Shannon Deery: Labor, Dan Andrews running out of steam and money

The Andrews government may be “doing what matters” but the narrative couldn’t be further from reality, with no agenda, money in the bank and very little work being done.

Labor and Premier Daniel Andrews aren’t running out of money — they’ve run out of steam, according to Shannon Deery. Picture: David Geraghty.

Victoria isn’t just running out of money, it’s running out of steam.

Since coming to power in 2014, the Andrews government has capitalised on low interest rates to borrow big and spend bigger.

Now, with debt sky-high and an overarching need for restraint, it’s not just major projects and residential construction grinding to a halt, it’s also the work of government itself.

When parliament sits this week, the government’s appropriation Bills as well as Bills dealing with new taxes and the Victoria Future Fund will be introduced in the lower house.

Under normal circumstances, the Bills dealing with new taxes and the future fund would be tabled in parliament two weeks before being considered.

This gives time for proper scrutiny.

But with little else to do, the Bills will hit parliament early for what looks like a government desperate to fill its agenda.

Parliament has sat for 19 of its 48 scheduled days this year, across six weeks of three sitting days each and last week’s single budget day sitting.

In that time 10 Bills have passed, many one might regard as minor in nature.

There have been some significant ones: the contentious human source management Bill, supervised injecting room Bill, and health information data sharing Bill have passed.

Each of those is subject to public consultation, commentary and scrutiny for months, if not years.

Where is the third term of the Andrews government headed? Picture: Ian Currie.

Which begs the question: what is the government’s agenda now? Where is the third term of the Andrews government headed?

In her speech opening parliament after the election, Governor Linda Dessau said the focus would be on energy, health, education, transport and jobs.

Reviving the SEC is clearly a priority. But it’s been a slow start on that.

More than one sitting week has seen just two Bills debated. More frequently, hours are being lost to debating what appear to be pointless motions – anything to fill a sitting day.

Last sitting week, the Legislative Council had knocked off by about 3.30pm on Thursday.

“We are now seeing Labor let the Victorian parliament grind to a halt,” manager of opposition business James Newbury said.

“The government has so little vision for the future, that parliament often works one day out of each three-day sitting week. The other two days are filled with general motions that make no real change to Victorians’ lives.

“The Labor government is tired, and showing every sign of having a leader that has his mind on retiring.”

Press conferences spruik every minor development on major projects. Picture: Nicki Connolly

It’s not just in parliament that the go-slow is evident. If you watch carefully, you’ll see the same government announcements made again, and again, and again.

Take the free kinder program. This year alone there have been at least six press conferences around kinders, three spruiking free kinder, two selling new kinders and one raving about better kinders!

Then there’s the drip-feed of information rolled out in press conferences spruiking every minor development on major projects. This actually takes some creativity given the state of construction right now.

“Works on Victoria’s Big Build will heat up over winter with more level crossings gone for good, a new train station set to open and huge progress on major road and rail projects,” a Sunday press release enthused.

Nothing new, just reheated announcements dressed up to remind that the government is “doing what matters”. It can’t be bells and whistles announcements every day.

Of any government, this one can’t be criticised for its communications strategy. It wrote the guide.

Another day, another pointless press conference. Picture: Brad Fleet

But increasingly the government appears as though it’s run out of puff.

It’s as though everything is going along just swimmingly when the reality is far different.

And with no money in the bank, there’s not much that can done about it.

Countless newspaper column centimetres have been dedicated to the fiscal anomaly in last week’s budget – not only will our net debt continue to rise, to an eye-watering $171bn, but so, too, will taxes. And at the same time, services will take a hit.

We are very much paying more and getting less as the government works to bring that debt down.

And despite outward appearance that the budget taxed the wealthy, and therefore protected the more vulnerable, that’s just not right.

The Victorian Council of Social Service pointed this out in its post-budget commentary, warning spending had been curbed in key areas, such as employment support.

The Community Connectors program, which linked vulnerable Victorians to health and social supports, has been cut entirely.

A series of low-income electricity concessions were also scrapped.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto said aspiration was being punished, asking: “Are we going to demonise people who save and invest and create their own retirement nest eggs?”

Victoria’s debt has long been chalked up as the cost of doing business for a government with a massive infrastructure agenda.

But it might be time up for the electoral success that came with that. Because without a clear agenda, and the money to complete it, “doing what matters” is just a slogan.

Shannon Deery is state politics editor