Daniel Andrews has resigned from his position as premier of Victoria. He will officially leave office at 5pm Wednesday, September 27.
Mr Andrews said he’s decided to step down as the leader of the state after “always working hard to do what’s right not simply to do what’s popular”.
Why did Dan Andrews resign?
Andrews, Labor’s longest serving premier in the state, made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday. He cited his wife, Catherine, and his children, Grace, Noah and Joseph, as playing a part in his decision to step away from the position.
“When it is time, it is time,” he said. “Recently, in talking to my kids and Cath [his wife], thoughts of what life will be like after this job has started to creep in.
“I have always known that the moment that happens it is time to go and to give this privilege, this amazing responsibility to someone else.”
“It’s not an easy job being the premier of this state, that’s not a complaint just a fact,” he said during the press conference.
Andrews also said he made the decision to resign because he didn’t want to resent the job of leading Victoria.
“I came to the decision fairly recently,” he said. “I was very keen to get housing statement done but I knew as we got to the final stages of that that it would perhaps be the last big reform that I did.”
“Can I say to you that the moment you are not comfortable with that choice doing this job as a defining feature of your entire life… the moment you are not comfortable with that decision for you and the people that you love, that you have to step away,” he said.
“Because you never want to get place where you resent this job, this amazing privilege and important opportunity.
“That would not be right and I simply will not allow that to happen stop as you well know public life is about subjecting yourself to the judgement of others. It will be for others to judge my time in Parliament and my years of leadership.”
Andrews thanked his wife and his children for their support over the years.
“To my family, to my mother and father, to my sister, I couldn’t ask for more,” he said.
“Cath, she is my best friend and none of this was remotely possible without her support, her guidance and her love. Noah, Grace and Joseph, they know only politics that has done this. For all the matters meant, thank you. You are everything to me.”
