Victoria scraps plan for Daniel Andrews statue as new panel reviews tributes to state leaders
MELBOURNE, Aug. 29 — Victoria has scrapped a planned bronze statue honouring former premier Daniel Andrews, with his successor Ben Carroll instead ordering a...
MELBOURNE, Aug. 29 — Victoria has scrapped a planned bronze statue honouring former premier Daniel Andrews, with his successor Ben Carroll instead ordering an independent panel to review how the state commemorates former leaders.
The move ends a tribute that would have recognised Andrews’ nine years as premier of Victoria, from 2014 to 2023. It also reopens a long-running question in state politics: who gets a statue, who decides, and when public memory turns into public argument.
Tribute shelved
Carroll confirmed on Friday that an “independent and bipartisan panel” will examine the way Victoria recognises officials through memorials and statues. In effect, that puts the planned Andrews statue on ice.
In his statement, Carroll did not name Andrews directly. He referred only to Victoria’s 48th premier. The tone was careful. The message was not.
Andrews, a long-serving Labor leader, left office in 2023 after nearly a decade at the top of Victorian politics. A bronze statue would have marked that run in the state’s ceremonial heart, in central Melbourne.
A tradition dating to Kennett
The decision reaches back to 1999, when former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett began the practice of honouring state leaders who served more than 3,000 days in office. Four bronze statues of former premiers were erected in Melbourne’s Treasury Place in the late 1990s under a Kennett government initiative.
That tradition gave Victoria a formal way to mark long service. It also created a test that has never been purely about tenure. Public monuments carry politics with them. Always have.
Carroll’s review suggests the state now wants a broader framework before adding any new likenesses to the line of former leaders. Whether that means fewer statues, different criteria or a new style of recognition will be left to the panel.
Politics around the corner
The timing matters. Victorians go to the polls in a state election scheduled for Nov. 28, and any decision over a statue of Andrews carries an obvious political charge. Andrews remains one of the most recognisable figures in recent Victorian politics, and his time in office shaped the state’s direction for almost a decade.
For now, though, the bronze project is done. The panel will review how Victoria commemorates its former officials, and the next marker of state history may arrive only after that process runs its course.
