Same Circus, New Ringmaster - That’s Victorian Labor.

If you think anything is going to change, you might need your head read...

Victorian Labor has unveiled its latest attraction, a brand new ringmaster for the same old circus.

Jacinta Allan MP has packed away the top hat, and Ben Carroll MP has stepped into the spotlight, all in a desperate attempt to convince Victorians that the show has somehow changed.

It hasn’t.

This is less “new era” and more a case of Labor replacing the bearded lady with a clown while hoping nobody notices the tent is still collapsing.

The audience isn’t laughing. They’re just wondering who approved the costume change.

Because this isn’t a transformation, it’s a sideshow trick. A bit of political smoke and mirrors designed to make voters think they’re watching a new performance when they’re actually sitting through a rerun of the same tired act.

To be fair, Ben Carroll may bring a slightly different personality to the big top. He may be a little less sanctimonious than his predecessor.

So congratulations Victoria, the circus has found a performer who might lecture the crowd with marginally less enthusiasm.

But beyond that? Nothing changes.

Ben Carroll is not some fearless outsider riding into town on a white horse.

He is a lifelong member of the travelling Labor circus troupe. A veteran performer from the inner ring. A former adviser to Steve Bracks, a figure closely tied to the union movement, and a loyal hand who knows exactly where the trapdoors and hidden exits are located.

This is the great illusion of our political circus, the crowd is told there are two competing shows - the Red Tent and the Blue Tent - while backstage the same machinery keeps turning the same wheels.

The performers change.

The posters change.

The applause lines change.

But the script remains.

The bureaucrats stay backstage.

The lobbyists keep their VIP passes.

The party machines keep pulling the strings.

The very people who helped turn Victoria’s circus ring into a mud pit are now promising to clean it up while wearing the same muddy boots.

Carroll’s previous performances will also come under scrutiny, particularly his time as Education Minister, where he oversaw the expansion of programs such as Respectful Relationships that shamelessly pushed radical gender ideology onto impressionable kids.

Victorians were promised a new show today. But all they got was a costume change.

A new ringmaster.

The same circus.

And the biggest trick of all? They’re insisting, straight faced, that the tent has been rebuilt, when all they’ve done is repaint the sign above the entrance.

Victoria is a joke, except no one is laughing.

Senator Ralph Babet, Senator for Victoria, United Australia Party.