Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger has faced calls for his resignation after yesterday’s decisive electoral defeat, with former Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett urging him to step down during a heated TV broadcast. As current Labor premier Daniel Andrews sees it, though, Kroger can stay on for as long as he likes.
Andrews appeared on the ABC‘s Insiders program this morning, and when host Barrie Cassidy asked about Kroger’s chances of survival, he took a sarcastic swipe at his opponent, saying:
“Swanning around suburbs that you’ve never been to in your Burberry trench coat, lecturing people about the cost of living … people pick fakes and they pick nasty fakes from a long way off. I hope that he’s the Liberal Party president for life.”
Burn. You can watch the relevant section of the interview below:
“Swanning around the suburbs that you’ve never been to in your Burberry trench coat lecturing people about the cost of living – people pick fakes” @DanielAndrewsMP responds to demands for Micahel Kroger to resign following the Liberal’s devastating defeat yesterday. #insiders pic.twitter.com/2V3zTKKQ80
— Insiders ABC (@InsidersABC) November 24, 2018
Premier Daniel Andrews was returned to power yesterday after big swings towards Labor, particularly in Melbourne‘s eastern suburbs. With just over 71% of the vote counted, Labor have won 52 seats in the state’s Lower House, and are projected to take 55, while the Liberal-National coalition has won 24 of a projected 28.
The swing was such that 19-year-old university student Declan Martin, who spent just $1750 on his six-week campaign as a Labor candidate, is actually in with a very real chance of taking the seat of Brighton, which has never been held by the party before.
Wow #springst #vicvotes #VicElection2018
— Declan Martin (@declanmartin75) November 24, 2018
Amongst the Liberal MPs at risk of losing their jobs are Shadow Attorney-General John Pesutto, whose seat of Hawthorn has not been held by Labor since 1955.
Pesutto learned of the swing against him during a live TV broadcast, and it was believed he was more or less certain to lose the seat, although as of today, postal votes may see him edging back ahead of challenger John Kennedy.
Greens MP Lidia Thorpe, who last year made history as the first indigenous woman to be elected to the Victorian parliament, is at risk of losing her seat of Northcote to Labor challenger Kat Theophanous.
The Greens had high hopes of holding on to Northcote, which they won in the 2017 by-election, as well capturing the inner-city seats of Richmond and Brunswick, but all three showed swings towards Labor on election day.
