Ahead of the Victorian State Election on 28 November 2026, Premier Ben Carroll has unveiled his new Cabinet.

Key Changes

• Deputy Premier Gabrielle Williams will take on Education, Skills and Training, Women and Gender Equality and First Peoples.
• Anthony Carbines will be responsible for a newly created portfolio as Minister for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy, alongside Major Events, Medical Research and Economic Development. He remains Minister for Racing. Premier Carroll's decision to create an Artificial Intelligence portfolio with a dedicated Minister indicates economic growth and the digital economy will be a key theme of his campaign in November.
• Colin Brooks is the new Treasurer and Minister for Industrial Relations. First elected in November 2006, he entered Cabinet in June 2022. Before entering Parliament, he worked as an electrician on railways and building sites, and as a service technician.
• Former Treasurer Jaclyn Symes will be responsible for Energy and Resources, Climate Action and Environment, following the resignation of Lily D'Ambrosio, who held the portfolio since Labor was elected in 2014.
• Ingrid Stitt becomes Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services, taking over from Harriet Shing, who announced she will not recontest her seat at the election. Minister Stitt was previously Minister for Mental Health, Government Services, Ageing and Multicultural and Multifaith Victoria.
• Sonya Kilkenny, who contested the leadership, will remain Attorney-General and Minister for Planning, and will also be the new Minister for Prevention of Family Violence.
• Tim Richardson enters Cabinet as Minister for Local Government, Consumer Affairs and Renters.

Of note, Premier Carroll has scrapped the standalone transport infrastructure and Suburban Rail Loop ministerial responsibilities. He has also removed the portfolio for men and boys, created in April 2026.

In all, the Cabinet has been reduced from 22 to 20, framed as "a demonstration of [the Premier's] commitment to taxpayers' dollars".

However, the financial savings are modest against the narrative Premier Carroll is seeking to promote: backbench MPs earn $219,391, while Ministers receive an additional $184,407 plus $19,628 in allowances.

York Park Group Thoughts

Premier Carroll's announcement of a Royal Commission into the construction sector, and the removal of the infrastructure and Suburban Rail Loop portfolios, send the same signal: he wants clear air between himself and former Premiers Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan.

With limited time until the election, Premier Carroll has taken a pragmatic approach to appointing his Cabinet.

Apart from the resignations of Lily D'Ambrosio and Harriet Shing, he has retained all Ministers, with only one addition (Tim Richardson), and merged a number of portfolios, which arguably wouldn't work for any longer than now until 28 November, minus the caretaker period.

Appointing a new Cabinet is always challenging. Premiers (and Prime Ministers) must carefully balance internal party politics and consider proportional factional representation – and there were reports that internal concerns were raised that reducing the number of ministries by two would mean less factional representation at the Cabinet table.

Premier Carroll will face his first big challenge on 5 August 2026, when IBAC tables its Operation Richmond Special Report in Parliament. The investigation, running since 2018, examines Labor's dealings with the United Firefighters Union during the Andrews era.

For a Premier whose entire pitch rests on distancing himself from his predecessors, a corruption finding in his first week would be an early test of how convincingly he can separate himself from it.

Latest Polls

Polling by Redbridge/Accent Research, taken in the days after the leadership spill, has the Coalition ahead on a primary vote of 30 per cent, with Labor on 23 per cent and One Nation on 22 per cent.

However, the pollsters caution that it is too early to know whether the change of leader will arrest Labor's decline after 12 years in office.

Meanwhile, a Freshwater Strategy poll, also conducted in the days after Premier Carroll's appointment, has Labor's primary vote up two points to 25 per cent, its first improvement in months, and the Coalition on 30 per cent.

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