Josh Frydenberg outlines the case for re-electing Victoria’s Coalition government:
Victoria’s path to growth
- by: Josh Frydenberg
- From: The Australian
- November 25, 201412:00AM
THE 3.8 million voters in Victoria face a stark choice. If they re-elect Denis Napthine, they get another four years of strong economic management, record spending on health and education, and an effective federal-state partnership on infrastructure.
If they elect Daniel Andrews, they’ll return to the budget blowouts, infrastructure white elephants and union intimidation on work sites, symptomatic of the Bracks-Brumby years.
History shows the last one-term government in Victoria was John Cain Sr’s Labor government in 1955. Just as Napthine took over from Ted Baillieu mid-term, so Rupert Hamer took over from Henry Bolte in 1972 and went on to retain government in 1973, holding office for another eight years.
But history as predictor takes you only so far. Polls indicate a close race and the election is complicated by a major redistribution of electoral boundaries resulting in the abolition of two safe Coalition seats and the creation of two safe Labor ones. Five seats held by Labor MPs have become notionally Liberal. While the Coalition is well placed to win several of these seats, the redistribution has, as election expert Antony Green observed, removed the traditional advantage of incumbency Continue reading