Who is Ben Carroll, the man who wants to be Victoria’s next premier?

Victoria’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll, is eyeing a leadership challenge after 14 years in parliament. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP View image in fullscreen Victoria’s deputy premier, Ben Carroll, is eyeing a leadership challenge after 14 years in parliament. Photograph: Luis Ascui/AAP Who is Ben Carroll, the man who wants to be Victoria’s next premier? Carroll, who has confirmed he will make a leadership challenge, was elected to parliament in 2012 and says he has always been ambitious 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. 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 has emerged as Allan’s only contender for the leadership, just four months out from a state election. 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 where he got his first job, at Kmart, joining the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA) and being introduced to unionism. 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. Carroll graduated university with an arts degree and worked in insurance, before the Bracks government came to power in Victoria in 1999. He worked for then-senator Stephen Conroy in cabinet before being preselected over Jaclyn Symes to stand in Niddrie in a 2012 byelection. After entering state parliament, he held numerous portfolios including industry, roads, employment, youth justice and corrections, until Andrews’ resignation in 2023. Under Allan’s cabinet reshuffle following her elevation, Carroll was given his choice of portfolio – as is tradition – but the new premier showed her mistrust by excluding him from the