Latest news with #MoonahLinksGolfResort
Sky News AU
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews linked to purchase of Crown-owned Capital Golf Club after rejection from multiple elite clubs
Former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is rumoured to be connected to the purchase of an inner Melbourne golf course, despite having membership issues at other golf clubs across the state. The Herald Sun reports that Mr Andrews is connected to a consortium which is seeking to buy the Capital Golf Club in Heatherton, as Crown Entertainment seeks to offload it to focus on its core business. According to the Australian Financial Review, the Capital Golf Club was reserved for Crown's highest paying customers and celebrities, including pro golfer Tiger Woods and Canadian pop singer Celine Dion. The rumours come as Mr Andrews struggled to gain membership at elite Mornington Peninsula golf clubs after he designated the area as part of Greater Melbourne during the Covid pandemic lockdowns, meaning they were subjected to harsh lockdowns. The former premier, who left office in 2023 reportedly tried to get membership to the Moonah Links Golf Resort - with billionaire Max Beck putting him in as a nominee member - but the club issued a statement on Facebook last year confirming that Mr Andrews was not a member. 'Moonah Links Golf Resort wishes to address recent public speculation regarding former Premier Daniel Andrews,' the statement said. 'We can confirm that Mr Daniel Andrews is not a member of Moonah Links Golf Resort," it went onto say. The statement was issued after he was banned from the Portsea Golf Club on the Mornington Peninsula. Sky News host Steve Price threatened to tear up his membership if the former Premier was allowed to play. During the pandemic, Melbourne became the longest locked down city in the world, with strict curfews stopping people from leaving their homes between 8pm and 5am with strict fines and threatening arrest if they did not have a valid reason for being outside. In April this year, the Victorian Liberal Party obtained emails under a freedom of information request that there was no scientific basis for the curfew, demanding that current Premier Jacinta Allan front state parliament and explain herself. The state government maintains that any measures taken during the pandemic was to protect Melburnians and Victorians and was done based on the scientific advice available.
Herald Sun
25-04-2025
- Business
- Herald Sun
Dan Andrews in the rough with Chinese business contacts over Moonah Links golf bid
Don't miss out on the headlines from Page 13. Followed categories will be added to My News. Former Premier Dan Andrews makes a quid these days from helping make connections and networking with Chinese businessmen get a footing in the state he once ran. But it seems not all of China is enamoured with his work given it was the Chinese owners of Moonah Links Golf Resort who were circling the wagons this week to put an end to his latest quest to find a coastal golf club to call home. Page 13 can reveal there have been several crisis meetings called by the Chinese bosses after the outrage and vitriol from golfers which had flooded the Moonah Links social pages when news broke that Andrews had been 'snuck in the back door' and had become a member of the Mornington Peninsula golf club. Hell hath no fury like a golfer scorned. The club — which boasts the largest golf tourism development in recent Victorian history and consists of two world class courses — copped a litany of abusive phone calls and emails from members and those in the golfing community quivering in rage at the revelation that Andrews had got in through his good friend, rich lister Max Beck. Beck – a property developer and co-owner of Essendon Fields and a Foundation Member at Moonah Links – is one of the club's 60 shareholders who have two nominated members. To get Andrews in, Beck swapped out his wife, Lorraine, and added the former politician. Page 13 understands Mrs Beck was none too pleased when she found out about the move and even though she's not a regular golfer, she wanted her membership reinstated which meant Dan was struck off. To say the club was very pleased with this development this week is putting it mildly with one telling Page 13: 'They don't want anything to do with him, if anything they are trying to work out a potential 'Dan Ban' into their rules and conditions that would vet who comes in under their code of conduct.' On Thursday they issued a statement on their social media page saying: 'Moonah Links Golf Resort wishes to address recent public speculation regarding former Premier Daniel Andrews. 'We can confirm that Mr Daniel Andrews is not a member of Moonah Links Golf Resort. 'Moonah Links continues to focus on providing a world class golfing experience and supporting events that promote sport, tourism and community development.' Moonah Links joins a growing list of 'Dan Ban' courses where the ex-Premier had been trying to get a membership at several other of Victoria's most prestigious clubs only to meet fierce opposition. Last year there was a revolt against any attempt for him to join the National Golf Club on Cape Schanck and then an uprising to stop his admission to the nearby Portsea course. Andrews is a longstanding member of the exclusive Kingston Heath Golf Club, in Heatherton, where he has also faced strong hostility from some fellow members. They have been known to exit when he turns up at the driving range and he is never sighted at the 19th hole after a round, preferring to scurry away after a round. Read related topics: Daniel Andrews
Sky News AU
