Jess Wilson: Victorian Liberals gamble on a millennial to break their cycle of failure

Despite her age, the Victorian Liberal Party’s new leader, 35-year-old Jess Wilson, is a seasoned political operator who will shift focus onto the State’s struggling economy and heavily indebted budget, Liberal insiders said.

Ms Wilson, a former political adviser and big-business lobbyist, deposed predecessor Brad Battin at a morning meeting of Liberal MPs that voted 19 to 13 to hold a leadership ballot, which only Ms Wilson contested.

By electing the youngest State leader in its history, the first woman and the first millennial, the Liberal Party hopes it can become a credible alternative to a Labor government that has come to dominate the State over 16 years in power.

Ms Wilson’s confidence discussing economics was the main reason Liberal MPs turned to her from Mr Battin, a former policeman whose tough-on-crime promises were undercut by the Labor government’s tougher-on-crime policies.

Next November’s election is likely to be the first at the state level between two women.

Premier Jacinta Allan’s big-spending government leads the polls, but has left many Victorians weary of political scandals, corruption and what many see as a politicised public service.

“Victorians have a clear choice,” Ms Wilson said, “a choice between a tired, out-of-touch Labor government or a new-generation Liberal team.”

New leader sparks party resignations

Ms Allan ridiculed the Opposition for electing its third leader in under a year. “The Victorian Liberal Party once again demonstrated to Victorians that they’re not focused on the issues that are important to the Victorian community,” she said.

“They’re only focused on their bitter internal division and fighting.”

The Labor Party rushed out an ad accusing the Liberals of planning $11 billion spending cuts under their new leader.

The representative for the upper-middle-class seat of Kew in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, Ms Wilson has a reputation as one of the most left-wing Liberal MPs in the progressive state. She was the only State Liberal MP to publicly endorse the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Liberal head office received several resignations on Tuesday morning in protest over Ms Wilson’s promotion, according to a party source. But Liberals who have worked with Ms Wilson said she avoided internal disagreements over policy and had positioned her public persona to appeal to as many voters as possible.

“She’s not an ideologue,” said one. “I think she’s a pragmatist.”

Who are Jess Wilson’s political heroes?

Ms Wilson emerged from a wing of the party aligned with the Institute of Public Affairs, a free-markets think tank based in Melbourne.

Her husband, Aaron Lane, who she met at a meeting of the Victorian Young Liberal executive, was a research fellow at the IPA. A mentor, Senator James Patterson, was the IPA’s deputy executive director.

Mr Lane ran for a State seat in 2014 but was removed as the Liberal candidate after homophobic and sexist online posts became public, including one that said: “The problem is (IMO) many homos make their sexuality a defining aspect of their being’’.

The posts, for which he apologised, also cost him a job as a casual law lecturer at Deakin University. He still has an account on X, although mainly uses it to discuss cryptocurrency law.

Ms Wilson has said her first political hero was her father, Ron Wilson, a state Liberal MP from 1999 to 2022 who was briefly shadow health minister and then chief of staff to Opposition Leader John Pesutto.

Ms Wilson drew on her father and husband’s experiences as she advanced through the Liberal Party, according to people who know her.

“Her father was incredibly defensive of her,” said one. “He was fulsome of his desire to see her advance. Her husband’s the same.”

Canberra connections

Josh Frydenberg, the federal deputy leader from 2018 to 2022, played an important role by helping Ms Wilson secure the seat of Kew in 2022 and supporting her for an immediate position on the front bench, according to party sources. She was a policy adviser to him in 2016 and 2017 when he was climate minister.

A month ago she became shadow treasurer, and adopted a similar style to Mr Frydenberg of explaining the State’s economic problems in easy-to-understand language, including a calculation that government debt is rising by $2 million an hour.

“Jess has grown up in politics all her life, so comes to the job extremely well qualified to hit the ground running hard,” former Liberal president Michael Kroger said.

Mr Frydenberg, who did not respond to a request for comment, remains an influential figure in the Victorian Liberal Party, although has not indicated if he wishes to return to elected politics following his loss in the 2022 election.

At a press conference, Ms Wilson said her age made her focused on the cost of housing. If she can secure a 7 per cent swing and win government, she would be the State’s second-youngest premier by seven months.

Premier Allan was Victoria’s youngest minister, at 29.