Victorian election: Political pantomime delivers theatre but no clear winner

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Opposition Leader Matthew Guy before their debate on Tuesday night. Picture: Ian Currie

No secrets here but Dan Andrews and Matthew Guy pretty much loathe each other.

What we got in the leaders’ debate was largely political pantomime, where two normally hostile politicians were largely restrained and courteous, doing their best to conceal their enmity.

Andrews was more polished than Guy but the Liberal leader got his message through - that Victoria needs a premier who is able to unite rather than divide the state.

People always look for winners and the 100-member audience backed Andrews over Guy 38 to 34, but a significant 28 were undecided.

In my view, there was no clear-cut winner but the value was in the discussion on the spendathon that has been the election campaign.

Andrews conceded Labor would promise between $11bn and $12bn in new spending; multiple times he questioned Guy on whether his spending commitments would be as high as $30bn - maybe even more.

Guy never countered this.

With both parties’ costings due in a few days, this may become a defining point of debate. Under Andrews and the weight of the pandemic, Victorian debt will blow out to nearly $166bn, but neither the government nor the opposition have bothered to hit the fiscal brakes.

Guy did insist, however, that debt would be lower under any Coalition that may or may not become the government.

His challenge in the next few days will be explaining how a conservative political party can justify new spending on such a grand scale.

Guy won points for his carefully crafted attacks on Andrews’ personality and political tactics. He never lost his way and managed to smile for much of the battle.

“Our state deserves a premier who can unite us, not divide us,” he said.

This underscores the core of the Liberal campaign, which has been all about Andrews and the Premier’s popularity, style and decision-making.

For the Dan haters, it must seem like an injustice that he enters the final days of the campaign as the frontrunner in every published opinion poll.

Tuesday night’s debate has not changed this.