Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has resigned.
It comes after Deputy Premier Ben Carroll told Allan on Monday he would challenge her leadership.
A new Premier will be chosen later today, with Allan saying she would support Carroll.
Recent polls showed Allan’s popularity falling, and she had been blamed for allowing alleged corruption in Victoria’s Big Build construction program.
The state is four months out from an election.
Here’s what you need to know.
Background
Labor won state elections in 2014, 2018, and 2022, led by Daniel Andrews.
In 2023, Andrews resigned, and then-Transport and Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan became Premier.
Allan has represented the regional electorate of Bendigo East since 1999, when she became the youngest woman elected to Victorian Parliament at 25.
A key project Allan has led through her ministries and premiership is Victoria’s Big Build program. It includes 180 infrastructure projects, such as the Suburban Rail Loop and Metro Tunnel.
Criticisms
There are multiple allegations of corruption against the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees’ Union (CFMEU) related to the Big Build.
As Infrastructure Minister and then Premier, Allan has faced criticism over the alleged corruption.
In February, a Queensland Government inquiry into the CFMEU heard evidence Big Build sites had been “converted by Outlaw Motor Cycle Gangs into drug distribution centres”.
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Allan has said she does not support calls for a Royal Commission into the CFMEU.
Allan’s leadership, and the Labor Party generally, have consistently polled unfavourably since 2025. This week, The Australian’s Newspoll showed around 71% of respondents were “dissatisfied with the way Jacinta Allan is doing her job as Premier”. Asked who would make the better Premier, Allan polled 32%, Wilson polled 51%, and 17% were undecided, according to Newspoll for The Australian.
Challenge
Education Minister and Deputy Premier Ben Carroll posted a statement to X on Monday after a Labor members meeting.
“It is clear that the Premier has lost the majority of our Caucus,” he said. “I have since visited the Premier to inform her that I will be nominating for the leadership of the Labor Party.”
The Guardian and The Age report Allan was planning to face the leadership vote yesterday. She held a press conference on Tuesday announcing her resignation.
Opposition
A spokesperson for Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said: “Victorians don’t need Jacinta Allan’s second-in-charge or another unelected Labor Premier, they want a new government and a fresh start.”
Allan did not face an election as Premier.
Victorian Greens spokesperson Ellen Sandell called the talks “leadership musical chairs”.
Election
Victorians will head to the polls on 28 November.
Ahead of the election, the LNP leads Labor 52% to 48% on a two-party preferred basis, according to the latest Newspoll.
While Allan holds her seat in Bendigo East by a margin of 10.8%, it is considered to be at risk at the upcoming election.
Nationals challenger Andrew Lethlean narrowly lost the overlapping federal seat of Bendigo to Labor, attracting 48.6% of the two-candidate vote.
