So we're only a few months out from the State Election.

I'm pretty sure Newspoll has Labor ahead, but Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews - now promoting himself as 'Dan' Andrews - is trailing Napthine in the preferred Premier stakes, which is usually an important indicator.

Anyone think the Reds are in with a chance?

It's rare for Governments to be thrown out after one term only, and this Government - despite the loss of Baillieu, the Tristan Weston police chief fiasco, and the Geoff Shaw farce - has probably been inoffensive enough to sneak home for a second crack.

Having said that, it's basically a one-point ballgame at the moment in terms of numbers in Parliament, so anything's possible if even just a few seats change hands.

Whaddya reckon?

Surely Andrews won't escape the tape recorder saga. Can't see him getting in.

I think you're probably right in that Napthine was sneak in simply because he hasn't annoyed quite enough voters. I wouldn't think it'd be by much though.

So we're only a few months out from the State Election.

I'm pretty sure Newspoll has Labor ahead, but Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews - now promoting himself as 'Dan' Andrews - is trailing Napthine in the preferred Premier stakes, which is usually an important indicator.

Anything think the Reds are in with a chance?

It's rare for Governments to be thrown out after one term only, and this Government - despite the loss of Baillieu, the Tristan Weston police chief fiasco, and the Geoff Shaw farce - has probably been inoffensive enough to sneak home for a second crack.

Having said that, it's basically a one-point ballgame at the moment in terms of numbers in Parliament, so anything's possible if even just a few seats change hands.

Whaddya reckon?

I reckon its like the Melbourne vs GWS or Brisbane game - some of the dullest football from either team you will ever see with neither team really wanting to win.

Surely Andrews won't escape the tape recorder saga.

Yeh forgot about that... amateur hour!

I don't think that episode will hurt him though. It's very 'inside the beltway' kinda stuff - fascinating for the media and political staffers, but fairly meaningless for the public at large. I doubt many followed it closely or could even recall what happened and how etc

I reckon its like the Melbourne vs GWS or Brisbane game - some of the dullest football from either team you will ever see with neither team really wanting to win.

Fair call, but I don't get what you mean about 'neither team really wanting to win'? Surely the one quality that the politicians possess which most MFC players don't have is ambition!

The seat of Frankston will decide the election. And after the Geoff Shaw fiasco/s and and planned altering to the Frankston train line by the current state government, I can't see how Labor wont win that seat come November.

Saying that it will boil down to Frankston assumes that no other seats will change hands, which I think is doubtful (unless of course there's an even spread of wins/losses in other electorates).

I reckon it was a tactical mistake for Labor to change it's mind on the East-West Link (for the umpteenth time). Apart from the flip-flop aspect, which never looks good, it will just annoy the tens of thousands of people who are sitting in traffic jams each day.

Technically, the argument is sound (subjecting the tender docs to greater scrutiny) but the politics is terrible.

I'm expecting the Government to pick up three or four seats at this stage, Frankston notwithstanding.

Whoever actually COMMITS to building a Railway line to the check in area of Tullamarine airport will go close.

Oh and a second Westgate Bridge.

Building an extra lane on the Tulla Freeway is a waste of time and money.

At present it is an $80 fare to get to St. Kilda by taxi.

Disgusting.

What a great welcome for tourists to melbourne.

Dennis Napalm is a horse racing man. Dodgy as all F...

be interested in your opinion of danny andrews wyl

be interested in your opinion of danny andrews wyl

Who??

That is the problem!!

It's now Dan Andrews apparently...hipping up

Who??

That is the problem!!

It's now Dan Andrews apparently...hipping up

i'm tipping andrew daniels next then andy daniels

bit like all the new/real julias

Saying that it will boil down to Frankston assumes that no other seats will change hands, which I think is doubtful (unless of course there's an even spread of wins/losses in other electorates).

I reckon it was a tactical mistake for Labor to change it's mind on the East-West Link (for the umpteenth time). Apart from the flip-flop aspect, which never looks good, it will just annoy the tens of thousands of people who are sitting in traffic jams each day.

