John Brumby out of the traps early to launch election campaign

VICTORIAN Premier John Brumby yesterday signalled the formal start of the state election campaign a day earlier than planned.

VICTORIAN Premier John Brumby yesterday signalled the formal start of the state election campaign a day earlier than planned.

Mr Brumby invited the Governor to issue the writs for the November 27 poll and making his central pitch for a "competent, stable, experienced government" to be returned.

Describing as inappropriate the fixed-term quirk that would have seen his visit to Government House clash with Melbourne Cup barbecues across the state, Mr Brumby later visited a TAFE campus, brickie's trowel in hand, to announce more funding for vocational education and flag "the biggest ever building program in our history".

Latest polling suggests Victoria's 11-year-old Labor government will be narrowly returned.

However, Mr Brumby faces the loss of between four and six inner-city seats to the Greens and Liberal Party gains in the eastern suburbs. He will also encounter a lack of support from one of the party's powerful traditional allies, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.

The rise of the Greens has divided the city's two most influential publishing groups, with federal Labor MP Michael Danby accusing Fairfax paper The Age of campaigning for the Greens and the Greens accusing News Limited (publisher of The Australian) of conspiring against them.

Despite accusations of a Labor-led smear campaign against the Greens candidate for Melbourne, barrister Brian Walters SC, Mr Brumby said his government had a positive message about the future.

"This is what this election is all about - who will keep the jobs coming to Victoria," Mr Brumby said after announcing $85.1 million in new funding for trades and vocational study.

"Victoria has come through the most extraordinary times over the last three years. We've been tested by a global recession. We've been tested by drought - the longest on record. And we have been tested in the most horrific way by bushfires.

"We rose to those challenges together, in partnership, and we emerged even stronger."

While yesterday's morning visit to the Governor and political theatrics had the feel of the start of an election campaign, the writs for the state poll will not be issued until 6pm today, several hours after the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup.

Mr Brumby said it would have sent "the wrong message" to issue the writs on a public holiday, although the deliberate false start to the campaign was described as a publicity stunt by Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, who must win 13 seats from Labor to wrest control of the parliament.

After visiting the Governor, Mr Brumby addressed his cabinet for the final time before the election, showing a "quiet determination" about the task ahead.

According to insiders, there was a positive mood in the final meeting of ministers, who were all discussing strategy and how the election would come "down to the wire". "We all know how much it means to him," said one of Mr Brumby's desire to win.

The Liberal Party slogan for the campaign is "Fix the problems. Build the future" - a pitch chosen to target electoral frustrations over unreliable public transport, congested roads, under-resourced police, a crisis-ridden child protection system and lack of transparency in government process.

"John Brumby's tired government has lost its way and is offering nothing more after 11 long years than another four years of Labor incompetence and mismanagement," Mr Baillieu said last night of his pitch to the Victorians. "I will end the cover-ups, secrecy, dishonesty and dirt units that have come to mark the Brumby government. Integrity, honesty and open and accountable government must return."

Mr Baillieu said his plans for the future included "safe, reliable and clean" public transport and "zero tolerance to crime and violence".

Mr Brumby addressed the key concerns raised by the opposition in an opening speech yesterday, under the equally anodyne banner "For the times ahead", highlighting his government's record in retaining an AAA credit rating, lowering business taxes, generating jobs and underpinning a robust housing sector.

He said his government was committed to new investment in the health system, jobs in regional areas, and "the biggest ever building program in our history" in roads, rail, schools, hospitals and water infrastructure.

He said a re-elected Labor government would invest in more frontline police and the state would take the lead on climate change and he backed the Gillard government's National Broadband Network.

November 27 will be the first time Mr Brumby has faced the electors as Premier, having assumed the leadership of the Labor Party and the state three years ago when his popular predecessor, Steve Bracks, abruptly resigned from parliament.