In the early afternoon on a glorious Spring day in Melbourne, Victoria’s 48th Premier made his announcement.

Needless to say, his brief, even muted monologue regarding his departure from politics, was all about himself.

On show, under the full glare of the media, was his raw political cunning, his arrogance, his lack of humility, and his total disregard for anyone beyond his inner circle of family, union hacks, political colleagues, and long-suffering staff.

Andrews has chosen to depart the position of Premier early and said that he has started to think more about life away from Spring Street.

Not that long ago he confided to a reporter that it would always be Cath who decided when he departed politics – and we are left to assume the timing was hers – not his.

Having told voters in November 2022 that he would serve his full term as Premier – he is departing having served less than one year of what should have been a four-year term. What about his promise to voters, or those who showed loyalty in their support of his re-election?

While most of his verbiage today was predictably a series of ‘vignette thanks’ to staff, his family (including Cath and the kids, also his mum and dad), his police detail, his driver of 17 years, and his personal assistant of 10 years – not once did he offer an apology to the millions of lives up-ended by Labor’s catastrophic Covid lockdowns.

Covid and sorry were two words absent from the media conference – from beginning to end. Calculated you ask? You bet.

Not a single word was directed to the legions of hard-working Victorians whose jobs, businesses, health, mental well-being and quality of life were massively impacted by policies that delivered more deaths, higher rates of infection, and greater economic ruin than any other state.

Even more galling, during the worst of the pandemic we had to endure hours of tedious media briefings from the self-styled ‘great leader’ and his ludicrously soporific Health Minister, Martin Foley, (until he resigned from the Parliament in exhaustion).

There was no apology offered to those who suffered in the Victorian aged-care calamity, to kids who were sexually and physically abused in state institutions, and not a word to former Ministers unceremoniously dumped to preserve the Premier’s spotlight.

In Victoria, it often felt that loyalty for Andrews consisted of a single mantra: what was good for the leader was good for the State.

While long speculated upon, today’s surprise media briefing on his departure was not known in advance by media nor, it’s believed, to senior people in his own Department of Premier and Cabinet. If true – this is vintage Andrews. Everything on a need-to-know basis.

Like so many contemporary Labor leaders – Andrews has been obsessed with political research and focus group testing of policy, messaging and ideas.

He preferred furtive, covert politics while parading a persona of openness and honesty. Some observed that he appeared to preference the company of bright young political operatives to that of actual constituents or punters.

So why go now?

Has Andrews simply tired of the chase? Maybe he is sick of the grind and, as I wrote recently, the Andrews shtick has run out of puff.

The grotesque backflip on the Commonwealth Games damaged Victoria – but Andrews even more. Even he was surprised by the vehemence of the backlash.

Punters were sick of him, his voice, his dismissive ‘never wrong’ attitude and the research coming to him demonstrated this. It was over for Andrews around the time of the 2022 election – but the thrill of the chase propelled him to throw the dice one more time.

The paramount reason to unceremoniously bail (from office and the Parliament) is likely that Victoria has run out of money – our money and even worse – other peoples’ money.

Andrews leaves his successor – probably Jacinta Allan – a staggering state debt by mid-2025 of more than $165 billion.

Setting aside the ‘legacy’ drivel that will be penned about this man in the next 72 hours – remember only this – he leaves Victoria friendless, diminished, and broke.

For the ‘can do’ Premier it’s a legacy you wouldn’t leave your worst enemy let alone a claimed political colleague.

Good luck Jacinta – you’ll need it.