Two Victorian Liberal MPs have been criticised for comparing former premier Daniel Andrews to a dictator and accusing him of using police as a "personal army" during Covid lockdowns, with the comments coming as a manhunt continues for the alleged killer of two police officers.
Moira Deeming made the remarks during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday on a petition she sponsored opposing a statue of Andrews. She said authoritarian regimes erect statues to living leaders as "a tool of political dominance, of intimidation, like with Lenin or Mao or Hussein". She also claimed police had been "used as a personal army with weapons of war and no name tags" under Andrews, and that "Nuremberg trial principles" had been ignored. Deeming referenced a 2013 car crash involving Andrews, noting the family of the teenage cyclist involved are preparing a private criminal prosecution against him.
Fellow Liberal MP Ann-Marie Hermans spoke in support of the petition, telling the chamber that "the erosion of democratic principles in this state under the leadership of the former premier, Mr Daniel Andrews, cannot go without comparisons to Joseph Stalin". Only half of the Coalition's 14 upper house MPs voted on the motion to formally take note of the petition, which was comprehensively defeated.
Opposition leader Brad Battin held a party room meeting on Thursday to express his disappointment and anger. According to sources, Battin "blew up" and told MPs they should "become independents if they want to go off message". Speaking outside parliament, Hermans said her words "could have been wiser in reflection", adding: "I don't take back the autocratic side of it, it's a fair description of Daniel Andrews' leadership."
Police minister Anthony Carbines described the commentary as "deeply offensive to police", noting that Deeming and Hermans were speaking while he was at a press conference after the death of a girl in a school bus crash and the naming of the officers killed in the Porepunkah shooting. He said the focus of parliament should be on Victorians and the tragedies they are dealing with this week.
The man suspected of killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart, 35, is Dezi Freeman, who has a history of association with pseudolaw and "sovereign citizen" ideas. Court records show he has called police "terrorist thugs", "frigging Nazis" and "Gestapo" and claimed they wore the "satanic symbol" of an "inverted pentagram" on their uniforms. In 2021, Freeman was arrested while at a protest outside Myrtleford court over 2019 allegations of sexual-related offending.
