Premier resigns to sidestep Labor leadership showdown
Ben Carroll is set to become Victoria’s 50th premier as Jacinta Allan stands aside to avoid a bloody leadership battle four months out from the state election.
Ben Carroll has been elected Victoria’s new premier unopposed after a testy meeting that threatened to derail his ascension to the top job.
Premier Jacinta Allan, from the party’s left faction, fell on her sword on Tuesday morning ahead of a caucus meeting where she was expected to lose a spill motion.
Shouting could be heard from inside the caucus room during the meeting that lasted almost two hours, where another contender nominated against Caroll before withdrawing her bid.
Caroll, a former lawyer and political advisor from the party’s smaller right faction, will be sworn in at Victoria’s Government House this afternoon, with transport minister Gabrielle Williams to be his deputy.
Williams beat out Steve Dimopoulos in a ballot to be the premier’s second-in-command.
In a video posted to social media on Tuesday afternoon, Carolls said his government “needs to go in a new direction”.
“This was not an easy decision, but the stakes at this election is too high,” Carroll said, as he faces polls that indicate a possible Liberal-One Nation government at Victoria’s upcoming November election.
Attorney-General and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny signalled her intention to nominate for the vacant leadership but dropped her nomination, avoiding a weeks-long election process involving votes of Labor MPs and rank-and-file members four months out from the Victorian state election.
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It comes after Allan had refused to step down on Monday after a cross-factional delegation, including six ministers, informed the embattled leader she had lost majority support of the caucus.
Allan had flagged her intention to nominate for the leadership if it went to an internal vote, as did Carroll after being approached by colleagues.
“After speaking with my colleagues overnight, I have made the difficult decision to step aside as leader of the Victorian state parliamentary Labor Party, and as premier of Victoria,” Allan said.
Her resignation paved the way for Carroll, her deputy and the state education minister, to be appointed her successor uncontested.
Allan, who described herself as a team player, said she was proud to have served as Victoria’s second female premier and would have relished leading Labor into the November election.
“I was more than ready. I saw off two Liberal leaders. Now, I expect my successor will see off the third,” she said.
She also urged women not to be turned off entering the cut-throat world of politics.
“If you’re a woman making your start in politics, let me say this to you today – please don’t look at what I have experienced this week and think ‘stuff that, I don’t want to be involved’,” Allan said.
“Look at the support I have experienced over my career and think ‘I can make a difference here too’.
“And if you want to make a difference in politics, you need to get up and fight, and I am a fighter.”
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She left the media conference without answering any questions, including whether she would remain in parliament after serving as the member for Bendigo East since 1999.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to Ms Allan, calling her a “very decent human being” who could be proud of her achievements in politics.
“This will have been a very difficult day. Politics can be a very tough business,” he said in Western Australia.
“I’ll work with whoever is the premier or chief minister in any state or territory.”
Allan was the youngest female MP ever elected to the Victorian parliament in 1999 at just 25 and also grabbed the title of the state’s youngest minister at 29.
Victorian Parliament is also set to debate an opposition no-confidence motion in the premier and government today, which can trigger an early election in the unlikely event it passes.
“This is a unique opportunity for Labor members of parliament not to stab their boss in the back in a side room in parliament,” Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury said.
There was no guarantee Carroll can lead Labor to a record fourth-straight election victory if he were to become premier, Redbridge pollster and former Liberal strategist Tony Barry said.
A significant cabinet reshuffle and policy overhaul would be needed to differentiate Carroll’s politics from Allan’s and subsequently remedy the drop in voter support for Labor incurred under her leadership, Barry said.
“There’s going to have be changes around the Suburban Rail Loop and other things where he differentiates himself from Jacinta Allan,” he said.
“Otherwise he’s going to be completely open to the attack of same horse, different jockey.
“In that situation, he might make a bad situation even worse.”
Allan has faced mounting pressure in recent months following revelations of corruption on Big Build projects.
She has refused to call a royal commission into the sector after corruption-busting lawyer Geoffrey Watson estimated it had cost the state $15 billion.
Persistent crime and a failure to reach a pay deal with public school teachers have also dogged the government.
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