Allan says a One Nation-Liberal coalition is the biggest risk to the state. Follow updates live
Jacinta Allan resigns as Victorian premier before leadership challenge by Ben Carroll
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41m agoVictorian premier Jacinta Allan to step down
2h agoBen Carroll arrives at Victorian parliament
2h agoLabor MPs begin arriving for leadership spill
2h agoGrave fears for missing baby as ocean search resumes
3h agoATO’s ‘same job, same pay’ hearings begin
4h agoPM salutes 'giants of the labour movement'
4h agoACTU leaders step down after eight years at the top
Jacinta Allan, the Victorian premier, will step down amid a leadership spill.
After speaking with my colleagues overnight, I’ve made the difficult decision to step aside. Should Ben Carroll emerge as our next Labor leader and Labor premier, he will have my congratulations and unqualified support. I am making this because it’s the right thing by the Labor party, and by the Victorian people.
After speaking with my colleagues overnight, I’ve made the difficult decision to step aside.
Should Ben Carroll emerge as our next Labor leader and Labor premier, he will have my congratulations and unqualified support.
I am making this because it’s the right thing by the Labor party, and by the Victorian people.
Wong rules out extension of fuel excise cut
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has ruled out an extension of the fuel excise cut beyond this weekend as petrol and diesel prices surge again amid the war between the US and Israel against Iran.
Speaking to ABC Breakfast this morning, Wong said the government would continue to look at ways to relieve households of financial stress but there were no plans to extend the halving of the fuel excise beyond this weekend.
What we are focused on is ensuring continued fuel and fertiliser coming into Australia, and we are calling, as so many in the international community are, for there to be ceasefire negotiations and an end to this conflict, which has caused so much global turmoil … Currently, the plan is for the fuel excise to step down. As you know, it’s come down, it’s halved, and the intention is for that to discontinue as of this weekend.
What we are focused on is ensuring continued fuel and fertiliser coming into Australia, and we are calling, as so many in the international community are, for there to be ceasefire negotiations and an end to this conflict, which has caused so much global turmoil …
Currently, the plan is for the fuel excise to step down. As you know, it’s come down, it’s halved, and the intention is for that to discontinue as of this weekend.
The federal government announced a three-month halving of the fuel excise from April, slashing the 52.6c a litre tax temporarily to 26.4c a litre. It is set to expire on 2 August.
The news comes as the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, visits Karratha in Western Australia’s Pilbara region to announce a $4m early stage feasibility study into the construction of what would be Australia’s first new oil refinery in 60 years.
Allan says her endometriosis and childbirth experience ‘defined what I believe government should do for working women’
A bit more about Allan’s comments on women’s health, and her time as a female political leader:
“I have lived with endometriosis and I almost lost my daughter at birth,” she told assembled media as she announced her resignation as premier just earlier.
These experiences not only defined who I am, they defined what I believe government should do for working women.
She went on to list some of her government’s achievements:
Opening 15 women’s health clinics across the state.
Rolling out the green whistle for free pain relief.
Access to the contraceptive pill at the chemist without having to pay to see a GP.
And the country’s first virtual emergency department.
If you’re a woman making your start in politics, let me say this to you today: please don’t look at what I have experienced this week and think ‘Stuff that, I don’t want to be involved.’ Look at the support I have experienced over my career and think, ‘I can make a difference here too.’
If you’re a woman making your start in politics, let me say this to you today: please don’t look at what I have experienced this week and think ‘Stuff that, I don’t want to be involved.’
Look at the support I have experienced over my career and think, ‘I can make a difference here too.’
Allan asks to be remembered for work supporting women and girls
If I want to be remembered for one thing, it’s this: I led a government … I led a government that listened to girls about their health. … I am proud to be Victoria’s second female premier, and there have absolutely been moments when it’s been hard and it’s been personal. But the chance to make a difference was worth it … If you want to make a difference in politics, you have to get up and fight and I am a fighter. I have always fought for my family’s Labor values.
If I want to be remembered for one thing, it’s this: I led a government … I led a government that listened to girls about their health.
… I am proud to be Victoria’s second female premier, and there have absolutely been moments when it’s been hard and it’s been personal. But the chance to make a difference was worth it …
If you want to make a difference in politics, you have to get up and fight and I am a fighter. I have always fought for my family’s Labor values.
She said she was “more than ready” to fight again in November, issuing a warning on One Nation’s surge in the state.
That remains the biggest risk at this election, a One Nation-Liberal coalition government that will cut $40bn from our hospitals and from our schools.
