Victorians are turning towards independents with more to offer than a political background and a party membership

It’s no wonder voters are turning away from Labor in droves after Daniel Andrews and his ministers abused us and locked us up for months on end.

Premier Daniel Andrews deserves to be kicked to the kerb at the November state election for the way he’s treated Victorians for the past two years.

He and his posse of arrogant ministers have used us, abused us and locked us up for longer than anywhere in the world.

But with the Liberal Party unable to hold him to account, or present a persuasive alternative government, Victorians look set for a rightful return to people power beyond the parties.

People are tired of professional politicians who can’t look beyond their own self-interest to govern effectively and are turning towards independents with more to offer than a political background and a party membership.

The Andrews government has used us, abused us and locked us up for longer than anywhere in the world.

It’s telling that two of the seats which may be in doubt at the state election include Andrews’ own seat of Mulgrave, which he has held since 2002, and Bulleen, held by Opposition leader Matthew Guy.

Andrews has already said he won’t be “distracted” by disaffected voters in the west – reeling off a list of spending commitments rather than listening to locals.

It’s no wonder that at the federal election, in Victoria the swing against Labor was seven times the national average – in Mulgrave it was 16.7 per cent.

Six months out from the election and there are already 16 parties registered.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy’s own seat of Bulleen may be in doubt.

One of the most noteworthy is the Victorians Party, which is already speaking out against a wide range of hot-button, commonsense topics. These include issues like anti-car strategies in the city, the spiralling town hall wages bill, name changes to Moreland Council and the garbage crisis in the northern suburbs.

Promising to field candidates in all seats, the party is already campaigning against politicians “who have never had a proper job in the real world”. They are also determined to keep governments out of people’s lives.

The latter is a key issue given the depressing, demoralising and even deadly intrusion of the government into our lives for the past two years.

The party could win as many as 10 seats, although this will depend on it having high-quality candidates.

Bill Lang, Ingrid Maynard and Oscar Yildiz from the recently formed Victorians Party. Picture: Alex Coppel.

No doubt MPs on all sides will spend the next six months warning us that so many independents will be chaotic and unworkable.

But they couldn’t be worse than the mob we’ve got now.

Labor has candidates like Dustin Halse in Ringwood, who has been named as the MP having sex in his parliamentary office, and MP for Burwood Will Fowles, who smashed a door in Canberra over a luggage dispute. The Liberals have Tim Smith, who nearly drove into a kids’ bedroom while dangerously over the limit, although they have just ejected the misogynist Bernie Finn.

If the federal results are anything to go by, Victorians hardest hit by the pandemic – and Andrews’ lockdown – will turn away from Labor in droves.

The teal independents had success at the federal election. Photo: Supplied

Areas such as Melton and Werribee – which posted double-digit swings against Labor in the last state election and the same pattern in the federal election – are ripe for the picking.

These heartland outer suburban Labor voters aren’t likely to turn Liberal and so the scene is set for the emergence of well-credentialed locals.

Why wouldn’t the people of Werribee turn to someone like local GP Joe Garra rather than Labor Treasurer Tim Pallas and his toxic soil dumping plan?

Garra, a former obstetrician who’s been responsible for bringing at least 3000 locals into the world, has been vocal critic of the government’s handling of the pandemic.

Indeed, Garra’s submission to the parliamentary pandemic inquiry stated: “I can only hope that this total shutdown doesn’t lead to increased deaths in the coming months from delayed diagnoses”.

While it’s not clear yet that he’s going to run, Dr Garra won nearly 20 per cent of the vote last time against Pallas – more than the Liberals.

Voters in such seats feel ignored by a complacent government which has spent too long telling them what’s good for them. There’s a very good reason why the so-called freedom parties – One Nation and the United Australia Party – are polling well in these areas.

Analysis in the Herald Sun on Monday suggests Greens, teals and the new Victorians Party will claim up to 13 seats – enough to plunge the government into minority status.

The Greens could pick up well-heeled inner-city seats of Richmond and Albert Park and the teals could take blue-ribbon seats in Hawthorn, Brighton, Caulfield, Kew and Sandringham.

As time goes on, anger is mounting rather than dissipating, at the way Andrews and his arrogant gang of ministers locked us up for months on end and the Liberals failed to do anything about it. Politicians from both the Liberal and Labor parties have no one to blame but themselves for the rise of people power.

Maybe we’ll finally get the high-quality candidates we deserve.