Where Daniel Andrews had a bus to launch his official campaign, Matthew Guy was dealing with an ambulance.
Andrews hit the road on Wednesday in Labor’s campaign bus, having ditched the North Face jacket and stern expression he became known for during the pandemic, in favour of a grin and a jacket embroidered with the insignia of the state of Victoria.
The bus was big, bright and very hard to miss. As was deputy premier, Jacinta Allan, and transport minister, Ben Carroll, who joined Andrews, as well as wife, Catherine, described by many within the party as his “secret weapon” thanks to her ease in front of the cameras and ability to humanise the premier.
To that end, Catherine handed out muffins and pastries to journalists and promised to make her “famous” fruit cake before the campaign end.
The first stop was at the Ballarat East factory of train manufacturer Alstom, where Andrews said a re-elected Labor government would cap the cost of regional public transport at $9.20 a day (or $4.60 for concession card holders).
The announcement, which also included $600m for new trains and $207m to increase the frequency of regional weekend services, trumped the Coalition’s earlier pledge to halve V/Line fares.
It also came after Department of Transport advice reportedly showed Guy’s signature policy to cap metropolitan public transport fares at $2 a day would cost $900m more than the Coalition has promised.
Much like in previous campaigns, Andrews did not mention the opposition leader by name. Allan was tasked with going on the attack, speaking of previous “savage cuts” under a Coalition government, who “given the chance they would do it again”.
Overall, it was a disciplined affair.
The same could not be said for the opposition’s first day.
The Liberals are not using a campaign bus this year, instead debuting a 1970s-style ambulance emblazoned with slogans including “$2bn cut from health this year”, “Health system in crisis” and “80,000-plus waiting for surgery”.
The party’s campaign HQ said their “Ditch Danmobile” would embark on a “month-long mission in search of the missing 4,000 ICU beds” – a reference to a government commitment at the start of the pandemic, which relied on modelling of Covid cases that never eventuated.
Within an hour, the head of the Victorian Ambulance Union, Danny Hill, questioned whether the stunt was legal, given state laws banning use of the word “ambulance” on any vehicle not owned or operated by an ambulance service without permission from the health department.
Between this intervention, and the Department of Transport’s costings, Guy was on the back foot by the time he held a press conference in Parkdale, in Melbourne’s south-east, to announce a five-year freeze on the service charges on water bills if elected.
He was, as those close to him sometimes call him, “Angry Matthew”.
Asked when the costings for his $2 public transport fares would be made public, Guy replied: “I’m not sure if this is a gotcha moment.”
When it was suggested that someone could mistake the party’s “Ditch Danmobile” for a real ambulance, he replied: “Come on.”
Guy’s press conference itself was held in a four-bedroom home with a pool in the back yard. From the kitchen, he described his election promises as “realistic” ways of “helping average families right across our state”.
He did, however, achieve some cut-through with his comments opposing the repatriation of relatives of Islamic State fighters from Syria to Victoria.
Despite the smiling faces on the big red bus, Guy is facing a barrage of negative ads by Labor in the lead-up to the poll.
The latest, rolled out on Wednesday, links his campaign slogan “Real Solutions for all Victorians” to prime ministers Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison, who have used the phrase.
Another, which debuts Sunday night, seeks to remind voters of the behaviour of Liberal MPs Tim Smith and David Davis and accuses Guy of standing by them.
Davis apologised after he was kicked out of a Victorian Multicultural Commission dinner in March after he had too much to drink, while Smith was forced to resign after crashing his car into a Hawthorn home with more than twice the blood alcohol legal limit.
One of the biggest barriers Guy faces ahead of the 26 November poll is the same he faced in 2018 – people are yet to be convinced about giving him and the Liberal party their vote.
He will need to take a page out of the premier’s book and conduct a rebrand of his own if he wants to improve his chances on this front.
