Category Archives: Victorian politics

Regrettable references and claims of ‘rigged’ election laws: why this week has reignited Jacinta Allan spill rumours

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Just months from the Victorian election, the premier’s performance has left some MPs wondering if it’s too late for Labor to change leaders

Jacinta Allan faced three major tests this week. The way she handled them has left some of her colleagues speculating about a possible leadership change just months out from the Victorian election.

The first came on Monday, as the premier responded to a parliamentary inquiry that six months ago recommended sweeping reforms to Victoria’s integrity laws.

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Jacinta Allan launches state-sponsored apprenticeships at Victoria’s Labor conference ahead of election

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The premier is offering 2,000 apprenticeships at the revived State Electricity Commission as part of a pre-election push

Jacinta Allan has used Labor’s final state conference before the election to announce a plan for a government-owned electricity body to hire apprentices to address significant workforce shortages and job insecurity.

The Victorian premier announced the plan in a speech that drew on her father’s experience as a linesman at the State Electricity Commission (SEC), which was revived by Daniel Andrews in 2023 after being privatised by former premier Jeff Kennett in the 1990s.

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Victorian politics still exposed to ‘dark money’ and foreign donations as MPs struggle to agree on urgent reforms

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Exclusive: state is now without caps on political donations or disclosure requirements, months out from November election

“Unlimited dark money” will keep flooding into Victorian politics after Labor failed to reach agreement with the Liberals or the Greens about donation reforms the Allan government vowed to fast-track through parliament.

Victoria is now without caps on political donations or disclosure requirements, months out from the November election after the high court struck down the state’s donation laws last month.

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Muslim Votes Matter says anonymous bid to create political party under same name an attempt to ‘mislead’ voters

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Exclusive: Push to register unaffiliated party with identical name to grassroots group follows Avi Yemini’s plan to use ‘Free Palestine party’ to funnel votes to One Nation

Muslim Votes Matter (MVM) has complained to the Victorian Electoral Commission over an anonymous bid to register a political party under the same name ahead of the state election, accusing it of deliberately misleading voters.

MVM was established before the 2025 federal election as a grassroots advocacy and lobbying movement, responding to concerns about the lack of political representation for Muslim and minority groups in Australia.

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Australia news live: dozens paddle out in Sydney and Newcastle in solidarity with Gaza Flotilla; PM commits another $1.8bn to urgent care clinics

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Parents of Australian who was detained by IDF call for stronger government response. Follow updates live

Canavan defends Coalition decision to preference One Nation ahead of independent in Farrer: ‘Socialists and communists always go last’

Matt Canavan said he understood why voters in Farrer, set for a byelection next Saturday, were disillusioned with the federal opposition.

I‘ve been down there for 20 days, 15 nights – and 10 of those I’ve been in a swag – over the past month.

I’m doing everything I can to fight for them. I’d love to fight for that great part of our country again, it’s a wonderful part of our nation where we pioneered the use of irrigation and dams. It still produces 40% of our food, 60% of our fruit.

Under my leadership, [in] my view, socialists and communists always go last.

I think we need to really see how the overseas conflict evolves, how prices evolve for oil. But I think, you know, it is doing what it was intended to do. It’s not a silver bullet, but it is providing material support for people. And as I said, it’s providing support for people who are really doing it tough when they can’t shift away from using petrol.

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Liberals claim victory in Nepean byelection ahead of state poll

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Anthony Marsh appears to be in commanding position in significant boost to opposition leader Jess Wilson

The Liberals have claimed victory in a key Victorian byelection seen as a preview of what to expect when the rest of the state hits the polls in November.

As counting continued in the Mornington peninsula seat of Nepean, the Liberal candidate, Anthony Marsh, appeared to be in a commanding position in a significant boost to opposition leader Jess Wilson.

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Jacinta Allan wants voters to see Victoria’s 12-year-old Labor government as ‘new and united’. Can she cling to power?

