The swings were patchy and, in the end, in the wrong seats for the Libs to make much headway. They are as far from the Government benches now as they were before the election, so it was a resounding defeat.
But in a way, I agree with you. The Andrews Government has some glaring faults which may not be addressed because of complacency after this win. Hopefully, Labor will see the loss of inner city seats to The Greens (as also happened in the May Federal election) as a sign that their policies on energy and forestry need more heft. The loss of suburban seats to the Libs will be written off as the usual cost-of-living driven swings, but will hopefully also contain some lessons about the way governments could address the costs imposed by poor housing and land development policy (ie urban sprawl). Amidst the hooha and backslapping, I hope there is time for mature reflection and continued policy work.
I personally doubt that the Libs will learn anything at all as they seem structurally unable to change their approach and learn even obvious lessons from phenomena like the Teal insurgency and the continuing loss of the youth and women's vote.
