Overview
- Ben Carroll was elected leader by the Labor caucus after Jacinta Allan resigned on Tuesday morning and Gabrielle Williams was elected deputy.
- A cross-faction delegation of ministers and MPs told Allan she had lost majority support, and she initially signalled she would contest a ballot before deciding to step aside.
- Allan had asked ministers who confronted her to resign and they refused, and cabinet late on Monday approved a police organised-crime command as part of attempts to shore up support.
- Party rules require both a parliamentary caucus vote and a rank-and-file ballot if a leadership contest is contested, a process that can take up to six weeks and would have risked paralysis weeks before the election.
- Labor faces unresolved problems going into the campaign, including sustained poor polling, allegations of corruption in the Big Build infrastructure program, and ongoing industrial disputes that Carroll must address quickly.