New Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s allies accused of ‘bullying’
Senior Labor women on the Left have been accused of bullying their younger female counterparts on the Right, as internal tensions persist after Wednesday’s bruising caucus meeting.
The fallout from Wednesday’s brutal Victorian Labor caucus meeting that saw Jacinta Allan anointed has continued, with one Right powerbroker accusing senior female MPs in the Premier’s Socialist Left faction of bullying young women in the Right.
Left factional sources in turn remain angry with Deputy Premier Ben Carroll for “ambushing” caucus by challenging Ms Allan for the top job, at the meeting where Daniel Andrews is said to have “exploded” with rage at the Right in his last hours as Victoria’s 48th premier.
On her second day as Premier on Friday, Ms Allan avoided questions over the messy bickering, opting not to subject herself to the scrutiny of a press conference, despite inviting the media to film her meeting with Anthony Albanese and attending a Police Remembrance Day event.
A Right powerbroker accused senior women in the Premier’s faction of “hypocrisy”, saying they had behaved “disgracefully” in Wednesday’s meeting, which became heated when the Right faction decided they would not accept the Left’s attempt to have Ms Allan and Treasurer Tim Pallas, both from the Left, voted in as leader and deputy, and Mr Carroll and fellow Right MP Anthony Carbines challenged for the roles.
“At one stage, every member of the Right was threatened,” the faction powerbroker said. ‘Those women of the Left who publicly champion gender equality are the same women that were bullying the shit out of young women in caucus. The threats were shameful. We will not tolerate this.”
The factional figure also attacked Mr Pallas for nominating for the deputy’s position without consulting much of the party.
“Pallas waltzed in at 9.30 in the morning without speaking to anyone from the Right, demanding to be deputy premier,” the powerbroker said. “The Right found out through the media. It’s such arrogance. What the hell did they expect? It was poor judgment and showed little respect for the entire caucus. After the last 12 months, he’s reputationally finished.”
Some in the Right are angry with Mr Pallas, given he was part of that faction until he and six other MPs defected to the Socialist Left after the 2022 election.
Sources on both sides of the party said Mr Carroll’s threatened leadership challenge had rocked the party, with Ms Allan already starting to send signals of her eagerness to consult and revert to a more traditional machinery of government system than that which had operated under Mr Andrews.
A Right source said the threatened Carroll challenge had sent a clear message to Ms Allan that the Andrews era was over. “It wasn’t pretty but the message was sent,’’ the source said.
A Left source said the Right had been “cavalier” by trying to force a month-long leadership ballot, which ultimately would have been won by Ms Allan because of the Left’s numerical dominance.
Another source said there was anger among some Left MPs about the way Mr Carroll had ambushed caucus. They said if he had been successful, it would have exposed the ALP to weeks of uncertainty without a leader while the party’s rank and file took part in the ballot. “It was absolutely stupid,” the source said.
The new Premier and the Prime Minister posed for the cameras but did not make themselves available for media questions at Ms Allan’s office at 1 Treasury Place, as she handed Mr Albanese a copy of the housing policy statement the Victorian government released last year. Ms Allan said while unlike Mr Andrews she had not shared a house with Mr Albanese, the pair had known each other for 25 years.
Mr Albanese drew parallels between their careers, noting that both had served in multiple ministries, including simultaneously in infrastructure, as well as in opposition and as deputy leaders before assuming the leadership.
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