Tim Pallas takes over as new Vic treasurer

Tim Pallas has been handed the keys to the treasury and immediately has four years of budget surpluses to play with.

With a political career forged after working in the union movement, the 54-year-old has now landed the job as the second most important person in the Victorian government.

Mr Pallas presented Labor's policy costings on the eve of election day without his leader next to him in a bid to show he can handle the numbers.

"After all, it is the treasurer that puts together a budget, and it is a treasurer that is responsible for this financial statement," Mr Pallas told reporters.

Mr Pallas is the third of six children who grew up in Toronto, near Newcastle in NSW, the son of a local GP.

In his maiden speech to parliament, he said his father's mantra of "give more than you get" summed up his own ambitions for public office.

"In my own way that is precisely what I have been trying to do for almost a quarter of a century through the labour movement, first as a union official, then as an adviser and now as the member for Tarneit," he said in 2006.

Mr Pallas, who is married with two children, has an arts/law degree from the Australian National University.

He worked as a labourer in a steel works and an abattoir before starting professional work as the national industrial officer of the Federal Firefighters Union from 1983 to 1985.

He then worked at the National Union of Workers and was elected assistant secretary of the ACTU.

Mr Pallas was chief of staff to then premier Steve Bracks from 1999 to 2006, when he became the ALP candidate for the state seat of Tarneit, which is now called Werribee under last year's boundary changes.

After being elected to the lower house, he served in the roads, ports and major projects portfolios.

In opposition, his responsibilities included employment, industrial Relations, major projects and infrastructure.

Mr Pallas was promoted as shadow treasurer in a cabinet reshuffle last year.