Jacinta Allan wants voters to see Victoria’s 12-year-old Labor government as ‘new and united’. Can she cling to power?

With a reshuffled cabinet, the premier is hoping to quell leadership rumblings as her party seeks an unprecedented fourth term

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As the Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, stood alongside the fresh faces in her reshuffled cabinet on Wednesday, she attempted to send her increasingly jaded electorate a blunt message: despite its 12 years in power, her government is – apparently – new.

In her opening four-minute preamble to reporters, Allan - whose Labor government will in November seek an unprecedented fourth term - repeated the word 17 times. In one sentence alone, she referred to her “new cabinet”, “new portfolios”, “new solutions” and “new areas that are going to drive this government forward”.

Benita Kolovos is Guardian Australia’s Victorian state correspondent