“It’s ugly. It’s messy”: Inside the plot to bring down the Victorian premier
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
We have breaking news for us now. And, in fact, we will go to Jacinta Allen at the moment.
Yesterday, Mum sent me a message.
After a chaotic 24 hours of backroom plotting and mounting pressure, the Victorian Premier resigned.
I've made the difficult decision to step aside as leader of the Victorian State Parliamentary Labor Party and as Premier of Victoria.
What happened during the 24 hours that led to Jacinta Allan’s resignation?
Her replacement and former deputy leader, Ben Carroll, now just has four months to turn Labor's fortunes around in what's shaping up to be the most unpredictable election the state has ever seen.
I am not... Daniel Andrews, I am not Jacinta Allen. I will do things differently because different times require a new approach.
Polls show an unprecedented three-party contest, with voters split almost equally between the unpopular Labor government, an opposition ridden by scandal and a rising One Nation.
I saw off two Liberal leaders. Now I expect my successor will see off the third. And if they don't, One Nation certainly will.
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to 7am. Today, ABC Melbourne Morning's host, Raph Epstein, on what Labor's change of leader means for an already chaotic election race and whether Australia's most progressive state could turn orange. It's Wednesday, July 29. So, Raph, on Monday, the Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allen, was digging her heels in. Yesterday, she handed in her resignation. Walk me through how this played out.
This played out, I have to say, this played out exactly as the plotters intended. There's been pressure building on Jacinta Allen's leadership. For a number of months, there have been people encouraging Ben Carroll to do something and Last week, though, they bunkered down together. They actually all went to Ballarat together, all the Labor MPs in the Victorian Parliament. And the police minister, whose name is Anthony Carbines, he was like, this isn't working, and you're driving the government off a cliff. What it meant was that when he then faced the cameras the next day, he then was asked, well, is this true? Did it happen? He didn't deny it. He just did the, oh, well, you know, I don't talk about internal matters.
Do you think that Penny R should be doing more?
Well, you're referring to the caucus conference and I don't comment on caucus meetings. That is really what sparked this. And then I actually went to her on Monday morning, a delegation of ministers and factional MPs and said, look, you've lost the room. You've lost caucus. She said, ah, nah, you're not doing this. She has been telegraphing for ages publicly and privately. If you do this... I will effectively burn the House down if you come for me. She writes to the State Secretary. She says, I want you to prepare all the members. We're going to have a leadership ballot. The plotters were always confident that she would eventually fold. But the Premier's backers cannot begin to convey the anger. They are furious with the plotters.
I had one MP almost crying, saying she deserves the right to go to the people. Keep in mind, she didn't face the voters. Dan Andrews handed over to her after the last election. But once all the phones started running hot on Monday evening and into Tuesday morning, I think that's when the Premier Jacinta Allen realised, you know what, I don't have the support. We then thought it would all smooth out and there'd be a simple transition to Ben Carroll. But then we had a crazy few hours on Tuesday morning.
Yeah, it got pretty chaotic when a third contender put their hand up as well for the premiership and then withdrew almost immediately. Tell me about what happened.
Yeah, so keep in mind, any time there's a contest between two leaders, it has to go to the members. So the meeting was for 10 o'clock. It wasn't until 20 minutes past nine that we found out for sure Jacinta Allen's not going to contest the leadership.
I will shortly chair a caucus meeting to elect a new leader. Should Ben Carroll emerge as our next Labor leader and Labor premier, he will have my congratulations and unqualified support.
So everyone then assumes, or at least everyone outside of the Labor Party caucus goes, oh, well, easy done.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:23
2
What happened during the 24 hours that led to Jacinta Allan’s resignation?
0:23–8:05
3
How did internal plotters and caucus pressure force a leadership change?
8:05–13:14
4
What visceral reactions and factional fallout followed Allan’s removal?
13:14–16:42
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from 7am
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