😱 SHOCK: Jacinta Allan denies leadership plotting after Chinatown lunch photos emerge

Ms Allan took time out of her busy schedule to dine with backbench MPs at Melbourne’s Shark Fin Inn on Thursday, with photos published by the Herald Sun showing the Labor leader laughing while MPs enjoyed Yum Cha at the Little Bourke Street venue.

The lunch took place just hours after the Victorian Premier dismissed reports her leadership was under threat as “anonymous gossip… from a few scallywags out there that might need a bit of a cuddle.”

It was reported on Thursday that Labor MPs were plotting to replacing Ms Allan amid fears she had become an “anchor” on the party’s vote.

Among those considering a change were figures within Ms Allan’s own socialist left faction, which has held the Labor leadership since 2010.

Left faction MPs also made up the majority of attendees at Thursday’s lunch meeting, which included Consumer Affairs Minister Nick Staikos and six backbenchers: Werribee MP John Lister, Footscray’s Katie Hall, Yan Yean’s Lauren Kathage, Cranbourne’s Pauline Richards, Box Hill’s Paul Hamer, and Mulgrave’s Eden Foster.

Ms Allan refused to be drawn on whether her leadership was under threat in a press conference on Friday, despite journalists informing her Labor MPs had told them directly a plot was underway.

“We’re continuing to work together as a Labor team,” Ms Allan said.

When asked about her attendance at the Thursday lunch, Ms Allan denied it was an attempt to strengthen support among backbenchers – insisting she regularly enjoyed the company of her colleagues.

“It’s been a regular feature, enjoying that tradition of having lunch with colleagues during a sitting week,” she said.

“It happens on a Thursday of a sitting week, and it just happened that yesterday was a Thursday of a sitting week.

“I think what that demonstrates is we’re a good, strong, united Labor team. We enjoy each other’s company … because we’re united by values and friendship.”

One MP who spoke to the Herald Sun said it was “odd” she had gone to the lunch, adding that they couldn’t remember the last time she attended the regular event.

But Ms Allan said this was “incorrect”.

“As people who regularly attend this lunch know, when I have the time in my diary, I am often at the catch up,” she said.

“But it’s not the only time we catch up as Labor colleagues, as a Labor caucus, as Labor friends. Because we’re a united team. We’re a strong team. We’re united by those values that drive us every single day.

“The Liberal Party are never pictured together having lunch, because they’re divided. They don’t trust one another.”

The key factor behind the leadership rumblings is Jacinta Allan’s woeful personal polling.

DemosAU polling published last week found Ms Allan had a net approval rating of -37 per cent – the lowest of any premier nationally.

According to the poll, just 16 per cent of Victorians viewed Ms Allan positively, while 53 per cent viewed her negatively.

At the same time, Labor’s primary vote has slumped to 28 per cent, down from 36.6 per cent at the 2022 state election.

However MPs are divided over the timing of a change and who should replace the embattled leader, who took over from Daniel Andrews in mid-2023.

Jacinta Allan’s left faction holds 39 of the 69 members in the Victorian Labor caucus, and has retained party leadership since 2010.

But left faction MPs also hold some of the most marginal seats in the caucus – with seven of the 12 seats held with a margin of less than 5 per cent being held by members of the faction.

Herald Sun columnist and veteran political reporter James Campbell said the Premier’s personal numbers were “diabolical”.

“Rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly, poor old Jacinta has ended up holding the basket at the moment at which everybody decided the music stopped for Labor in Victoria – which has been a long time coming,” Campbell said

However the veteran political reporter added that with the election still eight months away, there was still time for the government to turn things around.

“They’re still competitive, and the reason for that is the Liberal Party has been such a shemozzle for so long down here that there’s still that question mark over whether or not they’re competent.

“(Opposition Leader Jess Wilson) has an opportunity to convince Victorians that the Liberals have managed to put their fighting and their instability and their general incompetence behind them.

“The bar is very low for her. She doesn’t actually have to be a rock star to win this election. She’s just got to be at the head of a gang that doesn’t look like they’re shooting at each other.

“So far, it’s going well for her. But the public are not yet there.”