Sky News’ Peta Credlin did a great job yesterday confronting Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on his web of lies surrounding his government’s decisions to use untrained private security instead of Victorian Police or Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel for hotel quarantine:
In the video above, you witness Daniel Andrews turn beetroot red and resort to gaslighting as he dodges Peta Credlin’s questions surrounding Andrews’ lie that ADF support was not offered by the Victorian Government (among other things):
Ms Credlin said Victoria, NSW and Queensland were offered ADF support by the Morrison government in March.
“It’s a statement of fact that the chief of the defence force allocated Victoria 100 personnel on Friday the 27th of March,” she said.
However, Mr Andrews dodged her questions saying that fact, which is included in evidence to the hotel quarantine inquiry, was “absolutely incorrect”.
“I left the National Cabinet with no expectation whatsoever there would be ADF support.”
“To assert otherwise is simply inaccurate.”
However, Ms Credlin pushed back saying Mr Andrews had acknowledged in a press release that ADF would be engaged in supporting hotel quarantine arrangements.
It’s a must-watch video to see the extent to which Daniel Andrews bullies, lies and obfuscates issues to avoid accountability for decisions that has left Victorians in hard lockdown for three months and killed more than 700 people.
Last night, Peta Credlin returned and forensically analysed the day’s questioning. Even the most rusted on Labor supporters cannot rebuke the arguments provided by Credlin showing the chicanery on display by Daniel Andrews, as well as the malfeasance from the Victorian Government:
Just to set the record straight about the offer of ADF support, here is Daniel Andrews’ statement to August’s parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s bungled COVID-19 response:
Liberal MP: “So my question is: Why did you choose to use private security guards rather than police or ADF?:
Dan Andrews: “I’m glad you mentioned the use of ADF. I don’t believe ADF support was on offer. ADF support has been provided in very limited circumstances in NSW. Not to provide security as such, but to provide transportation from the airport to hotels. So again, I think it is fundamentally incorrect to assert that their was hundreds of ADF staff on offer, and somehow someone said no”.
Here’s Daniel Andrews explicitly thanking Prime Minister Scott Morrison for offering ADF personnel for hotel quarantine on 28 March (video here):
Reporter: “Premier, in terms of keeping people in these hotel quarantine hotel rooms, how will that work? Will there be guards at the doors stopping people?”
Daniel Andrews: “We will utilise private security, we will also utilise members of the Victorian Police, and I am very grateful to the Prime Minister for his offer of support from the Australian Defence Force”.
And here’s Daniel Andrews’ own media release on 27 March acknowledging ADF support:
Following agreement by the National Cabinet, all travellers returning from overseas to Victoria will be placed in enforced quarantine for a self-isolation period of 14-days to slow the spread of coronavirus…
The new measures will be operational from 11.59pm on Saturday 28 March, with the Victorian Government already securing 5000 hotel rooms…
It has also been agreed that the Australian Defence Force will be engaged to support the implementation of these arrangements.
The Australian Defence Minister and the ADF itself have also acknowledged the offer of support.
Daniel Andrews unambiguously lied to August’s parliamentary inquiry, yet he continues to gaslight the public and media into believing they are wrong and are, in fact, the ones lying.
