After a year as premier, Jacinta Allan looks back – and forward

Jacinta Allan would give two pieces of advice if she could travel back 25 years and talk to herself as a newly elected MP – keep a diary and get into yoga sooner.

The diary, to appreciate the whirlwind of events that come via a life of politics; the yoga because she loves maintaining her 200-plus-day streak.

Premier Jacinta Allan visits Jawaharlal Sport Stadium in Delhi as she spruiks the Boxing Day Test.Credit: Jai Narula

You would be forgiven for thinking that doesn’t sound like the Jacinta Allan who fronts the daily press conferences and appears on TV every other night.

In her first year as Victorian premier, the Labor leader has had to make some tough decisions, including major shifts in policy, while a difficult economic climate has seen polls turn away from incumbent parties such as hers. There hasn’t been much of an opportunity to show her lighter side.

To mark the one-year anniversary since Allan’s rise to power on September 27, the premier sat down with The Age during her five-day trip to India drumming up ties with Victoria, her first overseas mission as leader.

Throughout that trip, she gave a glimpse of the personable and humorous style that fuels the loyalty of her MPs and staff, a style many hope can also be shown to the public in the lead-up to the 2026 election, alongside her policy agenda.

As our car makes its way through the chaotic Delhi traffic, Allan makes no apologies for the difficult decisions she’s made since her ascension. Over the past 12 months, Victoria walked away from a second safe injecting room in Melbourne and a commitment to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14.

A multi-billion dollar hospital plan at Arden was ditched, citing electromagnetic interference, in a “sensible and disciplined” budget that tried to rein in spending, but also set up a war with the state’s hospitals that ended with the government later forking out another $1.5 billion for the sector.

But the premier also surprised many when she announced Victoria would reverse its long-standing position and trial pill-testing this summer, making the announcement on social media while standing in her home kitchen.

The electorate is yet to warm to Allan, or get to know her humorous side.Credit: AAP

“It’s the job of government to make decisions,” Allan says. “It is listening. It’s understanding where people are at on any particular given issue ... Sometimes that decision may not be what you know what everyone wants, clearly, but that’s the role of government.

“You send the economy and community backwards when you don’t make decisions, when you don’t work through challenges.”

Several government and party sources, speaking anonymously to detail private conversations, said a key focus over the past 12 months had been on removing the policy “barnacles” she inherited from her predecessor and which plague many third-term governments.

However, others admitted that this process had taken longer than it should have, taking up airtime for the government while voters were smashing leaders over cost-of-living pain.

Jacinta Allan pictured after becoming an MP, aged 26.Credit: Craig Sillitoe

One senior government source said many of these hard decisions were not popular internally but were needed to reach a wider audience that would be crucial to winning the next election.

Resolve Strategic’s latest survey, taken exclusively for The Age, this month showed Labor’s primary vote was stagnating at 27 per cent – a 12 per cent drop over the past year, while the Coalition remained 10 points ahead with 37 per cent.

The poll does not cover a two-party preferred result but if an election were held today it would be expected to be close after Labor benefitted from preference flows.

Resolve director Jim Reed says governments used to be able to count on a change of leadership to give them new life and extend their tenure, but this tactic is no longer working. “In every state that’s changed premier this term the incumbent’s vote has gone down,” he says.

“Voters certainly haven’t warmed to Allan, but neither do they hate her. Labor’s precarious position can’t be all sheeted home to Allan. Her ratings are partly a result of voters being fed up with whoever is in power. If they’re failing to support voters in areas like living costs, voters will reciprocate by withdrawing their support.”

Over the next 12 months, Allan is hoping she will be able to talk more about the things her government wants to build, and is alive to the fact voters want cost-of-living relief.

“There are some real pressures there in families at the moment. There is an opportunity for government to look at practical ways that the state government can support them,” she says.

Allan says she wants to “double down” on building more homes as outlined in last year’s housing statement, and the Big Build agenda is no longer just about roads and rail but instead about “the big three” – homes, renewable energy and transport.

When asked about her values, Allan says she’s driven by the government providing everyone with equal access to opportunities.

Being a mother helped inform Allan’s approval of limited pill testing at music festivals.Credit: AFR

“Kids, when I was growing up, were told that you had to leave Bendigo to find your opportunity,” she says. “Today Bendigo is a big and busy place, rich with opportunity because governments made investment in better transport connections, in our beautiful new Bendigo Hospital, having a major university in town.

“It’s a stronger, richer community as a result of those big investments and that means kids today can see opportunities in Bendigo. They might also want to see opportunities in Brunswick or Bangalore, but they have a choice now.”

Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos, one of Allan’s cabinet colleagues, said the top job had not changed her personality.

“Her humanity, her courage and her intellect, she’s consistent in who she is,” he said. “That sounds like a pretty rudimentary thing to say, but it’s actually not in this line of work, those things do change people and how they operate.”

Dimopoulos said Allan knows the machinery of government intimately and stepped into the role with arguably more political experience than her predecessors.

“You’ve got to know how government works. She moves through those things in a way that’s quite effortless these days because she’s been around for so long,” he says.

