Election 2025: Heat is on as Anthony Albanese gives Jacinta Allan the cold shoulder

Anthony Albanese has snubbed Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan in his first day of campaigning in Melbourne amid fears her unpopular state government will drag down Labor’s vote.

Anthony Albanese gets the low-down on the kid vote in Burnie, Tasmania. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

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Anthony Albanese has snubbed Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan in his first day of campaigning in Melbourne amid fears her unpopular state government will drag down Labor’s vote in the city’s outer suburbs.

The Prime Minister dismissed questions on why he did not appear with Ms Allan while on the hustings in the Melbourne seat of Deakin, despite campaigning this week with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas while in Adelaide and West Australian Premier Roger Cook while in Perth.

Mr Albanese said he was not with Ms Allan because parliament was sitting in Victoria. This is despite Ms Allan not being in parliament during Mr Albanese’s press conference, instead attending a separate media event in inner-Melbourne’s Abbotsford.

“Parliament’s sitting. It’s this little thing called parliament,” Mr Albanese said.

“I work closely with all state and territory governments, all of them, and have a good relationship with every premier and chief minister, ­including Jacinta Allan.”

Mr Albanese also stood at a press conference with Liberal Nat­ional Queensland Premier David Crisafulli the week the election was called.

His decision to go on the offensive in Liberal-held Deakin was peculiar, given the main game for Labor in Melbourne would appear to be limiting losses of suburban seats.

Deakin is held by Liberal frontbencher Michael Sukkar on a margin of 0.02 per cent but it is not expected to change hands.

The Liberals argue they have a chance of winning up to nine seats in Melbourne, but Labor hardheads believe the party can limit those losses to three.

The Allan government has lurched from one crisis to the next, with federal Labor MPs saying they are being asked about state issues such as crime.

The state government is without a chief police commissioner amid rising levels of violent crime and it has been forced to make cuts to the public service because its budget is blown.

The state Labor government’s primary vote remains critically low despite a slight increase in the latest survey, which shows Ms Allan is deeply unpopular. The state party’s primary vote increased by two points to 24 per cent, according to the latest Resolve Political Monitor data.

Support for the Coalition is at 41 per cent. Only 23 per cent of those surveyed were backing Ms Allan, marking a four-percentage-point drop from the last poll.

On the latest numbers, state Labor would be swept from office.

The Prime Minister vehemently denied he was avoiding Ms Allan but The Australian reported before the campaign started that Mr Albanese would be spending less time with the Premier than her Labor counterparts in WA, SA and NSW.

Ms Allan is refusing to budge on building the first stage of the cross-city Suburban Rail Loop, forecast to cost $34bn.

The federal government is baulking at over-investing in the SRL and it is becoming politically unpopular when combined with the state of the budget.

There is speculation Ms Allan will be challenged or asked to step down before the 2026 election.

Federal Labor seats most at risk in Victoria include Aston, Chisholm, McEwen and Dunkley.

The Liberals are also well placed to pick up the teal seats of Goldstein and Kooyong.