One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has issued a scathing message to a premier targeted in a “sexist” ad campaign, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged an end to personal attacks on politicians.

Digital billboards — mounted on the sides of trucks and reportedly paid for by local businesses, including a brothel — depict Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan wearing a witch’s hat next to the “Ditch the Witch” slogan.

They have been driven around the streets of Melbourne since May.

The campaign has been criticised by leaders with Albanese on Monday suggesting such personal attacks could lead to political violence.

“You don’t have to denigrate people in such a personal way. It has got to stop,” he said in Canberra.

“What I don’t want to do is to have a press conference in this courtyard after a tragedy.”

Hanson, who referred to former Nationals leader Tim Fischer calling her a witch and saying she “should be burned at the stake”, was less sympathetic.

“Suck it up, sweetheart,” she told Allan in a Sky News interview.

Albanese drew a direct parallel to the abuse suffered by former prime minister Julia Gillard, who was targeted with the same slogan during her time in office.

“The sexist campaign targeting the Victorian Premier is totally unacceptable and has no place in public life,” he said.

“We want to encourage women to enter public life and it should be a contest of ideas, not personal attacks.”

Allan, who is contesting the Victorian election in November as Labor leader, condemned the billboards, describing them as sexist.

“I cannot stand back and let Victoria become a place where this sort of thing is fair game against any woman at work — or any woman in leadership,” Allan said in a post on social media.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said the advertising was sexist and inappropriate.

“There are many criticisms of Premier Jacinta Allen … but that sort of language is not appropriate in politics,” she said.

Gillard, who had the slogan used against her 15 years ago, said she was disappointed, disgusted and angry to see the “tired, old trope resurrected”.

“Why should women and girls in Victoria be subjected to such visible misogyny?” she said in a statement online.

Franco Puleo, owner of the Gotham City brothel in South Melbourne, said he had funded part of the advertising campaign against Allan with other local business owners, but denied it was sexist.

“(Allan) doesn’t answer questions. She’s not accountable to everything … It’s just how people are feeling,” Puleo told The Age.

Julia Gillard was targeted with the same phrase while PM. Photo: Getty

Premier unpopular

Dire polling showing that Victoria’s increasingly on-the-nose government will be smashed in the November election could reignite Labor rumblings to remove Allan.

Victorian Labor’s primary vote has slumped to 23 per cent, compared to the Coalition’s 27 per cent, while a surging One Nation shot to 25 per cent, according to a Freshwater Strategy poll conducted for the Herald Sun.

If replicated in November, the 12-year-old Labor government would be turfed from office, as it trails the Coalition 47 to 53 on a two-party-preferred basis.

Respondents believe it is time for Allan, who is deeply unpopular, to move on, according to the pollster. However, the Coalition would still need to pick up 16 seats required to form majority government.

Allan’s personal popularity has sunk lower, dropping five points for a net favourability rating of -37. She trails far behind Wilson, who has a positive net rating of 15.

Only 25 per cent of respondents felt Allan was the better premier proposition, compared to 49 per cent who think Wilson will do a better job.

More than 60 per cent of respondents said Allan should be replaced ahead of the election. They include 39 per cent of Labor voters, although a majority within Labor continues to back her.

The dire poll numbers five months out from the state election could spur Labor leadership rumblings into overdrive.

Allan previously said she was confident she would survive as Premier until Victorians head to the polls in November. She labelled ructions in March as chatter from “scallywags out there that might need a bit of a cuddle”.

Last week the chatter began again, and any move against Allan could happen by next week during the final parliamentary sitting before the winter break.

Health Minister Harriet Shing on Sunday hosed down any suggestions conversations were occurring within the party for leadership change.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll from Labor’s right and Transport Infrastructure Minister Gabrielle Williams from Allan’s socialist left faction have been viewed as possible replacements.

-AAP