The Victorian Nationals have launched petition which calls on the Governor General to revoke the Order of Australia award recently bestowed on Daniel Andrews.
The former Labor premier was made a Companion of the Order of Australia on Monday as part of the King’s Birthday Honours list.
The award was granted for the ex-premier’s “eminent service to the people and Parliament of Victoria, to public health, to policy and regulatory reform, and to infrastructure development”.
However it has sparked outrage from critics and victims of the COVID-era laws he enacted.
Launching his petition on Wednesday, Nationals leader Peter Walsh said the award was “inappropriate and unjustified” and “must be revoked”.
“Today, I have launched a petition calling for the support of Victorians to have the inappropriate and unjustified honour removed by the Governor General,” Mr Walsh said in a statement on the Nationals website.
“Mr Andrews failed Victorians, and by extension Australians, with his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are all still paying the price.”
The Nationals leader said Mr Andrews had overseen a “bungled and ill-conceived hotel quarantine program” which had led to the death of hundreds of Victorians.
“Melbourne was left floundering in lockdown for a total of 262 days – the longest in the world – under Mr Andrews’ draconian laws,” he said.
“Victorians have been left to pick up the pieces, now burdened with record debt… Under no circumstances should Mr Andrews retain the Companion of the Order of Australia.”
The petition, housed on the Nationals website, makes an appeal to the Governor General David Hurley, drawing his attention to the “inappropriate and unjustified decision to award former Premier Daniel Andrews a Companion of the Order of Australia”
“The petitioners request that Mr Andrews’ Companion of the Order of Australia award be revoked,” the petition states.
“We believe he failed Victorians with his shambolic handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state’s finances.
“Mr Andrews imposed draconian laws during the pandemic, leaving Melbourne floundering in lockdown for a total of 262 days.”
The petition cites the “almost 800 Victorians” whose lives were lost after the government’s failed hotel quarantine system which sparked a second wave of COVID-19.
“Victorians are now paying the price, burdened with the Labor Government’s record debt and the introduction of 55 new or increased taxes since the start of Mr Andrews’ stint as Premier,” it says.
Earlier this week a victim of Daniel Andrews’ snap decision to impose a lockdown on public housing towers in Flemington and North Melbourne in mid-2020 called on the former Premier to hand back his Order of Australia award.
Speaking to 3AW on Tuesday, Mohammad Yusef said he was previously “very supportive of Daniel Andrews”, but the former Premier’s handling of the pandemic left him feeling “targeted” and “different to all other Victorians”.
“Everyone else experienced a lockdown, but we experienced a very hard lockdown where we were not allowed to leave the house, and then we had 500 Police surrounding us.
“I had kids in there, I was not prepared for the hard lockdown. And I needed diapers and baby formulas and things like that. And I was not allowed to leave the complex or the apartment there.”
Mr Yusef, who has now moved out of the Canning Street public housing units, said the tower lockdowns left many residents suffering mental health issues, and Mr Andrews “should honestly consider returning the award”.