The fall of Ballieu
March 7th, 2013 at 3:00 pm by David FarrarThe Age reports:
Former opposition leader Denis Napthine is the state’s new Premier after Ted Baillieu resigned under internal pressure and after the shock resignation of embattled MP Geoff Shaw.
Mr Shaw, who is facing a police probe for misuse of his government car, quit the parliamentary Liberal Party on Wednesday morning, kickstarting a frenzy on Spring Street that reached fever pitch just before 7pm after he finally released a statement.
“I believe my actions reflect the general loss of confidence Victorians are feeling in the leadership of the government,” Mr Shaw said.
Nonsense. Shaw is a rorting MP who has been caught out.
The Baillieu government had been rocked by scandal this week over fresh revelations regarding Tristan Weston, the former police adviser to Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, and secret recordings of conversations he had with Mr Baillieu’s chief of staff, Tony Nutt, and Liberal Party state director Damian Mantach.
Mr Baillieu referred the case to the new Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission.
Facing poor polls for nearly a year, leadership speculation has been bubbling, with Planning Minister Matthew Guy most often named as the next in line.
A poll last June had the Coalition on 52% and Labor 48% in Victoria. But Baillieu had poor personal ratings at 29% positive and 54% negative.
No tag for this post.
March 7th, 2013 at 4:53 pm
Baillieu is genuinely a good guy but they’re right to say he lacked the fire in his belly needed to run a State. Victoria has drifted since he came to power.
As much as I disliked his Labour team, Brumby was an excellent Premier with strong convictions and a clear policy platform, though a few too many multi-billion dollar projects cockups and ongoing public transport strife sealed his fate.
Problem is, the Liberals have absolutely no vision for how to get Victoria out of its economic hole. A real malaise has set in and Napthine appears absolutely to be a carry-on, business as usual type. I hope I’m wrong.
Still, you look at Victoria with apopulation similar to New Zaland’s but an economy twice the size, with nowhere near the natural resources and you wonder how New Zealand ended up so much poorer.
As to the next election – a real tossup. Opposition leader Daniel Andrews is hardly inspirational but he may benefit from the insipid Napthine. I just can’t see this government lasting the full term and evoters normally punish a governing party for that.
Vote:March 7th, 2013 at 7:00 pm
And what is Bill English your opinion DPF and what did it cost him again when he got caught double dipping?
Vote:March 8th, 2013 at 7:40 pm
Shouldn’t that be double Diptoning?
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