{"id":204936,"date":"2025-10-11T07:47:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/204936\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T07:47:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T07:47:14","slug":"victorias-opposition-leader-launches-fresh-shadow-cabinet-ahead-of-state-election-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/204936\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria’s opposition leader launches fresh shadow cabinet ahead of state election next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin has promoted Kew MP Jess Wilson to shadow treasurer as part of a new shadow cabinet line-up to take to the next state election.<\/p>\n

Ms Wilson replaces James Newbury who was a key supporter of Mr Battin when he successfully challenged John Pesutto for the role of opposition leader in December last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Part of the opposition’s “fresh start” as Mr Battin described it, are three first-term MPs elevated to the shadow ministry because of their unique skills and life experiences.<\/p>\n

Warrandyte MP Nicole Werner, who has worked in the charity sector, has been given the portfolios of youth justice as well as children (including child protection).<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

First-term Liberal MP Nicole Werner has been promoted within Brad Battin’s shadow ministry.\u00a0 (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Ms Werner, who is the daughter of Chinese-Malaysian migrants and the first Asian woman elected to Victoria’s lower house, will also keep her existing portfolio of youth and future leaders.<\/p>\n

“These are three areas I’m extremely passionate about \u2026 having come from youth work and multicultural communities,” she said on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Upper house MP for the North-Eastern metro region, Nick McGowan, has been handed the shadow portfolios of community services and victim support.<\/p>\n

Mr McGowan, who was previously chief of staff for former opposition leader Matthew Guy<\/a>, told reporters on Saturday he was hoping to be preselected by his party to contest the lower house seat of Ringwood in the next state poll.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Nick McGowan is aiming to re-enter the Victorian Parliament in the lower house following the next state poll. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Richard Welch, who also represents the North-Eastern metro region in the upper house, has been brought in to run for the shadow portfolios of jobs, industry and industrial relations, as well as manufacturing and innovation.<\/p>\n

Mr Welch spruiked his credentials as a businessman and said he had walked in business owners’ shoes.<\/p>\n

“I had to go through all the same experiences that our Victorian businesses have to go through in terms of regulatory obstacles, capital obstacles, tax obstacles,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Richard Welch represents the Liberal Party in the Victorian Parliament’s upper house. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

“The friction in taking that risk and seeing government get in the way of it or at least not maximise your opportunities.”<\/p>\n

Mr Welch said Victoria was “directionless” on industry policy, manufacturing and innovation.<\/p>\n

Flanked by his new recruits in Melbourne, Mr Battin said his party was “trying to bring in a skill set and some enthusiasm” to hold premier Jacinta Allan and her government to account.<\/p>\n

“We know we need less taxes, less waste and lower crime,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is so important that we get on top of these things for Victoria to get that fresh start.”<\/p>\n

Mr Battin announced a $100 million law and order policy agenda last month<\/a> focused on reducing crime.<\/p>\n

The reshuffle of Mr Battin’s shadow cabinet follows retirement announcements of two senior Liberal MPs ahead of the next state election in November 2026.<\/p>\n

Shadow Attorney-General Michael O’Brien and Shadow Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation David Hodgett will leave politics ahead of the November 2026 poll.<\/p>\n

Former shadow treasurer James Newbury remains in Mr Battin’s shadow ministry with the roles of manager of opposition business and shadow portfolios of attorney-general, equality and anti-corruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin has promoted Kew MP Jess Wilson to shadow treasurer as part of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37289,43,16287,127356,127355,1788,10940,127358,44,127354,127352,127357,127353,127359,127360,9804,41,39,42,40,5728,660],"class_list":["post-204936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-brad-battin","tag-headlines","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-james-newbury","tag-jess-wilson","tag-labor","tag-liberal-party","tag-lower-house","tag-news","tag-nick-mcgowan","tag-nicole-werner","tag-parliament-of-victoria","tag-richard-welch","tag-shadow-cabinet","tag-shadow-ministry","tag-state-election","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-upper-house","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}