Victoria’s newly sworn-in premier Ben Carroll has scrapped a longstanding automatic policy that granted taxpayer-funded bronze statues to long-serving state premiers, scrapping a planned $134,000 monument for his predecessor Daniel Andrews in the process.
Andrews, who led Victoria for 3219 days – just over eight years – crossed the 3000-day threshold that has guaranteed a public statue under existing rules. But just weeks after taking over the top job from Jacinta Allan, Carroll has put an immediate end to the policy, arguing it no longer aligns with what Victorian communities expect from public spending.
“Gratitude does not require a taxpayer-funded statue,” Carroll told reporters Wednesday, confirming the Andrews statue project has been formally taken off the table. “I respect your money. That means, being careful and deliberate about how government spends it.”
The decision comes as Victoria grapples with deepening fiscal pressure, with official projections showing the state’s gross debt is on track to hit nearly $200 billion by the 2029-30 financial year. Carroll already tabled a sweeping package of public spending cuts in his first weeks in office, ranging from pausing work on a slate of major infrastructure projects to smaller, high-profile cuts including ending taxpayer-funded office plant rentals and discontinuing production of branded government merchandise like stubby holders and t-shirts.
Alongside scrapping the automatic statue rule, Carroll announced an independent public review to overhaul the state’s protocols for commemorating long-serving public officials, including reassessing the criteria for granting official state funerals. The review will examine what forms of commemoration are appropriate, how much public money should be allocated to these events, and whether automatic entitlements remain justifiable.
Carroll noted that the rarity of state funerals is central to their significance as public tributes, signaling that future state funerals may be granted only in exceptional circumstances rather than as an automatic entitlement. The review is expected to deliver a set of recommendations to government in the coming months, which will inform formal policy changes to Victoria’s public commemoration framework.
Supporters of the change argue that prioritizing fiscal restraint during a period of growing state debt makes the end of the automatic statue rule a necessary and popular step, while critics have pushed back that denying formal commemoration to premiers who dedicate decades of service to the state undermines the recognition of their contributions to public life.