Steve Price: Time’s finally up for hated Andrews/Allan government

Next weekend should mark the beginning of the end for the hated Victorian state Labor government, with voters able to send a strong message at the Werribee and Prahran by-elections.

Next weekend should mark the beginning of the end of the hated Andrews-Allan Labor governments.

By-elections in Werribee in the west and Prahran in the inner southeast give voters a chance to send a message to Spring St: Your time is up!

Let’s start with Chapel St, which used to be a shopping mecca and jewel in our city’s tourist offering.

Interstate and foreign tourists would flock to boutiques, bars and restaurants making it the number one non-sporting destination in Melbourne.

Fast forward, and post-Covid, the strip between Toorak Road and High Street is a dangerous, dirty, run-down mess. Vacant doorways are occupied by a tribe of homeless people, the footpaths and alleys stink of urine, drug-addled and mentally unwell people roam the strip all day long and business after business have boarded up empty shops. And they stay that way for months.

Lux Nightclub on Chapel St in South Yarra was destroyed in an arson attack

Recent nightly news vision had a crazed bloke brandishing a machete chasing someone down the strip in broad daylight. Most weeks don’t pass without another smoke/vape shop being firebombed and last November the LUX nightclub was set alight and so badly damaged the whole building had to be torn down. The site is now an empty shell, and the fire resulted in Chapel St being closed and trams cancelled for weeks.

In these pages before I have written how a 7-11 at the corner of Chapel and High Streets is forced to lock its front doors in the early hours because they fear being assaulted. I also reported how a Bonds outlet had snatch and grab raids almost daily.

Chapel St retail is now dominated by every religious brand of op shop, pawn shop retailers, vape sellers and sleazy bars. At the Windsor end of the strip between High St and Dandenong Rd, there is a pulse of normality with some decent restaurants and wine bars, but you wouldn’t want to wander along there late at night.

Living near there and visiting almost daily for the last two years, I have never seen a police foot patrol on Chapel St. Ever.

St Kilda residents recently marched through their Bayside suburb, calling for a greater police presence amid rising crime. Picture: Josie Hayden

Nearby St Kilda – especially Fitzroy St – is a mirror copy with blatant street drug dealing and a homeless crisis. Victoria St in Richmond, thanks to this dumb Labor government opening a drug injecting facility next to a school, is now a no-go zone in what was once home to a lively Vietnamese food scene.

The decay of inner Melbourne is starting to mirror the sad demise of US cities like New York and San Francisco.

Next weekend the voters who live in the seat of Prahran have an opportunity to do something about the dangerous ghetto-like mess Chapel St has become.

The seat of Prahran has been held by the radical activist Victorian Greens party for the past 10 years. No wonder it’s rapidly becoming a no-go zone – a ghetto.

Deliciously, the sanctimonious Greens were forced to throw the sitting Greens member for Prahran, Sam Hibbins, out of the party following a sex scandal. He has admitted having a short consensual sexual affair with a staff member which is against the Greens’ party rules. He is a married father of two children.

Greens Victorian leader Ellen Sandell said at the time Hibbins’ actions didn’t “meet the standards” she expects of our MPs.

Ex-Greens MP Sam Hibbins has resigned from parliament. Picture Norm Oorloff

One wishes those lofty Greens standards applied to the Greens MPs who have been front and centre of pro-Palestinian rallies chanting for the destruction of Israel since October 7 in 2023. No such luck.

Indeed, Sandell herself supports the pro-Palestine rallies and has called the students involved in university disrupting sit-ins “brave.”

Her party as of December last year were reported to have tried 52 times to move state parliament motions condemning Israel and the State Opposition has labelled the Victorian Greens vile anti-Semites.

A gutless State Labor Party has declined to stand a candidate, fearful of a voter backlash against the Allan government that is so on the nose. Late this week in a boost for the Liberal candidate, former Labor MP for the area Tony Lupton – who is standing as an Independent – bravely decided to preference the Liberal candidate to address the Greens’ neglect of the area.

Voters are also ready to pounce in Werribee, in a by-election brought on by Treasurer Tim Pallas jumping ship after racking up the biggest state debt of any state in Australian history. Labor is in danger of losing that long-held western Melbourne seat which could be the beginning of the end for Premier Allan.

Tim Pallas announces his retirement at a press conference with Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: Aaron Francis

Prahran will be a tougher ask. There are zero corflutes promoting the Liberal candidate while plenty of front fences feature the Greens hopeful, Angelica Di Camillo. Her key election promise on those posters promises 50c public transport fares for everyone. This of course is the same promise made during the recent Queensland state election and now threatening the state budget due to cost.

The only problem for candidate Di Camillo is that in my experience, virtually no-one pays any fares on trams running through the seat, meaning 50c would be a penalty. She also makes wild claims about Liberals (her words) pushing up rents and giving more money to big corporations. Di Camillo then trots out the same tired old Greens party scare lines, like claiming the Libs will take away the rights of our diverse community.

Can someone please explain to Ms Di Camillo this is a state by-election, there is no Labor candidate and the housing crisis she focuses on is caused by her fellow travellers in the Labor Party who have started knocking down social housing in the seat. Apparently, she also wants voters to be worried about drilling for gas near the 12 Apostles.

Environmental engineer Angelica Di Camillo is the Greens’ pick for the Prahran by-election.

I looked up the background and experience of the Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway. It tells me she has lived in South Yarra for 20 years, is a mum and local volunteer. There is the normal circus of Independents including an animal party vegan, a former train driver turned actor called Buzz who is a former candidate for the Greens and Labor.

Prahran will probably stay Green with its 18 per cent margin, but the Lupton preference decision could make things interesting.

If you want a window on what Australia will look like under a minority Labor government after the upcoming Federal poll with Labor relying on Teals and the Greens to retain power, look no further than our inner suburbs.

Prahran and Richmond and St Kilda used to be vibrant, busy, go-to areas for food, fashion and a good time. Today you are more likely to be abused, frightened and confronted by sad homeless people sleeping rough.

The result of 10 years of State Labor and 10 years of Greens ruling in places like Prahran are there for all to see.

Dislikes

CFMEU flags still flying over government projects including the Suburban Rail Loop and Arts Centre – they need to come down.

Comedian Tom Ballard thinking Nazi salutes are funny.

Soaring electricity prices after hot summer temperatures nationwide and coal power station breakdowns.

Latest anti-Semitic plot uncovered in Sydney with a caravan loaded with explosives.

Likes

Choice of Neale Daniher as Australian of the Year – outstanding.

Big crowds and polls backing January 26th as the date for Australia Day to stay the same.

Potential of an interest-rate cut by the Reserve Bank next month after inflation falls.

Celebrate the return of the genius this week that is Mark Knight.

Originally published as Steve Price: Time’s finally up for hated Andrews/Allan government