Ben there.
Labor's new Premier spent nine years as a minister and three as Jacinta Allan's deputy. Every failure of this government happened with Ben Carroll at the Cabinet table, and plenty of them happened in his own portfolios.
Nine years with Ben at the table. Here's the bill.
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$15B
Up to $15 billion lost to corruption on Victoria's major projects, on investigator Geoffrey Watson SC's estimate.1
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$200B
Net debt heading for almost $200 billion by 2029–30.2
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68,000+
Victorians stuck on the elective surgery waitlist.3
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10-yr low
Fewer new homes finished than at any time in a decade.4
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40+
Police stations closed or operating on reduced hours, and protective services officers pulled off 119 train stations.5
He didn't watch this from the backbench. He was in the room when it was decided.
Guess how Ben Carroll voted.
Three real bills the Liberals and Nationals brought to Parliament. You call it.
Tougher laws? No.
Higher taxes? Yes.
No28times
to crime, corruption and cost-of-living bills
28 of 29 Liberal and Nationals bills since 2023, on bail, machetes, IBAC, child sex offenders, family violence and school payroll tax.
Voted yes 0Didn't vote 1
Yes7times
to new and higher taxes
7 Labor tax bills since 2019: the Windfall Gains Tax, COVID Debt levy, Emergency Services Tax, congestion levy, waste levy and vacant land tax.
Voted no 0
When a Liberal or National MP introduces a bill, the first vote decides whether Parliament will even debate it. Ben Carroll voted to kill 28 of these bills before a word of debate, and didn't turn up for the 29th.
Every bill he blocked
Showing all 29 bills
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Ben voted No
Tougher rules for lobbyists
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Ben voted No
Make the government table corruption reports faster
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Ben voted No
Let police arrest people who are drunk in public, including for their own safety
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Ben voted No
Give police the power to move people on to keep the peace
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Ben voted No
Ban machetes
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Ben voted No
Tougher bail tests for people who offend while on bail
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Ben voted No
Protect the Port of Melbourne and keep the economy moving
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Ben voted No
Jail for child sex offenders. No excuses, no exceptions.
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Ben voted No
Exempt every school, government and non-government, from payroll tax
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Ben voted No
Keep bikies and criminals off Victoria's major projects
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Ben voted No
Make bail conditions tougher
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Ben voted No
License tobacco sellers to stop the firebombings
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Ben voted No
A Right to Ask, Right to Know scheme for family violence
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Ben voted No
Ban prisoners from accessing assisted reproductive treatment
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Ben voted No
Bring back the offence of committing a crime while on bail
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Ben voted No
Ban machetes, again
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Ben voted No
Strengthen Working With Children Checks
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Ben voted No
Register protests and ban face coverings at them
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Didn't vote
Jack's Law: let police use metal detectors in public
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Ben voted No
Make coercive control a criminal offence
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Ben voted No
Give IBAC the power to follow the money
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Ben voted No
Create Construction Enforcement Victoria to police government building sites
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Ben voted No
Clean up government construction sites
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Ben voted No
Give IBAC the power to follow the money, again
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Ben voted No
Protect emergency workers whenever they're on duty
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Ben voted No
Make the government table corruption reports faster, again
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Ben voted No
Protect workers from abuse by members of the public
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Ben voted No
Protect farmland in planning decisions
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Ben voted No
Jack's Law, again: let police use metal detectors in public
Every tax he voted for
-
Ben voted Yes
Expanded the Vacant Residential Land Tax and cut land tax exemptions on farming land
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Ben voted Yes
Created the Windfall Gains Tax
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Ben voted Yes
COVID Debt levy on payroll and land, a higher absentee owner surcharge, and payroll tax on non-government schools
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Ben voted Yes
Expanded the Vacant Residential Land Tax across the whole state
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Ben voted Yes
Increased the waste levy
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Ben voted Yes
The Emergency Services Tax
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Ben voted Yes
Raised the congestion levy and widened the area it covers
And one more: he gave Labor the power to ban gas connections and gas appliances
Up to $15 billion lost to corruption on his watch. He refused to support a Royal Commission.
Ben Carroll ran public transport from 2020 to 2023, while the Metro Tunnel and the rest of the Big Build were under construction. He was a senior minister from 2017 and Deputy Premier from 2023, front and centre of Big Build decision-making.
In March 2026 Jess Wilson asked him directly whether he'd back a Royal Commission into corruption on the Big Build to keep workers safe. He said no.8
He only backed one after he became Premier in July.
“Take twice as long.”
“Cost twice as much.”
Then he ran WorkSafe. December 2024 to August 2026
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$578,000
wasted on coffee beans and coffee machines.9
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0
active WorkSafe investigations into violence on the Big Build, after years of reports.10
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Aug 2025
WorkSafe was told Big Build workers were selling building-industry training and qualification certificates in car parks and pubs. Nobody investigated.11
When the Liberals tried to clean it up
Clean up government building sites
Give IBAC the power to follow the money
Road maintenance funding fell by almost $200 million in one year while he was Roads Minister.15
You've been driving over his record ever since.
