A month since the Victorian election,the dust has settled and the victorious Liberal/National Coalition led by Ted Baillieu has won control of both houses. Time enough to consider in more depth the outcomes and the rhetoric spun by the parties and players to-date.
It was obvious that the Brumby government didn’t receive the extent of punishment that commentators had been speaking of or were trying to maintain post-election. It is true too that the Greens didn’t fizzle out as suggested by the same commentators. How could it when their vote increased in both the lower and upper houses? True the increases weren’t massive but when you consider where the biggest swings to the Greens were, it shows the Greens vote is yet to ‘plateau’.
The Liberal Party didn’t perform nearly as well as expected with only a few shock seats going their way. The fact that previous Liberal seats in the eastern growth corridor that went Labor and have come back to the Liberal Party is not entirely surprising. The Nationals finally knocked off Craig Ingram but really didn’t have a stellar performance in the polls. Against the very shady and dodgy Country Alliance, the Nationals looked off-guard.
For the Liberal-National coalition, they have a precarious situation in the parliament for the next four years. Not just in the lower house but in the upper house, they may find their own team being a bigger problem than the politics from the opposition benches. While some have declared the influence of the Greens to be over in the upper house, their role has, in my opinion, only expanded.
Consolidating the three seats they hold, the Greens are in a position to be more creative and to expose processes. It gives them the freedom to be more nimble in responding to the issues of the day but also to be continuous in its campaigning. And the fact that the Liberals are in power means the left can concentrate more of its collective energies attacking the government rather than each other.
The new government has its hands full having such a slim majority and the new Baillieu government already faltering.
Baillieu promised more open and accountable government, which immediately set off alarm bells as to the nature of the government over the next four years, if not longer.
However, Baillieu may have appeared to be warm and fuzzy while tough on crime and those damn soft judges, there’s little detail in much of what has been promised. Premier Bailieu is recalling parliament on the 21st December for a special sitting so he can get his agenda started. By all accounts the new government is uncertain about its agenda seeking the direct input of bureaucrats.
The most worrying part for Victorians is the lack of direction or focus of the new Liberal-National government. They argued during the election that they were releasing policies but when one looks across the Liberal Party website, there’s nary a policy to be found. If you consider Baillieu’s personal site, there’s not even policy on that website, let alone anything worthwhile since it hasn’t been updated since the election. In fact, there’s nothing on the website to suggest that it’s even an active site.
So with no real details about policies or what the Liberal-National government is promising to deliver for Victorians, one has to wonder about the future of the newly minted government for Victorian.
Not all is lost for some bright spark found the URL to all of the policy announcements made during the election. It wasn’t a public link that was found to reveal the announcements but a hidden page. And what was found were nearly 6 pages of announcements. These hardly constitute policy and hardly provide any worthwhile detail, many motherhood statements and platitudes to how the former government had been failing Victorians.
These aren’t policies but they certainly give an insight into the plans of Victoria’s new government. And more importantly why were these removed from relevant websites post-election? It hardly speaks to their commitment of delivering more open, accountable and transparent government.
There’s also the couple of press conferences Baillieu held with Peter Ryan, leader of the Nationals and Deputy Premier. While not long on detail, provide yet more insights into how the new government will go about its business. Below you’ll find a YouTube video from one of the press conferences held.
As you’ll have heard, there’s no detail just more platitudes.
Already the new government faces significant problems as the delicate issue of allowing cattle to graze environmentally sensitive Alpine regions has been raised early. And though the government holds control in both houses, this ‘control’ is extremely precarious; it’s possible government bills could be blocked in either house of parliament with the numbers being so tight.
So it would seem that with the first day of the new parliament concluded, the Baillieu government is already faltering.
