Trades Hall secretary Luke Hilakari at the Victorian Trades Hall. Credit:Patrick Scala By last Saturday morning, the Premier knew he had to clean up the mess. "I won't go into the exact words I used, but they were left in no doubt that I had no confidence in them to continue in those roles, that their positions were untenable, and that they resign," Andrews says. "And that is what they have done." It's a truism of politics that when governments are in trouble, the tendency is to reach for the next big announcement in the hope the news cycle will eventually move on. Andrews has never been short of a policy to sell, yet few Victorian leaders have endured so much damage in a short time – including the loss of three cabinet ministers (Adem Somyurek, Jane Garrett and Steve Herbert) one government whip (Cesar Melhem), and now, the speaker and his deputy.

Residents arrive at Station Street for a public meeting against the proposed juvenile prison for Werribee. Credit:Wayne Taylor But while the latest expense scandal has plunged the government into a fresh internal crisis, it is emblematic of a broader external problem, too: a looming backlash in the western suburbs that make up Labor's traditional heartland. After all, this was not just another case of self-entitled politicians making dubious expense claims courtesy of taxpayers. This was a case in which two Labor politicians fleeced more than $150,000 between them to live by the beach – miles away from the working-class western electorates they are meant to represent. Local residents protest against the youth detention centre planned for Werribee South. Credit:Wayne Taylor What's more, the latest rorts came on top of many other issues that some view as potent symbols of a government taking its safe seats for granted: the proposal for a youth jail in Werribee South, the lack of transparency around the Western Distributor toll road, fears of a rubbish tip expansion in Ravenhall, rising crime rates in rapidly growing suburbs across the city of Wyndham.

To government supporters and critics alike, the expense scandal was the ultimate insult to the party's base. Residents campaigned against plans to build the facility at Werribee South. Credit:Wayne Taylor "The rorting of entitlements is something that workers cannot stomach," says Trades Hall Council secretary Luke Hilakari. "Members of Parliament need to be held to a higher standard than members of the public. They should know better." About 15 kilometres from Spring Street's corridors of power, Labor's western frontier begins once you cross the West Gate Bridge, stretching from the gentrified seats of Williamstown, Footscray and Altona to the outer electorates of Kororoit, St Albans, Tarneit, Werribee, Melton and Sydenham. Question time: Speaker Telmo Languiller has agreed to repay about $40,000 he had claimed for living in Queenscliff while representing Tarneit. Credit:Jason South

Out here, ALP voters have been rusted on for years – so much so, that Labor's seats will generally need swings of between 12.56 per cent and 19.98 per cent to change hands at the next election. But while next year's poll won't necessarily be won or lost in Melbourne's west, a number of government MPs have sensed a shift that they fear could potentially loosen Labor's grip, pointing to the volatility of western Sydney as a cautionary tale. Labor MP for Melton Don Nardella. Throw in the popularity of One Nation and the potential for a preference deal with the Liberals, and suddenly the idea of safe ALP seats becoming more marginal doesn't seem entirely far-fetched. A few weeks ago, a gang of youths of African appearance stormed the family-friendly Summersault festival in Caroline Springs on a Saturday night, stealing bags and mobile phones in a crime spree that has become all too familiar.

Deputy Speaker Don Nardella claimed $113,000 from the "second residence" allowance to live in the beachside suburb of Ocean Grove. Pauline Hanson took to Facebook to tell followers that deportation would be the "best" solution: "Round them up and get them out!" she wrote in a post that attracted hundreds of mostly supportive comments within minutes. As one minister noted this week, when Hanson starts talking about Melbourne's west, "we should start worrying". Some party hardheads clearly are. Internal research based on Senate votes in the last federal election, for instance, have identified two significant One Nation "pockets" in the ALP's heartland. The first is the seat of Melton held by Nardella – at least until the next poll, when the embattled backbencher is set to quit after 25 years in politics. But the second is Treasurer Tim Pallas' electorate of Werribee, now the centre of a fiercely contested stoush over plans to build a 244-bed maximum security jail for youth offenders. In a sign of the community's outrage, residents have already named it "Tim's Palace". On a crisp Monday evening last month 20 tractors rumbled out of Fragapane Farms, a family-run vegetable distribution business, along Duncans Road in Werribee South, past the Hoppers Lane site earmarked for the new prison, and into Watton Street, where thousands of people had gathered to protest.

