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Victoria’s new deputy premier was ‘always very keen to rise’
By Rachel Eddie
Ben Carroll’s first job was as a self-described checkout chick at Kmart Airport West in Melbourne’s northwest.
“I was always very keen to rise,” Carroll told journalists shortly after the Labor caucus backed him as Victoria’s new deputy premier following an hours-long gathering that saw him threaten to challenge Jacinta Allan for premier.
Ben Carroll during the 2012 Niddrie byelection alongside then opposition leader Daniel Andrews.Credit: Pat Scala
“I’ve had 14 portfolios over six years across corrections, youth justice, [public] transport, industry and innovation, manufacturing,” Carroll said on Wednesday, a day after Daniel Andrews announced he would stand down as premier. “I’m always looking to see how I can increase my contributions to this outstanding Labor government.”
Carroll was elected to parliament in a 2012 byelection to the seat of Niddrie sparked by the resignation of then deputy Labor leader Rob Hulls. He entered the ministry in 2017 during the first term of the Andrews government.
In his maiden speech, Carroll described himself as a teenage “checkout chick” at the Airport West Kmart where he was first exposed to the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, colloquially known as the Shoppies union.
He joined the local Labor Party branch in his early 20s as a law student at La Trobe University and is part of the Right faction, aligned to former senator Stephen Conroy – to whom he was once an adviser.
Carroll at Labor’s caucus meeting on Wednesday.Credit: Jason South
Carroll, 48, marched into the Labor partyroom meeting on Wednesday with MPs from the Right faction in tow to threaten to challenge Allan – from the Socialist Left – for leader, which would have drawn out the process of replacing Andrews for weeks and forced party members to a ballot.
Some had questioned his willingness to launch a challenge. In 2022, Carroll was caught off guard when Allan was named Andrews’ deputy before he could marshall support to take the role, creating tensions within his own faction and a perception he lacked the ruthlessness needed to ascend.
In the end, Carroll did not formally put his hand up. After 24 hours of factional brawling the matter was settled during a meeting on Wednesday that led to Allan being elected unopposed as premier, with Carroll as her deputy.
“I can’t wait to roll up the sleeves and get on and support the new leadership team,” Carroll said after being elected by the party room.
“I’m also the son of an SEC [State Electricity Commission] worker, born and raised under the flight path of Melbourne Airport in Airport West, first job was at the local Kmart store.
“And to think, to be deputy premier, and to be serving alongside Jacinta, and our wonderful, diverse, and strong and energetic cabinet, is something really, really special.”
Asked on Wednesday for insights into Victoria’s new deputy premier, Labor figures struggled to say a bad word about him. He’s known as “a sensible guy” with “his head on straight”.
Former premier Steve Bracks remembers Carroll, working as an adviser in his private office in the early 2000s, as someone on the rise who has been building his career since he contested and won the 2012 byelection.
“He was a very smart, active, engaged person who looked like he was going somewhere,” Bracks told The Age on Wednesday. “I guess what stands out is the earnestness of him.”
Carroll lives in his electorate with wife Fiona, a lawyer, and their daughter Madeline.
In a campaign video pitching to Niddrie voters to re-elect him in November last year, Carroll said his parents taught him the importance of looking out for the less fortunate.
“I like to think that I’m a diplomat, but there does come a point where you have to be very firm that this needs to happen,” he said.
Carroll with Andrews in March at Southern Cross Station.Credit: Justin McManus
He nominated the announcement of a train station for Airport West – under the now in-doubt Airport Rail – as “a classic example” of that.
Carroll holds the public transport portfolio, which has been tainted by the slow pace of overhauling the Myki ticketing system. He also holds the employment, manufacturing sovereignty, and industry and innovation portfolios – likely to change in a cabinet reshuffle in the coming weeks.
Carroll’s positions over the years
Minister for Industry and Innovation since December 2022
Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty since December 2022
Minister for Employment since December 2022
Minister for Public Transport since June 2020
Minister for Industry Support and Recovery June 2022 - December 2022
Minister for Business Precincts June 2022 - December 2022
Minister for Roads and Road Safety June 2020 - December 2022
Minister for Corrections December 2018 - June 2020
Minister for Crime Prevention December 2018 - June 2020
Minister for Victim Support December 2018 - June 2020
Minister for Youth Justice December 2018 - June 2020
Minister for Industry and Employment October 2017 - December 2018
Parliamentary Secretary for Justice December 2014 - October 2017
Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Public Transport February 2013 - December 2014
Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Roads February 2013 - December 2014
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