Greens employment and workplace relations spokesperson, Adam Bandt, has welcomed the appointment today of Iain Ross to the position of President of Fair Work Australia."Iain Ross brings a wealth of experience and capacity to this job," Mr Bandt said."In my time as an industrial lawyer, I dealt with him both as a Vice President of the AIRC and […]
Alex’s Choice News
More considered thoughts on the Victorian elections
December 29, 2010 in Elections, Rants & Raves
Tags: Colleen Hartland, commentary, Daniel Andrews, Greg Barber, Nationals, Opposition Leader, Parliament, personal opinion, political parties, politics, polls, Premier, public services, Sue Pennicuik, Ted Baillieu, The Greens, Victoria, Victorian Greens, Victorian Labor Party, Victorian Liberals
Victorian Parliament House
NOTE: This piece originally appeared on theangle.org entitled “A Look at Victorian Politics; One Month On“
A month since the Victorian election,the dust has settled and the victorious Liberal/National Coalition led by Ted Baillieu has won control of both houses. Time enough to consider in more depth the outcomes and the rhetoric spun by the parties and players to-date.
It was obvious that the Brumby government didn’t receive the extent of punishment that commentators had been speaking of or were trying to maintain post-election. It is true too that the Greens didn’t fizzle out as suggested by the same commentators. How could it when their vote increased in both the lower and upper houses? True the increases weren’t massive but when you consider where the biggest swings to the Greens were, it shows the Greens vote is yet to ‘plateau’.
The Liberal Party didn’t perform nearly as well as expected with only a few shock seats going their way. The fact that previous Liberal seats in the eastern growth corridor that went Labor and have come back to the Liberal Party is not entirely surprising. The Nationals finally knocked off Craig Ingram but really didn’t have a stellar performance in the polls. Against the very shady and dodgy Country Alliance, the Nationals looked off-guard.
For the Liberal-National coalition, they have a precarious situation in the parliament for the next four years. Not just in the lower house but in the upper house, they may find their own team being a bigger problem than the politics from the opposition benches. While some have declared the influence of the Greens to be over in the upper house, their role has, in my opinion, only expanded.
Consolidating the three seats they hold, the Greens are in a position to be more creative and to expose processes. It gives them the freedom to be more nimble in responding to the issues of the day but also to be continuous in its campaigning. And the fact that the Liberals are in power means the left can concentrate more of its collective energies attacking the government rather than each other.
The new government has its hands full having such a slim majority and the new Baillieu government already faltering.
Baillieu promised more open and accountable government, which immediately set off alarm bells as to the nature of the government over the next four years, if not longer.
However, Baillieu may have appeared to be warm and fuzzy while tough on crime and those damn soft judges, there’s little detail in much of what has been promised. Premier Bailieu is recalling parliament on the 21st December for a special sitting so he can get his agenda started. By all accounts the new government is uncertain about its agenda seeking the direct input of bureaucrats.
The most worrying part for Victorians is the lack of direction or focus of the new Liberal-National government. They argued during the election that they were releasing policies but when one looks across the Liberal Party website, there’s nary a policy to be found. If you consider Baillieu’s personal site, there’s not even policy on that website, let alone anything worthwhile since it hasn’t been updated since the election. In fact, there’s nothing on the website to suggest that it’s even an active site.
So with no real details about policies or what the Liberal-National government is promising to deliver for Victorians, one has to wonder about the future of the newly minted government for Victorian.
Not all is lost for some bright spark found the URL to all of the policy announcements made during the election. It wasn’t a public link that was found to reveal the announcements but a hidden page. And what was found were nearly 6 pages of announcements. These hardly constitute policy and hardly provide any worthwhile detail, many motherhood statements and platitudes to how the former government had been failing Victorians.
These aren’t policies but they certainly give an insight into the plans of Victoria’s new government. And more importantly why were these removed from relevant websites post-election? It hardly speaks to their commitment of delivering more open, accountable and transparent government.
There’s also the couple of press conferences Baillieu held with Peter Ryan, leader of the Nationals and Deputy Premier. While not long on detail, provide yet more insights into how the new government will go about its business. Below you’ll find a YouTube video from one of the press conferences held.
As you’ll have heard, there’s no detail just more platitudes.
Already the new government faces significant problems as the delicate issue of allowing cattle to graze environmentally sensitive Alpine regions has been raised early. And though the government holds control in both houses, this ‘control’ is extremely precarious; it’s possible government bills could be blocked in either house of parliament with the numbers being so tight.
So it would seem that with the first day of the new parliament concluded, the Baillieu government is already faltering.
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