LABOR has retained power in Victoria after giving the opposition Liberal/National parties an electoral shellacking on the weekend.
Votes are still being counted in some electorates the government of Daniel Andrews is already assured of a large majority in the lower house.
That means the projects like the Westgate Tunnel and (further down the track) the North East Link are set to become reality, while the East West Link (controversially and expensively binned by Labor four years ago) is probably dead for a generation.
The swing to Labor was such that even Liberal members for such notionally safe seats as Brighton and Hawthorn faced a battle to survive.
One Liberal stalwart who appears to have survived the massacre was David Hodgett, a former ports minister and the party’s deputy leader. Mr Hodgett appears to have kept his seat despite a swing to his Labor opponent.
The election appears to have been a blow to the Greens also, who failed to take seats off Labor and also appear to have lost seats in the Upper House.
David Sexton
