The incompetent Victorian Liberals are out of touch and its extreme new leader is out of his depth.
Brad Battin - who is infamous for spreading bizarre conspiracy theories and being fast and loose with facts - needs to account for the following.
Brad Battin lied about Prahran Police Station.
He said Prahran Police Station hasn't had an upgrade since 2005. That's wrong.
Prahran Police Station was upgraded in the 2010s. Even the Liberals said the upgrade would "enhance the ability of Victoria Police to continue targeting crime in [the] local area."
Brad Battin lied about police numbers.
He said no additional police have been allocated to Prahran since 2005. That's wrong.
Thanks to this Government's $4.5 billion investment in Victoria Police, 51 new police have been allocated to the Prahran Division, including nine family violence specialist police.
Brad Battin lied about the Suburban Rail Loop business case.
He said the Victorian Government never released the Suburban Rail Loop business case. That's wrong.
The 402-page Suburban Rail Loop business and investment case was released to the public in August 2021.
Brad Battin lied about Government support for our firefighters.
He said of the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund: "Where is that money going? The Government aren't even investing currently the amount they're getting from the Fire Services Levy back into fire services." That's wrong.
Every single dollar raised by the Fire Services Levy went back into fire services, and every single dollar raised by the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund will go back into our emergency and disaster recovery services.
Brad Battin has been wrong about firefighters before. He said they didn't show up to Black Saturday. Victorians remember that awful day differently.
Brad Battin re-opened the door on nuclear power in Victoria.
He said he would have to take the question of nuclear power "back to the party room" before making his position public. Yet the party already had a position. In June, the previous Liberal Leader (a moderate) ruled it out.
Battin added that he needs to bring in the bosses because "I've only been in this role for a few days." What other basic questions does Brad Battin have to take to his right-wing party room to decide for him? Watch this space.
Brad Battin got it wrong on Victorian home building.
Brad Battin said Victoria was building 54,000 homes a year.
According to ABS building activity data, Victoria is building more than 60,000 homes a year - the most in the country. The difference is only small change if you're a Liberal and you think thousands of new homes for young people don't matter.
Brad Battin praised Jeff Kennett as his favourite Premier.
This gaffe isn't a lie - it's the truth. Brad Battin's political hero Jeff Kennett closed schools, hospitals and regional train lines. Brad Battin as Premier would do it all again. It's a surprise he admitted it so early.
Seven clangers in seven days reveals the truth:
The incompetent and divided Victorian Liberals are out of touch - and their extreme new Leader is out of his depth.
Victorians should brace themselves. Over the coming months, we're going to hear more and more lies from the under-prepared Brad Battin, because he is a conspiracy theorist who makes stuff up.
Some of his gaffes might be funny, but his agenda in power won't be - because all the Liberals want to do is cut, cut, cut. That's what this right-wing Liberal Leader means when he says 'smaller government' over and over.
'Smaller government' is just Liberal code for a smaller public health system, a smaller public education system, smaller wages, smaller job growth - and a smaller future. Victorians deserve a whole lot more than that.
