No one could accuse Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews of not being decisive — and certainly not when it comes to protecting his personal grasp on power.

One by miserable one, those at the highest levels of Victoria’s public administration are being pushed out to give the Premier some political capital ahead of the release of the Coate Report into the catastrophic hotel quarantine program.

This week it was the turn of a defeated and humiliated Secretary of Heath and Human Services, Kym Peake, who found her way to the exit after five years (almost to the day) at the top of health...