Jaclyn Symes will be sworn in as the first female Treasurer in the Australian state of Victoria.
Symes has served as Attorney-General since 2020 and was born and raised in Benalla.
This follows the resignation earlier this week of Victoria’s longest-serving Treasurer Tim Pallas, who announced he would be stepping down from the role and quitting politics.
Pallas’s legacy in this role was characterised by increased state spending, and economists have labelled his successor's task ahead of him a tough one.
His resignation from the role comes just days after Pallas handed down the midyear budget update, which revealed a worsening deficit from A$2.2 billion to $3.6 billion in 2024-35.
In the budget report, Pallas also revealed a fire services levy on Victorian homeowners will be doubled and an electric vehicle rebate axed.
The update reported that Victoria’s net debt was forecast to reach $187.3 billion by the end of the 2027-28 financial year, up from $21.8 billion on the eve of the 2014 election, when then Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews installed Pallas as Treasurer.
With two years until the next state election, pressure has been growing on Premier Jacinta Allan over Labor’s management of the state economy.
A wider re-shuffle of other cabinet positions is expected to be announced on Thursday, including a replacement for Symes as Attorney General.
