{"id":57911,"date":"2026-07-24T20:56:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/57911\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T20:56:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T20:56:32","slug":"jacinta-allan-faces-leadership-challenge-as-vic-jobless-rate-soars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/57911\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacinta Allan faces leadership challenge as Vic jobless rate soars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premier Jacinta Allan and her deputy, Ben Carroll, face growing speculation of an imminent leadership challenge, after they went to ground over a teacher\u2019s strike and the state\u2019s unemployment rate climbed above 5 per cent for the first time since the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Victoria\u2019s unemployment rate in June hit 5.1 per cent, becoming the first mainland state to go above 5 per cent since the end of Covid lockdowns in October 2021. <\/p>\n

The state\u2019s jobless rate now is well above NSW (4 per cent), Western Australia (4.2 per cent), Queensland and South Australia (4.3 per cent) and the national rate of 4.4 per cent; the 0.7 per cent gap between the Victorian and national unemployment rate is the largest it has been in more than a decade.<\/p>\n

The new figures come as state Labor MPs renew chatter of a leadership challenge against the Victorian Premier four months out from the November 28 election. There is growing talk of a cross-factional delegation going to Ms Allan to convince her to stand down, or to Mr Carroll to urge him to challenge, when parliament returns next week.<\/p>\n

The Australian revealed on Thursday<\/a> that MPs were speculating about a fresh challenge after a two-day caucus retreat in Ballarat that left them unconvinced that the Premier and her team were adequately addressing the government\u2019s political problems, including the CFMEU corruption scandal.<\/p>\n

Ms Allan was in Adelaide on Thursday for Labor\u2019s national conference, while Mr Carroll did not front reporters, despite tens of thousands of teachers and support staff holding strikes after rejecting the government\u2019s latest pay offer. <\/p>\n

Mr Carroll \u2013 the Education Minister, who it is understood was sick on Thursday \u2013 said in a statement that \u201ctoday\u2019s dis\u00adruption is disappointing\u201d. He said the government would continue to work with the Australian Education Union on a deal.<\/p>\n

Some MPs in Ms Allan\u2019s Socialist Left faction who were previously against a change have become supportive of a change, but it remains unclear whether the numbers are there to topple the Premier.<\/p>\n

MPs who aren\u2019t supportive of a change pushed back against the assertion that the plotters had the numbers, saying there had not been a proper count.<\/p>\n

The renewed speculation came as Labor MPs returned from the two-day caucus con\u00adference in Ballarat, reporting a sense of malaise among their \u00adcolleagues.<\/p>\n

Several MPs said they were not convinced by presentations given by Ms Allan and her chief of staff, Damian Karmelich, during the caucus retreat.<\/p>\n

According to multiple attendees, Mr Karmelich argued that the government\u2019s rollout of policy commitments was tracking much as it did before the 2022 election. He also delivered an extended argument that Labor needed to lean into public anxiety about artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to talk about something people aren\u2019t talking about, but they\u2019re anxious about,\u201d Mr Karmelich reportedly said.<\/p>\n

It left some MPs with the sense that the government wasn\u2019t serious about responding to the political problems that have been raised by voters, including the infiltration of organised crime on taxpayer-funded construction.<\/p>\n

After the retreat, there has been widespread venting within Victorian Labor about Mr Karmelich, who The Australian previously reported<\/a> has been criticised by ministers over his \u201ccontrolling\u201d style.<\/p>\n

However, some still credit him with injecting a sense of discipline back into the government after his appointment in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/a>Anthony Galloway<\/a>Victorian political editor <\/p>\n

