The main question about Matthew Guy is ‘why him?’ | OPINION by Shaun Carney
Few political organisations are as consistently baffling as the Victorian division of the Liberal Party. Since Labor’s upset election win under Steve Bracks in 1999, which ended the Kennett era, the Liberals have been waiting for Victoria to return to their version of normal.
Instead, it’s heading to the election led by a recycled leader who took the Coalition to a massive defeat four years ago. The fact that the party turned to Matthew Guy when Michael O’Brien’s leadership ran out of road last year tells us much about the condition of the Liberal Party since Jeff Kennett left the parliament 23 years ago.
Kennett was succeeded by Denis Napthine, who was toppled a few months out from the 2002 election by Robert Doyle. Labor won 2002 in a landslide. Doyle hung on but shortly before the 2006 election made way for Ted Baillieu. Baillieu was a reluctant recruit, who put his hand up only after Kennett threatened to return to politics.The 2006 election result was a third win for the ALP under Bracks, but not a bad loss for the Liberals.
But political parties must also make their own luck. After Labor’s humiliating defeat in 1992, the state party looked to be broken. Early in its time in opposition, the ALP used by-elections and a preselection to introduce Bracks, Brumby and Rob Hulls to its parliamentary team. That trio, along with the recently elected John Thwaites, restored Labor’s credibility and laid the foundation for the ALP’s subsequent decades of electoral success.
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