Arabic version: التخلي عن خطة تمثال دانيال أندروز لإجراء مراجعة مستقلة

According to ABC News, Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has abandoned a planned bronze statue recognising former premier Daniel Andrews and commissioned an independent, bipartisan panel to review how the state commemorates former leaders.

Andrews served as Victoria’s premier from 2014 to 2023. The project had been debated since he passed 3,000 days in office three years ago, and the Allan government commissioned the $134,000 effigy in March. Carroll said the existing contract would not be cancelled to avoid unnecessary costs to taxpayers. The panel will instead recommend an alternative subject and location for the commissioned work.

Carroll said the review would consider recognition through state services and statues, as well as the frequency, scale and cost of state funerals and memorial services. He said former premiers were owed gratitude for their service, but that gratitude did not require a taxpayer-funded statue.

The planned Andrews monument would have followed a Treasury Place initiative begun by former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett in the late 1990s. Bronze statues of former premiers Sir Albert Dunstan, Sir Henry Bolte, Sir Rupert Hamer and John Cain junior were created for the 1999 commission. Kennett said a statue for recently deceased country music star Dolly Parton at the Myer Music Bowl would be a worthwhile alternative.

Monash University emeritus professor of politics Paul Strangio said postponing an Andrews statue could be prudent because of tensions surrounding his governing record and threats of defacement. However, he said ending the tradition of commemorating long-serving premiers would be a retrograde step. Andrews had not publicly commented on the decision, and Victorians are scheduled to vote in a state election on November 28.