Former premier Jeff Kennett says Victoria is f***ed amid soaring crime, failing economy, poor government

Out-of-control youth crime, a decrepit economy, poor government and failing educational standards have turned Victoria into Australia’s basket case, the state’s former premier Jeff Kennett said.

“I don’t think people understand,” he told The Nightly. “We are f***ed. The economy here is f***ed. People will leave. I simply cannot believe it.”

The former Liberal leader was speaking after an opinion poll showed support for the state Labor government has surged from 22 per cent in January to 32 per cent.

With the Liberal-National Coalition’s primary vote estimated at 33 per cent by a Resolve Political Monitor published in The Age Thursday, the poll suggests the Labor Party would easily win an election now based on preference votes from the Greens party.

Working at home

While the state election is not due until next November, the poll is a blow to the Opposition, which is struggling to overcome internal conflict and present itself as a credible alternative government after 10 years of Labor rule.

The poll suggests that Premier Jacinta Allan’s plan to make working from home two days a week a legal right is popular despite employers’ complaints.

Voters have not turned away from the Labor Party despite the news in Victoria being dominated this year by reports of youth crime, abuse in childcare centres and politically motivated street violence.

For the first time in my life, I am constantly thinking about my personal safety and that of my grandchildren,

In the latest example of youth crime, two teenagers and a 24-year-old man carrying a machete and knife allegedly broke into a home in the upper-middle-class suburb of East Kew at 4am on Sunday where three generations of the same family lived.

When the father of two toddlers confronted them, they allegedly stabbed him 11 times, including in his face, while the children slept in an adjacent room. Police said the trio drove off in the family’s BMW car. They have been charged with false imprisonment, aggravated home invasion and intentionally causing serious injury.

No tolerance

The 77-year-old Mr Kennett, the state’s leader from 1992 to 1999, called for a “zero tolerance” approach to criminal justice that would end magistrates and judges’ discretion to grant bail to people accused of some violent crimes.

“For the first time in my life, I am constantly thinking about my personal safety and that of my grandchildren,” he said.

“If you ask the community, ‘are you worried about your personal safety’, 80 to 90 per cent say yes. If you ask mums ‘are you upset about the safety of your children in child-minding centres’, 90 per cent say yes.”

Heavy government spending has driven up Victoria’s debt to the highest of any Australian state relative to the size of its economy. It has the lowest credit rating.

The government’s policy of encouraging people to work from home is hurting shops, restaurants and cafes, business advocates say. This week Transurban reported that Melbourne traffic is 2.6 per cent less busy than immediately before the COVID pandemic and almost 20 per cent higher in Sydney and Brisbane, a sign many Victorians prefer working from home to their offices.

The Opposition had been ahead for almost a year in polls, but has struggled with serial infighting.

Five members of a committee which runs the Liberal Party on a monthly basis are suing the rest of the committee for approving a $1.55 million loan to former leader John Pesutto to protect him from bankruptcy over a court fight with another Liberal MP, Moira Deeming.

The party president, Philip Davis, has called on the rebels to resign. He will be challenged for the presidency next month by a former senator, Greg Mirabella.