Like an unrepentant Don Giovanni carried off into the bowels of hell by demons, Premier Daniel Andrews has vanished from Victoria in a dramatic finale to an astonishing political career. Like the Don, it seems Andrews will not face an earthly accounting for his Covid crimes and misdemeanours. Victorians whose rights were violated have no prospect of justice anytime soon.

Andrews will be commemorated by a bronze statue for the dubious achievement of having served as premier for more than 3,000 days but will be remembered around the world as Dictator Dan, Covid’s cruellest commissar. As Professor Peter Collignon put it, Andrews ‘locked down harder and meaner than any other state yet had the worst rate of infection, death, and economic ruin – especially in comparison with NSW’.

Stanford Professor of Medicine Dr Jay Bhattacharya cheered Andrews’s resignation tweeting, ‘I can’t wait until every single unrepentant Covid tyrant leaves public life.’

Andrews will be remembered for the world’s longest lockdown, a cumulative 282 days. His state of emergency, put in place for four weeks, dragged on for 903 days. He glorified his futile pursuit of zero Covid by celebrating ‘donut days’ when no cases were registered.

Deaths in nursing homes were far too high because casual staff were forced to work in numerous facilities spreading infection. Worst, early treatment protocols with safe repurposed drugs, complemented by vitamins and minerals, were banned despite an abundance of reports and studies demonstrating efficacy.

His government’s school closures had a devastating effect on children with more than 50 per cent suffering a decline in mental health almost twice the national average. Small businesses were driven into bankruptcy while big businesses and online behemoths reaped record profits.

No action was too petty to be enforced. Playgrounds and golf courses were closed. Curfews were imposed. People were fined for sitting on park benches, or drinking alcohol outside out of coffee cups or for watching the sun set on the beach.

Chanelling the CCP, in July 2020, 3,000 residents were locked into nine tower blocks. In May, the government offered them a $5 million settlement. Channeling Stalin, Andrews imposed a ‘ring of steel’ around Melbourne to stop the spread of the virus which achieved little other than to cause traffic jams. He then called for a ‘ring of steel’ to be placed around Sydney.

Once vaccines were available Andrews mandated them for virtually everyone and demonised anyone who refused them.

To top it off, he made it illegal to peacefully protest his policies at the same time as rallies for Black Lives Matter were allowed to proceed and police officers took the knee. His resignation coincides with the second anniversary of police shooting rubber bullets at terrified protesters yet Andrews defended police behaviour throughout the pandemic as ‘absolutely appropriate’.

Yet their brutality was repeatedly captured on iPhones and beamed around the world, shattering Australia’s image as a land of laid-back larrikins and latter-day Crocodile Dundees. Ordinary people were ambushed by officers and thrown to the ground. Women were choked for not wearing masks. A man was knocked off his feet by a police car.

Andrews, a master of social media with a million followers on Facebook and 443,000 on X (Twitter), employed 86 media managers, more than the Prime Minister. Knowing the power of these platforms, officers surveilled them, infamously arresting a young Ballarat mum in her pyjamas in front of her children for posting a message about a freedom rally.

Andrews’ militarisation of the police pre-dated Covid. In 2018, the Greens denounced ‘the purchase of semi-automatic rifles that fire capsicum rounds and blunt force pellets, a rubber bullet launcher, stinger grenades and flash/noise distraction devices’ and presciently warned that ‘we fear these weapons will be used against Victorian citizens standing up to injustices’. Yet the Greens said nothing when their worst fears were realised.

What was the cost of this Big Brother brutality? The Institute of Public Affairs estimates government spending on zero-Covid policies at $107 billion and the economic cost at $111 billion, more than anywhere else in Australia. The benefit? Victoria had more Covid deaths in absolute and per capita terms and its excess mortality is surpassed only by Tasmania.

Andrews departs leaving Victorians burdened by the biggest per capita state debt, over $220 billion, four times more than he inherited from the Liberals when he came to office.

But it wasn’t all rung up during the pandemic. His first act on winning government in 2014 was to spend $1.1 billion cancelling Melbourne’s East West Link road project. The costs of his infrastructure projects repeatedly ballooned out. His reckless renewable electricity policies leave the state facing the prospect of blackouts this summer. He came full circle by reneging on his commitment made before the 2022 state election to host the 2026 Commonwealth Games paying $380 million in compensation.

Andrews didn’t mind snubbing the Commonwealth, just as he was happy to ban the Australia Day parade for three years (even in 2023). But Chairman Dan never snubbed China, signing up to the Belt and Road initiative in 2018, after all other governments in Australia had rejected it and not even bothering to inform the federal government which cancelled the agreement.

Andrews was a trail-blazer in Australia for euthanasia and laws criminalising any questioning of the decision of minors to medically change gender. Other states sadly followed suit. Parliamentary standards plumbed murky depths, the Premier refusing to apologise to a Liberal MP after calling her a ‘half-wit grub’.

Andrews shamelessly played the Nazi card, smearing his opponents before the last election for their preferences. He led the commentary which conflated a women’s rights rally with neo-Nazis but cleverly avoided censure unlike his left-leaning, left-footed opponent now embroiled in a defamation case. His government was criticised after multiple inquiries into corruption but Teflon Dan won re-election in two Dan-slides by pouring money into Melbourne and into key regional towns while starving the rest of the state.

His last act was to ensure the election of anointed successor and Socialist Left factional ally Jacinta Allan, who might end up like Victoria’s first female premier, Joan Kirner, if the state’s finances go pear-shaped.

Unfortunately, there is no Jeff Kennett waiting in the wings to clean up the state’s finances or even any assets left to sell off. Will history repeat itself? Who knows? But as New Zealand PM Jim Bolger once said of Kirner, ‘They say that the show’s never over until the fat lady sings.’