Asides
LINGER: Labor reckons Red Ted’s toast but we fear he’ll hang around like a bad smell
The Sunday Herald Sun reports:
THE VICTORIAN Labor Party is advising Brumby Government ministers to prepare for Ted Baillieu to lose his job as Opposition leader, an internal memo obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun reveals.
The document, titled Preparing For Opposition Leadership Change, predicts Victorian Liberals will soon dump Mr Baillieu as leader and replace him with transport spokesman Terry Mulder.
The two-page memo, sent from State Labor secretary and campaign director Nick Reece to ministerial chiefs of staff on Friday, cites poor recent Newspoll results by the Victorian Coalition and Mr Baillieu’s “weak” shadow cabinet reshuffle last week as reasons for his removal.
As Mr Baillieu was preparing to address his party faithful at the Liberals’ State Council today, the memo advised ministers to begin planning for a takeover by Mr Mulder.
It derides Hawthorn MP Baillieu for “not calling the shots” in his own party room.
“A leadership change from Baillieu to Mulder must now be considered the most likely outcome,” the document says.
“While likely to perhaps be more visible, Mulder’s inclination is always to go too far and say anything just to say a headline.”
Mr Baillieu said he did not comment on opinion polls.
“We’re very confident in what we are doing and we are working to our plan,” he said.
The Labor memo states:
“Mulder will wake up early and work morning radio in a way that Baillieu never does, but he will always be tempted to over-reach.”
Caption: Embattled: Opposition leader Ted Baillieu.
Illus: Photo
Section: NEWS
While it would be reasonable for them to expect a rational party room to knife Red Ted, at this stage it looks to us like they won’t.
If Mulder was a more adventurous type, we reckon he could just scrape together a majority, in coalition with some of Ted’s disloyal lieutenants like former mate Richard Dalla Riva who now strongly opposes Ted and the beseiged upper house leader David Davis.
But it seems he won’t take the leadership unless it’s handed to him. And Baillieu won’t be doing that anytime soon.
Baillieu has made a few steps in the right direction recently. He senses real opportunity on law and order. He has neatly positioned heavy-hitting Nats leader Peter Ryan as new shadow Police minister, in an act of perfect casting.
If Labor is smart, they’ll point out that as a country lawyer Ryan’s job involved keeping criminals out of jail including armed robbers, rapists, thieves and bashers. But Ryan presents more like a tough-on-slime country cop than a slick lawyer so we’re not sure how effective that will be.
But the general view in Liberal circles is that Ted is a minimalist risk taker. He won’t rock the boat in case it diminishes his internal party room vote. He’s now dished out shadow Parl Sec positions to his supporters and others in a move designed to shore up his support.
The bottom line is that he needed to make some very substantial changes to worry Labor.
He didn’t. And probably never will.
Meanwhile, Labor is vulnerable on many fronts in Victoria but the Liberals seem unwilling to fully exploit the weaknesses of a decade-long government with a so far unelected Premier who has yet to prove himself on a par with the lovable Steve Bracks.
WIth a ten-year record to defend, Brumby has reason to be nervous. But he looks over the aisle at Ted Baillieu and is firmly convinced he has his measure.
Discussion
7 comments for “LINGER: Labor reckons Red Ted’s toast but we fear he’ll hang around like a bad smell”
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If Ted was serious about beating Brumby he would have put some firepower into Treasury and Education. Wells and Dixon aren’t going to get the job done.
Of course my concern is that we’re asleep at the wheel at the moment and could find ourselves staring at a tree moments before impact if we don’t start popping some NoDoze now.
Get off your bum, Cameron, do some work for a change. Get stuck into the NoDoze.
Keep those shooters happy because we’ll never know how important they are to us until it is too late!
Ted will be there as Premier in November 2010. That is what cabinet is worried about.
Come on Ted, at least you’ve got your own hair. Brumby’s minders are worried sick that his hairpiece will blow off in public.
The current crop of Liberal MP’s are by and large just not up to it. And they have all been just re-endorsed. The preselections being done now are also putting up further second rate performers. They have a few skilled performers around, but the factions won’t let them up. What a pitty.
The anonymous long serving Lib member is right. In Burwood for example they have a real sharp operator, who is capable of really cutting through in the media. Young and articulate, he would have really made a mark, but the factions would not support him, so he didn’t even nominate. Much to the relief of the local ALP. That talent should have been harnessed not held back. The party and the state are crying out for people like that.
All Ted has to do is stick to crime and order policies and start attacking Hulls for his blatent abuse of powers by stacking the Judiciary with his mates.
Things are going to get much dirtier for the Govt with regards violence on our streets not to mention the Ethnic gang murder trial later in the year just before the election.
It is going to hurt brumby & hulls more than they know!!