Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews may be one of the country’s highest-profile politicians, but the woman behind the man is just as impressive as her well-known husband.
In fact, the former Premier’s wife Catherine Andrews is often credited with much of the Labor MP’s political success, thanks to her warm demeanour and no-nonsense attitude.
WATCH: Daniel Andrews appears with his wife and kids at press conference
Catherine, who is the former director of The Torch, a Victorian organisation that supports Indigenous Australian offenders and ex-offenders through Aboriginal art, and is an ambassador for SunSmart Victoria and female-only literary award The Stella Prize, first met her husband when they were both in their 20s.
They’ve known each other for 30 years and have been married for 25 of those.
And despite the fact that her husband was constantly on TV and radio throughout the COVID-19 lockdown, Catherine says people would be shocked at how ordinary and “normal” their family life is.
“We are just normal people, a normal family. We live in an ordinary home in a small street in suburban Melbourne,” she told The Herald Sun back in 2015, soon after her husband was first elected as Premier.
“Our kids go to local schools. We go to the local shops; there’s nothing special about us. Daniel just happens to be the Premier — that’s his job.”
“I still have to pay the bills, wash the uniforms, make sure everything is ready for soccer on Saturday or ballet on Monday and Wednesday and I still have to make sure enough food in the fridge.”
Pre-COVID, the couple were rarely spotted attending glitzy media events, preferring nights at home on the couch with their children – Noah, 21, Grace, 19, and Joseph, 15.
“If Dan’s home and it’s Saturday night, we might have a glass of wine, put the kids to bed and watch TV in our trackies,” she previously told the Herald Sun.
“Whenever Dan is home with us, the time is precious.”
The drama of politics is certainly not the couple’s main priority, Catherine says.
“Looking after the children, that’s our top priority, they are our number one, they are our world, they are everything to us.”
Catherine briefly courted controversy after a teenage cyclist collided with her car, with her husband and their three children inside, as the family were driving back from the beach while on holiday in the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria in 2013.
The former Premier said the young male cyclist, who sustained upper body injuries but survived the incident, “absolutely T-boned” their car, describing what happened as “probably one of the most sickening, awful things I have ever experienced”.
“He was moving at speed, he absolutely T-boned the car, hit it at such force he was literally inside the car. That’s how much the windscreen was depressed, he flew up over the car and hit the road,” Andrews said at the time.
The two police officers who were called to the crash failed to breathalyse Mrs Andrews, which is standard protocol, but the premier explained the couple had not been drinking.
He also said he wished he had been driving the car.
“She was driving, but I wish I had been driving because then maybe she’d be spared some of the quite shameful stuff that’s been put around, and maybe things would be different,” he said.
Mrs Andrews has also jumped to her husband’s defence over the past few months, as frustrated Victorians look for someone to blame for the state’s deepening coronavirus crisis and call on the premier to resign.
Back in July, she posted a photo of Andrews working away at his at-home office.
“This man does not stop,” she said.
“Thank you to everyone who is doing the right thing. We are in this together. #istandwithdan.”
Over three years since the COVID-19 pandemic reached Victoria, Andrews resigned from his position as Premier on September 26, 2023.
“Recently, in talking to my kids and Cath, thoughts of what life will be like after this job have started to creep in. I have always known that the moment that happens, it is time to go and give this privilege, this amazing responsibility, to someone else.”
