Ben Carroll has stepped forward as the only person willing to challenge Premier Jacinta Allan for leadership of Victoria's Labor Party, just four months before a state election, according to a Guardian profile published on July 27, 2026.

Carroll, 51, is Victoria's Deputy Premier, a role he has held since September 2023. The deputy premier is the second-in-command of the state government. He also serves as Minister for Education, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC (Transport Accident Commission), and Minister for Medical Research. The Guardian; Parliament of Victoria

Born Benjamin Alan Carroll on July 12, 1975 in Coburg, Victoria, he grew up in Airport West, a suburb within his electorate of Niddrie, which covers Essendon West, Keilor East, and Airport West in Melbourne's west. He still lives there with his wife Fiona and daughter Madeliene. The Guardian; Wikipedia

Carroll's early political life was shaped by Labor's union connections. His first job was at Kmart, where he joined the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), a union tied to Labor's right faction. Factions are groups within a political party that share similar loyalties or connections, often to particular unions, and they compete for control over party decisions. In 1996, federal MP Simon Crean gave him a tour of Canberra, where he shook hands with US President Bill Clinton. He joined the Niddrie Labor branch that same year. He graduated university with an arts degree and worked in insurance before entering politics, including a stint as an adviser to then-senator Stephen Conroy in cabinet. The Guardian

Carroll was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 2012 as the member for Niddrie, winning a byelection after being preselected over Jaclyn Symes. He gained ministerial experience quickly, holding portfolios including industry, roads, employment, youth justice, and corrections before Daniel Andrews resigned in 2023. He told a press conference after the 2023 leadership contest that he had held 14 portfolios over six years. A March 2023 ministerial travel report confirms he served as Minister for Industry and Innovation, Minister for Manufacturing Sovereignty, and Minister for Employment, during which he took a ministerial trip to Israel from March 11 to 18, 2023. The Guardian; Victorian Government

The 2023 leadership transition was a turning point. When Daniel Andrews resigned, the plan was for Jacinta Allan to become premier and Tim Pallas to serve as her deputy. Carroll refused to go along with it. He threatened to challenge Allan for the leadership unless he was made deputy premier, and he got the job. The standoff during the caucus meeting reportedly provoked an expletive-laden outburst from Andrews. Afterward, Carroll told a press conference: "I was always very keen to rise." The Guardian

Since then, the relationship between Allan and Carroll has been one of tense coexistence. After becoming premier, Allan kept Carroll off the expenditure review committee, which is the cabinet's most senior decision-making body. He was given the education portfolio instead. The Guardian

Carroll's time as education minister has brought both achievements and controversies. Victoria recorded its best ever NAPLAN results in 2025, ranking first or second in 18 of 20 measures. NAPLAN is the national test of literacy and numeracy skills for Australian school students. Carroll oversaw the introduction of mandatory phonics classes in Victorian schools. However, his time in the portfolio was marred by exam administration failures. Mistakes were discovered in VCE maths and chemistry exams in 2023. In 2024, a "cheat sheet" bungle occurred when VCE exam content for 65 subjects was accidentally published and circulated weeks before students sat for the tests. A review into the 2024 bungle led Carroll to sack the entire board of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. The Guardian

Carroll belongs to Labor's diminished right faction, a structural constraint that shapes the viability of any leadership bid. His emergence as Allan's sole challenger, four months from a state election, points to the internal pressure on a premier who has struggled to consolidate authority since the acrimonious 2023 transition. The Guardian

The broader context here is one of shifting factional loyalties and weariness within Victorian Labor. The 2023 leadership standoff never fully resolved; it merely changed venues. Allan's decision to exclude Carroll from the expenditure review committee was a signal that the deputy premier would be kept at arm's length from the government's fiscal core. Carroll's response was to build a policy record in education that he can point to as evidence of administrative competence, notwithstanding the VCE failures. His willingness to challenge Allan in 2023, combined with his refusal to accept a subordinate role quietly, establishes a pattern: Carroll calculates leverage and acts on it. Whether that instinct translates into a formal leadership challenge before the election, or whether it functions primarily as leverage within a re-elected Allan government, will depend on polling, factional arithmetic, and the appetite of caucus for disruption so close to a campaign.