Election 2025: Steve Bracks backs Jacinta Allan, Anthony Albanese unlikely to appear again with Victorian Premier

Steve Bracks has issued a rare public intervention into Labor leadership tension, as it emerges Anthony Albanese is unlikely to appear with Jacinta Allan over the remaining weeks of the federal campaign.

Former Victorian premier Steve Bracks, left, has backed current state leader Jacinta Allan.

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Steve Bracks has backed Jacinta Allan in a rare public intervention into Labor leadership tension as the under-fire Premier’s hold on the top job comes under new pressure.

The former premier, who led Labor to three successive Victorian election victories, threw his considerable influence as a party elder behind the current leader as she battled plunging public support for Labor.

In a statement released on Thursday, Mr Bracks rejected media speculation his support for Ms Allan – whose career he has backed since 1999 – was slipping and he was growing open to a leadership switch.

“I firmly support the leadership of Jacinta Allan and believe she is best able to win an historic fourth term for Labor,” he said in a statement released on Thursday. “Media reporting to the contrary is false.”

Mr Bracks led Labor to election victories in 1999, 2002 and 2006 and since his retirement 18 years ago has avoided commenting publicly on internal Labor affairs. While Thursday’s statement was designed to dampen down leadership speculation it has underlined the serious internal threat Ms Allan is facing.

Mr Bracks’ statement came as it emerged that Anthony Albanese was highly unlikely to stage another double-act with Ms Allan over the remaining 23 days of the election campaign amid ongoing concerns the crisis-stricken Premier will cost Labor votes.

With renewed speculation the Premier could be forced out by anxious colleagues if federal Labor suffers major setbacks in Victoria on May 3, The Australian has confirmed there are no firm plans or even loose commitments for the Prime Minister to appear alongside her again.

The “one time only” Albanese-Allan joint appearance on Monday was designed to neutralise the issue of the PM’s failure to appear with the Victorian Premier and while Labor figures have not absolutely ruled out a repeat, they say it’s highly unlikely.

The “anti-Allan” strategy is in stark contrast to plans for the PM to keep standing alongside Labor’s popular premiers; WA’s Roger Cook, SA’s Peter Malinauskas and NSW’s Chris Minns between now and election day.

Ms Allan was forced to again defend her leadership after fresh speculation Labor MPs would move to oust her if the ALP loses more than three seats at the election, insisting she has the support of her Victorian Labor colleagues.

To avoid complicated party rules aimed at protecting leaders from challenges, Labor rivals would need to convince Ms Allan she had lost the backing of the overwhelming number of MPs to convince her to resign just 18 months before the next state election.

Ms Allan said she was confident she had support from all factions across her party. “That’s because I know from working with colleagues, from talking with colleagues that we’re all focused on the same thing, not this commentary, we are all focused … on working with our communities,” she said.

“I know I have the support of my colleagues, because (I’m) talking and working with them every single day.”

Asked about the polling and whether she accepted her brand was unpopular with Victorians, Ms Allan said she would “leave commentary to others”.

“What I am focused on every single day is … on delivering what working people and families need from a Labor government,” she said.

After just 18 months in the top job Ms Allan has lurched from one crisis to another including leading Labor to near defeat in its heartland seat of Werribee, flip-flopped on bail laws faced with a teen crime wave and floundered when trying to lock in funding for the $35bn Suburban Rail Loop’s first stage.

Anthony Albanese on the campaign trail with Ms Allan. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

There are deep concerns within Mr Albanese’s campaign headquarters that the Labor brand is on the nose in Victoria and seats including Aston, Chisolm, McEwen, Macnamara, Wills and Hawke under threat from Liberals and Greens. Liberals are also firming to reclaim Goldstein from teal Zoe Daniel and are locked in a tight race in Kooyong with teal Monique Ryan.

Speculation is intensifying in Labor’s Victorian state caucus, dominated by Ms Allan’s Left faction, that a bad result for federal Labor in Victoria on May 3, could trigger a leadership challenge.

Recent polling has revealed support for state Labor has collapsed into the low-20s in Victoria. Two weeks into the federal campaign, federal Labor figures are cautiously optimistic that support is slowly returning to Labor.

On Monday, Ms Allan and Mr Albanese appeared at an awkward press conference to promote federal Labor’s $2bn commitment to rebuilding Sunshine train station.

Asked on Thursday whether she had any plans to join Mr Albanese on the campaign trail again, Ms Allan said she would continue to support the Prime Minister but stopped short of confirming she would appear beside him again.

“Well, it was great to join the Prime Minister on Monday, again, a powerful demonstration of what can be achieved when federal Labor governments and state Labor governments work together and have that same strong agenda,” she said.

“I look forward to continuing to support the Prime Minister. I speak to him regularly.

“It’s great to work with Albo because we have a shared commitment, a shared commitment to focus on what’s important to Victorians and families, as opposed to Peter Dutton, who sent a very loud and powerful message to all of us here in this state: he’s from Queensland, he wants to live in Sydney, and he is all about cutting projects here in Melbourne.”