Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan to Resign, Ending Tenure as State Leader

Jacinta Allan became emotional as she announced her resignation, pausing to reflect on the personal challenges she has faced as a woman and mother.

‘I am a woman, I am a mum. I live with endometriosis and I almost lost my daughter at birth,’ Allan said.

The outgoing Premier paused to compose herself before addressing the room.

‘You all know I’m a bit of a crier,’ she said.

Allan used the moment to highlight her government’s focus on women’s health, saying her own experiences had shaped her priorities in office.

‘For too long women’s pain was dismissed, I am one of those women,’ she said.

Reflecting on her legacy, Allan said she hoped to be remembered for giving women and girls a voice in the healthcare system.

‘If I want to be remembered for one thing it’s this. I led a government that listened to girls about their health.’

Ben Carroll has served as Victoria’s Deputy Premier since October 2023, alongside his role as Deputy Leader of the Victorian Labor Party. The Labor MP has represented the north-west Melbourne seat of Niddrie since entering Parliament in 2012.

As a senior member of Jacinta Allan’s government, Carroll oversees the portfolios of Education and Medical Research.

In June, Carroll moved to shut down speculation about a potential leadership challenge against Allan, publicly declaring he would not seek to replace her.

Standing alongside Allan, Carroll rejected suggestions he was positioning himself for a spill.

When asked whether he intended to challenge the Premier at a caucus meeting, he replied: ‘No.’

Pressed by a journalist to look Allan in the eye and rule out a challenge directly, Carroll turned to the Premier and said: ‘I can look you in the eye and say that, Premier.’

Carroll then invoked his young daughter as he pledged his loyalty to Allan, saying he wanted her to grow up knowing he had backed the Premier.

‘I’ve got a young daughter at home and I couldn’t be more proud to make sure she grows up knowing that I supported Jacinta Allan to be a world-class premier and get re-elected in her own right,’ he said.

Carroll’s time as Education Minister has also been marked by a series of high-profile controversies.

He faced scrutiny after errors were discovered in VCE mathematics and chemistry exams in 2023, raising concerns about quality control in Victoria’s assessment system.

The controversy escalated in 2024 when the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) accidentally published exam materials for 65 VCE subjects weeks before students sat their final tests.

More recently, Carroll has found himself at the centre of a bitter dispute with Victoria’s teachers, overseeing lengthy negotiations with the Australian Education Union as educators push for improved pay and working conditions.

The standoff led Victorian teachers to take industrial action in March for the first time in 13 years. A second strike took place last Thursday.

Since joining Victoria’s cabinet in 2017, Carroll has held a string of prominent portfolios spanning industry, employment, road safety and public transport.

Before entering politics, Carroll built a career in law and government.

He graduated with honours in law from La Trobe University in 2000, joined the Labor Party while at university, and was admitted as a solicitor in 2010.

Carroll’s working life began in retail, spending his teens and early twenties as a sales assistant at Kmart in Airport West. During that time, he became active in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).

He later worked in AAMI’s motor vehicle insurance division before joining the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office as a legal officer between 2009 and 2010.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson has called for Victoria’s November election to be brought forward, arguing Labor’s internal turmoil has left the state without stable leadership.

‘We’ve got a tired, corrupt Labor government here in Victoria, and I know that Victorians don’t want another unelected Labor Premier,’ she told News24 on Monday.

Wilson said replacing Jacinta Allan with Deputy Premier Ben Carroll would not alter the Coalition’s electoral strategy, attacking Carroll’s record as education minister and his role in Cabinet.

‘Ben Carroll is Jacinta Allan’s second-in-command. He’s been sitting next to her every single day when she’s been making decisions, and decisions as a whole as a Cabinet, not to hold a royal commission, and to oversee the financial mismanagement of this state,’ she said.

Wilson also targeted Carroll’s handling of industrial relations with teachers, saying his leadership had failed to resolve ongoing pay disputes.

‘And we know Ben Carroll and his weak style of leadership has seen tens of thousands of teachers go to the streets over recent months on a strike deal, because this Deputy Premier cannot sit down and negotiate a fair pay deal.’

Jacinta Allan says she has ‘reflected deeply’ and will step aside as leader of the Victorian Labor Party, clearing the way for a leadership transition.

Labor MPs will meet at 10am to elect a new leader, with Allan throwing her support behind Deputy Premier Ben Carroll.

‘Should Ben Carroll emerge as Labor leader… he will have my full support,’ Allan said.

The outgoing Premier revealed she was prepared to take on Carroll in a leadership contest, a move that would have triggered a ballot of Labor Party members and taken up to two months to complete.

Allan said she believed she would have won a leadership contest.

But with just four months until the state election, Allan said a prolonged leadership battle would have come at too great a cost.

‘Doing so, so close to an election takes up the most valuable of resources… time,’ she said.

Explaining her decision to step aside, Allan said the party’s interests had to come first.

‘At the end of the day I am and always have been a team player.’

Jacinta Allan has warned that the biggest risk facing Victorians at the upcoming election is ‘a One Nation-Liberal coalition government’, using her resignation speech to launch a final attack on the Opposition.

Reflecting on her time as Premier, Allan noted she had outlasted multiple Liberal leaders during her tenure.

‘I saw off two Liberal leaders, and I expect my successor will see off the third,’ she said.

‘If they don’t, One Nation certainly will.’

Allan also accused the Liberal Party of failing to support Victoria’s public services, drawing a contrast with Labor’s record in government.

‘They don’t believe every Victorian is equally entitled to [public services],’ she said.