Daniel Andrews has addressed Victorian Labor faithful at the first state party conference in four years as speculation swirls about his political future.
The Victorian Premier and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese were among hundreds to converge at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne on Saturday for the two-day conference.
Mr Andrews, who led Labor to another crushing election win in November, used his speech to speak glowingly of the party’s candidate gender quota and his government’s elevation of women’s issues.
“I am so proud that my cabinet, our cabinet is almost two-thirds women as is more than half of our caucus,” he told the crowd.
“A lot is said about our opponents women problem … they haven’t figured out that having different voices at the table isn’t just fair, it’s smarter too.
Coalition’s women problems
“They haven’t realised that being dragged kicking and screaming to address gender inequality in their own ranks isn’t just a bad look … it’s a bad approach; it’s bad for outcomes.”
Mr Andrews has repeatedly reaffirmed his pledge to serve a full four-year term despite the Herald Sun reporting his deputy, Jacinta Allan, was advised to begin building a team as part of transition planning.
As well, the Premier thanked members for knocking on doors, handing out how-to-vote cards and working the phones during the state election campaign last year.
He urged the party faithful to use those same skills to bolster campaigning for the federal Voice to parliament, ahead of a referendum later this year.
“Whether your family has been here for five years or 50,000, this is a juncture in our history that calls on us to stand together,” he said.
“We cannot change the events of the past but we can shape those of the future.”
In his speech, Mr Albanese announced a $2 billion social housing fund along with a promise to deliver the extra cash to state and territory governments within the next two weeks.
He stressed his optimism Australia would rise to the moment to vote for the Voice and spruiked the Victorian government’s major infrastructure pipeline.
“I genuinely shake my head that at the beginning of the year there were some … commentators and people in the opposition saying that Dan was focused on the statue,” he said.
“Because one of the things that we know is that there’s already monuments to this Labor government that Daniel leads everywhere you look.”
Protesters wait outside
A small group waited to greet the Prime Minister outside the racecourse in a protest of federal Labor’s refugee policy.
A statue of Cox Plate legend Winx was graffitied with a pro-refugee slogan before being cleaned off.
Others messages were spray painted on the sidewalk, including “conference 4 refugee torturers”.
Police are investigating the overnight criminal damage and encouraging anyone with information to come forward.
A Victorian Labor state conference has not been held since 2019 after a federal takeover of the party over allegations of branch stacking against former minister Adem Somyurek.
The federal takeover resulted in the expulsion of 1700 “non-genuine” members and suspension of voting rights for state party members until administrative control was handed back in late January.
State conference delegates are scheduled to vote on urgent resolutions, discuss policies and debate party rules over the two days.
-AAP
