Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has insisted his government's response to the Covid pandemic was a 'triumph' despite forcing millions in Melbourne to endure the world's longest lockdown.
Speaking to left-wing podcast Socially Democratic last week, Mr Andrews said his political opponents and Victorian federal MPs should have been congratulating him for successfully keeping the virus at bay.
Melbourne has struggled with Covid more than any other Australian state or territory, spending a cumulative total of more than 260 days under stifling restrictions.
Division within the city has steadily increased, with weekly protests - some attended by tens of thousands - over lockdown rules, vaccine mandates, and most recently the Andrews' Pandemic Management Bill.
'It's a triumph in terms of what government in partnership with the community can do,' Mr Andrews told podcast host Stephen Donnelly, a former Labor campaign official.
Two police officers in caps and hi-vis walk behind a crowd of protesters in Melbourne on Saturday (pictured)
Mr Andrews (pictured) said federal MPs saying his government should back out of people's lives was 'Tea Party nonsense'
Mr Andrews also made mention of his daily press conferences, saying he 'wasn't sure what people would think of him'.
'The audiences were just absolutely phenomenal,' he said.
'They gave me some audience numbers at one point, which is, you know, wonderfully helpful, to know that you're you know, talking to a million people, live,' he said.
He said those protesting had 'understandable' anger but took aim at federal MPs for attending the rallies and stirring up crowds.
'We've seen some people who were very critical of us on the other side of politics sharing a stage with these people. What is it they want? Do they actually want someone to get hurt?'
Mr Andrews also admitted that mistakes were made by the Victorian government during the peak of the Covid outbreak.
'I wouldn't want anyone to think that we regard our pandemic response across the board as having been perfect - of course it wasn't. There are things that if you could go back and change them, you would,' he said.
The admission didn't prompt a follow up question from Mr Donnelly - who was an assistant secretary for the Labor party during the last two elections.
Up to 10,000 people were estimated to be at Saturday's protests which marched passed Parliament House (pictured)
The Andrews government has been widely criticised over a number of issues during the Covid crises.
The government's leaky hotel quarantine scheme was partly responsible for Victoria's 'second wave' with then-health minister Jenny Mikakos who had oversight on the system later resigning following an inquiry.
The state also didn't move to a single, consistent QR check-in system until well into 2021.
And the government and police response to protests - which involved lines of officers in riot gear deploying pepper spray and
