When Victorian Premier Dan Andrews posted on Thursday night a picture of himself voting at a city pre-poll, there was disappointment in the seat of Mulgrave.
The area has become ground zero for the war on the premier as major and fringe right-wing groups descended upon the area’s polling booths, increasingly working together in the hope of unseating Andrews.
Right-wing content creator and freedom movement figure Avi Yemini responded to the news by posting a video titled “Daniel Andrews is SCARED to show his face”. The accompanying message read “WATCH COWARD DAN”.
Another group, Shadow Pandemic Victoria, shared a tweet about Andrews pre-voting to its Instagram story with the text “Literally hiding from HIS OWN ELECTORATE because he is so hated”.
Shadow Pandemic Victoria has been coordinating volunteers to man polling booths and encourage people to vote out Andrews. The group, which has frequently appeared in News Corp publications to campaign against COVID-19 measures it claims were contributing to a “shadow pandemic” of children’s poor mental health, has links to the Liberal Party and a CBD property developer and construction firm.
Last year, psychiatrist Patrick McGorry cancelled a speaking function with the group after it was revealed the group was organised by vice-chair of the Liberal Party’s Higgins branch, Jacquie Blackwell. Another spokesperson for the group, Moran Dvir, is the head of marketing communications for Alfasi Group, which boasts about doing “construction, property development [and] equipment hire” in Melbourne CBD locations. Shadow Pandemic Victoria’s posts were shared by Australia’s best-known anti-vaccine group Reignite Democracy Australia.
Liberal candidate for Mulgrave Michael Piastrino has appeared in Shadow Pandemic Victoria’s comment section asking for “15 more people” to work with him. Piastrino has previously called for the election to be delayed and has said that Andrews should be “brought to justice for the murder of 800 people” (a reference to Andrews’ role in implementing COVID-19 restrictions, which Piastrino has since apologised for).
Piastriano’s election fraud and anti-COVID restriction rhetoric isn’t his only connection to the fringe parties running against Andrews. The Liberal candidate has been spotted working increasingly closely with an anti-vaccination party candidate, Aidan McLindon of the Freedom Party. On top of appearing at the group’s protests outside of Andrews’ office, a video was posted on Twitter claiming to show Piastriano, McLindon and another independent putting up corflutes together.
Liberals Victoria did not respond to a request for comment about Piastrino’s statements and links to the Freedom Party. Piastrino’s campaign has received assistance from Barclay McGain — the former Gold Coast LNP chairman who resigned from the party after making racist comments about Indigenous peoples — who was seen volunteering for the candidate.
Freedom Party founder Morgan C Jonas, along with McLindon, has hosted daily protests outside Andrews’ electorate office for more than a month. In a video posted earlier this week, McLindon spent two and a half minutes asking questions to a cardboard cutout of the premier in front of a crowd.
“Is it true you have a very unhealthy association with the CCP?” he yelled.
Other figures have been drawn to the contest. High-profile independent Ian Cook — who is suing the Department of Health and Human Services for $50 million over claims that inspectors planted a slug in his commercial kitchen — has received a huge amount of media attention. Former Liberal MP turned failed United Australia Party candidate Craig Kelly posed with a dumpster near Andrews’ office, claiming that “his staff have already started to clean out”. Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un impersonator Howard X has also registered as an independent candidate for Mulgrave and has been campaigning too.
“I see him as Beijing’s candidate and he doesn’t really have the interests of Victoria at heart. He’s a CCP stooge,” he told SBS News.
And while support for the Labor government has dropped, Andrews’ opponents still have a huge mountain to climb: Andrews holds the seat with a margin of nearly 16%.
