It was a win for the 36-year-old politician tasked with bringing the Coalition back to power in Victoria after 12 years in opposition characterised by poor polling and rotating leadership.<\/p>\n
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If current polls are any guide, the first-term millennial MP could be on the cusp of making history as Victoria\u2019s youngest leader since federation and the first woman to be popularly elected as the state\u2019s premier \u2013 a feat that neither Labor\u2019s Joan Kirner nor Jacinta Allan achieved.<\/p>\n
George Hasanakos from DemosAu says the firm\u2019s September poll has the Coalition leading Labor 52% to 48% on a two-party preferred basis, with Wilson securing the highest personal rating of any Victorian leader, on +8 (the premier, Ben Carroll, by comparison sits on -14).<\/p>\n
Her party is so confident in her popularity it has styled itself as Jess Wilson\u2019s Liberal Victoria, with her face rarely absent from campaign material.<\/p>\n
While voters are \u201cwarming\u201d to Wilson, Hasanakos says many still don\u2019t know her. They are, however, \u201cwilling to give her a hearing\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking from her parliamentary office, under a portrait of Henry Bolte, the Liberal premier who led the state for 17 years, and with her two-year-old son Patrick\u2019s blanket draped over her chair, Wilson says social media is just one way she\u2019s trying to show people the person behind the politician.<\/p>\n
\u2018You do probably have to let the barriers down a little bit.\u2019 Photograph: Ellen Smith\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
With close to 100,000 Instagram followers \u2013 about six times that of Carroll \u2013 she shares pictures of herself with her toddler and speaks of her passion for the Collingwood Football Club \u2013 alongside monologues on crime, corruption and taxes \u2013 from her kitchen bench, her office, and the passenger seat of a car.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople want to know who you are,\u201d she says. \u201cYou do probably have to let the barriers down a little bit and show who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018She\u2019s just one of those people\u2019<\/p>\n
Wilson may only have been elected in 2022, but she first visited Victorian parliament at nine years old, to see her father, Ron Wilson, who represented the seat of Bennettswood in Melbourne\u2019s eastern suburbs from 1999 to 2003. She can still remember his shared office at the top of the grand building.<\/p>\n
As she grew older, she began discussing politics with her father, occasionally debating him at the dinner table. But she never assumed she would follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t something that I thought I would do,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n
A young Jess Wilson in her police officer costume.<\/p>\n
As a child, she wanted to be a police officer, inspired by the TV series Blue Heelers. Her younger sister, Sarah, remembers Wilson dressing in a police uniform, setting up a counter with an ironing board and asking her to report crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be off playing shops or something and she\u2019d say: \u2018Come report a crime.\u2019 And I\u2019d come up with crimes at my shop and she\u2019d investigate,\u201d Sarah says.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a police badge and everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah says her sister was both sporty and clever \u2013 sometimes frustratingly so. While Sarah locked herself away for weeks to study for exams, Jess worked hard but also managed to fit in television and friends \u2013 and then go on to blitz them.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s just one of those people,\u201d Sarah says.<\/p>\n
Wilson joined the Young Liberals while studying a double degree in law and arts at Monash University and became president of the university\u2019s Liberal club. There she met Evan Mulholland, now the opposition\u2019s deputy leader in the upper house, who led the equivalent club at La Trobe University. Their circle included the Victorian Liberal senator James Paterson, former Institute of Public Affairs staffers Gideon Rozner and Simon Breheny, and Wilson\u2019s now-husband, Aaron Lane.<\/p>\n
Wilson describes herself as a \u2018classical Liberal\u2019. Photograph: Ellen Smith\/The Guardian<\/p>\n
Mulholland remembers Wilson as an effective organiser who could draw crowds to events, mobilise volunteers during campaigns and hold her own against political opponents \u2013 from within the party and outside it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better place to cut your teeth in politics,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you can make it through student politics, then you\u2019re well prepared for anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Path to politics<\/p>\n
Wilson then followed a well-trodden path for a future Liberal MP: a stint at KPMG, a brief period advising Josh Frydenberg when he was the federal environment minister, then five years at the Business Council of Australia.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t until the Covid pandemic, which she says exposed the extent to which state governments could shape people\u2019s daily lives, that she was convinced to enter politics herself.<\/p>\n
Her brand of politics has been moulded by her father. She says he taught her to stand by her convictions, work hard and \u201cnever, ever take anything for granted, particularly your time in politics\u201d. The elder Wilson lost his seat unexpectedly in 2003.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s also someone who\u2019s always taught me to treat all people equally, regardless of who they are, where they\u2019re from,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n
Wilson shakes hands with former Victorian premier Jacinta Allan in parliament. Photograph: Joel Carrett\/AAP<\/p>\n
She describes herself as a \u201cclassical Liberal\u201d, focused on the economy, providing essential services but otherwise keeping government out of people\u2019s lives. In other words, she has little time for culture wars or fringe issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a view that individuals are best placed to determine what happens in their lives,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n
Wilson has championed marriage equality, marched with Liberal Pride, backed climate action and the transition to net zero, and was the only Victorian Liberal to publicly support the yes vote in the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum.<\/p>\n
She says these aren\u2019t \u201cideological\u201d positions but reflect the fact she\u2019s a millennial and a mother. From the more conservative corners of her party, these stances have earned her the labels \u201cLabor-lite\u201d and \u201ca teal in blue clothing\u201d.<\/p>\n
Wilson with her husband, Aaron Lane, and her son, Patrick, after she was elected as opposition leader. Photograph: Joel Carrett\/AAP<\/p>\n
Yet, on her first day as leader, Wilson made clear that the party would stand by its proposal to scrap Victoria\u2019s treaty \u2013 the first of its kind reached between First Peoples and an Australian government \u2013 within its first 100 days in office.<\/p>\n
