed the 262 days Victoria was placed into lockdown during the pandemic, saying he never wanted to be popular, only to do the right thing.

“I locked people in their home for two years, I know that. ‘Dictator’, all that stuff, that’s fine, if people feel better by describing me in those terms, good luck,” he said.

“In Victoria, the haters hate and the rest vote Labor and that’s fine by me. Call me what you want.

“What really matters is not that nonsense, that noise, that vitriol, that [Sky News] After Dark bullshit. That’s all that it is – the worst of American politics imported into ours.”

He also fired a shot at sections of the Victorian press gallery, saying that he believed some commentators sought to influence election campaigns, rather than analyse them.

“What concerns me is when you’ve got people who are just absolute pretenders. You’re not a reporter. You’re not a journalist. You’re a partisan. You are not reporting the contest, you are trying to determine who wins the contest,” Mr Andrews said.