The votes in the Victorian election have not yet been cast and it’s wise to be cautious predicting outcomes in the febrile world of contemporary politics.
That said, pollsters ranging from the highly respected to those less so, are forecasting a majority win to the Victorian Liberal/National Coalition when polls close on Saturday November 28.
Twelve years of ALP administration are anticipated to come to a crashing end with voters venting their anger toward the triumvirate of Labor Premiers – Daniel Andrews, Jacinta Allan, and the hapless Ben Carroll.
The Coalition will win well – because Labor will lose badly, say the experts. I think it’s more nuanced than this binary analysis allows, but the point is made.
There are three primary reasons why the state Labor government should be shown the door by the majority of the electorate. All go to the question of responsible state public administration.
These are:
The Victorian public service is badly degraded and bereft of talent. The public sector has neither recruited talent nor has it attempted to developed its own people over the entirety of Labor’s time in office.
Labor ministers and the wider ALP parliamentary membership, are ignorant of business and the fundamental drivers of economic growth and productivity. The evidence that Labor is ‘anti-business’ is overwhelming. As is common in Labor Cabinets – actual commercial experience is virtually non-existent.
Policy formulation has been trenchantly partisan driven by leftist and centre left ideology without regard for budgetary or social impacts. In other words – politics triumphed over ‘public interest’ every time. Labor pretended to be listening to voters, while actually ignoring them.
Taken together, these three factors lie at the heart of a government in decline, drowning in public debt and clueless as to how to repair the budgetary damage done to frontline services.
The scaffolding buttressing the Victorian economy is collapsing leaving the state dangerously exposed to a world experiencing gyrations of disruption – economic, social, technological and environmental.
Each of the reasons above help us understand the degraded and fragmented state of frontline services experienced daily by Victorians.
Youth crime at an all-time high, lawlessness on our streets and on major project building sites, emerging evidence of concerning alleged union behaviour on the state’s ‘Big Build’, classrooms in advanced disrepair, hospital services stretched to the limit, police and fire services seriously under-funded, mental health systems woefully inadequate, homelessness painfully visible across the city, and roads literally crumbling.
Premier Carroll has pitched his campaign as a ‘fresh start’ untethered to his predecessors’ hard left agendas.
Ben Carroll’s unconvincing efforts are obviously too little, too late. The logic of disassociating from the toxic legacies of Daniel Andrews and his protégé Jacinta Allan, while understandable, is ultimately futile. Carroll himself was a participant in most major Andrews/Allan Cabinet decisions which have done so much economic damage and strained the patience of voters.
Underlining the degradation of the public sector has been a preference of Labor leaders for central control of government. Public sector recruitment has been predicated not on ability – but on acquiescence. Self-starters with vision and ability need not apply. Rebuilding and revitalising a robust public sector will take years and will involve pain. Voters have grown tired of the Labor’s political brand and the relentless indoctrination of messaging from Labor’s bloated and well-funded media unit.
Opposition Leader, Jess Wilson has shown a preparedness to begin the considerable task of rebuilding an effective and respected public sector.
On the economy – Victorian Labor has performed worse than poorly. The Business Council of Australia has rated the State as the worst in the country in which to do business for four consecutive years. The BCA highlights what other business groups have also pointed to – high unemployment, punitive property and payroll taxation coupled with a complex and burdensome regulatory regime. Businesses and taxpayers face the combined ‘cost of living’ and taxation imposts of federal and state Labor.
According to the Australian Financial Review – prominent business leaders including Richard Goyder, Paul Little, and Brian McNamee cited economic decline, soaring debt, and infrastructure cost overruns as key reasons for backing the Opposition. Small businesses operators – smashed by Daniel Andrews’ Covid response overreach – and now by the ‘work from home’ policies of Labor – have suffered long enough.
It can be fairly argued that the Premier who did more than anyone else to set back Victoria’s economy and its prospects, was Jacinta Allan.
Allan had the opportunity to set a new path for public policy, responsible government, and public expenditure. Unwisely, but perhaps not unexpectedly, she chose to stay with the hard left policies (and politics) of the reviled Daniel Andrews. Allan stuck with the highly questionable ‘Big Build’ strategy of her predecessor and pursued a sectoral social policy agenda – introducing the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – or what some call Victoria’s Indigenous Parliament.
Victoria’s Statewide Treaty commenced on December 12, 2025. In May of this year, a new entity called Gellung Warl began operating.
While doubtless worthy in the eyes of some, the vast majority of taxpayers have little knowledge of what the Peoples’ Assembly does, how it operates in parallel with the existing Parliament, or what it costs.
Premier Allan’s social policy agenda, coupled with astonishing plundering of the State’s Treasury form a key reason why voters have had enough of Labor.
Although young, Liberal leader Wilson offers a new and fresh start for the state. (Remember Premier Allan was 11 years younger than Wilson when she entered the Parliament in 1999.)
Wilson will place economic responsibility and accountability at the centre of public administration. She has been out listening intently to voters and it’s clear to her what they want.
They want a leader who governs for all citizens, restores the frontline services taxpayers pay for and gives back to Victoria the national and international respect it once enjoyed. They want a government with vision and integrity that operates within its means.
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