Ben Carroll is the new Victorian premier. He has a long and urgent to-do list – and 4 months until an election
- Written by: Weekend Times
After a tumultuous 24 hours, the Labor Party in Victoria has decided it will have Ben Carroll as its new leader and therefore Premier of Victoria.
This is after the state’s
attorney-general Sonya Kilkenny, also nominated herself for the leadership following Premier Jacinta Allan stepping down this morning.
Kilkenny later pulled her candidacy - had the contest gone ahead, Labor would have been be embroiled in a weeks-long process of selecting a new leader.
Avoiding such a drawn-out process was a wise decision for the party, especially as there are just four months before the next election in Victoria.
For Carroll, however, winning the top job is just the start of the challenges he confronts as premier. There are several critical areas that need his urgent attention.
Allegations of corruption
One of the Victorian Labor party’s signature policies has been its focus on infrastructure. During the first term of the Daniel Andrews government, the party promised to remove 50 train level crossings across the state.
The government then moved onto bigger and even more ambitious projects. The state’s Big Build project, which involved the construction of major road and rail infrastructure has now become a political problem for the government.
Allegations of corruption and the involvement of organised crime have dominated news coverage and the issue has haunted the government.
Read more: How the ‘Big Build’ corruption allegations brought down the Victorian premier
This has also led to a deepening division between Allan, who resisted calls to establish a royal commission, and others within Labor who were more favourable to such an investigation.
Carroll has an opportunity to demonstrate a fresh approach. Calling a royal commission into this matter serves as an important signal that Labor is under new management.
Law and order
This is a bread-and-butter issue for state governments. In Victoria, crime has become a prominent political issue. While there is a sense crime levels may be on the decline, the state’s police minister described it as “unacceptably high” just weeks ago.
The government had implemented new laws to curb youth crime, dubbed “adult time for violent crime”. But some within Labor wanted further action.
In recent months, Carroll appeared to be agitating for tougher laws. He had previously indicated his support for adopting a “zero tolerance” approach to crime in the state.
With examples of crime and violence being prominent in news coverage, it presents Carroll with a platform to signal how his leadership of the state would change its approach to law and order.
Moving out of Dan Andrews’ shadow
Labor in Victoria has seemingly found it difficult to move away from the spectre of former premier Daniel Andrews, who led the party to victory in 2014, 2018, and then a landslide win in 2022. As his deputy, Allan was central to many of the decisions made by the government.
This has meant Allan has continued with many of the projects initiated in the Andrews years, especially the controversial Suburban Rail Loop.
By being less prominent during the Andrews years — having served as minister for industry and employment, then minister for public transport and finally minister for roads before taking the education portfolio in the Allan government – Carroll can position himself as a leader who will move Labor into a new era. In doing so, he may wish to cherry-pick the best achievements of the Andrews government rather than be burdened by the previous leader’s presence.
An uphill battle to win a fourth term
For over a decade, Labor in Victoria has been a model of unity and discipline. That has unravelled quickly, as we have seen in the past 48 hours. Carroll must now somehow unify the disparate strands in the party and present it as a coherent organisation as well as an effective government.
In contrast, the opposition coalition parties, which have undergone so much internal disunity in the past, now look to be the more cohesive political force in Victoria.
Additionally, Carroll needs to quickly establish his vision for the state. While he has been a minister in previous years, there is now a need to convince Victorians about his leadership approach and plans for the future and how it will be different from the Andrews and Allan years.
In his first press appearance as premier, Carroll announced a royal commission into the Big Build corruption allegations. This is a start. Now he also needs to end the pay dispute with teachers.
If the new premier cannot unify his party and present a clear path forward, Labor will struggle to convince voters it deserves a fourth term.
Editor’s note: this article has been updated.
Zareh Ghazarian does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
