For many Victorians, there is a lack of understanding regarding how traumatised the working class and democracy-lovers became as a result of Daniel Andrews’ edicts during his reign of Command and Control of our besieged state during Covid.

It stands to reason then that they do not understand why we chose to celebrate upon his sudden departure.

As someone who had a personal battle with mask mandates but also got to work during Covid, (with a degree in analytics and a career in reading data that tells a story), I became a part of both the Laptop Class and an enforcer of the below Chapters 14 through 16. As a result, I was placed in a unique position to see and experience many sides of the Covid response and suffering.

If we were to write a book, I think these chapter titles might capture some of the reasons why Victorians are emotionally tapped out and delighted that Dan Andrews has left the limelight:

1. China – The Propaganda Machine that we fell Hook, Line and Sinker
2. Mask Mandates and the cruelty of no compassion
3. The Greatest Lie: A short, sharp Lockdown
4. Denial of work – but you must pay your bills
5. Some of you can work, but ‘papers please’
6. No soup for you! (Except we mean funerals and mourning loved ones)
7. Leave the elderly to loneliness and isolation in their final days – it’s for their safety!
8. Data Analytics, Modelling and Epidemiology: Fake it till you make it.
9. Only drugs ‘The Ministry of Wellness’ patent and control will save you from Covid, all other drugs and treatments are inferior (even those that have won Nobel Prizes)
10. You can die (we don’t care), unless you had Covid – then we’ll count it/pretend to care
11. The Laptop Class vs The Working Class – the renaissance of class warfare
12. How to Breach Human Rights and Get Away with it: The Housing Commission Lockdowns
13. Curfews and how to break them (Become a Sex Worker or Drug Addict)
14. He who shall not be named (well, collated) – Suicides and Attempted Suicides
15. Death and Data: Got hit by a bus but had Covid? – We’ll count it!
16. The Police State; Show me your papers! (And your coffee cup you maskless grub!)
17. The most expensive and irrelevant border: The Ring of Steel
18. How to shoot citizens and influence police (to enforce bad laws)
19. How to gas-light an entire population, presented by Daniel Andrews
20. Easy-to-follow guide: The Family Violence Model of Emotional Abuse (but for Dictators)
21. The new Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda: How to incite hatred and foster a climate of indifference to their fate
22. Find your preferred Label: Cooker, Anti-Vaxxer, Anti-Lockdowner, Conspiracy Theorist, Far Right Nationalist, Anti-‘The Science TM’, Libertarian, Right Wing Nut Job, Anti-Establishment, Anti-Authority, White Supremacist. (Actually, it’s TLDR, just go with Nazi)
23. Chapter 8 with a side of mRNA
24. The Last Thing You Need: Vaccine Mandates
25. The New Normal: Your faith in humanity will be destroyed, and you’ll be happy (or else)

You may be wondering what Dan has to do with all of that, but you see, Dan made himself the face of all things Covid! For 120 consecutive days he fronted our televisions to tell us who could work and who couldn’t; where you could travel and where you couldn’t; who you could visit and who you couldn’t; why you were the problem (and not the response); why people who weren’t doing what he said were the enemy; and why ‘any and all use of force’ was justified against the people.

His emotional rhetoric included themes such as what a terrible person you were; what an idiot you were, how selfish you were, ‘Do the Right Thing’, ‘Follow the Rules’, ‘We’re all in this together’.

The list could go on.

Daniel Andrews chose to be the face of Covid. As citizens who didn’t know what was coming for them from one day to the next, you had little choice but to watch, you had to listen. It felt like your ability to live life and have freedom to exist depended on it!

Even after Covid lockdowns and (most) mandates were lifted, we were still exposed to this oppressive rhetoric. It became a cause of angst, anxiety, anger, and despair for some Victorians. No wonder so many fled to less socialist locations – I get it now, and it’s only been a week since he resigned, but I feel so much better for not seeing him!

The relief of knowing he’s no longer in power is the ability to finally draw a deep breath and refocus. It is an opportunity to let go of some very painful Covid-era memories, to look ahead and not behind, to see hope instead of despair. Sure, he left on his own terms, he left with a giant taxpayer pay packet, but he is gone and for now, that is enough.

A cyclone can come through your town and tear it to pieces – but while it still blows, you cannot venture out to assess the damage or start picking up the pieces of your ruined life. Will you make sure the person in charge of the weather bureau, who failed to sound the warning siren and give people a chance to get to safety, is held to account at a later point? Damn right you will – but you’ll tidy your own house first, rebuild if you have to, and help your neighbours to do the same.

Then we turn to accountability. Then we turn to ensuring lessons (that we really should have well and truly learnt by now) are learned! That lessons are solidified in law so as to ensure that we do not make these choices again. I say choices and not mistakes for a reason. Frankly, they were not mistakes. These decisions were not misguided – the guidance to act in this way was the only guidance listened to, and all other guidance was, well refer to Chapter 21…

With a fresh breath, a pause for refocus, and a renewed energy to keep fighting the good fight, we recalibrate, reorganise, and rebuild and new Victoria free of the dictatorial class and bloated public service (that stopped providing frank and fearless advice long ago).

We do that by copying the WEF model of infiltration – we get on our local councils, local committees, local school councils, support liberty-minded political parties and independents, or chose to get elected to Parliament ourselves. We do exactly what they don’t want us to do. We band together, and we rebel against global policies that seek to change the Australian landscape into what we often hear called a new world order – a government controlled by socialist interests…

Victoria deserves a few moments of celebration! So Cin cin, Slainte, Prost, a la Sante, or Salud; Down Under we say ‘Cheers Mate’ and ‘Get on the Beers’.