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With a reshuffled cabinet, the premier is hoping to quell leadership rumblings as her party seeks an unprecedented fourth term

As the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, stood alongside the fresh faces in her reshuffled cabinet on Wednesday, she attempted to send her increasingly jaded electorate a blunt message: despite its 12 years in power, her government is – apparently – new.

In her opening four-minute preamble to reporters, Allan - whose Labor government will in November seek an unprecedented fourth term - repeated the word 17 times. In one sentence alone, she referred to her “new cabinet”, “new portfolios”, “new solutions” and “new areas that are going to drive this government forward”.

Benita Kolovos is Guardian Australia’s Victorian state correspondent

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Moira Deeming to secure top spot on Victorian Liberal ticket

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Reversal of fortune comes just one week after she was dumped in favour of Dinesh Gourisetty, who then withdrew his nomination

Moira Deeming will secure a top spot on the Victorian Liberal party’s upper house ticket unopposed – less than a week after members voted to dump her – after the withdrawal of candidates from a re-run ballot.

Deeming was on Sunday ousted from the number one spot for the western metropolitan region by Dinesh Gourisetty.

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One Nation renews defection offer to ‘courageous’ Moira Deeming after Victorian Liberal MP dumped from election ticket

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Moderate-backed Dinesh Gourisetty won nomination for upper house seat

Moira Deeming has lost her spot on the ballot for the Victorian Liberal party at the November state election, after a successful challenge by a moderate-backed candidate.

Liberal members gathered at party headquarters in Melbourne’s CBD on Sunday for the western metropolitan region convention, where Deeming was defeated by Dinesh Gourisetty, a prominent figure in Melbourne’s fast-growing Indian community.

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Long-promised animal cruelty prevention laws quietly shelved by Victorian government

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Exclusive: Labor bill recognising all animals as sentient and raising care requirements won’t be introduced before state election

A bulldog trapped on a balcony, forced to live among its own faeces. A corgi kept in similarly squalid conditions, surrendered by its owner after community outrage. A Maltese shih tzu beaten with a metal pole – its attacker spared jail.

These are the kinds of animal cruelty cases the Victorian government promised to target with new laws almost a decade ago. But Guardian Australia can reveal those reforms have been shelved indefinitely.

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Teachers in Victoria strike for first time in 13 years, with classes cancelled at about 500 public schools

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Australian Education Union members to rally outside state parliament in dispute over pay and conditions

Classes have been halted across Victoria as thousands of striking public school teachers, principals and education support staff prepare to descend on state parliament for a rally over pay and conditions.

According to the Australian Education Union’s Victorian president, Justin Mullaly, up to 500 schools would either be closed or “significantly affected” as a result of the first strike in the state’s public school system in more than 13 years.

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Let the games begin: Victorian Liberals fail at sport but surprise with teamwork in viral video

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Jess Wilson’s party has made a splash on social media but will they work together in the state election race?

Jess Wilson doing bombs into a swimming pool. Brad Battin in a muscle shirt curling 20kg, tattoos on show. John Pesutto throwing a discus, clad in blue jeans. Matthew Guy running, clutching a pink baton.

The current Victorian Liberal leader and three of her predecessors feature in a social media video to mark what would have been the opening ceremony of the regional Commonwealth Games on Tuesday – if the state government hadn’t cancelled them.

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Victorian government faces backlash from small businesses over right to work-from-home laws

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Small employers won’t be exempt from proposed legislation designed to allow offsite working two days a week

Business groups have criticised a decision to rule out exemptions for small businesses in the Victorian government’s plan to legislate the right to work from home two days a week, saying some companies could move interstate or overseas.

Cabinet met on Monday to greenlight the work from home plan – a key pillar of Labor’s re-election campaign – with further announcements expected during the parliamentary sitting week.

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Polls, preferences, potential defections: can Victoria’s Liberal party ward off the rising threat of One Nation?

