Victorian Premier's ice-cold response to Sam Newman's virus stunt

Daniel Andrews has offered a frosty response to Sam Newman’s protest against the ban on golf in Victoria.

Newman marched to parliament on Thursday to demand answers about why golf courses had been shut across Victoria but remained open in other states.

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Dressed in his most colourful golf get-up, the 71-year-old labelled the blanket ban ‘absolute nonsense’.

“Victorians, unlike their interstate counterparts, can’t play golf,” he said in a video posted online, arguing that golf should be considered exercise and exempt from bans in place due to coronavirus.

“So I’m going to the seat of government, where Daniel Andrews might be in the house, and I’m going to respectfully ask him why in god’s name can’t we go on to a golf course, social distance, and play golf?

“I’m going to stand here for an hour or so and if he hears that I’m here, I’ll put a ball marker down.

“I’ve got a GPS for social distancing, and we’ll ask him - why in god’s name can’t Victorians play golf? So here we go.”

Daniel Andrews responds to Sam Newman protest

Newman didn’t get a face-to-face with Andrews, but the Victorian Premier responded to the former AFL Footy Show host on Friday.

“I didn’t give Sam much thought I must say,” Andrews said during a media conference.

“I’d love to be playing golf. We all would.

“But I don’t need to play golf, and me playing golf is not worth someone’s life.”

But that certainly didn’t appease Newman.

“Thank you for asking Premier Re Golf,” Newman posted on Twitter.

“He said he ‘Didn’t give it much thought’. My point exactly. How about he gives it SOME thought.

“Hyperbole in the extreme to say him playing golf is not worth someone’s life. Got to have a better reply than that.”

All golf courses around Victoria have been closed as the state tries to battle the spread of coronavirus.

However the blanket closure has left Victorians fuming, especially after NSW decided to re-open courses to the public two weeks ago.

Courses in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania also remain open - albeit with strict social-distancing measures in place.

Eddie McGuire puts Sam Newman in his place

Collingwood boss Eddie McGuire savaged Newman’s stunt in a live radio spat on Friday.

McGuire invited Newman on Triple M to discuss the topic on Friday, but was left frustrated when Newman continually insisted that golf was ‘the most cathartic thing’ anyone could do with society all but shut down due to the virus.

“We’ve nearly got this right. Sam, if you can leave the bag in the back of a car for another month, I reckon you’ll be playing,” McGuire said.

“Why don’t we just stick between the lines for a couple more weeks. It’s better than having to go to war or anything. Why don’t we just stick there and we’ll all get through it.

“The problem has been early in proceedings people wouldn’t sink into their thick skulls, and a lot of them into their thick, privileged skulls, that this was going to be something that could actually catch up and destroy not only lives, but our economy and our way of life.

“If you hang on for another couple of months and show the leadership in the community to tell people who are holed up in single bedroom apartments, who aren’t going to school, sometimes we all have to dig a bit deeper.”