Victorian Premier, John Brumby, is looking more and more beleaguered these days. Every glance at the camera is sullen and morose, every sentence is uttered with a grudging tone, and every question is deflected. He is rapidly gaining the most-hated premier status once held by Jeff Kennett and with good reason, too - his State is stuffed and he can't do a thing about it.
Astounding allegations that his Major Projects Minister, Theo Theophanous, raped a woman inside parliament house ten years ago are just the latest to beset his government. Perhaps worse, the electoral rout in the ACT and NSW by-elections earlier this month was already foreshadowed in the Victorian seat of Kororoit where the theme of neglect was voiced loud and clear.
Nothing spells out Brumby's inability to act more than the string of major failures in transport. The overwhelming message from Victorians is clear - fix the public transport system. But Brumby remains determined to spin his privatised toll road enterprises against all good advice.
Showing the breadth of his government's inability to act, a report by the Property Council of Australia recently found that only 2% of a $10.5 billion transport plan promised by Steve Bracks in 2006 has been spent.
[The news prompted public transport advocate Paul Mees to comment "The property council, understandably, thought that Meeting Our Transport Challenges was a transport plan. Instead, it was a public relations document designed to deflect public anger about the deteriorating state of public transport."]
Two of the transport projects - the $500m Myki Smartcard and the Metrol train communications system - are long overdue and already well over budget. Chief of the Myki project Vivian Miners resigned under suspicious circumstances earlier this year after a number of probity concerns were raised, while the lack of a train communications system ensures that Victorian trains continue to travel at snail's pace.
Compare this with all the hoopla surrounding the latest toll road proposal designed to link the east and west of the city. A $9.5 billion project, known as the Eddington Plan after merchant banker and prime ministerial adviser Sir Rod Eddington, has been calculated to provide a public benefit of only $4 billion dollars - the $5.5b loss due in large part to its road toll component.
Amid claims of sham public consultation there have been more than the usual conflict of interest allegations. Sir Rod himself wears one hat advising the Victorian Government on transport infrastructure, another hat as Chairman of Infrastructure Australia advising Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on how to spend the $20billion Building Australia fund, and he wears yet another hat advising the Macquarie Bank on how to finance road toll construction opportunities.
Eddington was recently forced to take off yet another of his hats, as advisor on Australian
Investment opportunities to the foreign "spy" firm Hakluyt & Co. It was Greens leader Bob Brown who ousted him, saying "we will move to amend the Building Australia legislation when it comes through Parliament in a few weeks to ensure there are no conflicts of interest on the Infrastructure Australia board". How many other hats does Sir Rod wear? I suspect we shall eventually find out as the Victorian Major Projects bandwagon rolls inexorably sideways.
There's no doubt about it Theophanous has been a disgraceful and derelict minister, in short a perfect Labor Unity candidate for the Major Projects and Industry portfolios. Hundreds of manufacturing jobs are disappearing every week in Victoria, and Theophanous's Industry statement - already two years late - is nowhere to be seen.
Add to this the Property Council of Australia revelations that only 2% of the State's $10.5 billion public transport budget has been spent, and you get an idea of why Theophanous had to go. That it came to allegations of rape inside parliament house should be a salutary reminder to all: when the tap on the shoulder comes you had better take notice no matter who you are.
And a reminder too, it all starts with a rumour.
Skullduggery within the ranks of the Victorian ALP is nothing new, though you could say it has lately been turned into an art form by the now notorious Unity faction. As usual the crucible for a host of Unity's misdeeds is none other than Brimbank Council, dubbed "the most rotten borough in Victoria" during an unsuccessful bribery case brought against one of its Councilors in 2007.
The Sam Tabban trial as it was known upped the ante in ALP skullduggery and was allegedly initiated in former Police Minister Andre Haermeyer's office, in a conspiracy between the state MP and his two electoral officers Brimbank councilor Natalie Suleyman and convicted fraud Craig Otte.
The trial was a damaging spectacle made worse when Haermeyer resigned some months later bringing on the Kororoit by-election. In a pre-selection upset that caught most commentators by surprise, Unity's anointed candidate Natalie Suleyman was rolled in favour of Marlene Kairouz. This betrayed a visible breakdown of order in the ALP right, bringing with it serious implications for factional bosses Stephen Conroy and Bill Shorten.
Just how serious remains to be seen although one indication is the recent politically-damaging revelation that Bill Shorten has left his wife of eight years and is now dating the daughter of Australia's Governor General. This started with a rumor too, although the press has been unequivocal in their reportage. Ever impatient to get ahead in the parliamentary business, it will be a while before Shorten is again touted as a future prime minister.
So one by one they fall. Even without the unprecedented prospect of a rape trial, Theophanous will find it impossible to keep his cabinet post. A shortlist of Unity contenders has already been put forward, including new boys Evan Thornley and Martin Pakula, though it remains to be seen whether this list is worth the paper it is written on.
Pakula, like Shorten the recipient of enough branch stacking largesse to warrant his "Golden Boy" status, came to prominence a short while back when he tried to oust Simon Crean from his federal seat of Hotham in the lead up to the election. It was only Crean's personal, face to face appeal to his branch members that saw him fend off Pakula's challenge - a lesson which Pakula appears to have learnt nothing from. In any case Pakula was catapulted into Victoria's upper house on the back of Justin Madden's vote in the west.
Thornley on the other hand is more widely known for being Victoria's richest parliamentarian - a fact which must have some of the Libs in a flap - and tells us something about the credentials of the "new" Victorian Labor Party. A well-placed $50,000 donation to the ALP before the last state election reputedly secured Thornley a safe spot in the upper house.
Still when it comes to buying safe Labor seats this seems like a lot to pay when you think that Telmo Languiller got lower house Derrimut in the time-honoured tradition - for the price of about 200 party memberships, or roughly $5,000 with concessions.
Both Pakula and Thornley are Labor Unity faction operatives and both are first timers in the parliament. It should be the height of arrogance to assume that not one, but two cabinet spots would be reserved for the foundlings. It may be wishful thinking, or it may be a sign of Unity's dire straits in Victoria.
Of course Theophanous is finished. The immediate jockeying for his replacement, and calls for other hard liners to go as well will bring the inevitable cabinet reshuffle. Planning Minister, Justin Madden, looks set to reap the rewards for not clearing his lot sooner. Peter Batchelor is high on the list to go, taking most of the blame for turning Victoria's public transport system into a privatised hell hole. Also high on the list is Attorney General, Rob Hulls, who with Bracks, Brumby and Thwaites was one of Victorian Unity's "Gang of Four". All of which puts a question mark over John Brumby's own prospects does it not, and explains his now trademark sullen look. Shades of Morris Iemma. It's the look of a loser.
