Premier Jacinta Allan has brushed off disastrous poll results and insisted her government remains committed to the contentious Suburban Rail Loop project.
Allan on Saturday partly blamed the disastrous poll results – published by this masthead on Friday, which showed Victorian Labor’s primary vote had collapsed to a historic low of 22 per cent – on cost-of-living pressures on families.

“I do acknowledge that this is one of the challenges that we are seeing being played out in governments around the country and around the world,” she said when asked about the exclusive polling for The Age.
The results of the Resolve Political Monitor poll represent a collapse in public support for the Allan government, with Labor’s primary vote dropping six points in two months.
If the results of the Resolve survey were to be replicated at next year’s state election, it would bring to an end 12 years of Labor rule and deliver a Coalition government in Victoria for just the second time this century.
Speaking in Werribee in Melbourne’s outer west, where Labor will contest a byelection on February 8, Allan said the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to make multiple interest rate rises was “crushing” and had put immense pressure on household budgets.
On Saturday, this masthead revealed the federal government had offered Victoria an additional $2 billion to build a rail link to Melbourne Airport, putting pressure on the premier to dump the Suburban Rail Loop, which will take decades to complete in its entirety.
Two sources with knowledge of talks between the state and federal governments, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said Canberra had made clear its willingness to provide additional funds towards the project, which the Commonwealth and state government have previously committed $5 billion each to build.