Technically, the argument is sound (subjecting the tender docs to greater scrutiny) but the politics is terrible.

I'm expecting the Government to pick up three or four seats at this stage, Frankston notwithstanding.

Usually pretty uninterested in state elections, but right now I'm praying for a Labor win. Main difference: freeways vs. public transport.

I know which I'd prefer.

Hate freeways: sooner or later, they always fill up.

Public transport: way to go!

Go Dan the Man!

The seat of Frankston will decide the election. And after the Geoff Shaw fiasco/s and and planned altering to the Frankston train line by the current state government, I can't see how Labor wont win that seat come November.

what is the alterations planned to the frankston line TD ?

The Ted/Denis governments have been awful. Its taken them until 3 years to get a major project on the drawings board and no one seems to be able to prove why it's the go-to project? Seems like it is because it can be privately funded? Napthine has spent the last 2 years spinning. Compared to the can do that Kennett brought (like him or not) this lot deserve to be one termers....and that's saying something because I'm far from convinced about the alternative! The last 4 years have sort of confirmed for me that State politicians are the dregs.

Which party will provide funding for the Melbourne FC?

what is the alterations planned to the frankston line TD ?

Sorry for the delayed response DL, haven't been on this thread for awhile.

Plan is that no trains on the Frankston line will go through the loop. They'll go as far as South Yarra and then head off to the new Fishermans bend station (once done) and onto Southern Cross.

Typical Liberal thought process. They don't want to make Cranbourne/Pakenham line go through there due to the growth = a lot of new voters, and they certainly wouldn't target the Sandringham line given the higher income earners are on that line, so it's Frankston only to no longer go through the loop.

Denis Nappy is the most hated politician i can remmeber in the western district.

Trouble is all farmers vote Lib/country even if Hitler was the only alternative.

And then there is the big WHO CARES factor in this election.

It's all very well funding public transport above roads, but nobody addresses the issue that to push people to use public transport you need to vastly increase the parking spaces available at existing railway stations. I can't see this happening.

I spent 40 years travelling by train to the city and apart from different rolling stock (trains) very little seems to have changed since I was a boy. I recently travelled to the city by train and although I live in Dandenong I always drive to East Malvern Station to park my car. This is a station with a very large carpark. Alas, at 10am I could not find an available space and had to park illegally on the grass. The same applies at Dandenong and Yarraman and further along at Westall and Huntingdale.

Also the bus timetable does not compliment the rail timetable and doesn't even run after 9pm and not at all on Sundays.

I support the East/West tunnel because people who live in the South/East will know that when travelling home over the Bolte bridge there is only ONE lane that exits to the South Eastern suburbs. It's incomprehensible that a city like ours has such inept planners and/or governments that cannot plan 30-50 years ahead.

The Monash Freeway was obsolete before it was opened as it only had 3 lanes. What a joke. It cost more to add a 4th lane than it did to build the road in the first place.

nobody addresses the issue that to push people to use public transport you need to vastly increase the parking spaces available at existing railway stations. I can't see this happening.

We all know the footy journos come here to find yarns - now it seems the pollies are using Demonland to create policy.

How's this for a responsive Government Theo?!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/bayside/parking-to-improve-at-mordialloc-and-parkdale-train-stations-under-3m-coalition-promise/story-fngnvli9-1227104692793

More broadly, while I still think the Coalition will be returned, Abbott's making it that much harder with the fuel excise move and the foray into increasing the GST.

We all know the footy journos come here to find yarns - now it seems the pollies are using Demonland to create policy.

How's this for a responsive Government Theo?!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/bayside/parking-to-improve-at-mordialloc-and-parkdale-train-stations-under-3m-coalition-promise/story-fngnvli9-1227104692793

More broadly, while I still think the Coalition will be returned, Abbott's making it that much harder with the fuel excise move and the foray into increasing the GST.

It all helps but it's a drop in the ocean when you think they've had 50 years to show any foresight. Improved patronage is useless unless there is a substantial increase in parking spaces throughout the whole network. A trainline to Rowville has been needed for years. This could have been partly done if they had built a trainline to the old VFL Park.

