Ken Davidson demolishes most of the key claims about the economic management of the Kennett government. As I’ve argued elsewhere the privatisation of Victoria’s electricity industry was roughly neutral in terms of its effect on the finances of the Victorian government – this is better than average for a privatisation, but does nothing to offset the losses associated with disasters like CityLink, the long-term damage associated with cuts in education spending or the waste associated with “Think Big” extravaganzas like the Grand Prix.

The one point I think it is necessary to concede is that the political-economic strategy of the Cain-Kirner government was hopeless. They were facing steady cuts in grants from the government and pressure to follow the neoliberal policy line favored by Keating. They neither openly attacked the Federal government (a sustainable political line that would have put the blame where it belonged) nor implemented the cuts. Eventually, they had to fail, and Keating got a premier who would implement the policies he wanted.