The resignation of Daniel Andrews as Premier of Victoria marks an opportunity for a major reset of government.
For far too long Labor has been the party for Melbourne, and regional Victoria has been forgotten.
Daniel Andrews’ legacy in the Latrobe Valley is nothing more than a trail of broken promises and neglect.
He cancelled the Commonwealth Games because of a $4 billion cost blowout, leaving sport clubs and small businesses reeling.
He has allowed homelessness in Morwell to skyrocket, and there are going to be more people stuck on housing waiting lists for homes that will never be built.
He accelerated the closure of coal-fired power stations with no realistic plan or measurable actions to help the region transition.
He promised the State Electricity Commission would be ‘brought back to Morwell’ and deliver 59,000 jobs, but it won’t.
He said the SEC would bring power prices down, but its former interim CEO confirmed prices would skyrocket.
He told us the Latrobe Valley Authority would help the region deal with the economic fallout of the closure of Hazelwood, but there has been no investment in new industry.
He has left the Latrobe Valley with the highest unemployment rate in regional Victoria.
He has left the Morwell electorate with the highest crime rate of any municipality outside of Melbourne.
He nonsensically shut down the sustainable native timber industry, culling thousands of jobs and exposing Gippsland to an unacceptable risk of more catastrophic bushfires.
He promised more than 500 jobs would be created with a new electric vehicle manufacturing facility, but that project is dead in the water.
He has allowed local roads to rot.
He has allowed medical wait lists to spiral out of control.
He has left people struggling to afford the basic necessities because of the cost-of-living crisis his government created.
The next Premier of Victoria must invest in our regions, and I will continue to fight for the Valley to receive its fair share.
Labor must govern for all Victorians and start making sensible decisions that deliver beneficial outcomes for regional Victorian families.
