Nonsense.That’s the assessment of Victoria’s former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos, after being thrown under the bus by her Premier Daniel Andrews.

Daniel Andrews at the first of his 100-day press conferences on July 3, when Jenny Mikakos was still Health Minister. Joe Armao
No, she says, all of the evidence points back to the Premier and his Department Secretary Chris Eccles who were in the national cabinet meeting that decided on hotel quarantine, the morning of March 27.
You have to wonder how Mikakos knew so little. One-eyed Andrews supporters dismiss her as a disgruntled minister. But she has served as a Labor member of parliament for more than 20 years and her departure has caused deep divisions. Add that Victoria Police point to the same evidence, the inquiry is under pressure to respond.
The evidence shows Eccles stepped out of the national cabinet meeting around 12pm to call Secretary of Jobs, Simon Phemister. By 12.30pm, Phemister was meeting senior staff and contemporaneous notes show private security and police were planned to be used.
Shortly after, Victoria’s former police chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, was texting up a storm, including to Eccles, to query why police were being used. The result seemed to be Ashton was reassured and police largely dropped out of the picture, leaving private security to hold the fort.
There is no smoking gun against Andrews and he says he doesn’t know who made the decision. Sky News presenter Peta Credlin gave Andrews a pretty good grilling on Friday on why he, Eccles and Ashton don’t just volunteer up their phone records.
But all the circumstantial evidence points back to Andrews and Eccles. More so because of everything else we know.
There was Andrews’ captain call for a curfew and again on masks where he decided to go further than the health advice. Add to that every decision is being directed through what is described as the Premier’s bunker his own private staff of political advisors.
For Andrews to say he didn’t know about private security or the ADF, particularly when he mentioned them at a 3pm news conference, should as Mikakos says be “critically review”ed and treated “with caution” when so many decisions have gone through his office.
The Premier has depleted a lot of his record political capital and even the buffer provided by his formerly unquestioning lieutenants.
The inquiry was always politically convenient for Andrews but the problem is inquiries sometimes come back to bite you.
What happens next is likely to turn on the inquiry’s report on November 6. But also whether cases quickly drop and the lockdown eased so Andrews can shift the discussion to his upcoming multibillion-dollar budget.
Andrews is determined to announce changes on October 18 but whether he can do enough to keep people happy will be key.
So far Andrews has been untouchable as Premier. It would be a brave observer to write him off now. But like Melbourne’s four footy teams playing finals this weekend, the next three weeks will be crucial to his fortunes and sentiments of Victorians.