Ben Carroll has officially stepped into the role of Victoria’s new premier, but his ascent was anything but smooth.
Earlier today, Jacinta Allan announced her resignation as premier, seemingly backing Carroll to take over her position.
Yet, subsequent reports revealed that Allan had thrown her support behind a different candidate during the caucus vote for a new leader.
Despite what appeared to be strong party-room backing for Carroll, the leadership race took an unexpected turn when Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny launched her own bid, disrupting the proceedings.
In the midst of Tuesday morning’s caucus meeting, Carroll encountered an unexpected challenge from Kilkenny, who managed to secure the support of 15 MPs, including that of Allan, according to The Age newspaper.
Three sources in the room told the paper Carroll had secured the support of more than two-thirds of caucus.
After a lengthy meeting that featured both yelling and applause behind closed doors, caucus whip Juliana Addison emerged to declare Carroll had been “unanimously” elected.
“I am delighted to announce that Ben Carroll has been unanimously elected for the Parliamentary Labor Party as our next Premier of Victoria,” she said.
In a separate vote for deputy premier, Gabrielle Williams — briefly installed as interim leader after Allan’s resignation — defeated Steve Dimopoulos, one of Allan’s key backers.
Carroll has now been sworn in as premier, just four months out from the November state election.
Allan welcomes Carroll as next Labor leader
During her resignation speech less than an hour before Tuesday’s meeting, Allan said she welcomed Carroll as the next leader, but maintained she believed she would have won a party vote.
“After speaking with my colleagues overnight, I have made the difficult decision to step aside as leader of the Victorian state parliamentary Labor Party, and as premier of Victoria,” Allan said at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the caucus meeting.
“I will shortly chair a caucus meeting to elect a new leader,” she said.
“Should Ben Carroll emerge as our next Labor leader and Labor premier, he will have my congratulations and unqualified support.”
Allan — who had initially refused to step down — said she was resigning because it was the “right thing” to do, but maintained she “would have won” a vote.
Carroll, Victoria’s deputy premier, had been primed for a leadership challenge against Allan after a cross-factional delegation, including six ministers, told the premier she had lost majority support of the caucus.
A spill motion between the two had been set down for Tuesday’s meeting, but was overtaken by Allan’s resignation and Kilkenny’s surprise bid.
Carroll, from the party’s smaller right faction, will become the state’s 50th premier.
Who is Ben Carroll?
Along with being Victoria’s deputy premier, Carroll is the state’s minister for education, and has a 14-year-long parliamentary career.
He was born and raised in Airport West, in Melbourne’s north-west, and still lives there today with his wife and his daughter.
His first job was at the local Kmart, where he first got involved with the shop assistants’ union.
He worked as a lawyer for the Victorian government and served as an adviser to former premier Steve Bracks, before entering parliament himself in 2012 when he won the seat of Niddrie at a by-election.
He spent five years on the backbench before finally landing a ministry, promoted to cabinet in 2017 as industry and employment minister, later holding public transport and roads portfolios.
He became deputy premier in September 2023 after briefly flagging his own leadership tilt when Daniel Andrews quit — a challenge he withdrew before being made deputy unopposed.
As education minister, he’s faced criticism over a 2024 bungle affecting 65 VCE exams that led to the sacking of the curriculum authority’s board, and has been unable to land a teacher pay deal, triggering statewide strikes.
Why did Carroll challenge?
Just weeks ago, Carroll ruled out a challenge.
Asked in June if he’d urge Allan to step aside, he said “no”.
“I can look you in the eye and say that, premier,” he told Allan during the exchange. “I want to serve Jacinta Allan.
“I’ve got a young daughter at home, and I couldn’t be more proud to make sure she grows up knowing that I supported Jacinta Allan to be a world-class premier and get re-elected in her own right.”
Announcing his bid for leadership this week, Carroll said his colleagues had told him the premier had lost caucus support and that he would be nominating for leadership.
“The decision is not easy, but the stakes at the upcoming election are simply too high,” Carroll said in a statement.
“The prospect of a Liberal-One Nation government that will cut schools, health and front line services is simply too high a risk to ignore.”
Allan’s resignation and Carroll’s challenge come as Labor’s primary vote slides in the polls ahead of November, with the government trailing the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis.
Support for Labor has been dropping in the polls since the last election, with fresh Newspoll figures from The Australian indicating the party’s primary vote is trailing the Victorian Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis 52 per cent to 48 per cent.
More than 70 per cent of the 1,035 voters polled from 23 to 26 July said they were dissatisfied with Allan, with Liberal leader Jess Wilson preferred premier by a comfortable margin.
A leadership contest would require caucus and rank-and-file Labor members to vote for their preferred leader, as the party vies for a historic fourth successive term in government.
— With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.