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The campaign to oust Jacinta Allan as Victorian premier has reached a critical stage after Labor chiefs met on Sunday night to determine whether she has the support of enough government MPs to stay in the job.<\/p>\n
The extraordinary meeting of conveners from across the Left and Right factions of the party, which was called at short notice, was expected to provide the first clear sign of whether Allan has the caucus backing she needs to lead the government to the state election on November 28.<\/p>\n
![\"Premier](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5b696eee6db3148692a7bcb5e7f080769f5c5d1e.jpeg\")
Premier Jacinta Allan remained defiant on Sunday night.Ruby Alexander<\/p>\n
A defiant Allan, who spent Sunday night at her home in Bendigo, told her supporters that, regardless of what the factional chiefs decide, she won\u2019t resign.<\/p>\n
The leadership manoeuvres are taking place in the absence of a declared challenger.<\/p>\n
Allan\u2019s most likely replacement, Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, has indicated to colleagues that while he would be a contender if the leadership becomes vacant, he will not use his numbers to bring the premier down.<\/p>\n
There is consternation among some MPs, particularly in the dominant Left faction, that the meeting\u2019s conveners have not sufficiently canvassed the views of parliamentarians within their respective groups.<\/p>\n
The Age has spoken to seven Victorian Labor sources who say they believe Allan would lose if her leadership came to a vote of the party\u2019s 69 MPs.<\/p>\n
But one MP told The Age not every faction was represented at the Sunday night meeting and downplayed it\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe premier absolutely has the numbers,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people don\u2019t want to do the hard work. They want things on a plate and I can tell you now the caucus are there behind the premier.\u201d<\/p>\n
As with the last round of leadership rumblings in June, the pathway for a coup is littered with assumptions that have not yet been realised.<\/p>\n
Multiple sources from both factions agreed it would be difficult for Carroll, who sits on the Right, to challenge Allan \u2013 despite some within her own Left faction wanting him to do so \u2013 after he publicly ruled out a challenge at a press conference last month.<\/p>\n
After looking the premier in the eye and declaring he would not challenge her for the leadership, Carroll told reporters, \u201cI\u2019ve got a young daughter at home, and I couldn\u2019t be more proud to make sure that she grows up knowing that I supported Jacinta Allan to be a world-class premier and get re-elected in her own right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another option being considered is a delegation of factional leaders speaking to Allan and asking her to step aside.<\/p>\n
Related Article Two sources said they found it difficult to believe Allan would go down without a fight, but conceded it was not impossible that she could be convinced if it were clear she no longer had the numbers in caucus.<\/p>\n A supporter of Allan, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely, said if the Sunday night meeting showed a majority of MPs wanted a change of leadership, the premier could face a vote of no confidence at Tuesday\u2019s caucus meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be a very brave premier that continued in light of an unfavourable outcome,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Attorney-General Sonya Kilkenny on Sunday said the leadership speculation was \u201cidle gossip\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cShe has my full support, and this idle gossip doesn\u2019t help Victorians,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is only hurting Victorians at a time when Victorians need us all to be focused on them, and that is exactly what Jacinta Allan and our Labor government, our team, is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the past week, a range of new policies have leaked from the Premier\u2019s Private Office that suggest Allan\u2019s team is trying to find announcements that could mollify her colleagues.<\/p>\n On Monday, cabinet will consider a proposal to create a new agency within Victoria Police that targets organised crime and is informed by Australia\u2019s best criminal intelligence.<\/p>\n The policy has been viewed internally as a way to kill off pressure for a royal commission into Big Build corruption, tying the issue together with other political problems such as an increase in firebombings in Melbourne, and community concerns about youth crime rates.<\/p>\n Another leaked policy floated amending the rate cap rules to allow councils to better recoup the costs needed to pay staff \u2013 a policy supported by the Australian Services Union but quickly seized on by the opposition as a cost-of-living attack.<\/p>\n One MP said Allan was in denial about her support and rather than step aside would likely enforce party rules for a spill, which requires a vote of the Labor membership if the caucus result is contested.<\/p>\n But they also said those conspiring needed to \u201cpiss or get off the pot\u201d.<\/p>\n A senior Labor figure said Allan\u2019s leadership had been doomed, and she was now incredibly unpopular despite being given time to connect with voters.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is now an opportunity to push the reset button, give confidence back to voters and remind voters of the benefits of a strong Labor government.\u201d<\/p>\n The latest Resolve Political Monitor has Allan\u2019s likeability at minus 36, her equal lowest result on record.<\/p>\n Opposition Leader Jess Wilson maintains a lead on preferred premier, with 43 per cent of voters saying they want her to lead the state compared with 24 per cent for Allan.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Jacinta](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785058513_729_5b696eee6db3148692a7bcb5e7f080769f5c5d1e.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/31fd78b106fa37c8eed80db6c8255d45ca47c60b.jpeg\")
Ben Carroll has said he will not challenge Premier Jacinta Allan, but will run if the leadership becomes vacant. Wayne Taylor<\/p>\n![\"Chip](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/c933d487c0923e425b125b59fa4140f217688025.png\")
Chip Le Grand<\/a> leads our state politics reporting team. He previously served as the paper\u2019s chief reporter and is a journalist of 30 years\u2019 experience.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-824648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824648","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=824648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}