Suspended Victorian Parliament sparks Liberal leadership talk

The opposition’s setbacks have raised frustration among some Liberal MPs, who The Australian Financial Review understands have been discussing another challenge to Mr O’Brien. A challenge by Brad Battin was defeated by 22 votes to nine in March.

Former leader Matthew Guy is considered by most to be the only other viable leader but has said he is reluctant to take on the role again, after being wiped out by Mr Andrews in 2018. Multiple Liberal MPs, speaking off the record, said there was appetite for change but it was unclear how that would play out, particularly given MPs were not meeting.

Supporters of the mild-mannered Mr O’Brien point to a pre-election shake-up of his office including bringing in the former spin doctor for Queensland premier Campbell Newman and executive producer of 7 News Melbourne, Lee Anderson, as well as Channel 7 chief football reporter Mark Stevens.

While the state government’s primary vote has dropped six percentage points since the November 2018 poll, the swing away from Labor largely delivered gains to independent candidates. The opposition improved its primary vote by only 1 per cent, from 35 to 36 per cent, according to a Resolve Political Monitor poll in June.

Victoria recorded 24 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, 10 of which were not isolated, after health authorities extended Melbourne’s lockdown for two weeks until September 2, imposed a 9pm curfew, closed playgrounds and Parliament and required permits for permitted workers to leave their home.

Mr Andrews condemned “anti-Semitic behaviour” following the engagement party in St Kilda on Monday attended by 69 people in breach of health orders, which led to seven COVID-19 cases.

Separately, the Peacock Hotel in Northcote was vandalised and targeted with abusive reviews after wrongly being named by police as serving drinks for an illegal gathering.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton defended the decision to close playgrounds, revealing that 50 of the state’s active cases are under the age of 10.

“We are investigating a potential transmission in a playground,” he said, as well as between students who “shared an outdoor walk home and transmitted between them”.

Asked about a State Coroner’s report that one in 10 of last year’s suicide deaths were linked to COVID-19 stress and reports of a 51 per cent increase in teenage self-harm, Professor Sutton said it was heartbreaking.

“These are absolutely tragic circumstances but I have been asked this question a hundred times. It is always the same answer. The alternative is that this goes on for longer and it is harsher, or we suffer hundreds of deaths, literally hundreds of deaths from coronavirus.

“The awful consequences of lockdown are apparent to everyone, myself maybe more than most. If I could choose otherwise, I would choose otherwise.”