Denis Napthine urged to ‘tear Daniel Andrews apart’

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has been urged to run a “ferocious’’ negative campaign against his left-wing Labor ­opponent.

VICTORIAN Premier Denis Napthine has been urged to run a “ferocious’’ negative campaign against his left-wing Labor ­opponent or face becoming the first single-term premier in nearly 60 years.

Support for the Liberal Party has crashed so far that the Napthine government will lose the November 29 election unless it radically changes its approach.

Senior Liberal sources say Dr Napthine has resisted a negative strategy against Labor’s Daniel Andrews, undermining the ­Coalition’s ability to negate its chief opponent.

Mr Andrews is the most left-wing Labor leader since Joan Kirner more than 20 years ago and has tied his leadership fortunes to local strategy. The government has targeted his refusal to distance himself from hardline building unions and the multi-billion-dollar cost of the idle desalination plant.

There is now a belief at the highest levels of the Coalition that it has failed to prosecute the case against what is generally seen as a weak Labor frontbench.

Labor is considered exposed on several fronts, including its lack of a workable policy on population and congestion, and Mr Andrews is under pressure from a rival sub-faction in the ALP Left and disgruntled members of the Right. Despite this, the Liberal strategy has centred on selling its own agenda, rarely landing blows against Labor.

“The way it is going we will lose this election. The government has to make the case about why Labor shouldn’t be elected,’’ a senior Liberal told The Aus­tralian. “That means spending the next four months tearing ­Andrews apart. The legacy stuff is not enough.’’

The most recent Newspoll showed the Coalition’s primary vote nearly eight percentage points below the 2010 election result and Victorian Liberal strategists are worried that anti-Abbott government sentiment is destroying its chances of holding power.

Dr Napthine said yesterday he had not yet studied the anti-Newman government backlash in Queensland but that hard work would get the Victorian government over the line. “I think there’s a risk for Victoria if Labor is returned to government in Victoria,’’ he said.