Matt Johnston: The changes 2019 will bring to Victorian politics
Labor’s big state election win in Victoria — and a looming federal election — pave the way for a big year ahead, with energy supply likely to be a major continuing issue, writes Matt Johnston.
Opinion
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The first day of the new state parliament in Victoria was enjoyably contrary to what had been a strenuous election year. Fresh-faced MPs were brimming with optimism and enthusiasm. Like the first day of school inverted, children came to watch their parents take their seats for the first time and everyone started off saying nice things.
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Colin Brooks, who was re-elected unopposed to his position, spoke of the need to improve on what had gone on in 2018.
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After telling an endearing story about his wife keeping him grounded at home by reminding him he was “not the Speaker of this house”, he said that MPs and parliament “need to respond to our changing society carefully, cautiously but deliberately”.
He flagged the need for change to standards, citing former Brighton MP Louise Asher’s retirement speech that pointed out only 60 per cent of Australians believe democracy is preferable to any other kind of government.
“Victorians deserve and expect better from their representatives. We need to reset the standard of parliamentary debate and behaviour.”
Earlier this year MPs regularly shouted and abused each other, while others lied or misled with impunity.
Not everything was so dire in the state political orbit in 2018, of course. Much-needed roads and rail were underway, new schools opened and we ran some of the best events in the world, such as the Australian Open tennis. Having Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pop in shortly after they revealed they were having a baby was a bonus.
Major new laws were created such as for a Family Violence Prevention Agency to help institutional victims of child abuse and to create the state’s first drug injecting centre.
All that work went off track during various political implosions, such as the never-ending red shirts scandal, Liberal MPs breaking a pairing arrangement in the upper house and the release by the Andrews government of medical records of private citizens while it was doing a political hit job on Matthew Guy.
But there were nice moments, too. One of my favourites was when former Liberal MP Dee Ryall and Labor MP Paul Edbrooke helped a 62-year-old man who had had a suspected seizure.
Ryall, a former nurse, and Edbrooke, a former firefighter, helped keep the man’s airways clear and checked his pulse while paramedics arrived.
Will there be much bipartisanship like that in 2019?
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He started with a relatively measured tone, but with about 25 Coalition MPs compared with 54 on Labor’s side, it’s going to be difficult to be as combative as last term.
One of the game changers for O’Brien will be the federal election which will most likely shift the dynamics between Canberra and Victoria. It will also mean a fresh policy start on areas such as the environment.
Before that federal election, two royal commissions will have begun. The exposition of the police informant scandal — also known as Lawyer X — will occur at full pace and in full view.
It will present a significant challenge for the government as it seeks to ensure change is managed properly without overly interfering in the affairs of police.
That never ends well.
On emergency services, Victorians will hope to escape what looks like a torrid bushfire season with minimal crises.
If it’s a nightmare summer, old issues will be inflamed — including the future of energy supply. This term of government, the shelf-life of the Yallourn power station will come more into focus and both sides of politics will need to consider its policies in response.
City-shaping projects will be at full speed, of course, with disruption on roads and rail the new norm.
And the state’s first voluntary euthanasia scheme will begin to operate under the watchful eye of a panel of eminent Victorians led by the unflappable former Supreme Court Judge Betty King. From June 19, terminally ill adults in pain with less than six months to live and who are of sound mind will be able to request lethal medication.
At some point the policing world will return to focus, and not just from the outcomes of the royal commission. Graham Ashton has already flagged, to the shock of many in the police and political worlds, that he will serve just one term in the role of chief commissioner.
Senior political figures think Ashton will ride into the sunset well before May 2020, however.
At the end of 2017 he took leave suffering mental and physical exhaustion and the job didn’t get any easier when he returned.
His public performances have become less assured than in previous years and his habit of drifting into commentary about ongoing investigations has infuriated some politicians (while delighting the media).
Maybe he’ll stick around until the end of the royal commission, or maybe he won’t.
Either way it’s going to be an eventful year.
— Matthew Johnston is national politics editor for the Herald Sun
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