Jacinta Allan harks back to failed regime of Daniel Andrews
It also helped, no doubt, that after years of bitter infighting, the Liberal Party’s deeply divided faction leaders united behind Ms Wilson, giving voters a glimpse of a viable alternative.
But a notable rise in support for the primary votes of minor parties and independents showed Ms Wilson and the Coalition have a lot of work to do.
They face a mammoth challenge formulating policies to tackle our second-largest state’s most serious problems. The state debt, set to reach $194bn by 2029-30 – a quarter of which is owed to overseas creditors, whose identities Labor refuses to disclose – is costing taxpayers $20m a day in interest. Paying it down will be a priority, but it will be difficult in a state with an already high tax burden working against much-needed investment. Reducing the public sector will be unavoidable, but policies will need meticulous drafting, especially if projects such as the $34.5bn Suburban Rail Loop are to be scrapped or scaled back.
Hospitals, deterring youth crime and scaling back outlandish social policies, such as teachers supporting gender-distressed students who want to transition, without their parents’ knowledge or consent, also need to be dealt with by the Coalition. Despite a string of announcements about getting tough on youth crime, the poll showed the issue is working heavily against Ms Allan, especially with women.
At federal level, better economic policy will be as important for the Coalition as it will be in Victoria. The latest federal Newspoll, released on Monday, shows the two-party-preferred gap between the Albanese government and the Coalition has widened to 58-42 per cent. The Coalition’s primary vote remains mired on 24 per cent, with One Nation support on 15 per cent and the Greens on 13 per cent, suggesting federal voters are looking for alternatives.
In Victoria, it is difficult to see why Ms Allan is satisfied enough with the status quo not to distance herself from Mr Andrews for appearing with authoritarian dictators at Beijing’s military parade in September. Nor does she regret his cancelling of next year’s Commonwealth Games at a cost of $589m to the state, she told Galloway. The event, which would have boosted tourism and small business across the state, will be held in Glasgow in July-August, in the lead-up to the November election. For all Ms Allan’s regard for Mr Andrews, it remains to be seen how robustly she defends him and his government in the event of unfavourable revelations when the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission delivers its final report on Operation Richmond.
IBAC has investigated his government’s dealings with the United Firefighters Union during enterprise bargaining negotiations in 2016, which gave the UFU generous terms and control of the Country Fire Authority.
While she is off to a good start, the ball is in Ms Wilson’s court, and that of her team, to use the next year to offer Victorian voters a better future economically and a better quality of life. Given the state’s importance, their effectiveness, or lack of it, will have major implications for the nation.
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If new Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson uses it effectively, Premier Jacinta Allan’s admission that she counts Daniel Andrews among her closest advisers should further help the opposition ahead of next year’s state election. The values of the Allan and Andrews governments were the same, Ms Allan told Anthony Galloway in an exclusive interview in Bendigo, her home town. The Newspoll published on Friday, which put the Coalition ahead in the two-party-preferred result for the first time in 12 years, 51-49, showed Victorians want change, not more of the playbook that led their economy into debt-ridden stasis during Mr Andrews’s premiership from 2014 to 2023. The Newspoll was taken from Wednesday to Thursday, just after Ms Wilson was elected Liberal Party leader on Tuesday, indicating it reflected voters’ disdain for Labor’s woeful record, which Mr Andrews shaped more than anyone else.