Denis Nappy is the most hated politician i can remmeber in the western district.

Trouble is all farmers vote Lib/country even if Hitler was the only alternative.

And then there is the big WHO CARES factor in this election.

Gee based on today's Age poll poor Denis is going to get a pummelling but I don't see why there is such animosity out there. I don't vote LNP but I am surprised at the backlash against Dennis. It seems more involved with the fact the LNP is in charge federally, so the states start to turn the other way at the next elections. Does not make much sense really but it seems to be a pattern.

Sorry for the delayed response DL, haven't been on this thread for awhile.

Plan is that no trains on the Frankston line will go through the loop. They'll go as far as South Yarra and then head off to the new Fishermans bend station (once done) and onto Southern Cross.

Typical Liberal thought process. They don't want to make Cranbourne/Pakenham line go through there due to the growth = a lot of new voters, and they certainly wouldn't target the Sandringham line given the higher income earners are on that line, so it's Frankston only to no longer go through the loop.

thanks TD. interesting. don't know how that would be?

I just wish the pollies would link the Cranbourne line thru to the Frankston line Via Baxter... the loop would allow container rail freight direct to the Dandenong region, & open up the Sth-East.

And a possible airport around the Tooradin area.

the Hastings natural deep water Port area needs to be opened up & developed, as the Docklands area gets cleaned up & Domesticated.

Pollies, please develop the Hastings & the Geelong container ports.

thanks TD. interesting. don't know how that would be?

I just wish the pollies would link the Cranbourne line thru to the Frankston line Via Baxter... the loop would allow container rail freight direct to the Dandenong region, & open up the Sth-East.

And a possible airport around the Tooradin area.

the Hastings natural deep water Port area needs to be opened up & developed, as the Docklands area gets cleaned up & Domesticated.

Pollies, please develop the Hastings & the Geelong container ports.

DL forget planning. Have you read today's Sunday Age about the new suburb at Fisherman's Bend. It is enough to make you weep at the lost opportunities for proper planning outcomes, for Victorian taxpayers and the future of that suburb and its current and future inhabitants. Matthew Guy should be drummed out of Parliament for what he had masterminded. He is either a total incompetent, an idiotic economic ideologue or he is totally corrupt! The Minister should be forced to provide an answer to those allegations. I suspect the answer is the first option.

DL forget planning. Have you read today's Sunday Age about the new suburb at Fisherman's Bend. It is enough to make you weep at the lost opportunities for proper planning outcomes, for Victorian taxpayers and the future of that suburb and its current and future inhabitants. Matthew Guy should be drummed out of Parliament for what he had masterminded. He is either a total incompetent, an idiotic economic ideologue or he is totally corrupt! The Minister should be forced to provide an answer to those allegations. I suspect the answer is the first option.

must be so heavy, having that many friends leaning on you when One tries to govern... almost impossible to do the right thing, for offending friends doners & lobby-ists who want they're cake before the banquet.

this is obviously why we dredged the Port Phillip Bay Rip, & the Yarra River Mouth: instead of getting on with the Hastings & Geelong Ports... how many $Millions did that dredging cost Us all?

... It could have been put toward the train line extensions I mentioned, & upgrading the Hastings-Crib Point & the Mornington lines... the Cranbourne-Frankston loop line could mean time savings, & no need to turn a train around to return. just trains traveling on continuous loop journey ending back in the CBD.

# maybe in hindsight, the Libs always new they were going to kill off our manufacturing, so didn't see the need for the InfraStructure.

This thread shows the ho hum that is this election - no posts in just under 3 weeks with the election just around the corner.

I found the advertising interesting - the libs tying Andrews to the unions at every turn and the ALP never missing an opportunity to tell us the Napthine and Abbott are the same person.

This thread shows the ho hum that is this election - no posts in just under 3 weeks with the election just around the corner.

I found the advertising interesting - the libs tying Andrews to the unions at every turn and the ALP never missing an opportunity to tell us the Napthine and Abbott are the same person.

probably because no-one (sane) want's to endorse either side, nut