Melbourne’s transformation delivered for Labor

The Labor Party in Victoria simply ran a superior campaign.

In hindsight, the Liberals have only themselves to blame for the debacle in Victoria. Labor saturated television and radio with ads spruiking their policies, while the Liberal ads were few and far between, with leader Matthew Guy telling voters to go to their website to see their policies. It was the worst Liberal advertising campaign I’ve seen.

The poor Liberal performance across Melbourne can also be blamed on rapidly changing demographics due to immigration, as well as over-development.

The Liberal-leaning Anglo-European population is being replaced with a multicultural population that’s staunchly Labor. Leafy blue-ribbon Liberal seats in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs are seeing a great transformation.

Rezoning, changing local planning regulations, high-density development and ignoring heritage concerns have seen single-family homes that once housed Liberal owner-occupiers being knocked down and replaced with apartment blocks full of Labor-Greens renters.

Guy, as planning minister, helped set this in motion. The Liberals have made a rod for their own backs catering to the demands of developers when it comes to immigration and local planning regulations. Demographics is destiny, and the Libs have allowed their safe seats to be pulled out from underneath them.

Colin Douglas, St Kilda, Vic

Victorian voters could not have sent a clearer message: the politics of hate, fear and division that appeal to a dwindling minority will bring electoral oblivion to politicians who persist in these tactics.

From African gang beat-ups to the cult of coal and delusions of Advance Australia, conservative commentators will find themselves pushed to the fringes of society and relevance as their falsehoods on renewable energy and economic wreaking balls have been comprehensively rejected by mainstream society.

Chris Roylance, Paddington, Qld

There are few issues I would have in common with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, but at least he stands for something and fights for what he believes. By contrast the Liberals in Victoria and elsewhere seem afraid of their own shadows, reluctant to take a firm stand on anything, despite being presented with more political targets than they could reasonably wish for.

Denzil Bourne, Jerrabomberra, NSW

The problem for the Greens in Victoria proved to be that when a party of virtue-signallers endorses candidates or hires staff that prove to be of questionable virtue, then the electorate turns on them, deeming them to be hypocrites, unlike other parties that manage to conceal their hypocrisy.

Brian Sanaghan, West Preston, Vic

The Liberal Party will remain in the wilderness while it is controlled by out-of-touch men such as Michael Kroger and a right-wing clique in the federal parliament. It should return to the centre-right and offer a sensible alternative to Labor.

Derek Hall, Neutral Bay, NSW

Given the Victorian election result, Scott Morrison has to come up quickly with three election-winning policies that are easy to understand and explain.

First, undertake to begin reducing immigration levels significantly once the budget is in surplus. Second, expand bulk billing to make it available to all but the comfortably well off.

Third, overhaul the education bureaucracy to return to a focus on academic excellence in education.

Peter R. Tredenick, Paddington, Qld

Someone should tell John Ferguson that the Labor win in Victoria had nothing to do with the economy and lower power prices. That’s just wishful thinking on the part of diehard Liberal supporters who can’t accept the truth. Dan Andrews is doing a great job running Victoria.

Margaret Ludowyk, Brunswick, Vic

The re-election of what is probably the most left-wing state government in Australia’s history has firmly established Victoria’s title as “the people’s republic”.

Once the jewel in the crown of the Liberal Party, it is now the thorn in its side. Victorians have voted for doubling the state debt, soaring power bills, and the probability of industrial relations chaos because Daniel Andrews is beholden to the unions who will now implement their agenda.

Peter Jacobsen, New Farm, Qld