Tony Abbott sweats as Victorian voters cast harsh judgment Denis Napthine concedes defeat Thanking his family and listing the achievements of his Coalition government, Denis Napthine acknowledges defeat and steps down as party leader. There will be no shortage of theories about what caused the Victorian result but you can safely bet federal Labor will target the toxic standing of the Abbott government as the key driver. Normally such claims are transparently self-serving. Voters understand the delineation between state and federal governments and are loath to waste one trip to the ballot box pointlessly ventilating grievances about the other. Tony Abbott and Denis Napthine in October. But this election has been different. Noticeably so. Without inspiring leaders, contrasting programs, or the presentation of a transformative vision, the local pre-election period has been vulnerable to national hijack. Some have dubbed the Victorian poll a "Seinfeld election" - a show about nothing. More accurately it seems, this has been the palimpsest election - one where pre-existing state factors have been all but scrubbed or paled to be over-written with sexier federal issues. Even the hotly contested issue of the East West Link has been mired in the federal sphere with much of the money coming from Canberra and Tony Abbott letting it be known that the billions committed would not be available for re-deployment on public transport if Labor were to win. For the hapless Napthine government, this federal focus could not have been more inconvenient. Because it started behind and then weathered some of the least favourable background conditions at the hands of its hamfisted federal colleagues. Denis Napthine's efforts were hampered by Tony Abbott's actions. Photo: Leanne Pickett Canberra's ill-timed restoration of federal fuel excise rises early on (via regulation because he cannot pass it in the Senate) and the woeful mismanagement of the GP co-payment issue in the last critical days of the campaign were major embuggerances to Denis Napthine's pitch - no question. In a state with the highest mainland jobless level, and where the federal government was already synonymous with insensitivity over Alcoa, and the automotive industry, the charisma-challenged Napthine option has struggled for an independent voice and been damned by association. And Napthine's risible incapacity to "educate" Tony Abbott, as Victorians might see it, has merely made things worse. However it is in Canberra that the message from voters will be causing real heart-ache into the future. As the nation's second biggest state, Victoria is already an under-performer for the coalition having supplied just 14 of the Liberal Party's 74 seats and just two more when you add in the Nationals to the joint coalition total nationally of 89. For the first time in recent days, senior federal Liberals are suddenly alive to the risk of becoming one-term wonders. If it could happen in Victoria - after nearly 60 years - it can happen nationally. It is, after all, what the polls have been saying since late 2013. The involvement of the Prime Minister in the campaign was almost zero. Bill Shorten as a Victorian however, was heavily present. Labor has made plenty out of that too. But Shorten must know that the Victorian result could make his job harder if it sparks a change of approach by Abbott towards the more sensitive and explanatory style of government voters appear to be craving.