Editorial
Victorians are deserting Labor and its own budget contains the reason
What a difference a year makes. Exclusive findings by Resolve Political Monitor for The Age show the state government’s primary vote plummeting by 14 percentage points over the past 12 months.
With Labor’s primary vote now sitting at a paltry 28 per cent, its nearly decade-long political dominance of Victoria looks to be under threat. The tide has well and truly turned.
Premier Jacinta Allan faces an uphill battle to keep Victorians on side. Credit: Penny Stephens
In one respect, it should be expected. Governments get tired, and voters tire of governments. Under Daniel Andrews’ leadership, Labor governed at a frenetic pace, rolling out an expansive infrastructure and policy agenda. It also had the unenviable task of managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
As time has gone by, Labor’s central problem has become more evident. No more so than when it revealed its 10th budget two weeks ago.
While budgets can often be a blizzard of facts and figures, what they force every government to do is put a number on the cost of every promise it makes. And Labor has never been shy in making big promises.
Andrews’ zeal for adding to his Big Build projects never waned, no matter what the cost and despite the eye-watering cost overruns on those already under way. His apparent desire to burnish his legacy was rarely diminished by the bottom-line consequences.
And here Victoria stands today, weighed down by a heavy financial legacy that will put a very tight rein on its future ambitions. That’s not to say much-needed infrastructure has not been built or begun. For that, we should be thankful. It’s more that, over time, Labor’s priorities have been hijacked by political considerations.
How can Labor possibly keep going full steam ahead on the Suburban Rail Loop, which just happens to run through several hotly contested electorates, while putting on the backburner spending on mental health facilities and dumping the promised two hospital towers in the new inner-city precinct of Arden?
That is precisely what voters are saying. A Resolve Political Monitor survey of more than 1100 eligible Victorian voters found more than half believe Labor broke its election promises in its budget, while also raising concerns about the level of debt.
The response from voters speaks to the heart of where the state government has fallen short. Labor has fought every election with a raft of shiny new projects that were never accurately costed or reflective of what the state’s coffers could actually afford.
Every project was justified only on need. And who was going to argue against better roads, public transport and housing, hospitals and schools?
This month’s budget glaringly revealed what a ruse much of it was. More than 100 projects, including the Airport Rail Link, have been shelved because there is no money to pay for them. Looking back, there probably never was.
And to add salt into the financial wounds, Age senior reporter Josh Gordon revealed this week that a $75.7 billion war chest has been squirrelled away by Labor in the budget for as-yet-unannounced spending decisions as it gears up to fight the 2026 election.
Are we to believe that while the government has been jettisoning many worthwhile projects already promised, it is simultaneously putting funds aside to engineer financial wriggle room for a host of new projects to lure voters back into the fold? It appears that way.
If Allan thinks Victorians will forgive and forget this type of sleight of hand, the poll results may offer a jolt of reality.
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