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Opposition leader Jess Wilson is under pressure to reveal her position on a deal with Pauline Hanson’s party as the state election approaches

While internal divisions have long been the Victorian Liberal party’s main obstacle to winning government, a new threat is emerging on its right flank: One Nation.

Just four years ago, One Nation received just 8,077 lower house first-preference votes out of more than 3.6m cast in Victoria – equivalent to 0.22% of the total – and won a single seat in the upper house.

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Where will Victoria’s new homes be built? Competing Liberal and Labor visions are as much about politics as planning

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Jess Wilson’s housing plan offers little that is truly new – but Jacinta Allan claims it draws a line through Melbourne and locks millennials out

A genuine policy contest has finally broken out over housing in Victoria – but it is as much about politics as it is about planning.

The opposition leader, Jess Wilson, on Wednesday announced a plan to expand Melbourne’s capital city zone – effectively expanding the CBD to take in Collingwood, Fitzroy, Fishermans Bend, North Melbourne, Parkville and parts of Southbank not already included. This will mean height limits can be lifted, density increased and development encouraged to “restore vibrancy” to the city.

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Role of far-right manosphere in homophobic attacks on men to be investigated in Victoria

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Exclusive: Greens move to call parliamentary inquiry after series of ‘disturbing’ attacks targeting gay and bisexual men lured via dating apps

The role of “far-right manosphere influencers” in fuelling homophobic attacks where victims were lured through fake dating app profiles before being assaulted is set to be investigated by a Victorian parliamentary inquiry.

Aiv Puglielli, the Greens’ equality spokesperson, will on Wednesday move a motion calling on the upper house’s legal and social issues committee to investigate the scale of such crimes, as well as the state’s current response and support available to victims.

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Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children

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Exclusive: Legislation would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures until child can give informed consent, bringing state in line with ACT

Victoria will become the first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, with legislation to be introduced to parliament to ensure procedures are deferred until patients are old enough to consent to them.

The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, will on Tuesday introduce the health safeguards for people born with variations in sex characteristics bill, which if passed would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures and treatments on intersex infants and children until they can provide informed consent.

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Brad Battin faces spill after group of Victorian Liberal MPs say they have lost confidence in his leadership

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Sources say shadow treasurer Jess Wilson has received enough support to test leadership of the party a year out from state poll

A group of Victorian Liberal MPs has told the party leader, Brad Battin, they no longer have confidence in his leadership, paving the way for a vote on whether to replace him.

The intervention on Monday afternoon – delivered almost one year before the state goes to the polls – could trigger a ballot on his position as early as Tuesday morning.

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Will Victoria’s new youth crime laws be tough on crime or just a coward punch?

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Jacinta Allan’s Labor government takes a leaf out of the playbook of conservative oppositions: focus on crime and hope voters see them as knights in shining armour

To put it in language those in the Victorian government who are enamoured of tabloid newspapers and talkback radio will understand: are these new laws tough on crime, or merely a coward punch?

A decision by the Victorian government to introduce adult crime, adult time laws has been widely condemned as an easy way out, getting in first with a cheap shot rather than having to duke it out on youth crime with a rabble of a Coalition at next year’s state election. It may work politically, but will it work as policy?

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Sam Groth’s ambition to be premier meant articles on relationship with wife ‘not idle gossip’, News Corp claims

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Court told new privacy laws shouldn’t apply to Herald Sun stories alleging Victorian MP’s wife, Brittany, was underage at start of relationship

News Corp stories alleging Sam Groth began dating his wife, Brittany, while she was underage were far from “idle gossip” given the claims were being “weaponised” by rivals of the Victorian Liberal MP, who aspires to become premier, the publisher has told a court.

The Herald and Weekly Times (HWT), reporter Stephen Drill and Herald Sun editor Sam Weir are being sued in the federal court over a series of articles published in July. Groth is suing for defamation while his wife has launched the first test case of new laws for serious invasions of privacy.

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