The story
Coined by former Prime Minister John Howard after the Coalition's landslide defeat to the state Labor government of Premier Daniel Andrews at the 2018 Victorian state election. Howard referred to Victoria as "the Massachusetts of Australia", in reference to both states being progressive and left-leaning. In response, after the Andrews government was re-elected at the 2022 state election, in his victory speech, Andrews referred to Massachusetts as "the Victoria of the United States".
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.