Jacinta Allan shows she’s not Andrews but risks her party’s wrath

The news will be deflating for those on the Left of the Labor caucus, which Allan hails from, who will see this as the premier again walking away from progressive policy. Since 2020, the policy was overseen by three senior Left ministers, Martin Foley, Gabrielle Williams and Ingrid Stitt, who lost political skin during the often-heated public discussion about the facility.

Tuesday’s announcement builds on a pattern first seen when the premier was able to secure the continuation of duck hunting, despite a significant caucus push to have the practice banned, and when the government responded to crime concerns by ditching additional changes to youth bail in favour of a trial of ankle bracelets for young offenders.

Although she hails from the Socialist Left, Allan is not building up a profile as a bold left-wing reformer who pushes through her agenda and stares down her detractors. When elevated, she pledged a different style of leadership and appears to be modelling herself as a middle-of-the-road consensus builder.

After 10 years in power for Labor and polls showing a weakening of its primary vote, Allan is working under the presumption that her party’s social mandate is not guaranteed and does not want to rock the boat. With this decision, she has cleared the decks for the government to focus its conversation on housing policy and other cost-of-living issues.

Allan has previously said her team was essentially starting from square one when she became premier, and inherited the unenviable job of responding to the report. Although not everyone will be happy with the final decision, she now has clear air for her own agenda.

But the move will create difficulties for her internally. A decade in power means many Labor MPs are not used to this approach and Allan does not yet command the party room authority of her predecessor. Ambitious MPs, many of whom were heavily pressured by the union movement over the government’s contentious WorkSafe changes, may use this decision to push the boundaries on party discipline.

Throughout his time in power, Andrews built a reputation for pushing ahead on seemingly risky social policy, such as voluntary assisted dying, without paying a price at the ballot box. This partly relied on the idea that the government’s practical achievements in delivering major projects and services would sit at the top of voters’ minds.

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But Allan has been premier for less than a year, has not yet won an election as leader, and is trying to build a narrative around her leadership while balancing a budget that allows for almost no new spending.

Consensus building is a sensible path forward. Andrews also knew when to take the political temperature and abandon change if the political risk was too great.

The challenge now will be to maintain that consensus internally and to talk more about the things the government is implementing, rather than the things it isn’t.

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