Vic ALP realignment shores up Jacinta Allan as future Premier

Two MPs are set to be promoted to Daniel Andrews’ third term cabinet and one demoted, with portfolios expected to be announced over the weekend.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nicki Connolly

A dramatic factional realignment in the Victorian parliamentary Labor Party has cemented power within Daniel Andrews’ Socialist Left faction and neutered the Right, shoring up Jacinta Allan as the Premier’s anointed successor.

But the move to the Socialist Left by Treasurer Tim Pallas and six of his previously Right-aligned colleagues has had minimal ­impact on the composition of the third-term cabinet Mr Andrews is expected to unveil over the ­weekend.

Caucus met at parliament on Friday, for the first time since Saturday’s election, to vote on cabinet members. As expected, upper house MP and parliamentary secretary Enver Erdogan and backbencher Natalie Suleyman were elevated to the ministry, at the ­expense of veterans minister Shaun Leane and following the retirement of employment minister Jaala Pulford.

Upper House MP Enver Erdogan is set to be promoted to Cabinet.​

Mr Erdogan’s promotion comes after a factional carve-up in the wake of former powerbroker Adem Somyurek’s 2020 expulsion from the ALP over branch-stacking allegations saw Mr Erdogan’s SDA (shoppies’ union) Right faction increase its numbers in Victorian parliament on Saturday from four to seven. Ms Suleyman’s comes after her Transport Workers Union Right faction. which increased its seats from four to six, and the linked Labor Unity Right faction associated with former senator Stephen Conroy and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles increased its seats from seven to 10.

The increase in SDA, TWU and LU representation came at the expense of Mr Somyurek’s former “Mods” Right faction, as well as the AWU Right faction linked to former federal opposition leader Bill Shorten, and Mr Pallas and Ms Pulford’s National Union of Workers Right faction.

Mr Leane, who is aligned with the AWU via the Plumbers Union, lost his cabinet position because he was seen as the “weakest link” among his AWU cabinet colleagues, who include ­Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes, Education Minister Natalie Hutchins, and Assistant Treasurer and Housing Minister Danny Pearson.

Treasurer Tim Pallas is the most senior of seven MPs who have moved from Right ALP factions to the Premier’s Socialist Left.

Thursday night’s sudden factional shift saw Mr Pallas, Tourism, Sport & Major Events Minister Steve Dimopoulos, parliamentary secretary Nick Staikos and backbencher Jackson Taylor move from the NUW Right to the Socialist Left. Also moving across were three former Mods: parliamentary secretaries Katie Hall and Tim Richardson, and backbencher Meng Heang Tak. The only remaining Mod, Child Protection Minister Colin Brooks, has kept his position in cabinet despite choosing to ­remain on the Right.

Until the seven MPs shifted on Thursday, the Socialist Left was set to have its numbers reduced from 34 to a maximum of 33 (with counting continuing in several close seats) following the election, compared with the Right’s 35.

Thursday’s shift gives the Socialist Left up to 40 seats, compared with 28 on the Right, cruelling any chances of a challenge from the Right to Deputy Premier Ms Allan’s plans to succeed Mr Andrews.

Senior Labor sources on Friday said the NUW MPs’ decision to defect was based on cementing Mr Dimopoulos, Mr Staikos and Mr Taylor’s positions in future ministries, as well as on close ­social connections with members of the Socialist Left.

The Mods MPs are believed to have similar motivations, despite the move creating some odd bedfellows. “Heang escaped Pol Pot. He’s not exactly into socialism. Tim’s a boy from the eastern suburbs. He’s to the Right of just about everyone. But they’ve been left with no other options by the rest of the Right,” said one senior Labor source.