Every day there’s either a new allegation or new poll that’s negative for Jacinta Allan. It just keeps compounding every day.

So many Labor supporters fear that Labor will become a crossbench party in Victoria with Libs in government and One Nation as opposition.

Ben Carroll would also lose his seat if Allan is leader at the election.

One Nation becoming opposition or government would hyper legitimise them and it would have a devastating impact on centre-left politics in Australia for many, many years as this will reverberate in other states and territories and federally. All because of Jacinta Allan.

It’s time for Jacinta Allan to go.

Jacinta AllanJuly 2, 2026 — 7:30pm

I understand why Victorians want clear answers about the Big Build.

So let me be clear: I know our investment was worth it, and the evidence is all around us.

Today, children are learning in 121 new public schools.

Premier Jacinta Allan says Victorians can see the success of the Big Build for themselves.Matthew Absalom-Wong

Patients are being treated in 11 new public hospitals.

Thousands of commuters use the Metro Tunnel and West Gate Tunnel every hour.

Ninety-one level crossings are gone, more are going, and local roads are being upgraded across Victoria.

The North East Link, Airport Rail and Suburban Rail Loop are getting built.

Ten years ago, delivering infrastructure on this scale – and in such a short period – was considered impossible. Governments delayed and dithered for too long.

Labor made a different choice. We decided to get on with the job, and it was the right decision. But we know that not everything went right along the way. Like every state and every major economy, Victoria experienced inflation over the past decade.

The pandemic disrupted global supply chains, construction materials became dramatically more expensive, and labour costs increased everywhere.

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Anyone who built or renovated a home knows exactly what I mean. That’s not corruption, that’s inflation. These pressures affected projects across Australia, and independent economists have found Victoria’s construction cost inflation was lower than other states.

Some of the increased costs were higher wages, but that’s not corruption, either. Unions and employers negotiate wages through the enterprise bargaining system, and those agreements are approved under federal law by the Fair Work Commission.

Fair wages, good conditions and safe workplaces all cost money, and they’re worth it.

None of that excuses what happened next.

Inflation is one issue, criminality is another and there should be no confusion between the two. We now know that criminals operated on some of Victoria’s construction sites.

There was violence, intimidation and organised criminal behaviour. That is shocking and unacceptable. It should never have happened.

It does not represent the overwhelming majority of decent, dedicated, proud union workers on these projects. But it still happened. I accept that.

I’m deeply sorry that it happened on projects funded by the Victorian people. Now the question is how we stop it happening again.

The answer is to enforce the law. We gave Victoria Police stronger powers to investigate this criminal conduct. They have now laid more than 90 criminal charges.

We gave the Labour Hire Authority stronger powers to cancel construction licences. It has done so for 164 firms. The CFMEU was put into administration, and I kicked them out of the Victorian Labor Party.

Construction companies working on government projects are now required to report suspected criminal behaviour, workers have stronger whistleblower protections, and state agencies share intelligence with the federal government so nothing falls between the cracks.

IBAC will be granted powers to follow the money wherever it leads – and those powers will be retrospective, covering my government and previous governments.

Still, there is more work to do. Some argue the answer is another royal commission.

Another perspective

We’ve tried that before. Australia held a royal commission into trade unions in the last decade. It cost $46 million, went after workers, achieved only one criminal conviction, and didn’t change the culture.

If the goal is another report, another royal commission will deliver one. If the goal is changing behaviour on worksites, changing the culture is the answer. Ask someone working on a construction site today, and they’ll tell youit is changing.

Because every charge laid, every licence cancelled and every worker who feels safe enough to report wrongdoing is a step towards a safer construction industry.

Victorians are entitled to expect two things from their government. They should expect us to build the schools, hospitals and roads our growing state needs, and they should expect us to confront criminal behaviour. Those responsibilities go together.

We should never excuse criminality because important projects are being built. Equally, we shouldn’t dismiss because of the actions of criminals the projects that have transformed our state.

Victorians can see the success of the Big Build for themselves. They see the new schools educating their children. They see the new hospitals treating their parents. They can travel through the Metro Tunnel and the West Gate Tunnel.

These investments will change our state forever. Now, we have an equally important responsibility: ensuring Victorians have confidence those projects are built safely and lawfully.

Cleaning up the industry, while getting on and delivering the schools, hospitals, roads and public transport Victorians need, is exactly what we are doing.

Jacinta Allan is the premier of Victoria and the member for Bendigo East.

This is not 2023 anymore, Australia as a whole has very high anti-immigration sentiment right now and One Nation‘s rise is a symptom of that.

Modi is coming to Australia next week. Albanese associating with that person is likely to be highly politically toxic given the nature of political discourse at the present moment.

Modi is probably even more unpopular than Donald Trump in Australia.

For Labor supporters, is it right to be worried about this?

July 1, 2026 — 5:00am

John Buckley, Fiona Byrne and Annika Smethurst

There’s no doubt One Nation leader Pauline Hanson is enjoying a new lease on life off the back of a wave of new-found popularity.

So we were hardly surprised to hear there was a Seven Network camera crew following the senator around late last week, for a yet-to-be announced segment to air soon. Word is the network was following Hanson when she made a visit to an Islamic college in Brisbane, where we’re told she wore an Israeli flag pin.

Pauline Hanson in the Senate on Tuesday.Alex Ellinghausen

No word on what exactly happened during the visit, other than that there was an exchange and Hanson left. When we tried asking One Nation about it, a party spokesman declined to comment. Representatives of the Seven Network also couldn’t give us a steer.

Word of Hanson’s Islamic college visit came across our desk less than a fortnight after the One Nation leader used her first address to the National Press Club after 30 years in politics to talk about the need for Australia to be “monocultural”.

“Radical Islam is my grave concern … I think we’ve got 18,000 people on ASIO watch lists at the moment, and probably 220 very serious [cases], in a country like this?” Hanson said.

Hanson was, of course, the subject of intrigue heading into this week, as those in political media circles were wondering what surprises she might have up her sleeve for Canberra’s night of nights, the annual Midwinter Ball. But the One Nation leader decided skip the annual event.

That’s not to say the party won’t be represented. One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce, enjoying a fresh bounce of popularity, is set to attend

Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh says her party needs a rebrand after support for the Coalition hit a new low in the latest opinion polls.

The opposition's primary vote in the latest Newspoll dropped to 17 per cent while leader Angus Taylor's personal approval ratings have also failed to pick up.

McIntosh told Sky News "it's time" to take a look at the current branding.

"I think it's time for the Liberal Party to rebrand itself. Some people think that we are stuck in the past and our policies need to resonate with the Australia of today and the future," she said.

"So I think it would be a really good time for us to revisit our values, what we stand for and the way we project ourselves to Australians."

The shadow NDIS spokesperson said she wanted a look at the party's messaging and communications with voters.

"Because you can't keep getting poll after poll saying that it's diabolical out there and just ignore it," she said.

What would that rebrand look like? Well, that's up to the experts to decide, she said.