August 14, 2026 — 7:30pm
Jacinta Allan’s time as premier of this state may be over, but her parting words still echo.
In arguing against a royal commission into Big Build corruption, she dismissed the idea as one that would deliver a report but not real-world change.
Defending the state’s burgeoning debt in her resignation speech, she pointed to spending in schools, hospitals, roads and public transport. “That’s what it’s paid for,” she said.
This week’s series of confronting exclusives by The Age’s reporters on Victoria’s mental health sector – more than five years after a landmark royal commission delivered its final report – perhaps provides insight into Allan’s prediction about governments dismissing awkward review findings but also raises urgent questions about where promised money has gone.
