What Christians MUST learn from Daniel Andrews
There is one glaring aspect of Daniel Andrew's premiership many have forgotten. [3 Minute Read]
Written by Matthew Fischer, co-host of the Backbench Drivers podcast
Earlier this year I wrote an article discussing the resignation of Catholic NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and the hostile, and ultimately stifling conditions he faced as an honest Christian in Australia’s political arena. Today, I will be discussing the resignation of another Catholic state Premier who represents a diametric opposite in the example of political leadership. I am of course referring to Daniel Andrews, former Victorian Premier from 2014 to 2023.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ recent snap resignation has led to frenzy amongst media personalities, activists, and ordinary Victorians alike, his premiership was nothing if not polarising - evidenced by the unprecedented celebrations outside of the Victorian Parliament House upon his announcement. Andrews, who first assumed the Premiership in late 2014 and led the Victorian Labor Party through three successive terms, will be best remembered for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However it is important to remember that the harsh lockdown measures, vaccine mandates, and frequent press conferences are not the enduring elements of the Andrews’ Premiership, to this author at least, will be remembered for his response to the key moral dilemmas of our time.
Andrew’s reforms to Victorian society, as compiled by the ACL, reads like the policy equivalent of a deal with the devil:
Supporting gay ‘marriage’,
Amending laws to allow residents to change the sex on their birth certificate,
Producing a discussion paper on a State-wide LGBTQI strategy,
Banning evangelisation,
Building a ‘Pride Centre’ in St. Kilda, and
Passing the ‘Change and Suppression’ bill.
Even worse than the aforementioned, Andrews served as Health minister during the passage of Abortion Law Reform Act 2008 and as Premier during the passage of the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017, as well as various reforms to take Christianity out of public and private schools, replacing it with progressive dogma. Andrews, the progressive darling, was the spark that lit the fuse for leftist legislative extremism, with other States, notably Queensland, following suit in the blatant disregard of the dignity of the human being and the natural law.
The severity of the former Premier’s effect on Victoria has led one author to proclaim that Andrews has left behind “an anti-life, anti-faith, anti-Catholic legacy”. But why would Andrews, a self-proclaimed Catholic, be the main instigator in the ever-present persecution of the Catholic Faith?
To practicing Catholics, and Christians in general, Jesus answers this question in the parable of the two sons (Matt, 21: 28 - 32):
“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
As outlined in the writings of the theologian Scott Hanh:
The first son represents the most heinous sinners of Jesus’ day — tax collectors and prostitutes — who by their sin at first refused to serve in the Lord’s vineyard, the kingdom. At the preaching of John the Baptist, they repented and did what was right and just. The second son represents Israel’s leaders—who said they would serve God in the vineyard but refused to believe John when he told them they must produce good fruits as evidence of their repentance.
Daniel Andrews, the self-proclaimed Catholic, like the second son in the parable, or the scribes and pharisees of Jesus’s day, has a duty to serve Christ. As seen above, the legacy of Andrew’s Premiership, the disregard of the dignity of the human person, the natural law, and of God’s commandments, showcases the rotten, corruptible fruit of his lack of Faith - and as we well know, “a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:18).
Daniel Andrews, like some many of his contemporaries, tried to placate God and the established powers of this world, the wisdom of Matthew 6:24 rings true; “no man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Andrews inevitably fell to the sway of wealth, power, and public favour, with his Premiership representing the first amongst a growing wave of Catholic persecution.
If we are to be the generation to save Australia, must accept as a pre-condition of keeping the faith in post-modern Australia that one cannot serve God and mammon, we must be willing to suffer in this life for Christ, whether this be financial hardships, social ostracisation, or even martyrdom, as He did for our salvation, for “whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27). We cannot under any circumstances allow wealth and power - both of which we will need to gather if we wish to reform our nation - erode our faith and loyalty to Christ as it did Andrews.
It is only by making this commitment that Australia, our nation, our birthright, our fatherland, the land of our ancestors, who bled and toiled to raise a nation, will once again proclaim Christ as King, for our victory is assured through Jesus Christ, for if God is for us, who is against us?