Anthony Galloway is The Australian’s Victorian political editor, having reported on
\nsome of the nation\u2019s biggest security and political stories over the past decade. He was previously foreign affairs and national security correspondent at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, chief political correspondent at Capital Brief and earlier a political reporter at the Herald Sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Jacinta Allan and her deputy, Ben Carroll, face growing speculation of an imminent leadership challenge, after they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[60231,60210,60230,45043,60203,60219,60197,60221,57033,5609,60264,60265,57126,41421,60246,60263,41445,38552,56553,60229,60256,60207,60238,60249,43587,37726,58216,60260,60216,395,2311,60262,60233,1132,22,21,8944,12688,36917,60224,60254,60225,60220,57980,60244,60253,60204,60268,60235,60226,60206,51763,1646,60251,36788,156,45166,60232,5488,60215,45118,57807,60218,45109,60258,60255,44169,60199,596,60267,849,60209,60259,317,29619,60222,60243,60202,47225,60266,60239,60261,60201,60252,7738,60212,55542,43806,60248,15850,60250,57869,60240,47159,60228,43941,60227,60245,60217,60205,38263,60234,47672,23380,60247,60236,60257,60242,38937,42595,60211,60237,3336,60198,60223,37964,60200,60214,49538,60241,7444,31666,15593,60208,68,28095,1491,353,60213],"class_list":["post-57911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-s-disruption","tag-s-jobless-rate","tag-s-latest-pay-offer","tag-s-national-conference","tag-s-political-problems","tag-s-rollout","tag-s-socialist-left-faction","tag-s-strike","tag-s-unemployment-rate","tag-5609","tag-4-2","tag-4-3","tag-4-4","tag-41421","tag-5-1","tag-5-1pc","tag-41445","tag-a-change","tag-a-cross-factional-delegation","tag-a-deal-some-mps","tag-a-fresh-challenge","tag-a-fresh-leadership-challenge","tag-a-leadership-challenge","tag-a-proper-count-the-renewed-speculation","tag-a-sense","tag-a-statement","tag-a-teacher","tag-a-teachers-strike","tag-a-two-day-caucus-retreat","tag-adelaide","tag-allan","tag-an-extended-argument","tag-an-imminent-leadership-challenge","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-ballarat","tag-ben-carroll","tag-cent","tag-cent-gap","tag-chatter","tag-covid-lockdowns","tag-damian-karmelich","tag-discipline","tag-four-months","tag-growing-speculation","tag-her-chief","tag-her-deputy","tag-her-deputy-ben-carroll","tag-her-team","tag-his-controlling-style-however","tag-his-appointment","tag-jacinta-allan","tag-jobless-rate","tag-june","tag-labor","tag-labor-mps","tag-malaise","tag-ministers","tag-more-than-a-decade-tad-2410-victoria-employment-ratesthe","tag-mps","tag-mr-carroll","tag-mr-karmelich","tag-ms-allan","tag-multiple-attendees","tag-national-unemployment-rate","tag-new-figures","tag-next-week-the-australian","tag-nsw","tag-october-2021","tag-organised-crime","tag-parliament-returns","tag-policy-commitments","tag-premier","tag-premier-jacinta-allan","tag-presentations","tag-public-anxiety","tag-queensland-and-south-australia","tag-reporters","tag-revolt","tag-some-mps","tag-some-victorian-labor-mps-plot","tag-something-people","tag-spiking","tag-staff","tag-state-labor-mps-renew","tag-strikes","tag-talk","tag-taxpayer-funded-construction-after","tag-teacher-strike","tag-teachers-and-support-staff","tag-tens-of-thousands","tag-the-0-7","tag-the-2022-election","tag-the-assertion","tag-the-australian","tag-the-australian-education-union","tag-the-caucus","tag-the-cfmeu-corruption-scandal-ms-allan","tag-the-education-minister","tag-the-end","tag-the-first-mainland-state","tag-the-first-time","tag-the-government","tag-the-infiltration","tag-the-largest","tag-the-national-rate","tag-the-november-28-election","tag-the-numbers","tag-the-pandemic","tag-the-plotters","tag-the-political-problems","tag-the-premier","tag-the-retreat","tag-the-sense","tag-the-state","tag-the-two-day-caucus-conference","tag-the-victorian","tag-the-victorian-premier","tag-their-colleagues-several-mps","tag-thursday","tag-today","tag-unemployment","tag-unemployment-and-leadership-chatter","tag-victoria","tag-victorian-labor","tag-voters","tag-western-australia","tag-widespread-venting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}