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The Forum > Article Comments > Victorian election was lukewarm all round > Comments

Victorian election was lukewarm all round : Comments

By Graham Young, published 10/12/2014

In a state that has recently been strong for Labor state and federal, and with a very lacklustre state government and a disliked federal government, Labor should have done much better.

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Yes the Liberal-Labor vote could have gone either way.

It could also be argued that many of the usual Liberal voters (rich, middle class) were dissatisfied with Liberal and opted for the sizable Green vote.
Posted by plantagenet, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 10:46:02 AM
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Looks like The Greens picked up a second seat in the lower house ?
Posted by Valley Guy, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 11:41:06 AM
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Victoria will become the first AU state to have a green government.
Victoria was lost to labor when Bailue resigned, leaving behind a string of radical reforms that were never going to work. Sound familiar.

QLD votes next June and will most likely change govt; Newman is good as lost his seat now.

With a federal govt as we have at present will shift all states away from libs again.
Posted by 579, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 12:22:59 PM
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With the Greens winning a second seat (of Prahan (it is being recounted) http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/greens-win-seat-of-prahran-in-victorian-parliament-20141209-123ne9.html in the Lower House - the Greens seem to have a strengthened Balance of Power position.

See http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/Results/State2014/Summary.html

Pete
Posted by plantagenet, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 12:49:20 PM
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Great spin on things Graham, "Labour should have beaten them by more"....bet you were not saying that before the vote.

Still you need to take comfort where you can. I heard another Lib die hard was blaming fixed terms.

i vote for bad government state and Fed that haven't lived up to the pre-election hype.

It's just a pity there isn't a fed election in a couple of weeks.
Posted by Cobber the hound, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 3:45:08 PM
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Hi Cobber

Re "It's just a pity there isn't a fed election in a couple of weeks."

If Shorten was voted in at Christmas I don't think his centrist Labor Party would change much. However Shorten would put a more humane spin on things.

Any Federal Government in power right now would suffer from the mining trough (rather than boom) which is nailing revenue flows from corporate tax and income tax.

Pete
Posted by plantagenet, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 4:33:29 PM
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I agree plantagenet, but it would hopefully wipe the born to rule smirk off Abbott face, and maybe get (p)whine out of public office.
Posted by Cobber the hound, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 4:54:29 PM
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Cobber, you are absolutely right. The songs sung by the Tories pre-poll are different from those now being heard and Graham's piece is an example. If the Coalition had won we would now be hearing how much it reflected voters approval of the Abbott "government". Now they have lost, and after only one term, which is pretty much unheard of, they now say that local issues predominated.

They are as predictable as they are dreary. Here in Queensland the Tories have decided their best chance of winning next year is to keep Newman out of sight. I doubt that will save them. Quite apart from the abysmal performance of the Qld government, voters will see the election as another chance to vent their displeasure at Abbott et al. The downside will be the return of a Labor government that is simply tweedle to the Tories dum.
Posted by James O'Neill, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 6:14:33 PM
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James, are you really suggesting you could possibly want Annastacia Palaszczuk as the premier of a state? Have you lost the drovers dog, again.

Hell if she was running a childcare centre, you'd have to get your kids out of it.

Perhaps you think one of any new Labor members could be chosen. Obviously none of the rest of the current bunch can be of much use, if they elected her leader.
Posted by Hasbeen, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 7:37:32 PM
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Dear GrahamY,

I don't agree with the contention that Labour should have done better, it was not theirs to win or lose, rather this fell to the Coalition. Voters, particularly in Victoria, rarely vote governments out in the first term.

I think this part of your analysis comes a bit closer in my opinion;

“Much more significant were alleged cuts to education and health, as well as cuts to TAFE. Other factors cited were lack of transparency around the East-West Link and a lack of investment in public transport, damage done to the environment, discomfit over the rate of development, privatisation and unemployment.”

However when you state;

“But there is little evidence from our respondents that Abbott was a major reason. Only two people (out of 175) nominated him as the reason for voting against the state government.”

and...

“It's probable that Abbott played a part in negative perceptions on some of these issues as the problems at a federal level have damaged the Liberal brand and made it easier to paint it as the party that hates the poor.”

I think you are missing the point.

For us here in Victoria Abbott really just served to highlight the sins of the State government who have shown themselves to be utterly determined to allow their ideology to trump good governance. They perhaps disguised their agendas a with a little more finesse than Abbott, but his actions seemed to solidify recognition of what they had been about, putting those agendas ahead of fairness and the interests of the state.

Cont...
Posted by SteeleRedux, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 11:02:49 PM
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Cont...

Just as an example I have a relative who works at a management level in Parks Victoria. Of the 70 or so at that level the Libs sacked 2/3rds of them and slashed pest control budgets to the bone. A year later they ran the line that because of inadequate management of our Victorian national parks they needed to be opened up to private businesses.

But it is my conservative Christian relations who are my main bellwether. It was really only in the last few months before the election that they jumped ship away from the coalition but I knew Napthine was toast once they did. This was despite my father-in-law refusing to believe the Libs had delivered the State's first deficit since Kennett.

I have little sense from them that they will be doing anything different when the opportunity to deliver a verdict on the Abbott government in fact their derision at a recent gathering caught me a little by surprise. He would also appear to be toast.
Posted by SteeleRedux, Wednesday, 10 December 2014 11:03:18 PM
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