Jacinta Allan

To be sure, Andrews “big build” delivered lots of roads, bridges and tunnels with his borrowing binge to fund union-dominated infrastructure projects. Now, projects are facing massive cost blowouts and the bill will need to be paid.

He has left Victoria’s budget in an unsustainable position, after splurging big during the pandemic lockdowns and significantly expanding the size of the public service.

It’s a case study in a strongman premier running the state without any accountability from a hopeless Liberal opposition.

Andrews banned gas exploration and extraction, jeopardising the state’s energy security. He blamed the big gas exporters.

Andrews committed eye-watering sums to pet projects such as the controversial Suburban Rail Loop that avoided any rigorous cost-benefit analysis. It was devised by PwC consultants before the 2018 state election and bypassed the traditional public service assessment.

It was classic Andrews: doing deals with his political mates and riding rough shod over financial due diligence.

He blew $1.1 billion cancelling Melbourne’s East West Link road project and $380 million on compensation for cancelling the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

Victorians will now face decades of higher taxes.

The states have such terrible tax bases that it will inevitably be employers and property owners who will be hit with higher payroll and land taxes.

Big employers are already paying billions extra for a state “mental health levy” – paradoxically paying for the social damage caused by Andrews’ lockdowns.

Victoria’s recent tax hit list of landlords, Airbnb owners, holiday home owners and private schools will be only the tip of the iceberg to get the state’s finances under control.

The $239 billion gross debt now faces interest rates of about 5 per cent when it is refinanced, compared to 1 per cent during the pandemic.

But Andrews blamed former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe for encouraging the states to borrow big during the pandemic.

Andrews went cap in hand in April for a financial bail-out from the federal government, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese politely declined.

Memories of early 1990s

Privatisations will be necessary – counter to Andrews’ 2022 election ploy to “bring back” the government-owned State Electricity Commission to invest in green energy projects. Ten months after the election, Andrews is leaving and the SEC is nowhere to be seen.

Victoria’s economy has been largely built on a massive population expansion. But in per person terms, gross household disposable income is languishing at seventh out of the eight states and territories, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The financial demise of Victoria is reminiscent of the early 1990s when the stricken State Bank of Victoria, its merchant banking arm Tricontinental and the collapsed Pyramid Building Society rendered the state almost bankrupt under the Labor government of John Cain and Joan Kirner.

Liberal premier Jeff Kennet turned around the state. His Labor successors Steve Bracks and John Brumby continued responsible fiscal management.

But the socialist Andrews has demonstrated a lack of respect for taxpayer money and for the financial health of Victorians – current and future.

As political commentator and former Kennet adviser Stephen Mayne observed: “Victoria’s finances are much worse than when John Cain quit, but somehow Dan has managed to leave on his own terms and govern without being held to account for imperilling the state’s public sector viability going forward.”

Andrews has left an unprecedented financial legacy for Victorians that will be felt for decades. Consequences, without accountability.