I have often thought that the reason Michael O’Brien, the Victorian Leader of the Opposition, remains so out of the public eye is that the deep strategy for the Libs is NOT to win the next state election by which time not all of Daniel Andrews’ chickens will have as yet have come home to roost. But coming home they most surely are. Take this from the front page of The Age this lovely freezing Sunday morning: Unions rage as Victorian government plans to cut back public sector wage growth.

The Victorian government will cut the future salary growth of the state’s 325,000 public sector workers by a third, potentially saving billions of dollars as part of cost-cutting measures aimed at combating record levels of debt inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Victoria, bless her, is a mess beyond imagination. I often mention the billion dollar station at the Shrine – the once a year train stop that is already serviced by around seven tram lines – that has for all practical purposes been abandoned. It is a shell of a worksite, as is so much else in this state run by the man who could not even walk down a flight of steps without ending up in hospital. So we also have this: Acting Premier defends tax hikes as responsible and appropriate.

Victoria’s acting Premier James Merlino has defended his government’s new suite of tax increases including a stamp duty rise on high-end property buyers as appropriate and responsible measures.

The proposal, which includes [but is by no means limited to] increases in land tax, stamp duty, taxes on developer windfalls and a 10 per cent hike on fines, to be included in Thursday’s state budget, drew criticism from the property industry and home buyers after they were announced by Treasurer Tim Pallas on Saturday.

Not to mention that other great responsibility, health care and hospitals, which according to the paper today are “at crisis point”.

All you Keynesians who think you can make growth happen by wasting public money have a lot to answer for. Frightening but unless we throw out modern economic theory along with Labor and the socialists generally, all of this and more will be a recurring problem that will never go away.