Tuesday, 28 July 2026

Herald Sun

Labor pain is real for Victorians

State and Federal Labor has more in common with a criminal cartel than a political party, so it doesn’t matter who the Don is.

Today, the Victorian State Labor team seems set to elect a new leader and therefore Premier for the next four-or-so months. Whomever takes the role should be wary of unpacking their boxes once they find the Premier’s office. Backbenchers might have panicked and finally realised their jobs are on the line.

Labor doesn’t govern for the public, it governs for themselves.

The business model perfected under Dan Andrews is that Labor gets elected, raids the taxpayer’s balance sheet and hands the goodies to those that helped them get there, spending freely every time their hold on government is threatened. The most egregious example has been the funnelling of public money to infrastructure projects on the condition they are controlled by the CFMEU.

These are projects designed to keep an electoral constituency happy, shovel cash into the union that campaigns for them, while graft is collected. The rot has now extended to organised crime being paid off to protect union interests.

All it does is create a culture of militancy and standover behaviour from Labor’s ecosystem.

It starts with tax hikes on those who have been prudent and saved, before expanding to small business owners and property holders. It is now well discussed among national employers that every time a job becomes vacant in Victoria, it is filled interstate.

Eventually businesses go broke, asset values fall and the economic future of the state is brought into question. And when the model fails, they simply double down.

Dan Andrews’ business model has now gone national.

Australians are experiencing the cancer that started in Victoria as Federal Labor pays off its mates with taxpayer money.

The resulting debt has fuelled a domestic inflation spiral, delivering the biggest decline in living standards in the developed world, hitting hardest the very people Labor claims to protect.

Every dollar of debt is tomorrow’s opportunity being spent today.

Only a government focused on building growth and opportunity can halt the decline.

Victorian Labor MPs should enjoy their game of musical chairs, because for Victorians, November can’t come soon enough.