Bendigo MP Jacinta Allan confirmed as Victoria’s new premier

From Bendigo backbencher to Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan is only one of a handful of regional MPs to reach the apex of power.

Long-serving Bendigo MP Jacinta Allan has been confirmed by the Labor caucus as Victoria’s next premier, officially succeeding Daniel Andrews in the top job.

The second woman to be elected as Victorian premier, following Joan Kirner in 1990, the 50-year-old minister was confirmed as the new Labor leader in a party room meeting on Wednesday.

Mr Andrews all but declared Ms Allan as his successor in the months prior to yesterday’s resignation, promoting the Bendigo East MP to the deputy leadership last year.

Niddrie MP Ben Carroll will succeed Ms Allan as deputy premier, after initially indicating a run for the top job himself.

Returning officer Paul Hamer said both Ms Allan and Mr Carroll had been elected unopposed.

Ms Allan paid tribute to her parents and her mentor, Ms Kirner, in the moments following her elevation to the leadership.

“It’s not lost on me that I’m only the second woman to hold this position,” she said.

“It’s not lost on me that I am only the second woman to lead this state.

“I also hope it says to young women, older women, women from across different backgrounds ... that leadership takes on different shapes and sizes.

“Women have a leadership role)whether it’s in politics, running local community groups, being a small business person, running big corporations, running a farm.”

BENDIGO IS ALLAN’S TOWN

The granddaughter of a Bendigo Trades Hall Council president, Ms Allan was born and raised in the regional centre she now represents in state parliament.

She attended Catholic College Bendigo before undertaking an arts degree at La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus.

Following her first election victory, her former legal studies teacher Bill Gaskell described Ms Allan as “a great kid, one of those who really stuck in your mind”.

“It was clear she was always going to be involved in some sort of politics,’’ he said in 2001.

One of Ms Allan’s first jobs in her formative years was working at Coles supermarket in Kangaroo Flat.

The new premier got her first taste of politics as an electoral officer for federal Labor MPs Neil O’Keefe and Steve Gibbons.

It was during this period that Ms Allan first came to public attention, campaigning against tabletop dancing at a newly opened club in Bendigo in 1997.

YOUNGEST MP

At 24, Ms Allan won Labor preselection for Bendigo East, defeating Liberal MP Michael John in the 1999 ‘Brackslide’ election less than a year later.

Asked in 1999 whether she had leadership aspirations, Ms Allan laughed briefly then evaded the question.

“Look, today is an amazing day, it’s a very exciting day for me and I’m taking it pretty much every day as it comes,” she said at the time.

Within only a few years on the government benches, Ms Allan was head of Labor’s country caucus.

She told The Weekly Times in 2002: “I’m not a country girl in that I’d get out on the farm and crutch sheep.”

“I think if you are something different and outside the mould, as women still are in parliament, the scrutiny is going to be much more intense,” she said.

MINISTERIAL MATERIAL

Ms Allan made history as a 29-year-old MP in 2002, beating Bolte protege Ian Smith’s record as Victoria’s youngest minister.

She first served as employment and youth affairs minister in the Bracks cabinet before being promoted to industry minister in 2007, when John Brumby succeeded Steve Bracks as premier.

Mooted as a potential Labor leader following Mr Brumby’s 2010 election loss, she instead backed factional ally Daniel Andrews to become opposition leader.

Following the 2014 Labor election victory, Ms Allan became transport minister and moved further up the chain of command last year to become deputy premier.

Ms Allan is married to Victorian Fisheries Authority director Yorick Piper, a former ministerial adviser.

The 50 year old is Victoria’s 49th premier and the first to represent a Bendigo constituency while serving as state leader.

FROM BENDIGO BACKBENCHER TO VICTORIAN PREMIER

A photographic look at Jacinta Allan through the years

Jacinta Allan, 26, MP for Bendigo East.

Jacinta Allan, 25, the youngest Labor candidate for seat of Bendigo East. March 1999.

Steve Bracks in Bendigo with Jacinta Allan in 1999

2010 State Election. Member for Bendigo East, Jacinta Allan and mother Glenda Allan on the hustings at Spring Gully Primary School.

Premier Steve Bracks visits Lake Eppalock near Bendigo. The Lake is currently only 3% full. Walking along the dry lake bed (R-L) with Bob Cameron (Agriculture Minister) and Jacinta Allan (Education Services Minister)

Victorian Premier John Brumby tours Marand Precision Engineering in Moorabbin with Jacinta Allan, Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation.

2010 State Election. Jacinta Allan watches the Election coverage at the Bendigo Trades Hall Centre.

2010 State Election. Member for Bendigo East, Jacinta Allan at the Bendigo Trades Hall Centre.

Daniel Andrews, Jacinta Allan and Maree Edwards. Picture: Mike Keating

Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews and the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Jacinta Allan (L) tour the new Arden Street train station construction site in North Melbourne. Picture: David Crosling

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (and State Transport Minister Jacinta Allan in 2018. Picture: Julian Smith

Victorian Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan watches as Premier Daniel Andrews announces his retirement at Parliament House in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan arrives at Parliament House in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Henshaw