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Senator blasts Daniel Andrews leadership as ‘insanity on steroids' as golf membership scandal and COVID curfew document dominate headlines
Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes has unloaded on former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews after it was revealed his golf club membership at a private club was revoked just days after the former Labor leader was embroiled in controversy over a newly revealed COVID-19 curfew document. It was revealed this week Mr Andrews was no longer a member of Melbourne's prestigious golf clubs on the Mornington Peninsula, after stealthily acquiring a membership at Moonah Links Golf Resort with the help of his billionaire friend Max Beck. It is understood Mr Beck, who is a foundation member at the club, replaced the name on his wife's membership with the former premier's. On Thursday, Moonah Links Golf Resort released a statement on their social media, officially announcing Mr Andrews' departure from the club. The stunt prompted widespread backlash, given that Victorian golf courses were victims of the former premier's strict lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes urged the former premier to depart from his mission to be involved in an affluent club and play golf at a public course. 'He is such a man of the people, isn't he? I'm sure there are plenty of public golf courses that would welcome Dan Andrews,' Ms Hughes told Sky News host Rowan Dean. 'You couldn't play golf in Victoria, probably one of the only sports you could have played outside in the two hours a day you were able to exercise," Senator Hughes said. 'Out on a golf course, there is no bigger space you could be in a lot of the time. 'You could go to a brother, but you couldn't hit a golf ball. 'I think Dan Andrews, you were focusing on the wrong kind of balls.' Days prior to the former Labor leader's membership-axing revelation, Sky News obtained a document kept secret for five years, which revealed the Andrews government's monumentally controversial decision to impose a strict curfew during the pandemic was not based on health advice. Melbourne became the only city in Australia to be subjected to a city-wide curfew when the state government declared a state of disaster in response to escalating outbreaks. An email exchange between former chief health officer Brett Sutton and public health commander Dr Finn Romanes revealed the public health commander was not consulted, nor did he propose the stringent curfew. 'It was insanity on steroids in the ways things operated,' Ms Hughes said. "Socialist governments are only ever a short step away from totalitarianism, and a lot of these state government premiers were getting very, very close to embracing those kinds of ideologies in the way that they were controlling every single part of the message, locking down their people. "The mental health damage that was done to Victorians is still evident from those lockdowns. People from Victoria will still discuss with you how traumatic it was."
Sky News AU
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews axed from Melbourne's elite Moonah Links Golf Resort after desperate stunt to sneak into club's membership
Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has been kicked out of one of Melbourne's prestigious golf clubs on the Mornington Peninsula, after finding a backway to sneak into the membership. The Daily Telegraph reported last week Mr Andrews was able to weasel his way into the Moonah Links Golf Resort with the help of his trusty and billionaire friend Max Beck. It is understood Mr Beck, who is a Foundation Member at the club, made the venture possible by switching out his wife's name on a membership, and replacing her with the former Premier. The stunt led to collective outrage and backlash from golf enthusiasts who have low tolerance for Mr Andrews due to his controversial leadership during the pandemic. On Thursday, Moonah Links Golf Resort released a statement on their social media officially announcing Mr Andrews' departure from the club. 'Moonah Links Golf Resort wishes to address recent public speculation regarding former Premier Daniel Andrews,' the golf club wrote. 'We can confirm that Mr Daniel Andrews is not a member of Moonah Links Golf Resort. "Moonah Links continues to focus on providing a world class golfing experience and supporting events that promotes sport, tourism and community development.' It has been a tough few years for Mr Andrews who ended up in the bad books of the golfing community after imposing a strict golf ban on the Mornington Peninsula during Covid-19. In 2023, Mr Andrews was engulfed in another golf debacle after he tried to join the Portsea Golf Club, which was met with harsh opposition from members including former radio broadcaster Steve Price. Upon learning of the retired Premier's request for membership, Mr Price made a blistering threat to the club to quit his membership if Mr Andrews was let in. 'This is the premier who stopped us playing golf for two years during Covid,' Mr Price previously told Sky News Australia. 'This is the premier who locked down this community even though we're 120km out of the city. 'The same premier who let people on the other side of the bay play golf. No way that should that man come into the golf club. 'If Dan Andrews is allowed to join the Portsea Golf Club, I'll quit, I'll resign, I'll tear up my membership and I'll go and play golf somewhere else." At the time of his retirement as leader of the Victorian Labor Party in 2023, Mr Andrews said in an announcement that he wished to spend more time with his family and on the golf course. However, the politician's desire for leisure activity in Melbourne's bustling golf scene has been met with resistance since.
