Jacinta Allan to become premier of Victoria

Victorian Labor MPs have voted to appoint Jacinta Allan as party leader and the 49th premier of the state, after Daniel Andrews announced his resignation on Tuesday.

Allan – who was widely tipped to succeed Andrews – was elected during a caucus meeting on Wednesday afternoon as Victoria’s second female premier. She will replace the outgoing premier, Daniel Andrews, who will officially resign on Wednesday afternoon at 5pm.

She will be the first female premier in the state since Joan Kirner’s Labor government lost the 1992 election.

Her election came after sources within caucus said the public transport minister, Ben Carroll, had flagged an intention to run against Allan for the leadership. However, Allan was elected unopposed and sources say Carroll will become deputy leader.

Allan, the member for Bendigo East in regional Victoria, was first elected to state parliament in 1999. At age 25, she became the youngest woman elected to Victoria’s parliament and at 29 became the state’s youngest minister.

She was most recently minister for transport and infrastructure and the suburban rail loop. Prior to the state’s axing of the Commonwealth Games in July, her portfolio also included overseeing the delivery of the event.

Allan has been a factional ally of Andrews in the socialist left, and had served as his deputy leader.

The state’s treasurer, Tim Pallas, had earlier been expected to run to be the party’s deputy, amid a morning of factional brawling between the party’s left and right factions over the leadership positions.

Carroll was the leading contender on the right for the position, though the police minister, Anthony Carbines, had also been floated on Tuesday night.

Pallas, who had last year defected from the right faction, was the left’s only candidate for the deputy position.

Factional meetings were held on Wednesday morning after the left and right of the party failed to strike a deal overnight on the deputy position.

Andrews on Tuesday announced he would formally step down as both premier and the member for Mulgrave at 5pm on Wednesday, saying he had begun to think about what life would be like were he not in the all-consuming role.

He said leading the state had been “the honour and privilege” of his life and paid tribute to his wife, Catherine, and their three children, as well as his staff, former premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby, his deputies and Pallas, who he said had been in his leadership team for nine years.