Pick any job he's held. Find a failure.
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Youth Justice & Corrections
Dec 2018 – Jun 2020
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Roads & Road Safety
Jun 2020 – Dec 2022
- Road maintenance funding fell by almost $200 million in a single year, from $953.8 million to $760.1 million.15
- He helped privatise VicRoads in July 2022. By November 2024, service targets had been cut, waits were longer and customers were less satisfied.16
- In June 2026 a botched IT upgrade crashed the VicRoads website for days. Victorians couldn't pay rego, transfer a car or book a vehicle test.17
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Public Transport
Jun 2020 – Oct 2023
- Labor's secret tax on public transport fares, to pay for the Suburban Rail Loop, was approved on his watch.18
- He has refused to say when he first knew about it.
- The Metro Tunnel and the rest of the Big Build were under construction the whole time. See what that cost
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Education
Oct 2023 – Aug 2026
- VCE exam errors two years running, in 2023 and 2024, put tens of thousands of students' results at risk. His idea of taking responsibility was to sack the board.19
- Labor fought for two years to keep its school condition report secret. Released in December 2025, it showed almost one in five schools in “poor” condition on the Opposition's analysis.20
- Labor promised $850 million to upgrade at least 89 schools by November 2026. Ben Carroll broke that promise. Dozens of those upgrades were pushed back until after the election.21
- Teachers walked off the job in March 2026, their first strike in 13 years, and again in July. The dispute only ended once someone else took over Education.22
- The Productivity Commission found Victoria's public schools are the lowest-funded in the nation.23
- In December 2025 hackers got into the names, email addresses, schools, year levels and encrypted passwords of current and past government school students. Ben Carroll kept it secret until mid-January.24
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WorkSafe & TAC
Dec 2024 – Aug 2026
- $578,000 on coffee and coffee machines while WorkSafe had no active investigations into Big Build violence.910
- Fake qualifications sold in carparks and pubs to work on the Big Build and no investigation, despite his agency being alerted in 2025.11
- Opposed a Royal Commission into Big Build corruption. Read more
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Premier
Jul 2026 –
Now he's asking Victorians for four more years.
Carroll was his minister.
Carroll was her deputy.
Same record.
Labor changed its leader. It didn't change its record.
Victoria votes on Saturday 28 November. Send this to someone who thinks Ben Carroll is a fresh start.
Sources
Voting records are from Parliament of Victoria Hansard, Legislative Assembly, and are linked beside each vote above.
- ABC News on the estimated cost of CFMEU-linked corruption, 16 Jun 2026. Estimate by Geoffrey Watson SC, Feb 2026
- Victorian Budget 2026–27: net debt $199.3 billion in 2029–30; ABC News, 5 May 2026
- ABC News on the elective surgery waitlist, 4 Oct 2026
- ABC News on home completions, 25 Feb 2026
- The Age: Victoria Police to close dozens of police stations overnight as staffing shortage bites, 3 Nov 2023; The Age: PSOs removed from 119 train stations, redeployed to crime hotspots, 18 Apr 2026
- ABC News on Crime Statistics Agency figures, 25 Sep 2025
- Bail Amendment Bill 2023, second reading. Hansard, 16 Aug 2023
- Royal Commission into Big Build corruption, question from Jess Wilson to Ben Carroll. Hansard, March 2026
- WorkSafe coffee contract. Herald Sun
- The Age: Workplace watchdog missing in action on Big Build violence claims, 28 May 2026
- The Age: Fake construction training certificates sold in car parks, 5 Oct 2026
- ABC News: Assaults on staff in Victoria's juvenile prisons double, 17 Feb 2020. See also ABC News, 4 Oct 2019
- ABC News: Young people being 'damaged' not rehabilitated by solitary confinement, 5 Sep 2019
- Justice Legislation Amendment (Serious Offenders and Other Matters) Bill 2019. Hansard, 14 Nov 2019
- Victorian Auditor-General's Office: Maintaining State Roads
- Premier of Victoria media release on the VicRoads deal, July 2022; The Age: VicRoads was sold off with a promise of improved service. Instead, service got worse, Nov 2024
- The Age: No end in sight to VicRoads chaos, 11 Jun 2026
- ABC News on the Auditor-General's Suburban Rail Loop report, 26 Aug 2026; ABC News, 27 Aug 2026
- ABC News on VCE exam errors: 8 Feb 2024, 18 Nov 2024, 15 Apr 2025
- Herald Sun: Shock report reveals Vic schools falling apart, 21 Dec 2025
- Guardian Australia on delayed school upgrades, 23 May 2025
- ABC News on the teachers' strikes and pay deal: 24 Mar 2026, 22 Jul 2026, 17 Aug 2026
- AEU Victoria on the Productivity Commission's Report on Government Services; Productivity Commission, ROGS 2026
- ABC News: Student data breach at the Education Department, 14 Jan 2026; OVIC investigation report (PDF), Oct 2026