Allan’s WFH laws look like genius. They only take us closer to the cliff’s edge

March 5, 2026 — 5:00am

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In an election year, the Victorian parliament is not prone to reflection. The sitting weeks – and there are only nine remaining in the life of this parliament – present less as an opportunity to consider the lives of ordinary people as days to be ticked off towards the one that matters most to people in this place.

Everything said or done is with an eye to November 28, rather than the long-term implications of decisions taken. Within this myopic climate – and those of us who write about state politics are no more farsighted than its practitioners – it can be difficult to separate the dross from stuff that might actually matter.

There are also times when the disconnect between decisions taken today and the future towards which we are hurtling fairly screams at us. This week was one of those times.

Regular readers of The Age – and a heartfelt thanks for your forbearance – will have noted two things from our reporting of Victorian affairs this week.

The first is that the Victorian government, like other state governments in Australia and many around the world, is desperate for big tech to invest more of its billions in data centres here. There are already 33 cavernous, digital warehouses dotted around Melbourne’s north and west, and the government is determined to attract........

© The Age