Victoria deserves a good Opposition

Victoria is once again a one-party state, Labor for now and beyond.

The Liberal Party -- the party of free enterprise and business -- has functionally collapsed.

The party has no leader, no money, no staff.  And 30 per cent of sitting members, including many of its most competent, are leaving by choice at the next election.

Moreover, even before Mr Doyle's departure this week, polls indicated that the party will not only lose the election in November but also lose 10 seats and therefore be out of range of government for at least another eight years.

Should business be concerned?

On the positive side, the Bracks Labor Government is, in the main, pro-development, pro-business, pro-reform, fiscally conservative and open to ideas.

It has continued, with a bit of tweaking, the reforms of the Kennett government and has rightly focused most of its spending on delivering better services in public hospitals, public schools and public safety.

In no small way, the Labor's competence has caused the collapse of the Liberals.

Moreover, the Liberal Party is not now fit to govern.  It has not done the hard yards on policy.  At best, its approach has been to adopt a "me too, but better" stance.

This is not for lack of issues.  In many areas the Bracks Government has blundered:  its mismanagement of biotechnology, energy and resource development;  its failure to control the numbers and wages of bureaucrats;  and its failed Melbourne 2030 planning laws.

Instead, the Liberals have focused more on themselves than the wider community.

Of course, it is very difficult to have your voice heard in opposition.  And with its mountain of cash and heavy expenditure on media management and manipulation, the Government has made the task more difficult but not impossible.

In the long run, good governments need good oppositions -- and the Bracks Government needs it more than most.

The disciples of Kirner still hold sway in the Government.  The union movement not only has undue sway over the Government but is seeking to use it and its resources as their own.

The green influence is still on the ascendancy.  The leadership team of Brumby and Bracks are all that stand between good and awful government.

To date, the memory of failures past and the strong desire to win government have kept the forces of irrationality largely in check.

However, both sources of motivation are likely to wane with time and another election victory.

The Bracks Government remains largely untested fiscally.  Thanks to rapid economic growth, the GST and a huge fiscal inheritance, it has been able to simultaneously spend at record rates and balance its books.

This will not last.

Sooner rather than later, tax receipts will slow, exposing the unsustainable level of past spending and the Government will be forced to make some tough decisions.

We need an opposition to bring the Government to account on spending and taxing and punish it politically when it gives in to special interests -- or just simply gets lazy.

Our system and quality of life depend upon it.

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