Challenges for both sides of Vic politics

Labor may have won the state election, but it won't just be the Liberals who face challenges over the next four years in Victorian politics.

Nearly a week after the Victorian election and Labor is basking in the glory of a landslide win while the Liberals are in crisis, but both will have a challenging four years ahead.

The hurdles for the Liberals after their disastrous Saturday are obvious - find a new leader, have a good hard think about what they stand for, try and keep the government accountable.

Across the aisle, a bigger party room, a history of rorting MPs and re-elevating a man accused of bullying back into the ministry will be the challenges for Premier Daniel Andrews, who campaigned heavily on respect for women.

"There'll be more people who might be agitating for particular policies and the factions are very strong," Monash University politics expert Zareh Ghazarian told AAP.

Mr Andrews should give his colleagues a strong talking to about behaving to avoid another term mired by scandal, Dr Ghazarian said.

"They were able to get through that they were delivering, but when they are seen to be serial rorters, voters don't like it and will turn," he said.

Factional jostling on Tuesday saw the return of Adem Somyurek to cabinet, following his 2015 booting after he was accused of physically bullying his female chief of staff.

It was a factional show of strength, says Dr Ghazarian.

But the appointment came after Mr Andrews spent weeks railing on the Greens over its Footscray candidate Angus McAlpine who once rapped derogatory songs about women and Sandringham candidate Dominic Phillips who was accused of rape.

Mr Andrews said Mr Somyurek was now a "better man", but the announcement was derided by Greens Leader Samantha Ratnam.

"This is why I won't be lectured to by Premier Andrews when it comes to women," she tweeted on Wednesday.

Mr Andrews is keen to hammer home his female empowerment credentials, splitting men and women evenly in cabinet.

"It's definitely progress, it's good that it's happened, but it's a sad indictment on society that it's such a rarity that it does make the news," RMIT University economics expert Leonora Risse told AAP.

"It sets us up for not just progressing in terms of fairness and representation of voices - we should expect to see a change in the nature of politics."

She said it was a pity the opposition's obliteration in the polls meant even fewer women from that side of politics will be in parliament.

"If you had an equal balance of gender ... you wouldn't necessarily be bringing it up as a point of contention and it would no longer be a distraction and you'd be able to concentrate more on policies that matter," Dr Risse said.

But in the more immediate future the Liberals will have to work out who will be leader after Matthew Guy's resignation and how to effectively scrutinise the government.

"Opposition is always difficult at the best of times and it's far more difficult when you lose so many resources and staff," Dr Ghazarian said.


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Source: AAP



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