Peta Credlin’s Daniel Andrews extraordinary ‘statue’ prophecy comes true as he quits as Victorian Premier with emotional speech

Daniel Andrews said ‘when it’s time, it’s time’ as he announced his resignation as Victorian premier, but he is already overdue for a statue to be erected in his honour.

Sky News commentator Peta Credlin had predicted Andrews would quit shortly after becoming eligible for that honor if re-elected last year.

Victorian premiers are entitled to be commemorated in bronze near Parliament House once they have completed 3,000 days in office – a milestone Andrews reached on February 20.

Peta Credlin (above) indicated that Andrews would hand power to his deputy if re-elected last year. “I don’t think he’ll be around much longer,” she said. ‘I think he wants to make history’

Andrews, who announced his resignation on Tuesday, will leave office on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

‘It is not an easy task as the chief minister of our state,” he said at a press conference. ‘It takes 100 percent of you and your family. This is of course limited in time and now is the time to distance ourselves.

“The only way I know how to do this work is to let it consume me. Every waking moment is about work and that takes its toll.’

Effigies of four old Victorian leaders already stand outside the State Government Office in Melbourne, where Mr Andrews works and where the Department of Premier and Cabinet is based.

Mr Andrews would join John Cain (1982-1990), Rupert Hamer (1972-1981), Henry Bolte (1955-1972) and Albert Dunstan (1935-1945) in having his likeness reproduced at 1 Treasury Place.

Victorian premiers are entitled to be commemorated in bronze once they complete 3,000 days in office – a milestone Dan Andrews (above) reached on February 20 this year

Mr Andrews would join Henry Bolte (left), Albert Dunstan (right), John Cain and Rupert Hamer in having his likeness reproduced at 1 Treasury Place outside the Prime Minister’s office in Melbourne

The Labor leader won a third term when Victorians went to the polls on November 26, which Credlin had predicted he was likely to win.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the time, Credlin said Andrews would soon hand over power to his deputy, Jacinta Allan.

“I don’t think he’ll be around much longer,” she said. ‘I think he wants to make history.

‘Sometime early next year he will finally win his little statue in front of the Prime Minister’s office, and then he will leave it to the woman, Jacinta Allan, effectively allowing them to change themselves.’

After winning the election, Mr Andrews denied sticking around to get a statue.

“I’m not concerned with legacies,” he said. “(I’m) about working hard and getting things done.”

Andrews is the longest-serving Labor premier in Victoria’s history, ahead of John Cain, who was elected in 2014 and served for almost nine years. The statue of Cain is depicted

Former Liberal Prime Minister Jeff Kennett was responsible for introducing statues for premiers who had served 3,000 days, only to fail when they were removed from office in 1999 after 2,571 days.

“If there’s a Daniel statue there, I think the other four will all jump off their pedestals and run away,” Kennett told the Weekend Australian in January last year.

At the same time, when asked whether Mr Andrews was being honored in this way, a government spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister has not thought about this at all.”

Mr Andrews is the longest-serving Labor premier in Victoria’s history, just ahead of Mr Cain, who was elected in 2014 and served for almost nine years.

As he approached the 3,000 milestone, a source close to the Prime Minister told The Age newspaper that Andrews “didn’t care”.

“The prime minister is genuinely baffled by the sudden obsession with an arbitrary number created by a former Liberal prime minister,” one of his advisers said.

The 51-year-old said last year that he was “absolutely committed” to completing another four-year term if re-elected, and that he wanted to remain prime minister “as long as the community and my colleagues want me.”

“We have a lot to do,” Andrews said in October. “I serve at the pleasure of the Victorian community and my colleagues.

“I have a lot of things to build, a lot of reforms to make, a lot of things to move forward with. I want to keep building, I want to keep making big changes and reforms.’

Mr Andrews took three months off work after slipping on two wet steps at a holiday home in Sorrento in March 2021. He suffered an acute compression fracture of the T7 vertebra and five broken ribs.

“I remember getting a lot of calls from people… when I was a crook, you know – ‘what are you doing?’” Andrews said in October, before the last election.

“And I came back, and it took a while, I didn’t come back to leave, I came back to keep working hard.

‘That’s why we’re back in business – I say ‘we’ because it’s me, (wife) Cath and the kids, we’re all in it – because it’s only a Labor government that will do what matters and get things done .’

Bolte is Victoria’s longest-serving premier at 6,288 days. He is followed by Dunstan’s 3,834 days, Mr Andrews on 3,218, Hamer on 3,209 and Cain on 3,047.

Mr Andrews passed Cain in April and overtook Hamer in September, moving into second place. Bolte remained well out of reach.