Jacinta Allan declares she’ll stand against any leadership challenger after Labor factions move against her | Victorian politics

Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has defied Labour’s power brokers and vowed to fight any attempt to oust her as leader, amid pressure to force her to resign before parliament restarts this week.

Just four months before the state election, caucus from Labour’s left and right parties met on Sunday night to debate whether Allan still had the support of a majority of the caucus. The group appears to agree that he did not do this.

Multiple Labor sources confirmed that a cross-section of ministers met Allan before Monday’s cabinet meeting and said they believed Allan had lost the majority of support and called on him to resign.

The group included MPs from the prime minister’s own socialist left wing, including ministers Ingrid Stitt and Gabrielle Williams and MP Mathew Hilakari, as well as right-wing frontbenchers Anthony Carbines and Lizzie Blandthorn.

They had hoped he would resign before a possible leadership vote at the caucus meeting on Tuesday, the first day of parliament sitting after the winter recess.

Allan’s resignation would allow his most likely rival, deputy prime minister Ben Carroll, to run unopposed for the leadership.

However, in a letter to Victoria Labor state secretary Steve Staikos, Allan indicated he would take part in the leadership vote; This will trigger a weeks-long process in which both the parliamentary group and rank-and-file Labor members will vote.

The process, launched after the instability of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era, has not yet been tested but a leader is expected to be chosen by 50 per cent of MPs and 50 per cent of party members.

“I am referring to media speculation regarding the leadership of the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party and am writing to request that you ensure that Victorian Labor is prepared to hold an election for the leadership of the State Parliamentary Labor Party should an election become necessary,” Allan says in the letter seen by Guardian Australia.

“As you know, Victorian Labor Party rules require the Secretary of State to provide administrative support to ensure the effective conduct of voting for all eligible party members.

“I would also like to formally notify you of my intention to stand for leadership of the Victorian Parliamentary Labor Party should an election become necessary.”

A party spokesman said there would be no public comment on the matter “at this time”.

The letter backs up claims by ministers close to Allan that he would fight the potential challenge.

A minister told Guardian Australia that Allan was “not going anywhere” and described the leak of the meeting as an attempt to accelerate the leak.

Another said not all parliamentarians in the left-wing group were consulted before the meeting and that there was no “uniform attitude” within the group.

“There are no vacancies on the left, no rivals and no consolidated positions,” the minister said. “It’s just a big smoke machine.”

Attorney-general Sonya Kilkenny, a key supporter of the Prime Minister, said on Sunday that leadership speculation was “idle gossip”.

“I give him my full support and this idle gossip does no good to Victorians,” Kilkenny said. “This only hurts Victorians at a time when Victorians need all of us to focus on them, and that is exactly what Jacinta Allan and our Labor government and team are doing.”

Allan became prime minister following the resignation of Daniel Andrews in September 2023.

Momentum was building for a leadership spill before parliament reconvened for the winter recess in June, driven by poor polling and Allan’s poor personal approval ratings, growing support for One Nation and concerns about his response to organized crime infiltrating the state’s Grand Structure through the construction union.

Allan, who previously served as transport infrastructure minister overseeing the Grand Building, has rejected growing calls for a royal commission.

But Carroll rejected a challenge, looking Allan in the eye at a bizarre press conference at the time and declaring he would not challenge him for the leadership.

“I have a little girl at home and I couldn’t be more proud to make sure Jacinta Allan grows up knowing that I support her becoming a world-class prime minister and getting re-elected in her own right,” he told reporters at the same press conference on June 15.

If elected leader, Carroll is understood to immediately call for a royal commission, work to resolve the pay dispute between the state government and public school teachers and seek to improve the party’s economic reputation and standing with business.