{"id":211801,"date":"2025-05-06T16:03:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-06T06:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=211801"},"modified":"2025-05-06T16:03:35","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T06:03:35","slug":"victorian-labor-was-bracing-for-a-federal-backlash-that-did-not-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=211801","title":{"rendered":"Victorian Labor was bracing for a federal backlash that did not come"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If anyone is as happy as Anthony Albanese<\/a> right now, it\u2019s Jacinta Allan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the federal election results rolled in on Saturday night, one of the biggest surprises came in Victoria \u2013 where Labor defied months of grim predictions to strengthen its grip on the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite relentless commentary<\/a> about Allan\u2019s unpopularity and the supposed drag she posed on the Labor vote<\/a> \u2013 not just from the Liberals but by her own federal colleagues \u2013 the state swung even harder to the party than it did in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Poll Bludger, Labor\u2019s two-party-preferred vote in the state sits at 54.8 to 45.2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labor not only held Aston \u2013 a seat in Melbourne\u2019s eastern suburbs it won at a 2023 byelection but had written off this campaign, pulling out resources weeks ago \u2013 but also won nearby Deakin and Menzies off the Liberals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither were on Labor\u2019s target list. In Menzies, there wasn\u2019t even a field organiser on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other suburban seats targeted by the Liberals such as Chisholm, Dunkley and McEwen also swung further to Labor, while talk about strongholds such as Bruce, Hawke and Gorton being under threat proved to be rubbish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a devastating result for the Coalition in a state they desperately needed to turn around. At best, the Liberal party could emerge with just seven out of 38 across Victoria<\/a> \u2013 as many seats as their Nationals partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Liberals didn\u2019t see this coming \u2013 and neither did Labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were expecting the Luftwaffe to come in and completely decimate us \u2013 instead, we got Dutton on a lame pony,\u201d one senior Victorian Labor source said. \u201cTheir campaign was an absolute joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

State Labor figures had braced for a swing away from the party \u2013 expecting a drop of between 1.5% to 2.5% while members of state caucus were questioning whether Allan\u2019s leadership could survive a loss of more than three federal seats. A challenge was seen as inevitable if key seats fell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such was the fear internally that Albanese appeared with Allan just once during the campaign. In the final fortnight, she held only two metropolitan press conferences, well away from the campaign trail \u2013 one at a Lego Star Wars exhibition, where she posed with Darth Vader, raising a few eyebrows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite relentless commentary about the premier\u2019s unpopularity, the state swung even harder to Labor than in 2022, while the Liberal party blame game has begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":198382,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,999,35,8160],"tags":[16164,993,8],"class_list":["post-211801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-australia-politics","category-breaking-news","category-suburban-rail-loop","tag-australia-votes-2025","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t