There’s no doubt that when Daniel Andrews resigned as Victoria’s premier he had planned a perfect handover for his successor, Jacinta Allan.
Over several years, he grew their socialist left faction to greatly outnumber the right, meaning Allan would be able to fend off any possible challenge for the leadership.
Two months before his resignation, Andrews announced the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games, taking the political hit, and a week before he was out the door he released a landmark housing statement, giving Allan plenty to spruik at press conferences.
A potential stain on Andrews’ legacy – the introduction of bail laws that were directly responsible for the imprisonment of more First Nations Victorians than at any time in the state’s recorded history – was also on track to be fixed.
But in politics, as in life, the best-laid plans often go awry, and Allan’s first week in the job was bumpy.
Before Andrews’ resignation had even come into effect, Labor’s right faction threatened to challenge Allan, forcing her to install Ben Carroll as her deputy. The message was clear: she didn’t have the internal authority of her predecessor.
Allan responded tactfully, allowing Carroll his choice of portfolio in her cabinet reshuffle – as is tradition – but excluding him from the expenditure review committee, its most senior decision-making body.
Instead, all major decisions will be signed off by Allan, her treasurer, Tim Pallas, his assistant treasurer and transport infrastructure minister, Danny Pearson, and the attorney general, Jaclyn Symes.
Those close to Allan described it as a win, given the trio are considered loyal allies. But when parliament rolled around, they also caused her the biggest headaches of the sitting week.
Speaking at a Property Council breakfast on Tuesday morning – the first sitting day of her premiership – Pallas announced new and expanded taxes on vacant and undeveloped properties.
The property industry were taken by surprise – as were several of his colleagues, including Pearson.
Allan’s media team also appeared to be caught off guard, telling reporters that Pallas would hold a doorstop at 11am, before it was pushed back to 3.15pm, about seven hours after the treasurer’s announcement.
However, Allan said during question time that the plan had been through cabinet and she knew about his announcement.
So, what happened? One minister offered up an innocent explanation for the confusion: “No one knew what their portfolios were going to be come Monday, so they probably didn’t do their reading on the weekend.”
Other MPs insist Pallas jumped the gun, with plans to announce the changes on Wednesday as the tax bill was introduced to parliament. The treasurer suggested as much, telling reporters it was “fair” to tell the industry the changes were coming. “I figured it would be disingenuous to wander into the property council … and not do them the service of letting them know,” he said.
On Wednesday morning, it was Pearson’s turn to cause confusion, after he suggested there were 12 components to Pallas’ tax bill but refused to say whether they were further taxes.
Cue hours of speculative news stories, frantic phone calls and claims by the opposition that the government was to introduce “12 new taxes”.
Pallas was eventually rolled out again to clean up the mess. The other changes in the bill were minor amendments that will have “no revenue impact”. Pallas took the blame.
“My credibility is worth a little bit more to me than trying to pull a swifty on you,” he told reporters, admitting he unintentionally “created [a] firestorm of interest”.
But it didn’t stop the opposition from claiming the treasurer was lying.
There was another attempt to portray Allan as at odds with her ministers on Thursday, when Symes announced she would delay parts of the state’s bail amendment bill that concerned youth offenders to early 2024.
The attorney general explained to reporters that she didn’t want to spark a debate “about a youth crime crisis that doesn’t exist”. The decision comes after some high-profile youth offending incidents.
Allan, however, in an awkward exchange with reporters, appeared to back away from Symes’ explanation.
Rather than a difference of opinion, it appeared the premier simply muddled her answer in this case. The rest of the bill passed parliament on Thursday, finally undoing bail changes that have been heavily criticised since they were introduced in 2018.
For some Labor MPs, the fact Symes was able to “pause” the youth bail aspect was proof of a new style of leadership under Allan. They said Symes was empowered to have more authority over her portfolio than she would have under Andrews, who had a reputation of control.
Several ministers have said Allan told her first cabinet meeting on Monday that she would take a more collaborative approach than her predecessor.
But it was more likely the pause was an admission that Allan doesn’t have the ability or political capital – yet – to confidently fend off criticism and weather a controversy like Andrews did.
There was also a recognition among caucus that Allan will have to play the politics more than Andrews. This could come to include becoming friendlier with the conservative press, given she won’t be able to bypass the media as effectively as Andrews did. (Though Andrews gifted her his Facebook account, followed by 1 million people, on Friday.)
The consensus among Labor MPs was that Allan’s first sitting week was “messy”, “unsettled” and “a little rocky” but overall she was “off to a good start”.
“If the worst thing that can happen is we had an MP jump the gun in announcing something, and another delayed something, then I think we’re doing OK,” one said.
Another MP said: “No one at home is watching the ins and outs of parliament. Week one will be long forgotten come 2026.”
But there is one issue that emerged this week could hurt the Allan government: revelations that lawyers were engaged a month before the Commonwealth Games were cancelled and that she was warned in April of the rising costs of the event.
Allan was able to fend off attacks from the opposition in parliament on the matter – but the questions will keep coming when a parliamentary inquiry into the cancellation kicks off on Monday.
