Jacinta Allan wants voters to see Victoria’s 12-year-old Labor government as ‘new and united’. Can she cling to power? | Victorian politics
Victorian premier Jacinta Allan on Wednesday sought to send a clear message to her increasingly jaded voters as she stood alongside new faces in her reshuffled cabinet: despite 12 years in power, her government is – apparently – new.
Allan, whose Labor government will seek an unprecedented fourth term in November, repeated the word 17 times in his four-minute opening speech to reporters. In one sentence, he talked about his “new cabinet”, “new portfolios”, “new solutions” and “new areas that will move this government forward”.
This was followed only by repeating that his government was one team (six times), united (four) and strong (twice).
While it may be politically wise to recast his long-serving government as a renewed but stable one at a time of global uncertainty (conditions that mostly favor incumbents), it is unclear whether this pitch will be enough to quell the insider leadership rumblings that disrupted parliamentary sessions in March.
The change follows the resignations of ministers Mary-Anne Thomas, Danny Pearson and Gayle Tierney, who announced on Monday that they would not participate in the November election and would resign from the cabinet immediately. They join Natalie Hutchins, who moved to the bench in December.
Their departures wipe out the cabinet’s more than three decades of experience and leave it almost unrecognizable after being sworn in alongside Daniel Andrews after the 2014 election. (Only Allan and Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio remained).
Opposition leader Jess Wilson was quick to describe the departures as a “swapping of deckchairs” on the Titanic, but a major pre-election turnover is unprecedented.
Four substitutes fill the vacancies: Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke, Kororoit MP Luba Grigorovitch, Box Hill MP Paul Hamer and Eureka MP Michaela Settle.
All four were elected unopposed at a convention on Tuesday following weekend factional negotiations. Grigorovitch, former state minister of the Railways, Trams and Buses Union, was the choice of the right group, while the remaining three were on the left.
Privately, many Labor sources have expressed concerns that Grigorovitch’s past support for former CFMEU boss John Setka will be weaponized by the opposition, particularly following allegations of union corruption at the government’s Big Build sites.
Their fears were compounded after Grigorovitch told reporters at his first press conference as minister on Tuesday that he had “not abandoned his friends” and would still take Setka’s call, depending on what Setka wanted to discuss.
Although the prime minister does not determine who will enter the cabinet, he does determine the roles. It is clear that compared to other newcomers, Grigorovitch was given relatively lower-level portfolios of young people, carers and volunteers.
Settle, a former sheep farmer, is interested in agriculture and regional development, while Hamer takes on tough work such as reformatories, youth justice and local government.
Edbrooke has taken on consumer relations and three new portfolios that will see him play a key role in the run-up to the election: cost of living, tenants and “men and boys”; the latter aimed to address issues such as mental health, domestic violence and the increasing influence of the manosphere.
Other major promotions went to MPs close to the prime minister, including Harriet Shing (health), Nick Staikos (housing and construction and the Suburban Rail Loop), Ingrid Stitt (private minister for government services and state) and treasurer Jaclyn Symes (Victoria and regions development).
Sonya Kilkenny, who already has a broad attorney-general and planning portfolio, is adding violence reduction and financing, a role she is already largely doing. The latter raised eyebrows in the caucus, although MPs close to Kilkenny said he was fully capable of handling the extra workload. (Others, including stakeholdersdisagree.)
According to several Labor Party sources, Steve Dimopoulos told the prime minister he wanted to take on a treasurer-like portfolio but that he would only provide him with economic growth and jobs.
For ministers on Labour’s right wing, the situation was mixed. Enver Erdogan took the environment and outdoor recreation portfolio from Dimopoulos, Anthony Carbines became leader of the lower house and Melissa Horne lost the roads and road safety portfolio but secured domestic violence prevention.
Two MPs stood for election as Allan’s main leadership rivals, Ben Carroll and Gabrielle Williams, also received modest portfolio adjustments.
Labor MPs had mixed views on the change, with one saying promotions in their party “have never been a meritocracy”.
Another acknowledged that it was “beginning to be too late” for a leadership change, but the change did not mend the cracks. The MP noted the vote from the prime minister’s socialist left group, in which Allan had pressed for Mordialloc MP Tim Richardson to be elevated to cabinet, but the group voted for Hamer instead.
“It may not mean much to the punters, but it was a blow to the prime minister at the meeting,” they said.
The challenges continue outside the cabinet room. Parliamentary secretary positions have not yet been finalized as of Friday. Candidates need to be chosen to replace Pearson and Thomas. And upper house primaries have been postponed until May amid factional jockeying over top voting positions, especially if group voting tickets are not scrapped.
Another, more pressing legislative headache is Wednesday’s supreme court decision striking down the state’s election donation laws. The prime minister said the government would push retroactive legislation through parliament in the hope that the threat would prevent a surge in uncontrolled donations.
There are also implications of the Geelong refinery fire that threaten to deepen the pressure on the state’s fuel supply at a time when the war in Iran is putting huge pressure on its budget.
These issues are not the prime minister’s business, but they all fall on his desk. He hoped that talk of “new solutions” and a unified team would be more than just chatter.
