A little over a year after she became the premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allan picked up Angela Merkel’s autobiography, Freedom. She was struck by the leadership Merkel had shown during her 16 years as chancellor of Germany.

“You would argue she comes from a different side of the ideological fence, but I was really struck by the way – and also as another woman leader – she approached her role with great determination, compassion, attention to detail and hard work,” Allan says after taking The Australian Financial Review on a tour of a local manufacturer in her regional electorate of Bendigo.