Allan ‘proud’ of building up regional Victoria
Allan is listing a string of achievements and her love of Melbourne and regional Victoria:
Melbourne’s a great city. It’s the best in the world, multicultural and proudly so … But if you ask me what sets Victoria apart, it’s our regional cities. And I am so proud to call one of them home. Labor governments have built up the regions. And today, it means that my kids have the opportunity in their community that I didn’t have when I grew up in Bendigo. That’s what I’m proud of.
Melbourne’s a great city. It’s the best in the world, multicultural and proudly so …
But if you ask me what sets Victoria apart, it’s our regional cities. And I am so proud to call one of them home.
Labor governments have built up the regions. And today, it means that my kids have the opportunity in their community that I didn’t have when I grew up in Bendigo. That’s what I’m proud of.
‘This gig has been tough’: Allan
Allan says she is “immensely proud” of her time in office, which has lasted 1,036 days:
Let’s be honest – this gig has been tough … I leave immensely proud of what we have achieved these past three years. I inherited a rising crime rate. My team and I toughened bail laws … Crime is now falling for the first time since Covid. I inherited a budget deficit … Making life easier and more affordable became my mission.
Let’s be honest – this gig has been tough … I leave immensely proud of what we have achieved these past three years.
I inherited a rising crime rate. My team and I toughened bail laws … Crime is now falling for the first time since Covid. I inherited a budget deficit …
Making life easier and more affordable became my mission.
Key Jacinta Allan supporter says premier will not contest leadership spill
We’ve just heard from a key Allan supporter who says the premier Jacinta Allan will not contest the leadership spill bought against her by deputy Ben Carroll.
She’s due to address media any minute.
Jacinta Allan to address media
Jacinta Allan is expected to speak at a press conference in just a few moments, at 9.30am Melbourne time.
We’ll bring you live updates.
Colin Brooks arrives at Victorian parliament
Colin Brooks – one of the six ministers who told the premier yesterday she no longer had their support – has just arrived at parliament. Asked if he’d be supporting Ben Carroll in the spill, he said:
I’ll be voting for integrity in the Labor party and a royal commission.
Queensland won’t adopt new AusAlert system until next year at the earliest
Queensland won’t adopt the federal government’s new AusAlert system until months after the planned nationwide rollout of the system in October.
The state’s minister for fire and disaster recovery, Ann Leahy, told ABC local radio this morning the “earliest” the state could adopt the new system would be April next year.
The state says the new system won’t work in some regional areas, because it doesn’t use fixed landline phone lines.
“In October we will be right in the middle of our fire season, so we will be continuing with the existing system,” Leahy said.
The earliest we could go across to the AusAlert would be in April next year, because we simply know we have people trained to use the existing system.
Greens senator says it was a ‘good day’ after court upholds finding Pauline Hanson engaged in racial discrimination
Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi said it was a “good day” yesterday after a court decision to uphold the finding that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson engaged in racial discrimination when she tweeted that she should “pack your bags and piss off back to Pakistan”.
Faruqi spoke to RN Breakfast this morning, saying:
It was a good day yesterday for people of colour, for Muslims, and for migrants in this country. And, you know, this is a win. And I have always said that this case was taken to court on behalf of everyone who has been told to go back to where you came from … It is a strong form of racism. It is a statement that undermines people’s sense of belonging and treats them as a second-class citizen. And it has a massive impact.
It was a good day yesterday for people of colour, for Muslims, and for migrants in this country. And, you know, this is a win. And I have always said that this case was taken to court on behalf of everyone who has been told to go back to where you came from …
It is a strong form of racism. It is a statement that undermines people’s sense of belonging and treats them as a second-class citizen. And it has a massive impact.
Faruqi said she would be “prepared” if the case is taken to the high court, saying Hanson was “welcome to do that”.
‘She has my full support’
The energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, is another key backer of Jacinta Allan and says that hasn’t changed:
She has my full support … We have a caucus meeting as we always do, and the premier is committed to her job. And as far as I’m concerned, she’ll continue in that role.
‘Personal loyalty’ always important, former Victoria health minister says
Former Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas, who earlier this year announced she would resign at the November election, says she will not support a spill this morning:
Personal loyalty has always been very important to me, and if there is a spill motion this morning, I will not be supporting it.
Jacinta Allan has served this state with real leadership. She’s always had the people of Victoria at the heart of everything that she does, I’ve known Jacinta for a very long time, and I have a great deal of admiration for her.
The deputy premier, Ben Carroll, who is challenging Jacinta Allan for the Victorian Labor leadership in a few hours time, has arrived at parliament and made a brief statement to reporters:
I will have more to say later. Right now, my focus is on talking to my colleagues.
