Who will we blame for everything now? How can Dan do this to us?
Well considering there are people still blaming Kennett for everything 25 years later (even things that happened before and after he was in office), I’m sure people can keep blaming Dan for stuff for at least a decade.
People keep blaming kennet for shit he actually did though, that had knockon effects that last for generations.
They blame him for stuff he didn’t do as well. For example I’ve seen him blamed for introducing pokies (Kirner) and tolls on Eastlink (Bracks after backflipping on the “no new toll roads” promise).
Also, you’d think a quarter of a century (yes, Kennett left office 25 years ago) would be long enough to make a few changes, yet here we are as the state with the lowest spend on health per capita, lowest spend on education per capita, lowest proportion of public housing, highest debt-to-GSP ratio, and a completely ineffective anti-corruption body. Labor keeps granting extensions on toll roads to Transurban, allowing Crown to keep operating no matter how dodgy they are, and doing property developers favours. Yet we have the highest paid premier in the country.
How long can you keep blaming Kennett for stuff neither party is interested in addressing? I have no coincidence in Victorian politicians at all.
The stuff in the “Scared Weird Little Guys” song “Bloody Jeff” doesn’t count as things he is being blamed for… Except the trams, they were definitely his fault.
He was still responsible for the absolute scam that was unaccountable Privatisation. He is directly responsible for our current ridiculously high utility bills, as well as water shortages in the 2000s and the dilapidated state of our water storage and natural resources
Yet Labor has simply continued privatisation, even going as far as privatising public housing. They’re knocking down public housing and replacing it with a mix of “social and affordable housing” which they’ve contracted out management of to a company called Building Communities for the next 40 years.
Neither party has a good record on infrastructure. Cain had a policy of “no road overpasses”, leaving us with all the railway grade crossings and killer intersections on arterial roads.
Labor left the Upfield line with manual gates at level crossings, and hand operated miniature lever frames with rotting 1910s-vintage 2-aspect somersault type semaphore signals. It was Kennett who put in the automatic boom gates and 3-aspect colour light signals.
Going back further, it was the Liberals who introduced the “new deal for country rail”, finally updating the steam-era timetables for more efficient use of diesel traction.
Kennett’s implementation of privatised metropolitan rail was stupid. He seemed to be trying to imitate London in ways that don’t fit Melbourne. The train network in particular doesn’t lend itself to an east/west split. The terms of the deal effectively ensured the refurbished Comeng fleets would be incompatible, and the new trains would need to come from different suppliers. We’re still paying for the inefficiencies that caused. The way revenue and maintenance was split effectively doomed M-Train from the beginning.
Labor appointed a series of incompetent transport ministers. For example Batchelor with his claim that the Liberals’ plan to abolish Metcard zone 3 would “cause too many people to catch public transport”. I mean, you can say the infrastructure wouldn’t be able to meet anticipated demand without upgrades or something, but if more people use it, it’s doing its job.
Labor’s back to breaking promises on infrastructure. Signaling and trunback upgrades for the western lines have been cancelled, capacity upgrades for Upfield (e.g. Gowrie turnback) have been cancelled. Additional track on the corridor to Ballarat (at least as far as Melton) has been cancelled. The airport train will likely never happen. Yet somehow there’s money for elevated rail through Brunswick (scared of losing to the Greens) and more upgrades for the sand belt (more marginal seats).
As far as I can tell the state Liberals don’t really have a coherent plan for anything at this point.
If you compare Victoria’s toll roads to NSW, CityLink is somewhat comparable to the M5 and M4 tollways built by the Liberals. Labor promised to pay tolls for residents of areas served by these roads. They actually did it. With increasing density, the cost eventually became excessive and the Liberals removed the tolls on these roads altogether. The Liberals also removed the surcharge from suburban stations on the airport line, and put a weekly cap on airport station surcharges that kicks in after one return trip (so airport workers are only hit worth about $20/week). Victorian Labor has no intention of winding down CityLink tolls, and put in a very generous extension for Transurban as part of the WestGate Tunnel deal.
Fundamentally, I see Kennett as a symptom rather than the actual disease. Labor ran up crippling debt with little to show for it, and Kennett was elected on the promise of sorting out the state’s finances. His plan to do that was to sell everything. With the way Labor is running up debt again, it’s only a matter of time before the next Kennett is elected, but this time there won’t be anything left to sell. I’m not looking forward to it.
@cuavas @Salvo of course with the dysfunctional state of the Vic LP the “next Kennet Govt” fortunately is nowhere in sight. However dissatisfaction with ALP combined with surprisingly high vote for community independents could quite conceivable see a minority Govt. https://redbridgegroup.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Vic-votes-survey-Sept-2023.pdf
A minority government would definitely send a message to the Liberal Party that they are incompetent fucks that need to provide a legitimate opposition and not just pander to the Literal Nazis and Religious Right.
It will also send a message to the Labor Patty that people are not satisfied with them either.
The 3 years of government dis-functionality may ge a large price to pay.
How could Dan Andrews do this?
He should resign over this.
For likely the very last time ever.
Holy shit, not the news I was expecting to see today.
I swear everyone in Aussie government looks the same
I wonder who’s running for leadership or will it be a shoe in for JA?
There’ll be a special session of the Politburo in Beijing to decide that
The People’s Democratic Republic of Victoria is in a ruinous state after Supreme Leader and Defender of Victorian Socialism Dan Jon Un passed this morning. Residents could be seen violently sobbing on the streets near Parliament, Government House and the Leaders official residence.
Businesses have closed due to mourning, and some suicides have been reported.
Aaaannnd user blocked. Ah thats just a tiny bit better
Oh sad, was just a joke, I’m as left as they come.
Hopefully we see far less centralisation of decision making within the Premier’s office from here on out.
Yes chef
? Unless you mean within the cabinet/executive council I don’t understand why you would say this. OotP is for the premier and decisions are naturally centralised to the premier.
Put here by Margaret Simons more succinctly than I probably can from my phone at the moment:
Over the last couple of years, the words “tightly held” have come up in almost every conversation about Andrews government decisions.
It reflects the way in which major policy has been developed by a small group of his most trusted people – developed in what one observer described as a “black box”, with even government ministers excluded, unless they were in the increasingly tiny circle of the favoured.
The politicisation of the public service – its lack of ability and sometimes the will to stand up to the premier – was becoming one of the themes of the government.
The problem was decisions occurring within the Premier’s office despite departmental or ministerial advice, and often in advance of questions being asked. It’s been a problem for years at this point but my experience of the issue really came to a head during COVID when trying to work with a DHHS / DFFH that was actually incapable of making any decision or holding to the ones that it did make and communicate with pretty deleterious outcomes.
The problem was particularly highlighted by the step change in those interactions in March 2021 when Merlino became acting Premier.
It was a functional issue, it’s become a major factional issue within Labor, and it’s a large element in the contempt for integrity institutions and ombudsmen that the government has shown recently.
That’s a separate issue, but to actually speak on it I completely agree that public policy and policymaking decisions should be public. The governors of this country are bound to assent to laws in council, which includes all of cabinet and if they aren’t properly aware then they can’t properly offer counsel to governor.