She denies it is hypocritical, describing the Victorian treaty and the body it established as \u201cvery different\u201d to the voice, given its access to cabinet and independent budget that bypasses normal budgetary processes.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, Victoria had their say on the voice, and they voted no, and I understand and I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite her climate credentials, she is also committed to scrapping the VNI West \u2013 a proposed 240km transmission line connecting Victoria to New South Wales and linking several renewable energy projects along the way \u2013 and to \u201cthrow open the doors\u201d to gas exploration.<\/p>\n
On gender, Wilson\u2019s views and actions reflect a complex stance. She is against quotas, but under her leadership more women have been preselected as candidates, and many in winnable seats.<\/p>\n
Does that make her a feminist? \u201cIf I can inspire other women to know that they can do it, then I guess if that makes me one, sure,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Wilson and the Liberal MP Anthony Marsh at a sausage sizzle in Rosebud in May. Photograph: Ian Currie\/AAP<\/p>\n
The young leader says she has never experienced sexism in the job. Pressed on this, she clarifies that she was referring specifically to \u201covert sexism\u201d.<\/p>\n
When asked about the subtler slights other female politicians are quick to raise \u2013 mansplaining and subtle undermining \u2013 she says: \u201cIt\u2019s not something I think a lot about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the first female leader of the Liberal party, and I had unanimous support of my party room to get there,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve only ever felt supported in this role from my team.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Labor began to lay the groundwork for an election campaign centred on abortion rights, Wilson quickly issued a statement reaffirming her support for current laws, under which abortion is legal up to 24 weeks and later if the agreement of two doctors is obtained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see what Labor were planning to do. I could see that they were going to go down the path of what I think is a pretty disgusting gutter politics,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n
Then, when Labor announced plans to reduce out-of-pocket costs for abortion care, Wilson matched its commitment<\/a> within hours. Given the deep divisions within the Liberal party room on abortion in the past, the speed of her response \u2013 and the lack of significant public dissent \u2013 was notable.<\/p>\n Speaking before Wilson announced the abortion commitment, Mulholland described Wilson\u2019s \u201crazor-sharp instincts\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we need to make a decision on a bill or a tricky issue, she\u2019s been two steps ahead of what the ramifications might be,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n A shift in the party<\/p>\n Wilson has also moved swiftly to contain internal disputes that under previous leaders dragged on for months, if not years. Her leadership coup<\/a> was relatively bloodless, concluded within 48 hours and including an offer of a senior role to her predecessor, Brad Battin. When Moira Deeming made headlines in June by alleging, inaccurately, that Matthew Guy had placed her in a headlock<\/a>, Deeming was disendorsed as a candidate<\/a>.<\/p>\n Liberal sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, point to two factors behind the shift: Wilson\u2019s broader institutional support compared with previous leaders, and the team she has assembled around her.<\/p>\n That team includes experienced hands such as the former federal Liberal director Brian Loughnane, who agreed to chair the state executive at her request, and Alyson Hannam, appointed as the party\u2019s state director last November. Both have overseen election victories while Loughnane\u2019s wife, Peta Credlin, once a supporter of Deeming, has also adopted a different tone in her commentary on the Victorian Liberals. Senator Paterson is also joining her on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n Wilson says her team is \u2018united\u2019 and \u2018focused\u2019 ahead of the Victorian election. Photograph: Ellen Smith\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Wilson has also made room for conservatives, including Bev McArthur in the upper house leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a recognition that the winner-takes-all approach, which has happened under the last two leaders, wasn\u2019t working for our party room,\u201d one source says.<\/p>\n After three leaders, lawsuits and years of internal warfare, can Wilson guarantee those days are behind the party?<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re demonstrating it every day,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople can look at us and see that we are united, that we\u2019re focused, and I\u2019m incredibly proud of my team.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson is tight-lipped about possible cabinet positions (\u201cwe\u2019ll see where we land after 28 November\u201d) and is similarly guarded when asked about preferences or potential deals with One Nation, saying the Coalition is running for majority government.<\/p>\n The Coalition needs 16 seats to form a majority, which Hasanakos estimates will require a statewide swing of about 7%. \u201cGiven current polling, it may not be much of a hurdle,\u201d he says. \u201cBut for those seats on small margins, where One Nation\u2019s a real chance, it could derail their campaign for majority government.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson\u2019s agenda for the first 100 days of government is already laid out. Parliament would be recalled to sit the week of Christmas to pass \u201cadult crime, adult time\u201d youth justice laws and introduce a one-strike rule for bail, as well as abolish treaty, the emergency services levy and payroll tax for private schools and GPs. Then work on the budget begins.<\/p>\n She is also keen to examine ways to support parents navigating the \u201cjuggle\u201d of work and parenting as she is, though what that actually entails is vague. Better childcare could be one option \u2013 alongside the Nationals MP Annabelle Cleeland and Labor\u2019s Martha Haylett, Wilson helped establish a carers\u2019 room at parliament for their young children.<\/p>\n For all the challenges ahead, those around Wilson say she is under no illusion about the scale of the task. She has repeatedly told reporters, business forums and community events that there are \u201cdifficult decisions\u201d to come.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s very aware of the massive job ahead of her,\u201d Sarah says of her sister. \u201cBut she\u2019s not scared of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 5am, Jess Wilson had a moment of panic. In two hours, the Victorian opposition leader\u2019s team was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-947523","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\/947523","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=947523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Victoria\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793446101_340_6480.jpg\")
Victoria\u2019s election will be historic, no matter who wins. Here\u2019s why \u2013\u00a0video<\/p>\n