Meanwhile, in Victoria: Liberal Party’s signs of optimism

While the Liberal Party has only managed a one seat net gain, the party has been transformed since a $1.5m fraud.

Simon Frost State Director at Liberal Party of Australia (Victorian Division)

Nine months ago, the Victorian Liberal Party was shell-shocked when a $1.5 million fraud was detected at its party headquarters. Poor old 104 Exhibition St.

Fast forward to this week and there are the first signs of genuine optimism in the Liberal Party since last year and probably for many years.

While the Liberal Party has only managed a one seat net gain, the party has been transformed since the fraud and Tony Abbott’s leadership.

Abbott did not resonate in Victoria and the best estimate was that the government would have lost four seats under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

There was one big winner internally.

Simon Frost, the party’s Victorian director, was handed a nightmare job when Damien Mantach was whisked away by police for orchestrating the fraud.

But Frost has catapulted himself up the Liberal rankings for the manner in which he has run the Victorian campaign, with a mix of mild-mannered direction and decisive strategy.

Frost, who helped communicate Ron Walker’s messages during the 2006 Commonwealth Games, is certain to be given another term as state director, if he wants it.

State president Michael Kroger also has stamped his mark on the party by both helping to expose the fraud but then moving the party forward.

Meanwhile, in Victoria still sees the election as a nuanced story, but understands why the Libs are happy with the result.

Mantach, who regularly rubbed shoulders with prime ministers and state premiers, awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to 15 counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Damien Mantach is facing a maximum of 20 years’ jail for his crimes.

He is facing a maximum of 20 years’ jail for his crimes, which involved setting up bogus companies in order to falsely invoice the party and one of its major print suppliers ­between 2010 and last year.

A one-seat majority is Turnbull’s best hope

The irony for Malcolm Turnbull now is that a margin of a single seat is now the best option for him — other that falling short of being able to govern of course.

As Liberal sources point out, if Turnbull manages to sneak home with a two-seat buffer or more, unlikely as that may be, it suddenly renders him dispensable and thereby vulnerable to challenge.

“Wentworth is the kind of seat that that go in a by-election,’’ he said.

“So ironically, if he is sitting there effectively with a gun to his own head, then that’s the best position for him now.”

That’s something that might offer some solace for the beleaguered Prime Minister as he sweats through the agonising wait to see which way the remaining in-doubt seats fall.

Bill Shorten’s rise and rise

The Labor leader is on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast today.

One could forgive him for wanting to be at home in Melbourne with his feet on the couch.

But no. Don’t expect Shorten to stop until he becomes prime minister.

You don’t have to like his policies or his politics but one thing Shorten doesn’t lack is ambition and resilience.

Those close to him are not at all surprised.

One very close friend told Meanwhile, in Victoria recently that regardless of how the election went he would contest the Labor leadership.

That was on the assumption that Turnbull would romp it in.

“You know Bill, he ain’t going to stop,’’ the friend said.

The other point about Shorten is that he is not a man of enormous means.

During his years running the AWU, he wasn’t highly paid, certainly not like the secretary of the Victorian Police Association.

He has had a broken marriage, which always costs. Unlike Turnbull, Shorten needs the money.

As much as he might crave success even more.

Father Frank spits the dummy

Meanwhile, in Victoria was more than a little bit bemused by Father Frank Brennan’s response to a generally lighthearted item last week about Xavier College in Melbourne and Bill Shorten swapping faiths.

Father Frank Brennan

Father Frank took a gag and turned the discussion into a rather unnecessary reference to his role in burying Shorten’s mother.

What motivated him to even mention the funeral, no doubt the saddest day in Shorten’s life, is hard to fathom, particularly given that Meanwhile, in Victoria has a long and respectful history with the Labor leader.

Frankly, the funeral was private business that deserved to remain private business and not be pushed into the public forum of the national broadsheet’s letters page.

Further, if Father Frank doesn’t get the broad cultural differences between Catholics and Anglicans then he probably needs to get out a bit more.

They are vast.

Indeed, if you could cherry pick the best of both faiths, the world would probably be a happier place.