As I wrote recently, clearly the focus groups in Victoria have shifted their sentiment on lockdowns and curfews. How else to explain Daniel Andrews’s sudden turnabout to backing PM Scott Morrison’s roadmap for ending lockdowns and opening up Australia?
Shifting polls remain the almost certain reason for Andrews’s backflip, but another development in Victoria yesterday is surely weighing on his mind.
Former Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has highlighted the importance of unity and pledged a focus on the state’s recovery from the pandemic after he was returned unopposed to the leadership of the Liberal Party at a vote of MPs this morning.
This is Guy’s second round in the top job. He resigned as leader in 2018, following the Liberals’ crushing defeat in the state election.
That election surprised many, given the Andrews government’s series of scandals, ranging from grubby deals with the urban firefighters union to take over the volunteer-run Country Fire Authority, to the “Red Shirts” scandal, where Labor illegally used taxpayers’ money to fund campaign workers.
But, like Russians who repeatedly vote in droves for Vladimir Putin, Victorians have spent years in the grip of a collective case of Stockholm Syndrome, happily chirping that they “StandWithDan”, even as the state economy collapsed and a wave of mental health crises consumed their children.
Even Victorians’ appetite for masochism seems to have its limit. Andrews has been forced into a backdown over pandemic restrictions — and Matthew Guy presumably believes that his time has arrived.
Mr Guy said he would immediately begin offering a “clear alternative for Victorians, not just for lockdowns, but for recovery”.
“Victoria’s best days are in front of it, not behind it,” he said.
Calling for a unified Victoria to move forward as one, Mr Guy expressed empathy for Victorians doing it tough.
“People like my wife and all those other people who are homeschooling,” he said. “All those small business people who can’t open … and a lot of Victorians who have mental health challenges. We have to think about how hard it has been for these people.”
Deposed leader Michael O’Brien, widely regarded as a decent sort, dutifully swallowed the unpleasant sandwich he’d been served.
Following the meeting, Mr O’Brien called on his party to unite behind new leader Matthew Guy.
“Every Liberal leader deserves support and Matthew deserves it as much as anyone,” he said, flanked by supporters.
“We have got a job to do and a state to save.”
The Age
Yet, even if the Victorian government’s secret polling of key electorates may be showing a shift in voter sentiment on lockdowns — prompting Andrews’ backflip — overall polling still shows Andrews reaping the incumbent’s reward in the pandemic that has recently returned premiers in WA and Queensland. So, why have the Liberals reinstated the guy who lost the last election?
To put it simply, Guy gets politics[…]
He may have suffered a crushing defeat, but Guy can be a formidable opponent, and he is also a charmer. Even Labor describe him as a savvy operator who cannot be underestimated.
The Age
That, coming from a paper as partisan-left as The Age, is high praise indeed.
So, who knows, maybe Dictator Dan has good reason to worry about getting a good political kicking, this time?
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