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Sam Groth’s resignation exposes the Victorian Liberals’ self-destructive culture: internal envy, factional warfare and incompetence gifting Jacinta Allan another term as Victoria slides further into decline.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan received a late Christmas present last week — and this one wasn’t bought with borrowed money.

Her Christmas gift arrived courtesy of the Victorian Liberal Party, with deputy leader Sam Groth announcing this afternoon that he won’t contest the November election.

And why is he quitting politics?

The deputy leader of the Victorian Liberals has grown weary of fighting… his colleagues.

Tall Poppy Syndrome

Sam Groth released a statement explaining:

“When you find yourself having to fight against your own team, it becomes impossible to put those interests first.

That is not the standard I came into public life to accept, and it is not the kind of politics Victorians deserve.”

And so the one-time rising star of Victorian conservatism is lost to politics after just three short years.

I presume the only reason his 26 Liberal colleagues remain in the Victorian Parliament is because they enjoy punching themselves in the face.

Groth and his wife, Brittany, at least, have better things to do. And can you blame them?

Groth entered Parliament in 2022 and was elevated to deputy leader just two years later.

As I said, he was widely regarded as a rising star — and therein lay the problem.

In the Victorian Liberal Party, competence is not a pathway to success; it’s a liability.

As his public profile began to rise, so too did the envy.

When people started to talk Sam Groth up as a potential future leader, he was hauled into the office of party leadership and lectured about “unity”.

Translation: Stop being popular, you’re making the rest of us look ordinary.

According to party sources, Sam Groth was warned that publicity surrounding his ambitions was “unhelpful.”

Which begged the question… unhelpful to whom?

Anyway, between internal fighting and media scrutiny, Sam Groth has now had enough.

He’ll see out his term, and then go and do something useful with his life, rather than spend it watching a political death spiral in slow motion.

Self-Sabotage

Jacinta Allan must be struggling to believe her luck.

The year is only five days old, and already, we have yet another example of an opposition apparently intent on remaining in opposition.

Victoria is drowning in red ink, crime and social decay — and yet Labor remains safe.

Not because Labor governs well, but because the alternative is spectacularly unconvincing.

The Victorian Liberals behave less like a political party and more like a collection of personal brands locked in a permanent HR dispute. A game of egos so absurd, it’s almost impressive… provided you don’t mind the looming catastrophe.

Victoria desperately needs a change of government. What it doesn’t have is an opposition remotely interested in providing one.

So here we are: a failing government, an imploding opposition, and a state drifting further into decline.

It’s not just that the Liberals don’t seem capable of replacing Labor… it’s that they don’t seem even particularly interested in trying.

Which leaves Victorians with the same grim prospect after the November election… just more of the same… until the lights go out… and there’s nothing left worth salvaging.

Sam Groth, at least, had the sense to salvage something from the wreckage — namely, his own life — before the Victorian Liberals could drag him down with them.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report. Image courtesy of YouTube.