Among them was federal Labor MP Joanne Ryan, Wyndham mayor Henry Barlow, state Liberal Bernie Finn and local Greens MP Colleen Hartland. Each comes from different tiers of government, but share with residents a common concern: that there is not enough of a buffer between the new prison and nearby farms, homes and the tourism precinct, which includes Werribee Open Range Zoo and Werribee Mansion. The message to Andrews was simple: find another site, or suffer the electoral consequences. Werribee South resident Melinda Marinis was there that night, too, having learnt about the plans through a government press release – one week before a letter arrived from Pallas telling constituents he was happy to hear their concerns. "I've rung the 1800 number at the bottom of their letters along with Pallas' office every single day, only to be told that because youth justice sits in Minister [Jenny] Mikakos' jurisdiction, she is the one we should be speaking to," says the 37-year-old. "The whole thing is a joke. My message to the government is don't take your votes for granted because sooner or later this seat will become marginal. I think that would be a good change. Personally, I think we need it." How widespread the discontent is remains to be seen, but the anger over the government's lack of consultation is simply the latest flashpoint in a series of local woes that Andrews has been grappling with for months.

In the back streets of Footscray, residents remain troubled about the lack of transparency over Transurban's tolls for the Western Distributor road project, and the government's refusal to release traffic modelling to prove that the project indeed stacks up. In the open plains of Ravenhall, locals are fighting a push by waste management giant Cleanaway to triple the size of a rubbish tip – a proposal that has left the government stuck between a proverbial rock and hard place because it would provide about $100 million a year in landfill fees to fund other projects. And across Wyndham more broadly, there are the inevitable woes that come with being one of Melbourne's fastest growing areas, where an average of 87 babies are born each week: overstretched services, congested roads and not enough jobs. Harry van Moorst, the director of the Western Region Environment Centre, says residents often feel as though they are Melbourne's "dumping ground" for waste, for sewerage, for juvenile offenders. But voters have a tendency to stick with Labor all the same, he says, "because the Greens aren't strong enough yet, and it's not as though when we had a Liberal government, that was any better".

"What we really need is a strong independent, but in the absence of that, sometimes it's better the devil you know than the one you don't," says van Moorst. Not surprisingly, Pallas argues the difference between the Andrews government and the Coalition couldn't be more stark, citing a list of investments to prove his point: the $5.5 billion Western Distributor, $1.8 billion plan to widen and duplicate arterial roads, record funding for new schools and hospitals. He agrees that in his own seat "there are a substantial and legitimate number of constituents" who are angry about the youth jail, but in general terms, he tells Fairfax Media: "The idea that we take the west for granted, I think, quite frankly, is wrong and it's certainly not supported by evidence." Back at Spring Street, one thing is much more certain: the latest expenses scandal has created serious internal damage to a government that has already spent much of its first two years lurching from one crisis to the next. The debacle muddied Labor's message to workers in the aftermath of the Fair Work Commission's penalty rates decision last week.

And it highlighted, yet again, the sense of entitlement among the political class, and the inability of some elected officials to accept basic community standards. As more than one government MP conceded in recent days, this could be the biggest problem of all – not only in the west, for but politics more broadly. Ministerial roundabout Daniel Andrews has lost three ministers, a whip and both his speaker and deputy speaker in less than two years. Adem Somyurek The Small Business Minister was forced to stand down in July 2015 after his chief of staff alleged that he had bullied her. He maintained his innocence and blamed the ordeal on a factional spat but after receiving a report into the allegations from retired Justice Michael Strong, Premier Daniel Andrews said he had lost confidence in Somyurek.

Cesar Melhem Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's long-term union ally was forced to quit as the Victorian government's upper house whip in the middle of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption after allegations that the AWU received secret commissions in deals with employers while he was state secretary of that union. Jane Garrett The Emergency Services Minister, once touted as a future leadership contender, resigned in June 2016 after refusing to sign off an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) that she believed would give the United Firefighters Union too much power over volunteer Country Fire Authority members. Steve Herbert Training and Corrections MInister was forced to quit cabinet in November 2016 after being caught using his ministerial car to chauffer his dogs Patch and Ted around the state. Telmo Languiller The Speaker promptly apologised and vowed to repay almost $40,000 he had claimed as a second residence allowance for living in the seaside resort town of Queenscliff – 80 kilometres away from his Tarneit electorate. Parliament's audit committee is examining Languiller's vehicle logs to see if he was genuinely living in Queenscliff. Don Nardella The Deputy Speaker also claimed a second residence allowance – totalling almost $113,000 over almost three years – to live by the beach at Ocean Grove, rather than his electorate of Melton in the outer western suburbs. He has refused to pay the money back.