Daniel Andrews re-election prompts exodus as Victorians vow to leave the state

Outraged Victorians have vowed to leave the state after Daniel Andrews was re-elected as Prime Minister for a third term.

Residents have lashed out at the Labor leader after he landed an election victory over opposition leader Matthew Guy on Saturday night.

Victorians have threatened to pack their bags and move to the highway instead of remaining under Labor leadership for another four years.

“If Dan Andrews wins, I won’t be leaving Victoria because I’ve already left. Enjoy communism,” one person posted on Twitter.

The post was accompanied by a photo of the skyline outside an airplane.

Another posted: ‘You’re making me sick!! So glad I’m leaving Victoria now!!’

“Who else is considering leaving Victoria if Daniel Andrews remains Prime Minister of Victoria???” a third wrote.

Political commentator Sydney Watson slammed Victorians for re-electing the same prime minister who imposed the toughest restrictions in the country during Covid.

“My home state in Aus Victoria just voted back for the man she had under the most abusive lockdowns and restrictions for over 260 days,” she posted.

They also increased the number of votes for 2 small socialist parties. All I can say is that you reap what you sow.’

Victorians have endured six lockdowns since the outbreak of the virus in Australia in 2020.

Stay at home, curfews, playground closures and the dreaded ring of steel were some of the brutal restrictions Mr. Andrews entered.

The strictness earned the Prime Minister the nickname ‘Dictator Dan’ and led to regular protests from residents who were fed up with it.

Dr. Watson added in another post: ‘Every time I post about how confused Australia is, I see an influx of irrationally angry Australians claiming otherwise.

“How can you improve the state of your country if you continue to deny that there are problems?”

Residents have swooped in to defend the prime minister and challenge disgruntled voters to keep their promise and leave the state.

“For all those who promised to leave Victoria if Dan Andrews won… I have a courtesy bus leaving Flinders St at 12am tomorrow,” one person wrote.

A second added: ‘Dan Andrews is back if you leave Victoria please go straight to Qld and don’t go through NSW.’

Andrews has hailed Labour’s convincing Victorian election victory as a triumph of hope over hate as he sees a place in the history books.

The Labor leader was greeted with hugs from his mother and sister – as well as chants of ‘four more years’ from the adoring party faithful – after securing a third successive election victory on Saturday.

Mr Andrews took the stage at the party’s election celebration at his seat in Mulgrave and recalled some words of advice from former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating.

“Paul Keating once said to me, ‘Son, leadership is not about doing what’s popular, leadership is about doing what’s right,'” he told the cheering crowd as he was surrounded by his wife and three children.

Essentially, he told me that leadership is about doing what matters. That is exactly what the people of this great state have endorsed today by decisively re-electing our strong, stable majority Labor government.”

Mr. Andrews reflected on an incredibly challenging few years for his state, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He praised Victorians for sticking together during the one-in-100-year event and getting vaccinated.

“We were not divided as some would say, we were instead united in our faith in science and in our faith and care for and in each other,” the prime minister said.

“That sense of friendliness, that sense of belonging, that sense that we’re all in the same boat together has been confirmed today as well. Friends, hope always beats hate.’

After thanking his family, staff and volunteers, Andrews vowed to rule for all Victorians, regardless of their views or opinions.

‘That’s our job. We take our responsibility seriously because Labor does what matters,” he concluded.

Labor was on track to claim at least 50 seats when counting was suspended for the night.

It is expected to claim the seat of Glen Waverley in eastern Melbourne, partially offsetting the losses in Nepean to the Liberals and Richmond to the Greens.

Although Kat Theophanous, Northcote’s Labor MP was trailing earlier in the evening, he leads the Greens candidate Campbell Gome by 865 votes, with more than 70 per cent of the vote counted.

Despite losing some skin to the Greens, Labor campaign chairman and former Deputy Prime Minister James Merlino said it was a stunning win.

“There are exciting matches in those seats at Footscray and Albert Park and Pascoe Vale. I am hopeful that we will cross the line in those games,” he told reporters.

“Overall, this is a rather extraordinary victory for the Labor Party, for Dan as our state’s prime minister serving a third term.”

Merlino said it was a mistake by the Liberals to turn the election into a referendum on Andrews, one of many in their campaign.

“They made their bed and now the Liberal Party has to sleep in it,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Jacinta Allan echoed the sentiment, calling out the Liberals for misinterpreting the chamber on the Prime Minister.

“His preference for premier ratings was particularly strong during this campaign,” she told ABC Television.

“Now the Liberal Party has chosen to put him on their how-to-vote cards. That seems to have the opposite effect.’

Mr Andrews is poised to become the fifth state leader in history to serve 3,000 days, making him eligible to be immortalized in bronze outside Melbourne’s 1 Treasury Place.

If he remains leader until Easter, he will become the longest-serving Labor prime minister in Victoria’s history, taking over from John Cain Jr.