Who is Ben Carroll, the man who wants to be Victoria’s next premier? | Victoria
In 2023, when then-public transport minister Ben Carroll failed in his astonishing bid to secure the leadership of Victorian Labor, he told a press conference: “I was always very keen to move up.”
Premier Daniel Andrews had resigned, believing he was locked in the succession plan: his loyal aide Jacinta Allan as prime minister and treasurer Tim Pallas as his deputy.
But Carroll, a relatively little-known minister from Labour’s dwindling right wing, refused to fall in line.
The meeting, which was expected to be short, turned into a marathon discussion; Carroll threatened to challenge Allan for the leadership if he was not elected MP. This separation reportedly led to an expletive-laden outburst from Andrews, but Carroll had his way and got the job.
Asked about the meeting a few hours later, Carroll said he had always wanted to move up the ranks of the party. “I’ve had 14 portfolios in six years… and I’m always trying to see how I can continue to increase my contribution to this extraordinary Labor government,” he said.
Less than three years later he emerged as Allan’s only rival for the leadership, with only four months to go before the state election.
Carroll, 51, was elected to parliament in 2012 as the member for Niddrie in Melbourne’s west, which covers Essendon West, Keilor East and Airport West; He grew up here and still lives with his wife Fiona and daughter Madeliene. He got his first job at Kmart in his suburban home, joined the Store Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), and was introduced to unionism.
Carroll claimed his journey into politics really began in 1996, when Simon Crean, then federal member for Hotham, offered him a tour around Canberra at the same time Bill Clinton was in the city. He shook the US president’s hand and that same year Niddrie joined the Labor Party.
Carroll graduated from university with an arts degree and worked in insurance before the Bracks government came to power in Victoria in 1999. He worked alongside then-senator Stephen Conroy in the cabinet before being pre-selected to stand in Niddrie to replace Jaclyn Symes in the 2012 by-election.
After entering the state parliament, Andrews held a number of roles including industry, roads, employment, youth justice and corrections until his resignation in 2023.
During the cabinet reshuffle following Allan’s elevation, Carroll was given portfolio choice, as is tradition, but the new prime minister demonstrated his distrust of him by excluding him from the spending review committee, the cabinet’s highest decision-making body.
Carroll took over the education portfolio. During her tenure Victoria achieved its best ever Naplan results; It ranked first or second in 18 of 20 metrics in 2025, with the largest number of students performing at “strong” or higher.
He also oversaw the state’s implementation of mandatory phonics classes in schools; The method is divisive among academics and the powerful Australian Education Union, but some teachers claim it has a remarkable impact on children’s reading.
But it has also been implicated in some serious errors, such as the discovery of errors in VCE maths and chemistry exams in 2023 and the 2024 “cheat sheet” mess, in which exam content for 65 subjects was mistakenly published and widely distributed weeks before students sat the exam. An investigation into the incident led Carroll to dismiss the entire board of the curriculum authority.
More recently, he has been leading protracted negotiations between the government and the province’s teachers, with AEU Vic members going on strike for the first time in 13 years in March and again last week.
Carroll’s name has been linked to a possible leadership leak in the Labor Party for months, with momentum building ahead of parliament going into winter recess in June. Weak polling and Allan’s poor personal approval ratings, rising support for One Nation, and concerns about Allan’s response to organized crime infiltrating the state’s Grand Establishment through the construction union all contributed.
At a press conference at the time, Carroll repeatedly rejected suggestions that he was positioning himself as a rival, telling reporters: “I got the job I wanted.”
“We have a prime minister and she works harder than anyone else every day. I want to serve Jacinta Allan. I have a little daughter at home and I couldn’t be more proud to make sure Jacinta Allan grows up knowing that I support her becoming a world-class prime minister and getting re-elected in her own right,” he said.
He said he would not want Allan to stand aside the next day, before turning to the Prime Minister and saying: “I can look him in the eye and tell that.”
There were no leaks at the meeting in the party room the next day. But Carroll emerged from the meeting looking the same as in 2023; He perhaps revealed a little more than he intended, declaring himself a “marathon runner” when asked if he jumped at the chance to launch a challenge.
Carroll is understood to be in favor of calling for a royal commission into Big Build corruption allegations if he becomes prime minister, also believing he could better resolve the pay dispute between the government and public school teachers and improve the party’s economic reputation and standing with business.
