Labor votes: Ben Carroll replaces Jacinta Allan as new Vic leader

Victoria has a new state Labor Premier in Ben Carroll who won the top job in a party room vote* after the resignation of Jacinta Allan. It all got a bit too much for Ms Allan when opinion polls rated her the most unpopular state premier of all time. The unrest had been steadily growing among her ranks in the Labor Party following bad polling only months away from the November state election.

Victoria was in massive debt. There was endemic* corruption on the CFMEU-controlled* Big Build* sites costing taxpayers around $15 billion. The Victorian Commonwealth Games had been cancelled with losses of more than $500 million. Organised crime’s tobacco and alcohol wars saw businesses being burnt down every night across the state, youth gangs with machetes invaded homes and shopping centres and Melbourne was becoming the car theft capital.

There had also been a huge rise in state taxes, like land tax and business taxes, driving small business to the wall, there was an increased Fire Levy on rural communities, there were potholed roads resembling Swiss cheese and after all that there was the proposed statue of former Premier, Dan Andrews.

With a rap sheet* like that you can see why Jacinta’s hold on the party leadership was rather shaky.

It is sad for me as a political cartoonist to lose a much loved caricature* subject like Jacinta Allan. Her predecessor, Daniel Andrews, was even more loved by cartoonists. Dictator Dan ran this state with an iron fist for a decade and became a national figure during Covid when the state premiers exercised their constitutional powers over the Commonwealth. Eventually political power comes to an end and we have new leaders and new faces to caricature as we do now with Ben Carroll.

He is a very different dude to Dan and Jacinta. They were from the left;* Ben is from the right* faction of the party. He is quite upright, even a little wooden at times, with a huge quiff* of swept back hair (something for the cartoonists to work with). With most political caricatures, they tend to build over time. You start off with a physical likeness and then the caricature is slowly transformed by the politics of the politician.

My Jacinta Allan cartoon had her in her ubiquitous* hard hat and orange high vis vest because she was always doing pressers* at Big Build sites. When the CFMEU corruption scandal was exposed, I drew her with huge muscled arms that were covered in union tattoos similar to the union’s bikie enforcers. I drew Dan Andrews at times in a Chairman Mao* Chinese communist party suit, as he was fondly known as “Dictator Dan”.

When newly crowned Premier Carroll had his first day on the job this week, we were all surprised to see his initial media conference was at a Kmart store. Was he low on socks and jocks? He proudly boasted that the discount retailer was where he had his first job. It seemed like he was trying to differentiate himself from Dan and Jacinta from the start, saying he was not “Dan Andrews nor Jacinta Allan” and he had experience in the real world.

So I thought this might be my subject for my daily political cartoon. I was thinking about some other reasons why the new premier might go to Kmart? It was only recently that my wife had to return a dress she had bought online from a big city store retailer and we had to go to their returns desk. This gave me an idea. Ben Carroll was trying to distance himself from Jacinta Allan. He announced a Royal Commission* into CFMEU corruption, something Allan wouldn’t do, and intimated there would be several more reversals of the former Premier’s policies. I imagined when he went to Kmart, he would be looking for the “returns” desk so he could return a lot of Jacinta Allan’s policies. So that’s what I did, the new Premier with the old one under his arm taking her back to see if he could return the merchandise.

Victorian taxpayers probably won’t get their money back.

POLL

GLOSSARY

party room vote: an internal, private vote by the members of a single political party

endemic: a problem which affects a specific place or group

CFMEU: Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union

Big Build: the Victorian Government’s large scale road and rail project

rap sheet: an official police record of a person’s crimes

caricature: a picture of a person that exaggerates their features or character in a funny, strange or critical way

left: a style of politics which favours stronger rules for wages, safety and competition with greater investment in public services

right: a style of politics which favours free-market capitalism, traditional social values and lower taxes

quiff: a hairstyle where the front is brushed up and back

ubiquitous: appearing to be everywhere

pressers: slang for press conference

Chairman Mao: Mao Zedong, the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party

Royal Commission: a formal public inquiry made up of a group chosen by the government to investigate a major problem

EXTRA READING

Victoria cancels the 2026 Commonwealth Games after cost blowout

Cartoon’s ironic look at ‘slippery slope’ faced by young criminals

MotoGP hits Phillip Island ditch as Vic govt crashes in Knight cartoon

QUICK QUIZ

Name three things that could have led to Jacinta Allan’s bad polling

What did Knight like to highlight in his caricatures of Dan Andrews?

Why do you think Knight liked to draw Jacinta Allan in a hard hat, wearing high vis and with tattoos on her arms?

Which side of Labor politics was Jacinta Allan from, and which side is Ben Carroll from? How do these sides differ?

Name two things you think Ben Carroll would like to “return” in the cartoon

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Distinguishing fact from opinion

It is important when reading any news story to know that the author’s own perspectives may be reflected within the piece of writing. Being able to distinguish which parts of a story are facts and which parts are opinion can help us to better understand and form our own views. Practise this skill by writing down four things the author wrote about Ben Carroll, four things they wrote about Jacinta Allan and four things that wrote about Daniel Andrews. Then next to each statement, write down whether that statement is a fact or an opinion.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity

Curriculum Links: English

2. Extension

Choose a person you know well to write a paragraph about. Include facts and opinions in your writing. Highlight the facts green and the opinions orange.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity

Curriculum Links: English

VCOP ACTIVITY

1. Caption it!

Cartoonist Mark Knight has not used a caption on this cartoon, letting the imagery speak for itself.

Read Mark’s explanation of what the cartoon means again and write two, three or four short sentences, just to make sure you understand what the cartoon is saying.

Using your sentences to help you, write a caption for the cartoon or some thought bubbles or quotes from the person in the cartoon that will make Mark’s meaning clearer for children or people who haven’t been reading the news this week.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity

Curriculum links: English, Humanities, Visual Arts, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension

Look through the most recent stories on Kids News and choose one to draw a cartoon about.

Use Mark’s three-step process to get started:

What is my subject?

What do I want to say about this issue?

How do I say it? Do I use visual metaphors (an image that the viewer is meant to understand as a symbol for something else), multiple panels or symbolism (when one idea, feeling or emotion is represented by something else such as a picture, character, colour or object)?

Time: allow at least 40 minutes to complete this activity

Curriculum links: English, Humanities, Visual Arts, Critical and Creative Thinking