Jacinta Allan

Jacinta Allan was elected as the Member for Bendigo East in September 1999 at the age of twenty five, making her the youngest woman to ever be elected to the Victorian Parliament.
Ms Allan is the Minister for Regional and Rural Development and Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation. Previously, Ms Allan served as the Minister for Skills, Education Services and Employment and Minister for Women’s Affairs. From 2002 to 2006, Ms Allan served as Minister for Education Services and Minister for Employment and Youth Aairs. As the Minister for Regional and Rural Development, Ms Allan is responsible for continuing the Victorian Government’s successful economic development strategies for regional Victoria. This includes delivery of the $502 million Government’s provincial statement Moving Forward and the delivery of programs to continue to build and attract economic development and investment to the Victoria’s regions. These programs include the Regional Infrastructure Development Fund, the Provincial Victoria Growth Fund, the Community Regional Investment Program and the Small Towns Development Fund.
As the Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation, Ms Allan is driving a whole-of-government approach to tackle skill needs over the coming decade to secure Victoria’s future economic prosperity.
This includes implementing the Victorian Government’s $241 million skills action plan, Maintaining the Advantage; driving higher education and vocational education and training policy; apprenticeships and traineeships and Adult, Community and Further Education.
Recognising that some job seekers face continuing barriers to employment even at times of low unemployment, Minister Allan is responsible for the State’s employment programs, which help job seekers into sustainable employment while helping industry meet its skill and labour needs.
She is also responsible for the Skilled Migration Program, which has lifted Victoria’s share of Australia’s skilled migrants from around nineteen per cent in 1999 to more than twenty per cent today.
Before entering Parliament, Ms Allan worked in the office of Steve Gibbons MP, Federal Member for Bendigo, the office of Neil O’Keefe, Federal Member for Burke, and the Commonwealth Department of Industrial Relations.
Ms Allan was born and grew up in Bendigo. She studied at Catholic College Bendigo before completing her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) at La Trobe University, Bendigo.