Gillard Turns Jacinta Allan Ouster into Sexism Fight

Jacinta Allan left office under hard political scrutiny, but Julia Gillard is pushing a different charge into the centre of the story: Jacinta Allan “vile sexism” is now part of Victoria’s leadership reset, alongside Ben Carroll’s promised royal commission into construction.

The live politics feed from Guardian World ties two pressures together. Victorian Labor is trying to move on from Allan’s ousting while also showing it can confront the cost and conduct problems around public infrastructure. That’s a tough split screen.

The expectation was a clean leadership handover. The reality is messier. Gillard has framed Allan as a woman leader who faced misogyny. Carroll has tried to define his first days through a construction inquiry. Both moves test the same thing: whether Labor can claim higher standards without looking like it’s managing damage.

For XOOMAR readers tracking the leadership stakes, this follows our earlier coverage of Andrews Throws Ben Carroll a Victoria Election Lifeline. The economic backdrop is separate from the Guardian’s live politics report, but Australia watchers can also follow our market-focused read on Above-4% Australia CPI Could Jolt Aussie Out of Stall.

Gillard recasts Allan’s fall as a test of sexism in Victorian politics

Julia Gillard said ousted Victorian premier Jacinta Allan was subjected to “vile sexism” as premier, according to the Guardian report. Gillard also described Allan as “courageous in combating misogyny” and a trailblazer for other women.

That intervention matters because it shifts the frame. Allan’s premiership is not only being judged through polls, infrastructure costs, scandals, and leadership survival. Gillard is arguing that the treatment of a woman in power also belongs in the assessment.

ABC News reported that Allan became Victoria’s youngest ever woman MP when she was elected at 25, entered cabinet at 29, and has now spent half her life in Victoria’s parliament. Her premiership ended less than three years after she took the top job in September, 2023, and she will not take Labor to an election, according to ABC News.

That record cuts both ways. Allan was not a symbolic figure dropped into politics for a moment. She was a long-serving minister, deputy premier, and premier with direct responsibility for transport infrastructure projects that will shape her legacy. Scrutiny of that record is legitimate. Sexist abuse is not.

The gap is the point. Leaders can be held accountable for debt, delays, secrecy, and policy choices without reducing them to gendered attacks. Gillard’s comments force Victorian Labor to separate political judgment from political culture.

Carroll’s royal commission gives his premiership an immediate test

Ben Carroll is trying to start fast. The newly crowned Victorian premier has announced he will call a royal commission into the construction sector, giving his leadership a reform agenda before voters have much else to judge.

That move lands in a loaded policy area. ABC reported that Allan’s transport infrastructure portfolio included the Metro Tunnel and West Gate Tunnel, which have recently opened, while cost overruns on the infrastructure pipeline helped push Victoria’s net debt to $167.8 billion. ABC also reported that alleged criminality in the construction union had stalked the government.

A royal commission is a serious tool. It can expose wrongdoing, widen accountability, and produce recommendations that outlive the political news cycle. It can also raise expectations that the government will act on what it finds.

The contrast is sharp:

The risk is just as clear. If the royal commission looks like a reset tactic rather than a genuine attempt to clean up public infrastructure, it will deepen the credibility problem it is meant to solve.

Shorten backs the inquiry and warns against political theatre

Bill Shorten, described in the Guardian report as a former union boss and former leader of the Labor party, backed Carroll’s construction sector move. His support gives Carroll political cover from someone with deep Labor and union credentials.

Shorten’s argument was not subtle. He said Carroll wanted to act with integrity and in the interests of Victorians.

“He wants to act with integrity, and he wants to act in everyone’s interests.”

Shorten also framed the public mood around construction costs in blunt terms.

“I think the national mood or the state mood was there for it. I just think that the costs of construction … there may be exaggerations, but there is something rotten going on in construction, and people want to see it can be dealt with. This is public infrastructure, so it’s taxpayer money.”

That line, “something rotten going on in construction”, is the political hinge. It lets Carroll argue the inquiry is about taxpayer money and sector conduct, not simply anti-union positioning.

Shorten also named the perception risk facing Carroll.

“I think he understands [what] people will be assessing: is he serving the people or is he just playing politics?”

That is the test. A royal commission announcement can buy authority. Only findings, transparency, and action can sustain it.

Labor has to separate accountability from internal power games

Victorian Labor now has two credibility problems running at once. One is operational: can it show clean management of major public infrastructure after years of pressure around construction costs, delays, and secrecy? The other is cultural: can it confront the way women leaders are treated when power turns unstable?

The Allan record is complicated by design. ABC reported that her premiership was marred by scandals dating back to the era of Daniel Andrews and by a collapse in successive polls. It also reported that the Victorian Ombudsman in 2023 slammed “excessive secrecy” around the Suburban Rail Loop, while Airport Rail has been repeatedly delayed.

Those facts give Carroll a reason to act. They also make his task harder. If he is too careful, the inquiry may look weak. If he is too performative, it may look like a factional cleansing exercise.

A useful credibility checklist is already visible:

• Independence: The inquiry has to look insulated from Labor’s internal needs.
• Transparency: Findings and recommendations need a public path, not a quiet shelf.
• Scope: The process must avoid scapegoating if the evidence points to broader failures.
• Follow-through: Public infrastructure costs and misconduct allegations are outcome problems, not media-cycle problems.

The Guardian live report also carried a separate integrity thread from NSW. The NSW Icac Operation Rosny inquiry heard evidence about an alleged dirt file prepared by Liberal “Reformers” against former Liberal minister David Elliott, including a document titled “David Elliott shit sheet” with a subheading “Extramarital affair”. Former Liberal staffer Dylan Whitelaw said he recalled being told about the alleged affair by Jeremy Greenwood and Christian Ellis, who claimed they had photos.

“The allegation around Mr Elliot and the affair was something that Mr Greenwood and Mr Ellis kept very, very secretive. It wouldn’t tell me much about it at all, apart from the fact that you know they were aware that this was happening and they had photographs of it, but I wasn’t aware of the specific detail.”

That is not a Victorian Labor story. But in a roundup about Australian politics, it reinforces the same theme: parties are being judged not only on policy, but on how power is gathered, defended, and weaponised.

The bigger picture: Victoria’s Labor test is cultural as much as economic

Gillard’s defence of Allan and Carroll’s construction royal commission point to the same deeper question: what standards does political power answer to when pressure rises?

For Allan, the issue is whether legitimate scrutiny of her premiership can be separated from “vile sexism”. For Carroll, the issue is whether a royal commission into construction becomes real accountability or just the opening act of a leadership reset.

The next phase is practical. Carroll’s authority will depend less on the announcement itself than on whether voters see cleaner projects, clearer accountability, and a political culture less willing to treat women leaders as fair game for misogyny.

Impact Analysis

• Gillard’s comments put sexism at the centre of the debate over Allan’s political downfall.
• Carroll’s construction inquiry is an early test of whether Victorian Labor can reset its credibility.
• The leadership transition may shape Labor’s ability to claim higher standards before the next election.