Who is Ben Carroll, the man who has become Victoria’s new premier?

Victoria’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll, is eyeing the state Labor leadership after 14 years in parliament. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP View image in fullscreen Victoria’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll, is eyeing the state Labor leadership after 14 years in parliament. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP Who is Ben Carroll, the man who has become Victoria’s new premier? Carroll, who was elected to parliament in 2012 and says he has always been ambitious, has been sworn in as premier after Jacinta Allan resigned LIVE: Jacinta Allan resigns as premier of Victoria Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast In 2023, when then-public transport minister Ben Carroll failed in his surprising bid to secure the leadership of the Victorian Labor party, he told a press conference: “I was always very keen to rise.” The premier Daniel Andrews had resigned, believing he had locked in his succession plan: his loyal deputy Jacinta Allan as premier , and treasurer Tim Pallas as deputy. But Carroll, a relatively little-known junior minister from Labor’s diminished right faction, refused to fall into line. What was meant to be a short, box-ticking caucus meeting turned into a marathon debate, with Carroll threatening to challenge Allan for the leadership unless he was made deputy. The standoff reportedly provoked an expletive-laden outburst from Andrews, but Carroll got his way – and the job. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Asked about the meeting just hours later, Carroll replied that he’d always wanted to rise up the party’s ranks. “I’ve had 14 portfolios over six years … and I’m always looking to see how I can continue to increase my contribution to this outstanding Labor government,” he said. Less than three years on, he become premier, just four months out from a state election. It came after Allan stepped down as premier on Tuesday morning, and said Carroll had her ‘unqualified support’ . Carroll, 51, was elected to parliament in 2012 as the member for Niddrie in Melbourne’s west, encompassing Essendon West, Keilor East, and Airport West, where he grew up and still lives with his wife, Fiona, and daughter, Madeliene. It was in his home suburb that he got his first job, at Kmart, joining the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and being introduced to unionism. Organised crime, cost and the CFMEU: why Victoria’s construction scandal is threatening to derail a government Read more Carroll has claimed his journey into politics truly began in 1996, when he was offered a tour around Canberra by Simon Crean, then federal member for Hotham, at the same time that Bill Clinton was in town. He shook the US president’s hand, and joined the Niddrie Labor branch the same year. After graduating university, Carroll became a solicitor and worked in insurance, before the Bracks government came to power in 1999. He worked for then-senator Stephen Conroy in cabinet before being preselected over Jaclyn Symes to stand in Niddrie in a 2012 bye