General News
11 October, 2023
OPINION Andrews gone, time for a reset
By PETER WALSH WHILE all Victoria breathes a sigh of relief to see the back of Daniel Andrews, the change we need now, which the new Premier must deliver, is an urgent reset to represent “all Victorians” as our state teeters on the edge of...
By PETER WALSH
WHILE all Victoria breathes a sigh of relief to see the back of Daniel Andrews, the change we need now, which the new Premier must deliver, is an urgent reset to represent “all Victorians” as our state teeters on the edge of a massive financial black hole.
The Daniel Andrews legacy is the biggest debt in Victorian history – with more still to come (and any hike in interest rates anywhere in the next 50 years will make it even worse).
Sadly, the track record of our new Premier, Jacinta Allan, shows Victorians should brace themselves for more of the same.
I am deeply concerned it will be business as usual. More money wasted. More debt. More mismanagement. More secrecy. More poor governance.
Victorians talk about Daniel Andrews handing Jacinta Allan a poisoned chalice. The truth is her fingerprints were already all over it.
If Victorians take an honest look at the career of Jacinta Allan, and the portfolios she’s held, they should be as deeply concerned as me.
The Premier-elect has been the decision-maker for all the major projects across Victoria. There’s been $30 billion of cost overruns on those projects in Victoria. That is part of the $200 billion of debt which Victorians now have.
It is impossible to forget the lead up to the last election and the grandstanding announcement of the Commonwealth Games.
And that they would be regional Games, putting regional Victoria in a global spotlight and bringing state-of-the-art facilities to regional hubs across our great state.
As a regional Member of Parliament herself, and the Minister responsible for the Games, Jacinta Allan should have ensured they showcased our regional towns, businesses and communities.
Instead of fighting for our regions, Jacinta Allan did nothing.
Victoria’s international reputation has been trashed.
The promise of legacy projects will not happen.
The entire Commonwealth Games fiasco will cost Victorians about $600 million to bail her and the Labor Party out of another broken promise.
Victoria is in the worst position I can recall, and Jacinta Allan has been an integral part of the government which has overseen Victoria’s demise.Our roads must be fixed, you must be able to get a hospital bed, you must be able to get a police and ambulance response when you need one and, most importantly, we need a sensible transition to renewables – one that is not going to drive people broke with the skyrocketing cost of energy.
There needs to be a major reset. It’s time for a government that governs for all people, and Jacinta Allan has done little to prove she is up to the task.
Daniel Andrews, in partnership with factional ally Jacinta Allan, promised to govern for all Victorians, but regional people know that has not been the case, in fact it has never even come close to being the case.
Our crumbling roads must be repaired – you fix country roads, and you save country lives, and this year’s alarming road toll in regional areas reflects the negligence from which our roads are suffering.
Or trains to regional hubs which don’t even have proper toilet facilities for the handicapped and offer services so minimal and slow they are avoided by many people who would otherwise be on board immediately.
And don’t even start me on education, future generations of Victorians need a much better deal than they are getting right now and there is no sign of any significant improvements and if that continues much longer, in the end we will all pay a price for that.
A solution for the housing crisis affecting so many across the state must also be implemented – now.
Victorians accept a transition to renewable energy is under way, but towering power lines cutting the heart out of irreplaceable, high-production farm land is not the way to do it.Our Country Fire Authority, as we once knew it, has been destroyed. Labor must not cave into the unions, and the CFA must be revived with a potentially dangerous bushfire season looming countdown to a new government in 2026, a Liberals Nationals government, and a new era with fiscal responsibility and government for everyone.
It will be like a breath of fresh air.
* Peter Walsh is the member for Murray Plains and leader of the Nationals