While medical experts debate the timing of peak Omicron, the non-Labor side of politics hopes a different type of ‘peak’ occurs at the Victorian election to be held later this year – peak accountability.

The job of every government is to ensure the future is better than the past. Yet when walking the streets of Melbourne in 2022, one cannot help but feel that every day is groundhog day.

The lockdowns may have ended because we are all vaccinated, but what have we got to show for it?

Is this what the future looks like? A ghost town of potential that never gets to move forward?

And after two long years of waiting for a better future, the Victorian public has had enough.

They are sick of the rules.

They are sick of the lies.

But most of all, Victorians are sick of a premier who blames them for his mistakes and gets angry when they disagree with him.

Victorians want new leadership. And they want a fresh start. What they definitely do not want is a government that shoots protesters in the street, tapes up playgrounds like crime scenes, and strips the public of their personal freedoms by random decree.

2023 needs to be different. And it can be different. But only if the public votes differently.

Victorians have an opportunity to vote for a future beyond the fear of Covid and the lockdowns of Labor. One that is dedicated to helping families, businesses, and individuals move on from the trauma of Covid and rebuild their lives.

A future where kids don’t fear lockdowns more than they fear Covid itself. Where parents don’t dread homeschooling or birthday parties. And where entrepreneurs pay taxes they can afford because they won’t need them returned as business welfare.

What has become clear during the pandemic is that the state government is incapable of delivering anything resembling that. Having repeatedly failed to get ahead of Covid, they cannot be trusted to govern our state, post-Covid.

Of course, there will be some who say there are no signs the public is preparing to dump ringmaster Andrews and his team of circus clowns. And yes, in an inexplicable way, the rafters under the marquee still appear to be full. But at what point does the public act on the matter of peak incompetence?

How many avoidable deaths are too many? How many dreams need to be shattered? Businesses broken? VCE years disrupted? Home-school days endured? Weddings postponed? Parents isolated? And funerals missed? How much more will the Victorian public take before peak incompetence unleashes peak accountability?

Predicting the Omicron peak has been difficult. Learned experts have been wrong and opinion makers have stopped trying. But when it comes to November’s state election, no one needs a special education or public audience to exchange peak incompetence for peak accountability. That decision rests with us all.

Asher Judah was the Liberal Party’s 2018 Election Candidate for Bentleigh. He tweets at @asherjudah.