Victorian Labor has wounded itself. Albanese would be wise to learn the lessons

July 29, 2026 — 11:59am

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It’s worth remembering that the Andrews-Allan government wasn’t always a bad one. In its first term ending in 2018, it could plausibly argue that it was one of the most effective administrations in the country, whatever one thought of its agenda.

So much so that Labor leaders across the country took notes from Daniel Andrews. Andrews’ online communication style (think: “Because it’s the right thing to do”), big outlays on infrastructure, and action-man, centralised style of government were all picked up by peers.

Andrews and Allan lucked out with a uniquely dysfunctional opposition. Their opponents’ ineptitude, coupled with hubris and corrosive governing practices, turned Victorian Labor into an outfit that’s now talked about by Labor ministers in Canberra and Sydney as what not to be.

Premier Ben Carroll took the unusual step of name-checking his predecessors on Tuesday. New party leaders are rarely so explicit, blunt or personal when taking the mantle. “I am not Daniel Andrews. I am not Jacinta Allan,” he said, in a sign of how severely public opinion had turned against his predecessors.

Victoria’s Labor government has been in power nearly a decade longer than Albanese’s, so its problems are by nature more severe. Albanese’s political judgement and cautious mindset, and the checks and balances that exist at a federal level, should avoid the worst of Victoria’s excesses.

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© The Sydney Morning Herald