Victoria Liberals: Matthew Guy regains leadership of party

Matthew Guy portrays himself as a suburban dad, struggling like so many other parents to home-school his three sons.

Matthew Guy has regained the Victorian Liberal leadership from Michael O’Brien, rebranding himself as a purveyor of hope for lockdown-weary Victorians.

Speaking with The Australian following Tuesday morning’s spill motion — which was carried 20 votes to 11 — Mr Guy sought to portray himself as a suburban dad, struggling like so many other Victorian parents to home-school his three sons, Joseph, 12, Samuel, 10 and Alex, 8, with wife Renae.

“It might be good politics for the government to shut schools and spread fear, but it is hurting our children and it will hurt them for many years to come,” he said.

Fourteen months out from the November 2022 state election, the man who lost 10 seats to Daniel Andrews in 2018 said he was intent on giving Victorians a choice, pledging to present a “positive alternative” between now and polling day.

Mr Guy also outlined a more immediate vision for dealing with Covid that would see curfews abandoned, years 11 and 12 and university students returned to the classroom, rapid testing implemented to allow schooling and major events to proceed, social interaction permitted in low-risk outdoor settings, stranded Victorians allowed to come home, and state and citywide lockdowns abolished once 70 per cent of adults are fully vaccinated.

He slammed the Andrews government’s recent reversal of its playground ban as “clearly political”, and called for the Premier to “educate” rather than “berate” Victorians who may have doubts about getting vaccinated.

“There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of Victorians who are aching for the next election to be a contest. My role is to tell Victorians that we do have hope, we do have a plan to rebuild our state, we can do better than we’re doing now,” Mr Guy said.

“Victoria is not a one-party state. There is an alternative to the near-dictatorship that we’re living under.”

The shift to focus on his own plans for Victoria — rather than criticism of the government — mirrors Mr Andrews’ tactical portrayal of the opposition as being “irrelevant” to his agenda, and comes after Mr Guy’s more negative campaign in 2018 saw the Coalition suffer a 5 per cent swing and hold just 27 of 88 lower house seats.

“He’s irrelevant to my plans,” Mr Guy said when asked about the Premier’s stock derision of the opposition. “I’ve no intention of talking about him. I want to defeat him. He’s a terrible Premier. He’s out of touch. He’s arrogant.”

Mr Guy said he had gained humility from his 2018 election loss, and cited Mark McGowan, John Howard and Steven Marshall as politicians who had gone on to win government after losing their first elections as leader. “We might be better off if Daniel Andrews had’ve lost his first election,” Mr Guy said. “He might be a more humble, moderate individual.”

Mr O’Brien pledged to remain in parliament, and contest the next election. While he called for party unity and urged colleagues to support Mr Guy, Mr O’Brien also portrayed his rolling as having been the product of a choice between giving up his job or his “integrity”, stating he had “never been the sort of person to play political games”.

Mr Guy said it was “obviously a difficult day” for Mr O’Brien, who he has known since before the pair worked for Jeff Kennett and Peter Costello respectively.

“He’s been … a friend of mine, who I’ve known for nearly 30 years, so it is a difficult day.”

Mr Guy said there would be a place in his shadow cabinet for Mr O’Brien, but declined to speculate on whether he expected the offer to be taken up. David Davis and Georgie Crozier are expected to retain their positions as opposition leader and deputy in the upper house, and their respective transport and health portfolios, but Mr Guy is expected to reshuffle shadow cabinet in coming days.

David Southwick, who held the crime portfolio under Michael O’Brien, won the ballot for the deputy leadership, beating Treasury spokeswoman Louise Staley and backbencher Ryan Smith, after Mr O’Brien’s deputy, Cindy McLeish, chose not to contest.

Mr Guy told The Australian he would seek to retain Mr O’Brien’s staff, including new director of communications Lee Anderson, chief of staff Mitch Grayson and media manager Mark Stevens, but indicated they may not all retain their current roles.

Mr Andrews responded to news of his new opponent by telling his daily press conference it is a “great honour to lead your party”.

“Matthew doesn’t need me to tell him that,” he said. “(I would) send my best wishes to Michael O’Brien, this would be a very difficult day for him and his family. Matthew doesn’t need me to congratulate him.”

Hours later in question time sledges were already being hurled, with Mr Andrews shouting “let’s see how long this lasts” across the chamber as Mr Guy informed the Speaker of the leadership change.