Labor kicks of campaign in Moonee Ponds
About 250 volunteers, MPs, power brokers and party faithful have filed into the Kellaway Community Centre in Moonee Ponds for Labor’s campaign launch.
Premier Ben Carroll and his deputy Gabrielle Williams will address the crowd, as they try to defy dire opinion polls pointing to a heavy defeat on November 28.
Deputy prime minister Richard Marles is here. So are former Labor premiers Steve Bracks and John Brumby.
Organisers are handing out signs trumpeting the key planks of Labor’s election platform: free dental; capping tolls and public transport; more police, and “fighting for working people”.
Campaign launches explained
Victoria’s government has been in caretaker mode since the evening of November 3, the night that the governor-general issued the writ declaring when the election will take place.
Since then, Ben Carroll’s big red bus and the Liberals’ Jess Express have been gallivanting around the state, trying to drum up support for their cause ahead of election day. You might then be wondering why they’re only “launching” their campaigns now.
The answer lies in convention. Government ministers do not claim travel or political vehicle allowances after the campaign is launched, except for any travel related to their specific duties as a cabinet minister.
Under these same conventions, the Opposition leader and leaders of other parties can also request an extra vehicle for the caretaker period.
Launching the campaign later in the piece has allowed ministers to use these vehicles and travel entitlements right until very close to the opening of early voting (Wednesday, November 18).
Sunday also tends to be the best day for maximum media coverage, which both parties want before voting begins in earnest.
Who is the opposition leader, Jess Wilson?
Three hundred and sixty-two days ago, the Liberal Party received its fifth Victorian leader in six years.
Kew MP Jess Wilson successfully challenged Brad Battin for party leadership in November 2025, after a period of extended turbulence for the Coalition, now in its 12th year of opposition in Victoria.
It marked the first time the party had elected a millennial leader, and the continuation of a meteoric rise for 36-year-old Wilson.
Raised in Melbourne’s east and educated at Strathcona Girls Grammar, Wilson grew up steeped in politics. Her father, Ron Wilson – whom she has described as her “first political hero” – was also a state Liberal MP.
Who is Premier Ben Carroll?
Ben Carroll became premier in July after ousting Daniel Andrews’ successor, Jacinta Allan. He represents the north-west Melbourne electorate of Niddrie.
After 12 years in office, Labor is struggling to hang onto its power base. While the Coalition remains its principal opponent, One Nation is rising, as Hanson’s party draws support from voters who once regarded Labor as their natural political home.
Carroll knows he is running out of time to convince Victorians he is different. It’s a point he has reiterated since his first speech as the premier in late July, in which he bluntly declared “I am not Daniel Andrews, I am not Jacinta Allan”.
Labor has held Niddrie – which covers Keilor, Niddrie, and Essendon West – for its entire 50-year history. Carroll won a byelection for the seat in 2012. Its residents are old-school Labor: more than a quarter have southern European ancestry, with rates of Catholicism higher than almost any other seat. (Carroll has recently returned to church, describing himself as a “progressive Catholic” who finds the ritual “meditative”.)
Welcome to our live coverage
Welcome to our rolling live coverage of the campaign launches for the Victorian state election, now less than two weeks away.
After 12 years in government and three Labor premiers, there is a distinct mood for change in the air. But what direction that change will take is still very much up for debate.
This election could be an unprecedented race for Victoria, with the potential for a first-ever fourth-term win for Labor, the first-ever female elected premier of Victoria if Liberal Jess Wilson wins, and a test of One Nation’s rising popularity.
- The Victorian Labor Party, headed by current Premier Ben Carroll, will launch its campaign on Sunday morning in Moonee Ponds. He is due on stage at 11.20am.
- The Victorian Liberal Party will launch its campaign on Sunday too, with leader Jess Wilson expected to speak at 12.10pm at The Glasshouse on Olympic Boulevard.
- The Victorian Greens and One Nation already launched their campaigns back in October. More on these later.
- And you can check out our Hot Seats blog to see which electorates The Age has decided require special attention.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
