..and I really have no idea why people seem to be going for Labor. None at all. Can people's memories really be so short?
I mean, I personally felt that John Brumby was a pretty good guy. Just because I'm a conservative voter doesn't mean I hate the Left. I felt that he was genuinely trying to do good. Most people in Labor are, as far as I can tell. But it cannot be denied that much of the things done in the name of good during the last Labor government were not especially good. The desalination plant comes to mind - a hulking great thing that cost us billions. Yep, with a 'B'. And we're making absolutely no use of it. It's costing the government millions of dollars a day.
Then you've got myki, which I've never been able to dredge up much rage over. After all, I did used to need three different Metcards in order not to pay through the nose for my daily commute. But having been to places with far better public transport systems than ours, the question I have is why didn't we simply import an already working system rather than spending years and billions on essentially reinventing the wheel and swearing when it wouldn't turn? The only answer I can come up with is a misguided, typically Labor desire to do good for the local economy by employing local people. And that is a noble goal....but nobility doesn't always get you the best results, as myki has shown. I would submit that all the money could have been better spent in lots and lots of ways.
And look at what Daniel Andrews has promised to do - reneging on the East West Link contract. ABC's Vote Compass says most Victorians actually support the East West Link. I can understand the grief and rage of the residents in the acquisition corridor, but if it wasn't for the wailing of professional activists, the media perception wouldn't be so muddied. The simple truth it is a highly necessary road that should have been built years ago. The fact that peoples' homes are in the way is unfortunate, of course, and yes, The Castle taught us to hate these sort of compulsory acquisitions, but long-term, Melbourne needs this road. I know there's the environmental standpoint that we should build more public transport rather than roads. What I don't see is why we can't do both. In fact, last time I checked, Napthine is promising to do both. It might take a while, but the airport train tunnel is a thing that the Victorian Government wants to make happen, along with a bunch of other improvements they've spent this past term building up the money to do.
Right now, the government is in surplus. Everything the Libs want to do is accounted for. Meanwhile, Labor has made around $24 billion of promises when the aforementioned surplus is only around $6 billion. My point is that even if you get both sides of politics doing the same major things over this upcoming term of office, you can bet that Labor will be thinking only in terms of what looks good, what feels good, what will make it appear to be doing good. And all the while, the CFMEU and its thug tactics will be allowed to continue to strangle the Victorian construction industry. If Labor is voted in, and we then have a surplus the next time there is a state election, I will eat a Guatemalan insanity pepper.
No, the only reason I can come up with is that Victorian voters want to punish the state Liberal Party for the Federal Government's mistakes. People are conflating Abbott and Napthine, (as are Labor's attack ads) which is amazing to me. I have not been especially happy with the way the Federal Goverment has gone since its election last year - I was hoping that their experience in the Howard era would mean they'd be able to get things sorted quickly, efficiently and with a coherent message. Instead they're lumbering around like morons, which does not please me or anyone else. But that is not the story of the Napthine Government - they have been a quietly efficient. They have passed some good legislation, built up a great surplus. And now they want to use it to improve our roads and our public transport, but because people have trouble remembering past their last birthday and find Tony Abbott repugnant, they're going to vote out what is actually a very good government in favour of a whole fresh Labor sideshow.
Not me. Nope. Going to go out and vote for Napthine, because he's a man with a sensible plan. Daniel Andrews was a terrible health minister and he's likely to be an equally useless premier. I mean, what does it say about Victorian Labor that they didn't have a better leader to offer the public?
And to people at large, I say this - give Napthine and company more time. Very little has changed in the state Labor party we voted out in the last election, and I really don't want to go back to a slew of massive, feel-good projects that aren't properly thought-out or costed. As boring as it is, I want there to be money in the bank and a reasonable, decent, if slightly uninspiring, man in Victoria's top job.
