Politics & Council
31 July, 2026
GAWN!
JACINTA Allan is expected to quit State Parliament at November’s election after being turfed from the Labor leadership.
JACINTA Allan is expected to quit State Parliament at November’s election after being turfed from the Labor leadership.
The Government caucus over the weekend moved to dump the embattled but defiant Ms Allan as Victorian premier, less than four months before Victorians go to the polls.
She had rejected internal calls to resign on Monday but moments before a leadership vote Tuesday morning waved the white flag with deputy Ben Carroll eventually taking the job after a second challenger withdrew.
Ms Allan said in her resignation speech that “whatever I do next I will still be fighting for them (working families).”
She had served 1036 days as premier.
The member for Bendigo East since 1999, Ms Allan has presided over a dramatic dive in Labor’s
electoral fortunes since being annointed by the retiring Dan Andrew’s for the top in September 2023.
Ms Allan held Bendigo East by almost 11 per cent at the 2022 election but has been predicted by some pollsters to come off second-best in the challenge being mounted by the Nationals’ Andrew Lethlean to represent the seat that includes Serpentine, Dingee and Campbells Forest.
The career politician pulled off a surprise when she first won Bendigo East in 1999 to become the youngest woman elected to Parliament Within three years she was a minister in Premier Steve Bracks’ government and has been on Labor’s frontbench ever since.
She was contacted to confirm whether she would re-contest Bendigo Easter in November or retire from the Parliament.
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Haylett hints her switch to Carroll
RIPON MP Martha Haylett has put her support behind new premier Ben Carroll and a promised new direction for the Government.
A month after Ms Haylett said she was not spooked by poor opinion polls and stood with Jacinta Allan, after Tuesday’s Caucus meeting she said: “This was not an easy decision, but there is too much at stake this election.
“We cannot risk a Liberal-One Nation government that will make savage cuts across rural and regional Victoria.”
“A Liberal-One Nation Government would cut frontline workers, hospital and school funding across the Loddon Shire.”
“I know our government needs to go in a new direction on some of the key issues facing our state. “I believe Ben Carroll is the person best placed to lead us in that new direction and I look forward to working with him to deliver for communities across Ripon.”
Ms Haylett holds Ripon on a 2.8 per cent margin.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Read More: Loddon Shire