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A tale of two Melbournes

Election time for the poster boy of progressive politics
by
August 2022, no. 445

A tale of two Melbournes

Election time for the poster boy of progressive politics
by
August 2022, no. 445
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (photograph by Diego Fedele/ZUMA Press Inc/Alamy)
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (photograph by Diego Fedele/ZUMA Press Inc/Alamy)

It was in the wake of the landslide re-election of Daniel Andrews’s Labor government in November 2018 that the former Coalition prime minister, John Howard, christened Victoria ‘the Massachusetts of Australia’. Coming from Howard, this characterisation of Victoria was not meant as a compliment. Rather, it seemed designed as a consolation message for the local Liberal Party. He was providing them with an alibi for their lengthening record of under-performance in the state. Victoria, Howard seemed to be saying, was simply impervious to the party’s conservative values.

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