Tim Pallas leaves behind a disastrous fiscal legacy in Victoria. Pallas announced his sudden resignation from politics yesterday, after serving as state treasurer for the past 10 years during which the Victorian Labor Party has been in power.

He says his “greatest regret” is that financial limitations meant he often had to scotch the grand ambitions of his cabinet colleagues. Regretting not being able to spend even more money is a fittingly risible sign-off from a treasurer who lost control of Victoria’s finances.