Leaving Victorians cold

In commemoration of his 3000 days in office, former Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews will have a bronze statue erected of him in the grounds of the state government offices in central Melbourne. The cost has been estimated at $100,000. Will it blow out, just like almost every other project his government oversaw?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13897113/Dan-Andrews-immortalised-bronze-statue-Melbourne.html

Not so cut and dry

Former Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, is spearheading a campaign against News Limited, Australia's largest media company, attacking it for what he sees as a protection racket for Liberal politicians, state governments, and the Morrison Liberal government. In practical terms, Rudd believes that its newspapers fail to hold them to account for corruption, incompetence, and maladministration, especially during the pandemic. 

One weakness in Rudd's argument is the situation in Victoria. As a Victorian, and a long time observer of Victorian politics, unlike Kevin from Queensland, I am qualified to comment. The Herald Sun, published in Victoria, and the best selling newspaper in Australia, often attacks the Victorian state government for using  lockdowns in its pandemic management. Even so, this has had little influence on public sentiment. While Labor has lost some voter support, Premier Daniel Andrews is still popular, and the Liberal opposition is unable to cut through. It is very likely that the Victorian Labor government will be returned in the 2022 election, just like Labor governments in Queensland and Western Australia in their most recent state elections. How would Rudd explain that?

As a student of history, Rudd is presumably aware that since 1982, when the Bolte/Hamer/Thompson government ended, having held power under three different leaders since 1955, Victoria has had Liberal governments for 11 of those years, and the Labor Party for 28. Clearly, Labor has been far more successful electorally than the Liberals. If there is a Liberal protection racket in Victoria, then Murdoch's minions didn't get the memo. 

Things that make you go hmm

So much for that alleged News Corporation protection racket that its papers run for the Liberal Party. Its attacks on the Victorian Labor government's mismanagement of the pandemic has had no affect on its approval ratings, according to an opinion poll released late yesterday. Of those surveyed, Labor Premier Daniel Andrews holds an approval rating of 52 per cent. Liberal Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien's approval rating for his handling of the pandemic sits at 15 per cent. The Labor government has given the Opposition plenty of material to work with, but it seems that O'Brien is not cutting through with voters. 

https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/andrews-support-strong-but-liberal-leader-floundering-poll-20201026-p568kz.html

Give or take a few years

Like many conservative Victorians, I am disappointed with the results of yesterday's state election, having to endure four more years of the Andrews Labor government. 

On the lighter side, I found at least two errors in newspaper coverage of the election. Possibly soon-to-be former Liberal Opposition Leader, Matthew Guy visited his old primary school to cast his vote. I recognise the windows in the background. He was not, as the caption in this article says, visiting his electorate of Bulleen. The school is located in the neighbouring electorate of Eltham. 

Secondly, the school received its own indoor swimming pool at least one or two years before he started there in 1979, and not in 1982. At that time, Rupert Hamer, a Liberal, was Premier of Victoria, so the pool is hardly an example of Labor pork barreling. Either Guy or the journalist who wrote this story got his facts wrong.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/on-election-day-smiling-matthew-guy-feels-the-love-and-loathing-at-his-old-primary-school-20181124-p50i3a.html

Road to nowhere

The Victorian Auditor General's Office is an independent body charged with providing oversight of the Victorian government's handling of the state's finances. Today it released its report into the scrapping of the East West Link toll road.

The report summary reads as follows:

"This audit examined whether the state had effectively managed the East West Link (EWL) project by assessing the total costs of the project, appropriateness of advice supporting key project decisions and the lessons for future major projects. The audit included 10 government agencies.

The EWL project was terminated in June 2015 with more than $1.1 billion paid, or expected to be paid, by the state for little tangible benefit. This cost includes expenditure on the planning, development, procurement and termination of the project and will be partially offset by future proceeds from the sale of properties acquired for the project which the Department of Treasury & Finance estimates at $320 million.

The audit found that the EWL business case did not provide a sound basis for the government’s decision to commit to the investment and that key decisions during the project planning, development and procurement phases were driven by an overriding sense of urgency to sign the contract before the November 2014 state election.

Advice to government in the lead up to signing the contract did not sufficiently assess the benefits of delaying contract signing to mitigate risks posed by the unresolved legal challenge to the project planning approval decision. Signing the contract in these circumstances was imprudent and exposed the state to significant cost and risk.

The amount payable by the state under the termination settlement was substantially lower than the cost of terminating under the project contract. However the decision to terminate was made without full consideration of the merits to completing the project.

Over the life of this costly and complex project, advice to government did not always meet the expected standard of being frank and fearless. This highlights a risk to the integrity of public administration that needs to be addressed. The report makes recommendations to the Department of Treasury & Finance to provide guidance for development and delivery of major projects and for the Department of Premier & Cabinet to emphasise requirements for frank and fearless advice from the public sector." 

One thing is clear. Neither the former or current Victorian state governments handled this project well. The road will eventually need to be built. When it is built, it will probably cost more than what it did had construction proceeded as planned.  

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-09/auditor-general-reports-on-east-west-link-costs/7012618

http://www.audit.vic.gov.au/reports_and_publications/latest_reports/2015-16/20151209-east-west-link.aspx

Mind games

If the opinion polls are correct, on the morning of November 30, Daniel Andrews will wake up as the new Premier of Victoria.

Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews

It has been well publicised that Mr Andrews cattle farmer father has terminal cancer and has weeks to live. Yesterday a media contingent was bussed onto the farm for the auctioning off of his cattle holdings. Clips of the auction were shown on the evening television news bulletins. 

What is not clear is whose decision it was to do this. is Mr Andrews comfortable with sharing what should be a private matter with Victorian voters, or did this idea come from Labor Party campaign headquarters? 

You would have to have a cold heart to not feel compassion for Andrews at this difficult time. By all accounts he is a decent man. Even so, it looks like an attempt to leverage his father's illness in an attempt to give him a favourable image and garner sympathy votes from the Victorian public.