Dan Andrews has announced he is quitting, after nearly nine years as premier and three election wins.
Andrews’ surprise announcement came early Tuesday afternoon. He said his resignation would take effect at 5pm Wednesday.
He told a news conference it was not an easy decision “because as much as we have achieved together, there’s so much more to do. But when it’s time, it’s time”.
He said recently, in talking to his family, “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.”
Andrews, 51, who became premier in December 2014, has been a highly controversial state leader, instigating the toughest lockdowns in the country during COVID. But despite criticisms of that, he won the November 2022 election handsomely. Andrews said he had never been focused on being “100 per cent popular”.
He said he came to his decision fairly recently. But it was right to “go when they are asking you to stay”.
“I am worse than a workaholic,” he said, with every waking moment consumed with the work. He did not know what he would do next. He wouldn’t do much for a while.
Andrews said when he had previously declared he would stay for the duration of this parliamentary term, “it was true then”. He had since changed his mind.
The state caucus will meet on Wednesday to anoint a new premier, with Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan widely favoured. Andrews said if there was a ballot he would be voting.
He had spoken to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who was “a bit shocked”. “I thanked him for the partnership.”
Earlier this year another longstanding Labor premier, Mark McGowan in Western Australia, resigned unexpectedly.
Albanese said Andrews was a man of “great conviction, enormous compassion, and a fierce determination to make a difference”.