“Her consensus style government is evident, but it doesn’t compromise her ability to still get stuff done and make decisions. There’s a heap of them, some that upset both ends of the spectrum … A bunch of legacy decisions that we had to make, and she’s made them with her ministers.”

Big Build projects will be vital to Jacinta Allan’s chances of re-election – expect hi-vis to be highly visible for the foreseeable future. Credit: Darrian Traynor

One policy that Allan doesn’t see as a “barnacle” is the Suburban Rail Loop, despite no certainty that the federal government will contribute a third of the funding expected for the $34.5 billion project, and calls from some transport experts and the opposition to pause or delay the project as construction costs and interest rates strain the budget.

Global credit ratings agency S&P warned in August that there would be significant pressure on the state’s credit rating if the Commonwealth doesn’t contribute the additional $9.6 billion Victoria is asking for.

“The Suburban Rail Loop is a project we simply can’t afford not to build if we are [becoming] the largest city in Australia, and we’re continuing to grow,” Allan says.

With Victoria’s net debt set to hit $187.8 billion by the middle of 2028 – equivalent to one-quarter of the state’s economy – the government has a very difficult road balancing the books while paying for the rail loop. This has not been helped by cost blowouts on projects, including the North East Link, for which the total cost was revised in 2023 to $26 billion, which is $10 billion more than expected.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto says Allan has not offered a vision to Victorians since coming into office. “Instead we are being taxed more and debt is rapidly growing while the unfunded Suburban Rail Loop will only worsen the crises we face in health, housing, energy, and roads,” he says.

Allan acknowledges her government will still need to be disciplined, but pivots quickly to an economic growth statement due by the end of this year that will seek to improve the government’s fortunes through increased activity and, through this, improved tax revenue.

Premier Jacinta Allan and parliamentary secretary Nick Staikos are shown through the Laxmi Narayan Mandir temple in Delhi.

“Where are those parts of the economy, the business sector that we can grow with some government support but in partnership with business and industry as well?” she says. “[We will] Look at ways that we can make it easier to do business in Victoria. And also to be very, very clear that Victoria continues to be a great place to invest, and people can see that we’re open for business.”

Another senior government source said Allan was hardworking and smart, but argued there was too much of a focus on infrastructure in the current economic climate. They said her move to prioritise children was the right call, but still lacking in terms of resources and implementation.

Over the past six months, as Allan has sought to define herself, she has spoken more about her family and how they influence her decision-making.

Her decision to back pill-testing was framed around her fears as a parent, and one of her first decisions as leader was to set up a new portfolio focused on children. The description on her public social media accounts, which once boasted that she was the Bendigo Spirit’s No. 1 fan, now reads: “Mum. Bendigo local. Premier of Victoria”.

“My lived experience as a mum absolutely shapes who I am and my approach to the role,” Allan says.

“I simply couldn’t do this job the way I do, without their love and support. They are absolutely fundamental to the foundation of how I work as premier. My kids talk to me about the issues around climate change. I see from other members of my family how hard it is for young adults in their 20s who can’t get into the housing market.

A nurse searches for a vein in Richmond’s injecting room. Allan decided against a second such room in the CBD.Credit: Penny Stephens

“Sending my kids to the local government school gives me another perspective on the value of good public education. Having had a really sick child means I just deeply value our public health system.”

(One of Allan’s children spent three months at the Royal Children’s Hospital awaiting surgery after being born with some early health challenges.)

At this point, as we sit in a car park outside a busy Sikh temple, Allan briefly holds back a tear.

This is a side of the premier that many of her biggest fans wish the public could see more often. MPs say her work ethic and intelligence come through in the media, but it’s up close when she shows off a heart and a sense of humour.

Shadowing Allan through India, this dynamic is apparent. When the cameras are rolling she remains on message, sticking to the key talking points of the day, but when she meets with people in person the premier speaks more freely, cracking jokes, and is particularly warm with young men and women.

Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes says she witnesses Allan in every environment and is impressed by her ability to make time for people and have a laugh during her busy schedule.

“It is a shame that the public don’t get to see as much of that,” she says.

“She’s had an incredibly challenging 12 months. She’s had to deal with a lot of big issues and get them out of the way. I really hope the Victorian public get to see a little bit more of who Jacinta Allan really is because they’ll really like her.

Allan is continuing the work of predecessor Dan Andrews, and slowly emerging from his shadow.Credit: Joe Armao

“When there are hard decisions that have to be made she has a collaborative approach, but she can be firm when she needs to be for the benefit of Victoria.

“She’s an excellent premier, and the more people that get to see the real her [they] will, I think, agree with me.“

In India, Allan has turned 51, observed the 25-year anniversary of her election to Bendigo East and, of course, the one-year anniversary of becoming premier. She is diplomatic when asked if she’s sick of being compared to her predecessor.

“I’ve had the privilege of working under three great Labor premiers,” she said.

“Others might do comparisons. We’re all our own people, but we all come from those Labor values, and it’s those values of driving equality of opportunity that will continue to guide me.”

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